Janner Wingfeather - Tumblr Posts
i looooove characters who are sacrificial lamb coded. characters who have never lived for themselves. characters born to be a tool, a weapon, a sacrifice, all of the above. a character raised by the heroes to save the world, at any expense, even their own health, even their own life. a character raised by the villains to end the world, at any expense, even their own health, even their own life. characters who are denied personhood so they can be used as tools instead. characters who never even had a chance to be people because they were shaped into something else from the moment they were born. characters who were born to die.
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if this gets to like 100 notes I’ll continue writing my wingfeather saga fix it fic and maybe even publish it
alright, I’ll continue writing it! Probably won’t post is until later, most likely during my fall break from school!
if this gets to like 100 notes I’ll continue writing my wingfeather saga fix it fic and maybe even publish it
THIS
ok last Wingfeather post (for tonight) I promise--
but I absolutely think that one of the main reasons I love the books so much is because of Janner, and how perfectly I feel like he encapsulates the experience of being an eldest sibling, especially in the midst of a somewhat-fraught family situation. before reading Wingfeather, I had never in my life discovered a character who seemed to feel the way I did about life with younger siblings, especially in my early teens. the way he struggled so much with the burden of responsibility, loving his siblings so dearly but sometimes chafing under the burden of care he felt like he could never escape--it was so real to me. especially the desire to be free of responsibility coupled with the shame of even wanting that sort of freedom. being so proud of being called "mature" and "leader" and "protector," yet sometimes inwardly raging against the fact that I could never make any mistakes without potentially dragging my younger siblings down with me, that I could never truly be my own person because I often felt more like Their Sister than I did Myself.
I remember saying to at least one person, I think it was my mom, "I have never read anything that so thoroughly understands what it's like to have siblings and be the oldest. this author just understands it. even the ugly parts that you don't want to admit to." I was completely in awe. I had never felt so seen.
and--I don't want to give away any spoilers for people who haven't yet read the books or who want to have the show as their first experience of this story, but--there's a moment in the fourth book where Tink gets to have a extremely special experience... an experience that Janner has always longed to have. and Janner is denied that privilege altogether. and I have such a vivid memory of pausing the audiobook while lying facedown on my bed, complete darkness all around me, far past the time I should've been asleep by, and sobbing. and it's one of the few times I remember genuinely crying because of a book. (I want to say a lot more about that moment in the series and what it means to me, but I'll have to do that in a separate post sometimes, because I cannot possibly avoid spoilers if I say anything else.)
I guess all I'm trying to say is--something about Janner's deep desire to be seen, to be known, to be understood for who he is and not only the role he plays, to receive the love he's always longed for from a father he's never been allowed to fully know, his constant struggle between a desire to lead and protect and his yearning for independence and freedom--all of that spoke so deeply to me when I first read the series, and even now I can feel the echoes of those emotions in how this story left its imprints on my heart. and I'm so excited for all the people who may find, for the first time, their own stories echoed in this series about three kids in a fantasy world overrun with toothy cows and birds with belly-buttons and singing dragons and slavering fanged lizards.
Broke a nail and had an complete meltdown, stopped crying, then thought about Janner Wingfeather and absolutely lost it again
Andrew Peterson, when I catch you…
Broke a nail and had an complete meltdown, stopped crying, then thought about Janner Wingfeather and absolutely lost it again