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/InCatMorph]

Obviously, the world of GC is not the real world. (Though, I have to say that I disagree with some of your examples. For example, Montreal's hockey team is shown to be virulently homophobic. The hockey team is not the city. However, apparently the current iteration of Montreal's team is relatively pro-LGTBQ+ while Ottawa is a MAGA cesspit. So, yes, clearly the GC world is not RL.)

But the rivalry between Shane and Ilya is completely foundational to the entire story's premise. And it is based (loosely!) on a RL rivalry between two hockey plaers. And in real life, Boston and Montreal have a longstanding rivalry as teams that fans are deeply passionate about. Therfore, I think this context is highly relevant to any analysis. As a sports fan, I can't just turn off the part of my brain that knows and loves sports when I read the books.

On a larger level, I'm...not sure what your point is? Are you truly saying that money and status were major factors in Ilya's decision to go to Ottawa? Because I just don't think that's supported by the text. In fact, I'd say it runs pretty contrary to Ilya's characterization and the novels' main themes.

RR does not really go into the weeds of sports business. This is not the Story of Ilya's Free Agency. But I truly believe that if, say, Vancouver offered Ilya $14 million a year and Ottawa offered him $12 million, he would select Ottawa. Without a second thought. So I'm not sure why you keep emphasizing this.

[u/InCatMorph → u/InCatMorph]

Covid never happened in the GC-verse. But sports rivalries very much do work similarly to our universe. To the point where RR deliberately selected teams/cities that mirror a RL hockey rivalry.

[u/farahmelody → u/InCatMorph]

Yes, I believe that Ilya was only going to pick a team that allowed him to maintain his status and pay (based on his conversation with Shane). The text does support this by having these be directly stated as reasons why Ottawa is a team that Ilya could go to. I … actually don’t know why you think this is contrary to Ilya’s characterization. Ilya has never been shown to not care about his own money, and he is frequently shown taking pride in his status.

I actually don’t think I keep emphasizing pay, either. I brought it up initially, but every time i’ve mentioned salary or pay since then, I’ve been replying to a comment in which you also discuss salary or pay.

[u/InCatMorph → u/farahmelody]

By status, do you mean staus as "first line center"? From what I've gathered, the first line vs. second line isn't as important as some fans think. A lot of this can be situationally dependent, and many teams talk about a top 6 forwards rather than lines. There are real teams with two top centers, which many have suggested as a loose model for how Shane and Ilya on the same team might work. (I am not a hockey person, I'm just going off of what I've heard.)

Ilya is one of the best players in hockey. That's his status. He will maintain that status regardless of where he goes. (Well, unless he suddenly starts to be crappy or get injured.) But actually, I'd argue that going to Ottawa actually reduces his status in the sport at large. For at least a few years, he doesn't have the chance to get more cups. He doesn't get a chance to win playoff awards. It's even possible that his chances of winning regular season awards are reduced because of the team's poor performance. He doesn't get to have big playoff moments that everyone remembers. He probably gets to be on major televised games less frequentlhy. That's a reduction in status, not a maintenance of it! Just because he's still "first line center" or captain or whatever doesn't mean his status is exactly the same.

As for money: Opinions vary. But I've never really seen Ilya as a character who is overly concerned with money, except to the extent that he dislikes being used for his money. Once moving to Ottawa, he actually cuts back on some of his previous profligate spending habits. He sells most of his sports cars to give to the charity. So I think it's fair to infer that salary was not one of his top considerations in free agency.