Sounds like you and I agree on that aspect of post-TLJ Kylux. I mean, if shipping Kylux after TLJ means I condone abusive relationships, does that mean that if I like Kylo Ren after TFA I condone patricide? It’s really not that much different (if it’s even different at all). 

I’m glad we got more material on Hux from the novelizations and other books, and I’m with you in feeling like he was comic relief in TLJ. That was (is) my primary motivation in the creation of GW–I absolutely hated what RJ did to his character so I determined to write something different for him. GW is actually a fix-it fic for Hux as much as a Kylux story. 

And no, your questions haven’t bothered me! I’m glad you care about my thoughts on the matter! ❤

I probably think about Kylux way too much, tbh, lol. Honestly that sentiment after TLJ bugged me a lot too, but I think most of those people left the fandom behind. I really have no patience for hearing about how I should or should not ship something, or what it means about me if I do. 

Aww, thank you! That makes me happy that you think this. 🙂

One thing that I’d like folks reading GW to understand about it is that writing a romance between these two is not a justification of anything. I’m not trying to convince anyone that this relationship is either intrinsically a good thing as a concept or good for the characters involved. 

My hope is to create characters that are believable as human beings, and human beings are flawed, fall into traps of their own making, repeat mistakes, make bad decisions, and accept and overlook treatment from others that isn’t always in their best interest. This is not an excuse on my behalf to dismiss addressing this, and you’ll see some of these concepts explored later on in the story, and not only with Hux. 

I believe this was where a lot of conflict / disconnect happened after The Last Jedi. There was quite a lot of (fair) discourse over whether two people could be written as in a romantic relationship if they had unhealthy dynamics involving abusive situations. Many people did not want to (fairly) explore that. Personally, it appealed to me from a canon viewpoint far more than pre-TLJ Kylux, because issues of abuse and negative patterns with loved ones and friends is something that I’ve struggled with often in my life. In my experience, self-esteem is what leads to being mired in these types of situations, and I see both Kylo and Hux as people that harbor a hole in the center of their beings that needs to be filled with whatever they can get their hands on. Quite often, without a lot of self-reflection, I think these things tend to be what’s easiest and closest to hand. 

Forgiveness, as a concept, is very subjective. What one person might forgive, you might find intolerable. Forgiveness does not always equate to acceptance; it can just indicate a desire to move on. It can mean one thing was weighed against another, and a choice was made to accept the one thing to have the other. I have some very strong personal examples of this in my life, so this concept makes a lot of sense to me, but just because I have forgiven and moved on from some things, doesn’t mean I ever accepted that it was right, nor expect that my actions should justify abusive behavior from someone either toward me or toward someone else.

I’m not suggesting that this is what you were implying, anon, but as a side note, I personally think it’s a slippery, dangerous road to look at fiction as a map to lay one’s own course by. Quite often a story is just a story, and not a message or a social or political statement. Any meaning one finds in a story is likely colored by that person’s own experience, and should always be examined.

This was probably too much of a reply, but there we go.