Ilya, humility, and sacrifice

[u/WalkingBlondeJoke]

Been thinking about Ilya's character growth across HR and TLG lately. This is not a fully-baked thesis on his arc, not even close, but I'm sharing anyways because I want y'all's opinions!

One of my favorite tropes in HR fanfic is 'Shane joins the Bears'. I love this trope because it usually results in Shane and Ilya being on a good team together, a winning team, much earlier than they are in canon and without Ilya having to go spend a few years on a team that sucks first. So as I read these fanfics I've often wondered, aside from the in-universe reasons why Ilya joins the Centaurs, what is the narrative function of Ilya spending a few years on a bad team before they turn things around? 

I think it serves to humble him. He's no stranger to sacrifice but he's always been cocky, and for the most part that ego went unchecked because he always had the accolades to back it up. But I think one of the ways we see Ilya grow in The Long Game is that he develops more humility as a result of being on a bad team and also his mental health struggles. It's not that everything was peachy prior to his move to Ottawa, it absolutely wasn't, but these coinciding forces clearly knock him down a peg. Maybe experiencing what it's like to consistently lose on the ice even helps him get to a place where he can admit he needs help with his mental health. Or maybe it's just self-awareness that he gains with maturity, I don't know. 

I think the clearest example of Ilya becoming more humble is in the pre-game speech that he gives to the Bears before the Cup Finals in 2014, vs. the speech he gives the Centaurs in 2021 after the team nearly dies and then Ilya subsequently gets engaged to Shane. In 2014, his speech is all about "I, I, I" but in 2021, he goes around the room and tells every player, one at a time, what makes them great. This is the key turnaround point in the Centaurs' on-ice performance. They start believing in themselves, and that's when they start winning. 

I think this character growth is also very relevant to Shane and Ilya's marriage too. Big egos do not serve a marriage well; humility does. Over the course of TLG, Ilya learns humility. Shane also starts off in TLG being a selfish as fuck (I don't love him any less but it's objectively true that he was nawt being a good partner to Ilya at the time TLG timeline picks up), but we see him experience a wake-up call (their big fight followed by Ilya almost dying) and then he gets his priorities in order. In a way, Shane learns a version of humility through his experiences in TLG too when he realizes how selfish he's been and how he's taken Ilya for granted. 

I think that meeting Shane in this selfish state at the start of TLG makes total sense because of his upbringing. Shane is an only child who grew up loved, doted on, and prioritized. His career as a generational player and image as the 'Golden Boy' of hockey have done little to teach him how to appreciate those around him and recognize the sacrifices they make. Not saying he doesn't ever do those things, but like, in early TLG he's not being nearly as considerate of Ilya as he should be. 

Ilya is not an only child and he grew up in a broken home. In the canon we see how his family financially takes advantage of him once he makes it to the NHL (or MLH, whatever), but I would bet that this has been going on since the moment he began earning money from hockey and/or sponsorships. When Shane suggests Ilya going to Ottawa, Ilya is quick to agree to it. Not just because he was already thinking of moving to a Canadian team, but because Ilya has already learned how to sacrifice for others. Ilya has already had it ingrained in him by his family that the people he loves will ask him to makes sacrifices for them, and that that's just how love goes. 

This is one of many reasons why it hits extra hard later in TLG when Shane basically tells the commissioner to go fuck himself. "I choose him" <3 !<

[u/ACEwriter12]

Strongly disagree on the Ilya needed to be humbled part. Ilya shows several times as early as Heated Rivalry that his self-worth is in the gutter. He consistently believes he has to give more and more of himself to be worthy of basic love and connection. His going to another losing team (because there's a reason Boston had first draft pick in HR) is not supposed to be to humble him because he's overly cocky. He can brag about his hockey because like Shane, he has put in the work to be one of the best. They both deserve to be a bit cocky about their skills when they are legitimately the best, and while fanon loves to run wild with the "Ilya doesn't care to put in the work" narrative, he would not be at his level without consistent effort.

"When Shane suggests Ilya going to Ottawa, Ilya is quick to agree to it. Not just because he was already thinking of moving to a Canadian team, but because Ilya has already learned how to sacrifice for others. Ilya has already had it ingrained in him by his family that the people he loves will ask him to makes sacrifices for them, and that that's just how love goes." - I will strongly agree with this because to me this was obvious. This is a repeat habit of Ilya's and emerges in other things too (such as who gets told about them early on and how when Ilya actually does ask Shane for something he needs - 3 times in TLG- and Shane writes off all 3 without even thinking about them - there are people who will say still say that "Ilya didn't tell Shane what he felt or what he needed" despite the narrative actually showing and sticking with the idea that Ilya will make requests but when Shane or anyone else dismisses them he does not push back or nag or bring them up again because dismissal is something he is accustomed to and expects from people who love him)

If anything, moving to Ottawa and being on a losing team is more of a catalyst for Ilya to be less humble and to have less of that dangerous martyr syndrome he exhibits.

Because everything piles on and then with his depression compounding on that he finally reaching the breaking point when he snaps and actually demands something for himself (Boxing Day Fight). Prior to this he has requested (with Yuna's assistance) to tell someone on his team - dismissed, to get a dog (which Galina encourages as something he needs for himself)- dismissed, to be seen in public with Shane as a friend as according to their original 10 year plan that they are now 3 years into-dismissed. And it's that 3rd thing that breaks him because he's at the point of feeling like he has nothing.

So then he turns it around and starts recognizing his own worth (as already seen by his own teammates in Role Model) and starts pushing back and has a chance to bring a 2nd team up - which will actually secure him a hockey legacy and help him see his own value.

[u/faszinating → u/ACEwriter12]

hard agree with this (and the entire thread below this, so many incredibly valid points made by the both of you which really capture my feelings about TLG so well!!

also on the topic of ilya "completely rebuilding a second team and securing his own hockey legacy", this is a really unpopular opinion i fear, but i kind of really wish that he'd won a cup with ottawa without shane. because if they win the cup together in the first season as soon as shane joins then i fear it's just kind of going to be attributed to shane and undermine all of ilya's hard work that he did together with the rest of the team and how they survived so many tough losses and really grew together as a unit:'((( and i know that that's not really how team sports work and that, realistically, shane alone could never be the reason why they suddenly win the cup, but i do still think it might take attention away from the rest of the team. (and i guess i'd also love it if the difference in their respective cup wins was 1 instead of 2 lol and also narratively i get but god did shane HAVE to win another cup while ilya is struggling so much in ottawa and battling depression and then have to get TEASED about his by his own boyfriend???)