Kamet Kingnamer - Tumblr Posts

"I'm a little vain" "I had no idea" is another banger from the guy who brought you "for the assassination or the heir" and "not noticeably, your majesty"

The Mede ambassador to Kamet: “You’ve come from an audience with the king, but before that, from the prisons. Not how an honored guest is usually received. Perhaps because you are less an honored guest and more… stolen property.”

Not true! This is actually the traditional Attolian greeting extended to every truly important visitor, from the king of Sounis to the queen’s spymaster to the magus to the current king himself! Hope this helps

this is how that scene went, right? 

I am feeling things specifically about Kamet telling the naughty kitchen boy so much about Laela that Gen could be sure she would lie to save him.

Like.

That’s not “The kid liked my translations.”

They talked. Tight-lipped, haughty Kamet who was sure no one in Attolia cared about him at all told this naughty sandal polisher so much about his life and gave him money so he could make it home even thought slaves don’t do favors. He told him about his life and then the boy stuck with him so clearly that Kamet tells COSTIS about him! multiple times!

They were friends.

“What a piece of work he was. I don’t know why I like him as much as I do.”

-Kamet, being everyone who has ever met Eugenides

I didn’t think anyone in Attolia knew my name

my brother in Shesmegah you befriended an entire kitchen staff

I enjoy so much the crossed lines of communication threaded throughout this book that’s basically

Costis: hey trauma victim, my king is so chill, so kind, so cool, it’s all going to be fine, he won’t whip you or anything

Kamet: oh so he’s an idiot

The nice thing about a character as clever as Gen is he can be ascribed multiple motivations at once and it can be true. Like, with Kamet’s rescue, it’s spite, it’s kindness, and it’s politically motivated. All three are true.

With his befriending Kamet as a kitchen boy, maybe multiple things are all true at once. Maybe he saw a good source of information about the Medes and pumped Kamet for intel much in the same way Kamet was supposed to pump the Attolian servants. Maybe he really did want to know about the Mede gods and afterlife, to hedge his own bets. Maybe he was as interested in Kamet’s knowledge and scholarly ways as he had been with the Magus, as Pheris would be with Kamet later on. And maybe Gen saw how lonely Kamet was, isolated as he saw by his unusual status, and decided to plow right over that gulf.

Chapter 4:

I think it's funny that Costis so readily volunteers to fight off the approaching swordsmen, leaving Kamet to scramble. "My alarm was perfectly reasonable, as the horsemen appeared to be waving at us, and I was certain that what they were waving was swords." Kamet's precision does nothing to hide his anxiety (which I think is well-warranted).

I have to wonder, when would Costis have realized the true depth of Kamet's fear about the skirmish? Or, more generally, that every bit of Kamet's worldview is informed by his life as a slave?

"I didn't come all the way to this godsforsaken cesspit so that I could go home and tell my king I failed him." / loyaltyyyyyy. I love Costis. flashback to KoA: "He knew he would march into hell for this fathomless king."

I know everyone has already talked about the absurdity of the lion's den, but: Costis. what are you doing.

Also, I love the surgery song. that is all.

"...how did you come to Ianna-Ir?" / "I punched the king in the face." / I knew that he would say that, but I still smiled like a loon. I love KoA so much.

Also: "He was more kind to me than I deserved and he forgave me." / love.

"Well, the Namreen aren't dropping roof tiles on my head or trying to stab me in the back." / lol.

I don't know where it is, but someone said Irene went out of her way to touch Gen 6 times in Queen of Attolia, which is a lot for someone who says she doesn't love him, but like. No one ever talks about kamet and costis. Every time kamet gets dizzy or injured, or they have to "pretend" to be friends, or costis gets injured, the other is so ready to physically help them. When they end up in the water, kamet clings to costis's neck. When he gets hit on the head, costis literally hugs him for a looooong time. And you wanna say kamet hates him? You wanna say there are any negative feelings between them? The way they both go out of their way to always be physically supporting the other.

Kamet also mentions wondering if the guards kept costis locked up to keep kamet safe from costis.

Also kamet hearing someone apologize and for the first time know they actually mean it, they aren't just saying it. It kinda shows the switch for him to go from identifying as a slave to actually valuing himself and being in a place where he can have a relationship with someone else and not having it be about the service he can provide.

something i love about the apology scene in thick as thieves is that even though it's pivotal for both characters and crucial to their future friendship it absolutely does not fix things. it doesn't even establish a baseline of expected future behavior for either character??

"Kamet," said the Attolian in a low voice, "I am sorry. I hope you will forgive me." [...] I opened my mouth and no words came. I didn't know what to say when "sorry" meant something, what to say to an apology that was so obviously sincere.

kamet accepts the apology, and over the next few chapters they become much closer (with less commentary by kamet about the uncomfortable power dynamic between them). but costis doesn't take this for granted--so much so that he expresses surprise after kamet saves him from the well

"What?" I was mystified. "If I wouldn't leave you in a well, why would I abandon you in a ditch?" He looked momentarily as confused as I felt. "I don't know," he admitted. [...] "Actually, I don't know why you didn't leave me in a hole in the ground."

and kamet doesn't rule out that costis might hurt him if they came into conflict again, not even near the very end of the book (when he already told the reader in an earlier passage that losing costis' friendship is a worse outcome than dying):

"Well," I said, realizing that the strange feeling rising in my chest was anger, "you are an idiot." "What?" I didn't back down. He was securely locked in the cell opposite, after all, and I'd already lost his goodwill. I had nothing left to lose. "You knew what I thought of Attolia."

idk what to say about this except that the messiness of this makes it feel so much more real

the amazing @onebulb made this for me, so here: queen’s thief as vines but now it’s an actual video instead of gross links.