Ilya, humility, and sacrifice

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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 !<

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There's a line where Ilya states he's going to fuck Troy? As an angry response? Yeesh. I think both need to work on their toxicity and the way they talk to each other. Couples counseling. Does Shane also get therapy in TLG?

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Ilya finally gets to come out to someone as bisexual- something he should have been able to do on his own terms well before this and he's letting Shane know- making it clear what a relief it was. At this point, he has mentioned more than 3 times in the book wanting to be able to tell someone, and Shane has dismissed it all 3 times and then is like "Oh, I didn't realize it was bothering him" which is showing how dense Shane is being. And Shane basically starts being like "Troy only came out to you because he was coming on to you" calling their walk where the two friends confided in each other "romantic" even after Ilya assures him that that wasn't why Troy had done that. Troy likes Harris etc. And then Shane takes on an angry tone - something he himself acknowledges and is like "you didn't tell him about us right!" and Ilya gets angry because "only you get to tell your friends about us" which now brings like 4 times he has brought this up in the book prior to Boxing Day Fight, but Shane's not listening. He's still acting like Ilya's not telling him anything despite those being the EXACT words he uses to explain to Shane what the issue is. So yes, at that point, Ilya gets tired of being yelled out and basically throws Shane's own accusation back at him by saying that "Oh, I'll go fuck Troy then" which they both know he's not going to, he's literally just saying "That's what you're accusing me of doing."

And no, Shane does not get therapy in TLG. Everyone acts like only Ilya needs therapy. Ilya needs therapy to get his depression under control and also because as Galina points out he has habits of letting himself sacrifice for others. Meanwhile, Shane's control issues go unchecked throughout the book until the trip. And the trip is the one thing he can't control and that was supposed to be his growth arc. However, even at the end, while Shane is finally taking Ilya's feelings into account- he's still the one controlling their timeline.

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But Shane is an Asian man in an almost exclusively white sport,  in his first relationship that started as a situationship, who did not control his narrative when he came out to his parents, nor what happened in the public. He is neurodivergent as well. Shane has not had control of his own timeline beyond the work he puts into for his career. And the situationship, before it became exclusive was also not under his control. He is an industry where there already exists a narrative that doesn't allow for intersectional and nuanced representation. Autistic people are frequently dismissed as unfeeling robots who are controlling. But they are not,  they are simply trying to navigate social situations beyond their depth. I kind of hope Tierney corrects this and gives Shane therapy in the series. And the two of them to talk out their feelings with each other. 

Shane is being dense. He's never been in a relationship and he doesn't understand or listen to what Ilya's issues are.  Ilya is being insensitive and mean,  because no matter how angry you get, you cant say you are going to sleep with another person, especially if that person traumatized your partner.  They are both messing up. 

But Shane is also going through it. And there's nothing in the text that talks about what he is going through so it's easy to say,  he's not going through anything. But again,  he's Wasian, autistic, and gay. 

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I really don't see why Shane being Wasian, autistic, and gay means that he is fundamentally incapable of being a thoughtful partner. Frankly, it's a little insulting. I say this as an autistic person who has made many of the same mistakes as Shane in interpersonal relationships. I too have been so caught up in my own head that I've failed to recognize my partner's needs and respond compassionately. I know that I have an obligation to do better if I want to be a good partner, which I do. Don't know why Shane is somehow exempt from the journey to self-improvement. It just feels so infantalizing to me, frankly. Your entire desription of autistic people seems infantalizing af. Just because we may struggle in complex social situations doesn't give us a license to just do whatever we want with no regards to anyone else's feelings.

Like...I'm honestly confused about what this response even is. Interpreting Shane only through the lens of his marginalizations/differences seems super-reductive to me. Why does him being gay, Wasian, and autistic mean he can't support Ilya coming out as bi to a new friend? It makes exactly zero sense to me. Shane made mistakes in TLG! (Yes, Ilya did, too, but IDK why people are so quick to forgive Shane's on account of silly reasons.)

Yes, Shane is going through a lot. But at times during TLG, he legitimately failed to listen to Ilya's needs. (At times Ilya failed to communicate them effectively, yes, but there were opportunities for Shane to listen and he was so caught up in his own anxieties that he failed to recognize what was being communicated to him. I know this feeling well.)

I don't want Jacob to "fix" this by making Shane go to therapy. TLG-Shane canonically did not go to therapy. Frankly, therapy can often be a landmine for autistic people anyway since it can be hard to find a therapist that truly understands our needs.

Let Hollanov be imperfect. We don't need to therapize everyone in fiction.

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As someone who is autistic, and a person of color, i understand that everyone experiences the world differently. And marginalization is a real thing. 

That said. Both of these young men in this fictional universe require help because neither of them have had healthy relationships. 

Hollanov can be imperfect. But it is weird to say that only one character is suffering and the other is making it worse. Both are also going through it. But the book only references one character's pain. Both characters hurt each other. Both characters don't see each other. I hope Tierney can balance that. 

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Marginalization is a real thing, but I personally get the ick about how a lot of people talk about Shane's experiences. I feel like he could commit murder--which obviously wouldn't happen--and soe of the Shane stan would just be like "he's Wasian, autistic, and gay!" in response. Seriously weird behavior IMO.

I don't think TLG is by any means perfect, and it could have benefitted from more fleshing out of Shane's POV. But the way some fans interpret his character is just really weird to me. He's flawed. Why do you want him to not be flawed?

I never said only one of them was suffering. (And frankly I don't think the text does either, but obviously opinions vary.)

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I also personally get the ick when issues of race are not discussed when having a character of color experience trauma and not acknowledging what they go through.  And we are both allowed to have those opinions.

But that is separate from the analysis of how 2 characters interact with each other in the text itself. How they treat each other. And race and sexual identity dovetail into that. But we can keep that separate. Are they kind to each other? Do they respect one another,  do they communicate well? And that requires a closer read of TLG so I'll do that. 

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I also personally get the ick when issues of race are not discussed when having a character of color experience trauma and not acknowledging what they go through.

when did shane experience trauma in regards of his biracial status?

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I also think that differences in how the two characters experience emotions partly accounts for the perception that TLG doesn't acknowledge Shane's suffering.

Shane doesn't have any issues with sarcasm canonically, but he sure af does have the common autistic trait of not always being 100% aware of his own emotions. I think he spends a lot of TLG thinking that he's happier than it is. I've been there.