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gracecarstairss · 6 months

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analyzing Kel Saren x Antonetta Alleyne (my favorite Sword Catcher ship)

I think the overwhelming consensus is that Conor x Lin are peoples' favorite Sword Catcher ship, and I do like them, but Kel x Antonetta was definitely my favorite by far because they have such an interesting dynamic.

When I was reading the book, I initially disliked both Kel and Antonetta because I thought they were dry and boring up until about 25-30% into the book. Then, I realized that it might actually have been intentional because what we are seeing up until that point is both Kel and Antonetta's alternate personas, and later in the book we start to learn more about who they both really are. Spoilers below!

First, let's talk about Kel's alternate persona - Kel Anjuman. He is lost in this character of the prince's cousin, and at the beginning of the book seems like he has forgotten who he really is. He is just going through the motions - pretending to be Conor in some instances, trying to be invisible most of the time, and tolerating Conor's annoying friends. Being Conor's body double is definitely all that he was thinking about/cared about, and it seemed like he didn't have any interests, ambitions, or motivations at the beginning of the story. However, this is purposeful because Kel is literally property of House Aurelian and he has been trained for the sole purpose of being Conor's human shield, so he really CAN'T want anything, because he is expected to possibly die at any moment. He is just waiting for death, which causes him to be so reckless later in the book.

As Sword Catcher goes on, it becomes clear that there is a distinct difference between Kel Anjuman and Kel Saren, when I previously thought there was not much difference. As soon as Kel meets the Ragpicker crew (Merren, Ji-An, Andreyen) and realizes they know who he really is and give him what he needs - a motviation, a drive - the Kel Anjuman facade is gradually dropped as the book goes on, and Kel starts to struggle with integrating himself back into that persona around the nobles. His relationship with Conor starts to be strained by the end of the book too because I think Conor is sort of fooled by Kel's false persona - he has forgotten who Kel actually is, which is not surprising with Conor being so selfish and self-absorbed. I think Lin also helps Kel pull out of this rut because he is able to be himself around her and she understands him well. Lin's POV really shows the reality of the double life Kel has to live, with her constantly arguing with Conor about how wrong it is that Kel is essentially a human shield and is treated as utterly disposable in the eyes of House Aurelian.

The Ragpicker crew and Lin knowing Kel's identity is almost freeing for him, and so because he does not have to keep up the Anjuman persona all the time, he doesn't want to go back to that persona. He doesn't want to pretend anymore and that's where we see that struggle for him to fold back into that box at the Palace parties in the last 50% of the book.

Now, let's discuss Antonetta's alternate persona. We typically see her through Kel's eyes, and he makes a clear distinction from her personality before and after aged 15. Before age 15, she is a childhood friend, she loves doing everything the boys do (like sword fighting, for instance) and they boys treat her like one of them because they are kids, they don't really see the difference. After age 15, Antonetta has her debut (at 15?? eww, at least make it age 18). Thereafter, she is strictly micromanaged by her mother and now adopts a highly feminine look and a giggly, stereotypically dumb blonde-esque personality. The boys all start thinking of her completely differently, in more of a sexual way, and we see that Kel was floored and confused about the sudden shift in her personality and the shift in the way that everyone saw her. He states that everyone forgot that she was clever, extremely opinionated, and liked fighting. The boys (Conor, Joss, and Charlon) only saw her as a sexual object after her debut. The difference in how Kel acts versus the other boys can be attributed to the difference in their status - Kel grew up in an orphanage up until age 10 and is only pretending to be noble and does not consider himself one, and therefore does not see the customs of the nobles (such as a debut) as relevant, while the others have grown up with this ingrained in their minds and are used to these practices and have grown up to expect them. I think Kel also didn't have much experience seeing the power imbalance between men & women in this society, so it was very new to him.

