Disclaimer: I know this will make me sound as though I don't like Oppel or his works. I'm a fan, I just have to rip on everything I like and point out its flaws. If I didn't, it'd be all cheerful and dull.
Goth and Shade in Kenneth Oppel's Silverwing Sequence are very, very gay for each other. Now, mind, it's a very deranged, bondage kind of gayness, but it's there. So, to prove my point, I've made this little jewel: a collection of ambiguously gay happenings in all three books. Though, right now I only have Silverwing and Sunwing with me. Firewing's buried under some clothes in my closet and I can't, for the life of me, find the damn thing.
Wet Dreams- "Dreaming again: And this time, Shade was caught in his claws, pinned to the ground. 'I will eat your beating heart,' Goth told him (Oppel 26)."
Now, we all know the relationship between goth and emo kids, the strained second cousin sort of thing, but I was never expecting to see the same kind of thing between Goth and emo. I mean, the whole "stab my heart because I love you too much" goes far into emo territory, so it could also be found within a goth and Goth. But, since Goth is neither goth or emo, this wouldn't stand up very well.
The "again" is a little misleading, he had a series of dreams, but only one of them had Shade in them.
Still, I think this is a wet dream. (I love how this turned out, ^____^).
- "He'd seen Goth ablaze with lightning, spiraling lifelessly down through the clouds-- and somehow never doubted he'd survive. All those times he'd argued with Marina and insisted Goth was dead, he secretly knew he was lying. His dreams had known the truth all along (Oppel 84)."
We tend to obsess about people who have impressed or intimidated us, which is why I think Davey Jones in POTC: DMC (Laziness abound!) is the sexiest squid-faced humanoid of the seas. Now, I'm not too wound up into his slimy tentacles to dream about him, but I'm sure that out there somewhere some fangirl has just had a nocturnal emission about her darling OC and the untalented but sexy Orlando Bloom. I'm also sure that, with Shade's adolescent hormones making a damn mess everywhere (literally), there have been a few dreams that involved Goth and a little bit of... something.
Foxtrot-- ehm.
Physical Attraction- "Shade's legs trembled, and he tensed his exhausted muscles to still them. A drop sweat snaked through his fur and into one eye. He tried to lie to himself it was just another bad dream, but he knew this was real, and there'd be no easy escape by jerking himself out of sleep (Oppel 86)."
See?!
SEE!
Si!!
- "All was confusion, a seething mass of limbs and wings. Goth was on top of him, in top of all of them...(Oppel 115)"
Okay, this is taken waaaay out of context, but it was just too fun. Who wouldn't want to see an orgy scene in a book?
Besides the author, I mean. ^___^;;;
- "Of course [Goth] had survived; Shade was beginning to think he was immortal. 'Goth,' he whispered (Oppel 212)."
- "Shade struggled free from under Goth's body, but could hear a low, ominous gurgle from his throat. Not dead, never dead (Oppel 282)"
- "A clump of dead leaves whirled in the air, and became Goth, spreading his wings toward him. (Oppel 156)"
Don't we see celebrities, characters in a game, etc. as being immortal when we adore them? So, with a bit of a stretch, Shade seeing Goth as immortal == obsession. His age supplies the attraction through hormones.
He's also seen throughout the sequence as a curious kid. He questioned even a god (Bad Idea), so homosexual curiosity isn't too far off.
- "Somehow [Goth] known instinctively it must be he, the same malformed troublemaker who had dogged him with bad luck since they'd first met. A world of mischief packed into a runt's body... (Oppel 277)"
Here's more of the same, except it's from Goth. In most cultures there's a trickster god, in Goth's head that slot is taken up by Shade.
- "A huge weight struck [Shade] in the chest, and he was slammed back against the stone, straddled by two powerful claws, one on each wing. Goth's searing breath poured down upon him. 'I knew it was you,' said Goth (Oppel 280)."
- "Shade feinted and rolled, keeping Goth at bay with sound, but the cannibal was steadily driving him back toward the wall. (Oppel 283)"
There's nothing to be said, really. But I never thought of Shade as a uke... well. I guess that'll be another post. Kekeke.
Original Research. a.k.a. Fangirling.At the end of Sunwing, Shade, who is just barely out of adolescence is Marina's mate, but Goth, an older bat, never mentions his missus. In fact in Firewing, Zotz has to practically force a mate onto him. Now, before you give me some crap about "He hasn't found the right one", "OMG Hes liek totaly no ta gay faggut, u lesbo. stfu, dumas", "It's against nature, Goth can't be gay! God says NOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!", "A walrus with a top hat", "Can I have some cash? I swear, I'll pay you back.", or anything like this, check this book out: (can't find it, I'm sure it's just buried in my closet).
There's been some scientific research that bats have the highest rate of homosexuality of any other mammal so it's very probable that Goth was gay.
Maybe the whole Vapyrum Spectrum Royal Family (I Love All Caps Yes I DOOO) is gay. We know that Goth's currently nameless father was killed and we also know that foxtrot-- I mean, it takes a male and a female to make a baby. Goth is living(kinda) proof that there was a Queen Vapyrum somewhere along the line, so where is the Dowager Queen during Sunwing?
We never hear about her.
I'm starting to think that the Royal Family male members kill off the females once they have a kid. Why else would Zotz send the one bat that supervised the tunnel work? If he meant her to stay up there for any amount of time, he'd have to deal with a power struggle for her empty position. Then, when she eventually dies/is killed again, there'll be another power struggle. A godmind would think about this. Maybe he thinks she won't be up there for very long, not long enough for her absense to be missed.
While we're on the subject of the mines, what's Zotz going to do with that hole in the sky? Has he discontinued the digging? What's he going to do with all the bats that worked in them? WTF??
Zotz: Okay, Listen up!
Miner Bats: ??
Zotz: You're all free now. Enjoy death.
Miner Bats: !???
Zotz: Yeah. And, all you guards with black teeth, we have a dentistry opening. I'm sure they can hook you up with Crest White strips.
Zotz has said that he killed Nocturna thousands of years ago. In that time, a lot of solar eclipses must have taken place and every time, he is left stuck in the Underworld. I'd say go with the tunnel, it seems to be a lot more reliable.
Now, let's move on to--
--Transmission interrupted.
" Mind aflame, loin afire, illicit pleasure to seek
From under the bed, Lord Sanguine doth peek
To inspire perversions in the wild and meek
Tales of taboos of which virgins blush to speak
The wild rose blooms, perfumes in the burbling creek
The petals, the stem, and the thorns’ painful preek"