#and i love to include ahura in those hcs. especially after reading ff (iirc) bc medusa and sue talk about their kids in it

[kingmaximusboltagon]

This is a loaded question, and I've asked it on another Inhumans fan blog, but what's your take on the possibility that Black Bolt is autistic-coded? Or that Black Bolt and Maximus are both autistic, but express it differently because Maximus has comorbidities such as brain injury?

Obviously, there is no one-on-one real life analogue for Black Bolt's destructive voice, or his isolation while trying to control his powers. However, I see it as symbolic of how people without mental mouth filters can destroy conversations and relationships by saying the wrong thing. While Black Bolt's voice causes actual destruction, he's also done plenty to wreck his relationship with his loved ones (Ahura, for example). His isolation and training to keep silent would then be symbolic of people who clam up because they believe they can never say the right thing.

While it's more likely that artists are choosing to be lazy, there's also scenes where Black Bolt does not try to communicate, even in sign language. Or scenes where, though he is signing, he never communicates more than the basics. It could be that, in a face-to-face conversation, he has no way to describe what he is actually feeling at a given time. Certainly he and Maximus have had several errors in communication where Maximus believes Black Bolt hates him and wants revenge, but Black Bolt loves him and only wants to help, but he struggles to find a way to actually convey that to his brother.

There's also stories where Black Bolt, like his friend and fellow autistic-coded Reed Richards, has run off and done something unorthodox by both human and Inhuman standards, not bothering to explain himself before hand because it actually made sense to his personal logic. It's led to a lot of misconceptions over his motives and character, even among his closest friends. By the time things are over , Black Bolt, like Reed, always forgives them for doubting him, likely because he's used to this treatment. On the other hand, Maximus holds grudges a mile long over even misconstrued doubts and slights.

Finally, there's the fact that in scenarios where Black Bolt can talk, whether it's an AU, or he has some sort of power nullifier, there's moments where he's gone on tangents and needs to be steered back to the actual topic at hand. This is, again, something I have experience with.

Overall, it would be interesting to see how neither Black Bolt nor Maximus are neurotypical, but they express it differently. And it would be one more vulnerability to add to Black Bolt, who usually seems so stoic and regal.

hmmm.. this is definitely interesting to think about. imo one of the most interesting things about the inhumans is how terrible their society is (was) despite so many of the royal family going directly against those societal expectations. triton needing accommodations to be on land, gorgon using a wheelchair/having chronic pain, maximus having prosthetics and being neurodivergent (i really wish they would go into more specifics with that! it all feels so vague… especially since sometimes they explain it as something other than a disorder).

and as some other people have mentioned, there’s definitely some subtext for triton, though he hasn’t appeared in too many of the comics i’ve read so far, so i can’t comment much on him. i do think an argument could be made for karnak, as well, though! though maybe that's just me. i find some of his personality very relatable.

but back to the boltagons. considering the comics have commented more than once that ahura could “inherent maximus’ madness”, and there’s that one comic (more than one?) where bb’s tuning fork is damaged and he begins hallucinating (just like maximus!), i think there’s definitely something that runs in the family that agon could very well have also had. whether it’s autism specifically, i’m not sure i could really say, as i haven’t been diagnosed with it, so i really can’t speak from any type of experience on that. but i do think you make very good points, and i certainly don’t think he’s neurotypical, based off what the comics have stated and his upbringing! (i like to think he also has social anxiety)

plus, as you mentioned the comics where he does talk - in those that i’ve read, it seems even then he keeps the tuning fork. i very strongly believe it has some type of control over his mental state, something that agon would have created for him while he was very young, and something he wouldn’t know how to exist without… that tied with the communication issues, his general personality of appeasing, his tangents in zombies (man, did i love him in zombies, even if it was such a short role), i can definitely see it. it would 100% add to his character, and i think would also give further reasoning into some of his decisions, especially maximus or ahura related. i would love a comic focused on the three and their mental health.

#i do think hes very relatable as someone with adhd though #which has a lot of overlap with autism! #so i do feel that theres something there and can definitely be seen in the subtext #and if i wish it hard enough maybe just... the text? 😳 #but yes!! i think i kinda tangented myself in this ask but tldr is yeah very big hc #and i love to include ahura in those hcs. especially after reading ff (iirc) bc medusa and sue talk about their kids in it #and i LOVE LOVE LOVE ahura in it and his relationship with medusa and how medusa (and crystal!) think of him #how they mention that he has good and bad mental days and always try to accommodate him #it means a real big lot to me and i WISH some of that writing was included for bb and maximus more often #i have a LOT of thoughts on bb and neurodivergence and i think max's is one of the reasons ive latched onto him so hard #but im not gonna get into any of that in the tags rn and tbh i dont even know how to write half of those thoughts and feelings #which if anything shows how strongly i relate to the two. the rep i feel from bb is... very comforting. i love these boys so so much #blackagar boltagon #maximus boltagon #ahura boltagon #triton mander azur #gorgon petragon #karnak mander azur #king agon #agon #? i forgot my tag for him oops #inhumans #ask