So........how does one even go about adressing this?? Especially since the series doesn't?? But it's kinda a love triangle??? But it's not????? WHY WERE WE SPARED THIS POLITICAL/FAMILIAL/ROMANTIC DRAMA??????
Ah yes, the bane of my existance strikes again; speculation.
Some facts about these characters;
They've tried to kill each other before. (at least Kylen has)
They're fathers hated each other so they basically just inherited a blood feud, yay.
They're cousins.
They're almost total opposites on the personality spectrum.
Kylen grew up with a stable family (eh......mostly. Bleston seemed to care) and a brother that wasn't trying to quietly dispose of him 24/7. He also didn't grow up a displaced refugee nintey-five percent of the time, so, yeah. He's mildy less angsty because less childhood trauma.
Smalls had the opposite of everything above. Like. This boy does not get enough credit. He went through ****. And still managed to remain human. (You know what I mean) We're not even told all the crap he had to go through as a kid; it's just implied based on the places visited. How messed up would it have been growing up in the palace with Daggler down the hall?????? Torturing people?????? Probably including those you care about??????? Poor everyone. Poor Smalls.
Aw now I feel bad for him again.
Help.
I cannot write more Smalls angst.
This poor boy has been through enough.
Anyways.
back to buisness.
Like, Smalls barely tolerated Picket in book one, why didn't we see Smalls and Kyle interactions??
C'mon please I just wanna see them interact, how passive agressive could it get?
Annnnnnd the kicker; they both managed to fall in love with the same girl.
Because. Y'know. As if there wasn't enough tension.
Espeically since Heather is just. Like. Painfully oblivous, a lot. A lot a lot.
I love Heather but girl, really, you have not one but two princes who are in love with you.
You'd think she'd notice. But no. It took her four books. four books and her crush's 'death' to actually get her to figure out what the **** she was feeling.
Seriously.
Welp this went downhill fast.
But basically why didn't we get the political/familial drama? Please? I really want it.
To be fair to your eight year old brain, it was fairly subtle. Especially in the face of most media having couples go from "I just met you" to "Let's get married" in the space of a few days or less.
Definitely some good logic there.
I definitely agree with you, and probably for the same reasons. I don't think Smalls is necessarily meant to be a messianic figure, as he clearly does have some flaws as you point out. He definitely does seem to have a "Chosen One" role though, and unfortunately those do occasionally get confused. That is a fun interpretation of Smalls and the Blackstars. I just kind of got the impression for their brief exchanges in Ember Falls that they're among the few friends Smalls has had growing up.
That is an interpretation of their relationship I hadn't considered before, and kudos to you for thinking of it. I've always taken any hesitation on his part as an unfortunate result of his place as heir to the throne. He loves Heather, but he clearly recognizes that he has a duty to all of rabbitkind and puts them first. Heather recognizes this, and it's part of why she loves him in return. I mean, they both acknowledge that they dreamed of getting married while in the tomb, but don't even announce their engagement until a year afterwards at the first Feast of the Mending. I think Smalls is a bit like Cole in this regard-placing duty before love-as opposed to Jo-who at least briefly thought that love was as important, if not more so, than duty.
That is another excellent point. I know of a series or two that went into next generation stuff and had major characters become parents, only to not be so great at it. It's sad, but when you consider that they didn't know their own parents it makes perfect sense. Wilfred was no doubt an excellent guardian, but he couldn't really give Smalls any sort of education in that area-at least, not by example. There's another rabbit who I'm sure has plenty of trauma/angst we could discuss.
Yeah, the deck was stacked against Kyle from the moment Smalls told Heather "I'm so glad to finally meet you when both of us are awake." He might have had a chance with Heather under different circumstances, but definitely not in the series as it played out. Still, I like to think that he found love eventually. Question is, what kind of relationship did Bleston have with Kylen and Naylen's mother?