Neurodivergent Alley: Wylan Van Eck (Shadow and Bone)

*Wylan-related spoilers.*

While there’s some additional headcanoning going on here, especially in relation to the show, Wylan’s neurodivergence is canon, which is pretty cool. As with Jesper, his neurotype isn’t named on the page or onscreen, because the characters of this world don’t have words for that, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

Something notable about this write-up is that it’s my first Neurodivergent Alley post that includes a disorder other than autism and/or ADHD. I’ve always intended to eventually branch out into other neurotypes, but 1) autism and ADHD are the ones that most interest me, being nearest and dearest to my brain, and 2) I have so many autistic/ADHD-coded characters that I’m so excited to write about that I just haven’t made time to get to anybody else yet.

All of which is a long preamble to say that Wylan is canonically dyslexic. He’s a brilliant young man, an expert in chemicals and explosives, and he carries a lot of encyclopedic knowledge in his head. However, his secret shame is that he can’t read, despite his father paying handsomely for numerous tutors in his youth. From his explanations in the book, it’s clear to the readers that he’s dyslexic, but Wylan isn’t really able to recognize his disorder as the extenuating factor in his struggles. Instead, he considers it a personal failing, which is undoubtedly hammered home by his awful father. After Wylan runs away from home, his dad sends letters to him purely to twist the knife about his illiteracy—the man is outright trolling his own son, so gross.

At some point, when I reread the books, I’ll have to see if Wylan feels autistic-coded there as well. Nothing jumped out at me my first time reading them, not like with David (yet another neurodivergent Shadow and Bone character for me to write about—Leigh Bardugo is out here doing the lord’s work!) But on the show, he definitely feels autistic. I mean, he’s a socially-awkward STEM whiz who struggles to fit in with the Crows, so it kind of goes with the general territory, but to me, it’s more than just that.

My headcanon is informed a lot by Wylan’s body language, the way he skirts eye contact and the way he reacts to loud noises (even as a demolitions expert.) He carries himself in a way that’s anxious not to be perceived—he’s definitely at his most comfortable when he’s alone, tinkering or mixing powders and chemicals. When he’s in company, he’s always at least a little bit on edge.

But for all that, he does want to fit in with the Crows, which I like. Autistic-coded characters who are highly intelligent and studious are often portrayed as being indifferent to other people, or outright looking down on them. And that’s an okay depiction to have, but too often, it’s the only depiction out there. I like that Wylan wants to have friends but doesn’t quite know how to go about it, hovering at the edge of the group like a timid bird. And when he does wade in, just as often as not, he gets it wrong. When the Crows use a deserted cemetery as a meeting spot, Wylan eagerly infodumps about a past outbreak of firepox in Ketterdam, but it’s not an interesting historical tidbit for the others—for Kaz, it’s tied up in the roots of his trauma, and he snaps at Wylan, quickly shutting him up.

In online discussions about neurodivergent headcanons, I see a lot of people touting a “classic autistic/ADHD ship dynamic,” but in most of the relationships they talk about, the character that gets labeled as ADHD seems super AuDHD to me. (A few examples include Ed from Our Flag Means Death, Leslie from Parks and Rec, and Calvin from Lessons in Chemistry—more on that last one another day!) But with Wylan and Jesper, it is more of an autistic/ADHD dynamic, and I like what that looks like for their relationship. Jesper can be a whirlwind that not always easy for Wylan to keep up with, and they hit more than one stumbling block on their way to getting together, but the affection between them includes making space for one another even when they don’t always understand each other, which is lovely.

One of my favorite Jesper/Wylan moments comes in the second half of season 2. The Crows have just finished a leg of an incredibly dangerous mission in Shu Han, and they barely escaped with their lives. The guys had hit a rough patch just before everything popped off, and as they head off for their next journey, all Wylan wants to talk about is a rare butterfly he saw earlier in the night. Jesper knows nothing about this particular species and has no interest in it, but in that moment, he’s utterly happy to listen to Wylan infodump all about it—very sweet!