Wings of Fire Ship Thoughts, Critiques, and Overall Opinions

Winterwatcher // Winter x Moonwatcher

Not gonna put much of an intro- just know neither of us like this ship.

oh also uh. quite a bit of swearing here. sorry.

eaz's thoughts

Yep, we're here. Winterwatcher. This ship just... nope. I have never liked it. In general it's unpleasant, somewhat abusive, and almost messed up Winter's whole character for me.

So I know you all are yelling; "WHAT?? IT'S NOT ABUSIVE AT ALL >:O" but let me explain. Winter, almost always when interacting with Moon, is rude, snappish, and will degrade her because she is a NightWing. He plays the role of a tragic tsundere, but it's just done really awfully. Winter can't push aside his fucking feelings and toxic mindset for long enough to act like anything other than actual garbage to Moonwatcher when she has done nothing to deserve such treatment. At some points, Moonwatcher felt unsafe around someone who was supposed to be her friend. BIG red flag right there. 

While I don't consider ships where they have some sort of rivalry/done like each other/insult each other toxic, and can even really enjoy some, when one of the people refuses to defend themselves and acts nothing but sweet and kind to the other person, and in response person B is rude and will constantly insult person A to the point where there's an undertone of actual threats... n o p e. 

That's not even saying I hate the tsundere trope. I think, if written well, it can be done. But it is clear at several points throughout the books Winter doesn't care about Moonwatcher's feelings above his own. He's trapped in his stupidass head, thinking about "oh I love her but it's illegal... like to scream and yell at her..." while she just... sits there and takes it. I love Moonwatcher too much to just let that happen without caring. 

"Oh, but he got better!" I hear you cry. And yes, while he did get better, it was veeery late on. And Winter seems too arrogant to see the torment he put Moon through as a blocker for his feelings, and rather sees his friend as this "blocker." Even in the end, he wasn't exactly pleasant towards her, just not quite as intolerable. 

Overall, this ship is a definite no no from me. Winter acts like a piece of shit towards Moon for almost all of the books.

gale's thoughts

ah shit. here we go again. 

 I really hate winterwatcher. I have since I started reading the books years ago. and i've been hating it more ever since.

 the first impression we get of winter? an uncaring jerkass. we see him making moon EXTREMELY uncomfortable multiple times throughout book 6, and then, get this, the next moment he's like "wow.... she's hot...." 

 as the books progress, it really... doesn't get much better. especially in book 6, he constantly makes fun of and taunts her over something she has no control over (her visions and mind reading powers). now, there are a few things I can bring up: 

 yes, he's been in the mindset of "nightwings bad!!!!!!" for practically all of his life. but holy shit if all you're gonna do is bitch about this sensitive, innocent nightwing who's done literally nothing wrong to you, and then not even apologize and expect her to like you back??? that's... not very healthy!!! 

 and while winter's parents may have been abusive towards him, that's no excuse for treating someone practically equally as bad. qibli's got basically the same excuse, and he turned out just fine! granted, he ended up getting adopted by a much better parent, but could winter not have realized at some point that, "oh, hey, maybe these actions aren't justified and I should try changing my ways towards this girl who I secretly have a crush on!!" 

 and, like I mentioned earlier, I can't recall a single time where winter once properly apologized for his actions. I don't understand this character and they took this "snappish, rude, angry 24/7" character trope way too far for it to be considered healthy. 

 in conclusion: fuck this ship. I hate it so much.

Overall Ship Rating Out of 10 (from both of us)

0/10