hello! oi! hola! I’m going to be starting this by stating this is purely my opinion. this is not an attack on this ship because I understand why people like this dynamic. if you ship it, it’s completely fine! this rant is coming from someone whose favorite character and comfort character is one of the characters involved in the ship, and I am certainly not a neutral observer there. literally look at my profile for one second and you will see that!! in conclusion I may seem a bit biased when I state this. but please keep in mind I am not trying to argue which ships are better or worse, or even to persuade anyone to ship what I ship. this project is simply my views on shadowvanilla and talking about some common fandom interpretations of the ship. shadowvanilla- one of the most known ships of cookie run kingdom as we know it- hero and villain, opposites, etcetera. lots of people ship it- and I understand their reasons for doing so. people adore the dramatic tension and dynamics. so let’s begin by breaking down why. 1: shadow milk is obsessed with pure vanilla cookie. not romantically, canonically, but when people see how fixated he is on his other half, they interpret it differently than others do! and that’s okay. 2: some people shipping shadowvanilla focus on redemption- mostly on shadow milk’s side. but their dynamic does leave room for shadow milk to grow, for pure vanilla to begin to love himself and leave behind his guilt, for them.. to develop with one another, as lots of shippers interpret this ship as. and while that’s not canon, ships don’t have to be canon. that’s some of the beauty of shipping! 3: let’s face it, shadow milk cookie is extremely popular. he and pure vanilla have most of the fandom in love- so obviously some people would feel drawn to shipping the two. so if I’m talking so positively about this ship, why would I be putting this out into a project, much less a rant? let’s continue with a few answers. [ what is it about some shadowvanilla interpretations that makes me uncomfortable? ] the whole main idea of this rant- some shadowvanilla fan interpretations make me very uncomfortable due to the way they portray pure vanilla- or even shadow milk depending on how you interpret him in the fandom. 1: pure vanilla is my comfort character. my attachment to him doesn’t come from ships- but from his character. in a way, he is an extension of who I aspire to be or even who I am. I love him because this is the man who dedicated himself to truth. who healed even the most lost of people. who cared about everyone. who lost faith in himself. who practically hates himself. who struggled with doubt. who is extremely compassionate despite his suffering. who carries guilt and responsibility being a literal king of a kingdom WHO DIED AND HE COULDN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. who had to return to his pain and regain his entire life’s memories. WHO STILL LOVES PEOPLE AFTER BEING BETRAYED. WHO WANTED TO BE A BEAST’S FRIEND. WHO BELIEVED THAT HE COULD TRY TO UNDERSTAND SOMEONE WHO INFLICTED SO MUCH MENTAL FORCE ON HIM. he matters so much to me because I relate to him. because as a character I love him. and one of my main issues with some fan interpretations of this.. is that they completely reduce him. I feel like ranting about this is especially hard because there’s two sides of shadowvanilla shippers and their perspectives- ones that actually blend canon elements (ex: pure vanilla’s kindness) into fanon scenarios or headcanons if you will. I feel like pure vanilla’s character- his nature, in better words- is used differently than it is. pure vanilla’s kindness and empathy is intentional, genuine, caring, and leading. remember this is the sovereign of the vanilla kingdom, and an ancient who holds so much power.. truth as a whole. but sometimes in fanon interpretations that just turns into him automatically using his soft behavior in romantic way. it sort of ruins his personality if you really think about it. my second point. pure vanilla cookie isn’t just nice. nice does not define him. he carries guilt. he carries pain and burden. my guy was literally in an existential crisis when white lily died and abandoned all he stood for during his truthless recluse era- let’s not forget that! because that’s all being clawed away to make room for the dynamic between him and shadow milk to be the spotlight.. which in my opinion isn’t necessarily a decision that I agree with. he’s not just supposed to be… good. like I stated above he has his problems and he’s even self-sacrificing/loathing. he’s had to make heavy decisions and is not a little angel. he’s grown. I think some shadowvanilla interpretations focus either too much on his sweet, kind side- or even instead of that, the fanon situations where pure vanilla breaks down and shadow milk babies him or something. keep in mind this is coming from somehow who calls literally every character they like baby so don’t feel called out here!!
while some may argue that his “love-struck boyfriend” interpretation is literally. anywhere somewhere in an interpretation between any ships he’s in (because my guy is shipped a ton) one difference is that many of his ships- almost all of them- include people that he canonically loves and cares about deeply- like dark cacao, black raisin, hollyberry, golden cheese, white lily, you get the drill. but leading up to this- something that makes me really uncomfortable is when you recognize how toxic and unhealthy the two really are. again, please don’t feel attacked- that is not my intention here and I am stating my opinions. pure vanilla was mentally tormented by shadow milk in game. shadow milk canonically infiltrated his mind and weaponized his intrusive thoughts. shadow milk’s reason behind his obsession is because he’s obsessed over corrupting pure vanilla. breaking him down until his spirit is crumbled. he canonically views pure vanilla as someone who stole his soul jam and only shows affection towards pure vanilla when he believes he has successfully managed to deceive him. what makes me uncomfortable, then, comes from the fact that shadow milk’s canon fixation on pure vanilla is built on harm and manipulation. that’s why I struggle with liking the ship. I have a connection with pure vanilla’s character and I relate to him- so when I see so many people romanticizing him and shadow milk when he has been manipulated, deceived, and mentally tormented by him, it doesn’t just seem like something you can brush off. trauma is hard to forget. hard to forgive. hard to let go. it is like a tiny voice in your mind eating away at all your positive emotions. it never leaves you. I’m not saying that it’s unrealistic for pure vanilla to forgive shadow milk after what he has done to him, but that makes me very uncomfortable when some shippers completely forget that and think that they can solve that in a flash and two minutes of shadow milk and pure vanilla smooching. it’s not even only pure vanilla but shadow milk as well. he has his pain. he held all of the knowledge in his entire universe and was created to spread that. he felt pain, unworthiness, failure, frustration, fear, and abandonment. he /began/ causing chaos to get attention from his creators while he was spiraling into a breakdown. cookies valued him as a tool and not a living being who had emotions and feelings. he was betrayed and rejected- and to be frank that’s what sprouted his trust issues.. especially shown right whenever pure vanilla asked to be his friend. he denied. he was raging inside because no one would ever understand him. no matter what they said. and I wish people wouldn’t forget how much trauma has impacted their lives. their canon relationship. how much they have been effected because of the other. please be responsible when you know a relationship is canonically toxic and acknowledge that sometimes fiction can feel real. at the end of the day, this is how I view the ship and why I am ranting about it in the first place. if you enjoy shadowvanilla, that’s completely fine, and I understand why people would enjoy their dynamic. I’m not trying to convince anyone otherwise. I wanted to put my thoughts into text and get this out of my system. please remember different people have different perspectives and this is only one perspective. thank you for reading this far, and I hope you enjoyed listening to my rant. I tried keeping this as respectful as I could while equally explaining my feelings! farewell! song: boogie thumbnail is not mine
