don’t know who needs to hear this, but kaz brekker does not murder for the fun of it. he does not love crime and killing. kaz brekker is an antihero, and he will do anything for the right price, but there needs to be a price. his character introduction is “kaz brekker didn’t need a reason” but you’re not supposed to be believe that - dirtyhands convincing an entire city that he doesn’t need a reason is just one of his magic tricks. inej even says it a sentence later, kaz always has a reason. every time kaz kills someone in the duology it’s for a very explicit reason - even inej kills more people than he does. when he’s given a reason kaz is harsh and bloody with his punishments, but he will never do anything without them. if everyone thinks you’re a monster, you needn’t do every monstrous thing. by keeping his reasons quiet, kaz convinces ketterdam that he is a monster, that he’s the villain of the story.
kaz brekker is not a villain, he’s a kid who did the ultimate “fake it until you make it”. and he managed to trick half the readers of six of crows too, apparently, considering they’re intent on reading him as an evil person rather than a morally dubious, traumatized, charismatic kid who’s highly intelligent and callous.
Thinking about Inej wearing Kaz’s gloves to climb the incinerator shaft…the intimacy…the way it’s such a clear visual metaphor for how his reputation protects her, but she comes through that inferno to protect him too…
And then Inej giving them back to him once she’s on the roof and how that’s a parallel to what she tells him at the docks in Crooked Kingdom. “Be a monster” - he can have his armor and his ruthlessness to keep their enemies at bay and stop the real monsters in the world. She gives the gloves back, even though she wants him without them, because she knows he still needs them and she wants him to take them off willingly when he’s ready, not to be forced to go without them. His armor can protect him when there’s a job to do and he needs to feel secure, she just wants him to feel safe enough with her to go without.
crows remember human faces. they remember the people who feed them, who are kind to them. and the people who wrong them too. they don’t forget. they tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for.