This is when Kel and Antonetta, at age 15, have a falling-out because she and her mother both tell him that he cannot pursue Antonetta because he is a minor noble. This is after Kel "proposes" to her with a grass ring, and I think this proposal was very innocent and sweet, so it was devastating for Kel to be rejected so cruelly because of his lack of status/power, which especially hits home because he really is a commoner. Antonetta specifically tells him that she grew up, and he needs to grow up too. I think this is when Kel starts developing this alternate persona. In a way, Antonetta catalyzed this shift in his mind of how he should conduct himself as a noble and how little power he had in making choices for himself, which I think is a big part of him trying to tamp down every want/interest/ambition that he had.

Antonetta continues to develop this persona, to the extreme frustration of Kel (even though he does the exact same thing). In his POV, we constantly see him being aggravated by her fake smile that makes her seem clueless/dumb. There is one scene where the five of them (Conor, Kel, Joss, Charlon, and Antonetta) are hanging out, and Kel is standing on the balcony being moody because he doesn't want to interact with the other boys. Antonetta is hanging with the boys and has adopted her clueless persona, then goes to talk to Kel and acts completely different. Then, Conor, Joss, and Charlon call Antonetta over again and Antonetta immediately dons the persona. When she comes back to talk to Kel again, it's gone again. She goes back and forth between Kel and the boys multiple times and literally changes the way she interacts every single time. This was the scene that made me start to like her character because it clearly depicted her switching the way she acts based off the person she is speaking to. Throughout the book, we see her showcase her cleverness by diffusing and/or manipulating situations to go the way she wants them to using this tactic. Kel notices this more and more as time goes on, and shows that she is still the same person she had always been, but she was just forced into this persona to survive on the Hill (and to please her strict mother).

Near the end of the book, Conor gets engaged and so Antonetta's mother stops strongly regulating her whereabouts and her outfits choices. This is freeing for her because now she is able to sneak around and practice sword fighting (something she was not previously able to do) and wear clothes that she wants to wear. Her mother forced her to wear hyper-feminine colors (pink, yellow, etc.) to make her look more childlike (eww) to be appealing to Conor, I guess? Now, she is able to dress in a more mature fashion, which does not match with her "clueless" persona (because this persona is a lot about her pretending to be naive, inexperienced, young, etc.) Antonetta having more freedom appears to make it harder for her to continue to use her "clueless/dumb" persona with her newfound ability to choose her own clothes and pursue her preferred hobbies. Therefore, she and Kel are in the same position at the end of the book. Both Kel and Antonetta are really struggling to continue to don their alternate personas, and they can see that in each other, especially since they always drop their guards around one another.

In one of their final scenes together, Antonetta tells Kel that she was only interested in marrying Conor so that she could keep her Charter because her husband will inherit the Charter, and Conor couldn't. Then, she tells Kel that he seems to not want anything. I think this is so interesting because she noticed the way that he tamped down everything that he wanted to the point that it seems like he wants nothing. Obviously she doesn't know that he can't have anything because he is expected to die at any moment, but I think this line from Antonetta shows us that Kel really was losing himself and had very little motivation to do anything of his own volition. I think Antonetta maybe knows more about Kel than she is leading on or at least suspects that he is not who he says he is because she is observing him and trying to gage what his motivations are.

When Kel found the ring in Antonetta's locket, I almost passed out, I was so excited. This is an obvious indicator that Antonetta still has feelings for Kel and remembers the way they used to be in their childhood, when Kel always thought he was the only one. Maybe, to her it is a symbol of someone who loved her for who she truly was, with no false persona and with no interest in power from her family's Charter.

Their dynamic is so interesting and I know with more development it could be so insanely good in book 2! At the end of Sword Catcher, it seems like they seem to be getting closer and very aware that they are both hiding things, and with Antonetta's mother wanting her to marry Gremont, I know shit is going to hit the fan. They definitely are the most interesting couple to me because of how similar but different they are in their defense mechanisms and how they are surviving the challenges in their lives. They both understand each other very well and they WILL be together at the end of book 2, I know it!!

#the kel x antonetta brainrot is BAD #I am actually obsessed with them and I am not sorry for it #i know i am going to say something crazy but... I actually care more about this series than twp #give me more sword catcher books and continue to delay twp LMAOOOOOOOO #im just joking...or am I?#sword catcher #kel saren #antonetta alleyne #conor aurelian

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