Mar 23, 2025
Author's Commentary #387:
Time to talk about Chapter 387: As far South as you can go.
Oh boy, this one deals with a really touchy matter, that being Serbia and Kosovo. There's a lot of behind the scenes stuff to talk about on this one. First up, Nikolina.
As soon as I finalized her character, I knew she was going to be controversial. This lies in the fact that she refuses to recognize Kosovo's independence, and can get very violent and angry if the notion that Kosovo isn't part of Serbia is so much as hinted at. This all stems from how she was nearly killed as an infant during the Kosovo war. Originally, I was actually going to have Ratimir be the one to not only save Nikolina, but raise her as well. However, I felt that would only make Nikolina's character irredeemable in the eye of the fans, as even if Ratimir genuinely raised Nikolina like a daughter and truly cared for her growth, he's an irredeemable war criminal who has murdered millions. Thus, I scrapped that concept and just toned Nikolina down to the point where she simply thought of Ratimir as a hero because he fought for Serbia in the Yugoslav wars.
Then there's factor number 2, the Kosovars. I originally had no intent on making a Kosovan team, or even showcasing Kosovo's leader onscreen. Kosovo still would have existed, but rather the central conflict of this plotline would be between Nikolina and Blerta, both of whom being Kosovo natives, albeit from different ethnicities. While Nikolina's backstory is horrific, Blerta's is equally as horrific, as she herself was nearly killed in the Kosovo war when Yugoslav forces led by Ratimir killed nearly everyone that lived in her town. It just goes to show that when it comes to war, no side has clean hands.
Getting back to the Kosovars, when I decided to finally go beyond my self-imposed maximum of 64 women's teams, I decided Kosovo would be one of the 5 teams. This stemmed from the fact that when I decided upon featuring miscellaneous characters from countries that didn't have full teams, Kosovo was one of said countries. Thus, I promoted them to full team status, but that now meant I had to revise this chapter to include them.
As for the Kosovars competing, most are sadly more on the nationalistic side, which only worsens tensions. Though there are those on the team that truly want peace, such as Shpresa, Luljeta, and maybe even Violetta, secretly. Since the Kosovan women's team was literally created less than a week before this chapter was uploaded, I don't quite have every character's story pinned down just yet. That being said, I have at least three of the five member's personalities and character arcs planned out.
Though as a consequence of this last minute decision to include the Kosovan team, I don't really have any other planned moments for them to appear in this arc, at least at this current moment. What I'm hinting at is that a Serbia and Kosovo clash in the tournament is unlikely to happen, at least in round 7. That being said, all these characters definitely will reappear in the arc again.
And with that, things will get more lighthearted again when Kisha's show resumes. Of course I say that, with the idea of possibly revising the next chapter to make it more darker than it originally was, but at least compared to this chapter, it will be full of far less strife and turmoil, assuming of course I even go through with the revision idea I have, for if I don't, the chapter most certainly will be a relaxing and stress-free chapter.
That's all for this commentary. I hope you enjoyed it.
