Sunsquid and Qinterwatcher justifications

28 4 20
                                    

They used to be in my ship book, but that got taken down, now they're here ;-;

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QINTERWATCHER

So I think Qinterwatcher is good for many reasons, but first, people have got to get past two things. One: accept that being Polyamorous IS a thing and IS okay. If you don't stand for that, there's no way you can see the good in Qinterwatcher. And Two: in order to see the full potential of this ship, We've got to delve into the characters' backstories.

Onto the shipping. Let's start with Qibli.

Qibli, Qibli, Qibli, the poor, mistreated child, as we do often hear. You think I'm going to deny it? No. I'm actually going to stick with that, and argue against those who say he is 'not affected' by his past trauma, and that 'Tui just wanted to give him a tragic backstory' No, actually. It's quite evident that Qibli is very affected by his past, but he just shows it in a different way. According to the books, Qibli was abused as a child, by his mother and siblings. His way of escape was turning to the Outclaws, to try and make a difference to injustice. Already from a young age, he's struggling to be useful and important.

Now notice how he's always looking to make dragons like him. Notice how insecure he is about being considered 'insignificant', 'useless', and 'ordinary' Notice how he uses jokes and wit as his escape from being a quiet nobody, often saying extreme things just to get attention. Most importantly, notice how everyone else sees him as funny.

To my interpretation, the reason Qibli was attracted to Moonwatcher is because she is one of the only dragons to pick up on his inner insecurities - and I'm not just talking about reading his mind, although that would make it easier. Moon frequently compliments Qibli, supports him and makes him feel valued. As we know from Qibli's personality, he doesn't think anyone likes him, and he spends his entire life under the impression that he has to do something to get them to. Moon, even though she doesn't know the extent of his backstory, still treated him like he was worth so much, and offered him the faith and love that no-one else gave to him in his childhood.

Winter, on the other hand, represents what Qibli can see in himself. A broken, loveless dragon who's really just as nice inside, but is afraid to expose himself and get hurt again. Winter needs Qibli's love just as much as he needs Winter's - because in my opinion, Winter represents the other outcome of their abusive and controlling childhood - cold, hard, and bottled up inside. In joking around with Winter all the time, it already shows that Qibli cares about him and wants to help him recognise his own worth, even if this is subconsciously. And furthermore, Winter could understand Qibli, although he might not show it. After all, he's going through the same thing. But must importantly, Winter doesn't unconditionally shower Qibli with praise, like (Sorry Moon) some other dragons. Occasionally, he'll get a compliment out of Winter - but when he does, it is sincere. Winter is Qibli's anchor to reality, otherwise the compliments and assurance that everyone likes him would go to his head - and he obviously enjoys Winter's company, otherwise why stick around?

Moving on to Winter's backstory.

Winter's backstory is interpreted in almost the opposite way: it's easy for us to pick up, but not so easy for Winter to notice himself. Winter has lived almost his entire life in a controlled, royal environment. People are watching his every move, people are judging him all the time. It's tiring and a horrible way to spend your childhood. He's being almost abused by his own family, and everyone expects him to behave in a certain way. It's been drilled into him that if he's not like that, he's useless and insignificant. This is the way his story is similar to Qibli's, that underlying need to prove himself, except he shows it in a different way and appears cold and distant.

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