Work Text:
The Zhat Vash are a mythic cabal of Romulan spies that are:
- a separate and secret faction from the known organization of Romulan spies (the Tal Shiar)
- highly skilled and dispassionately lethal
- mainly women
- trained via mind manipulation and a version of electroshock therapy
In short, they are the Romulan Black Widow Program. I decided to make it explicit.
Narek and Narissa are so overtly flirtatious and physical that they are nicknamed the 'Romulannisters'. I include examples of this in the vid, and therefore tagged it 'incest'. However, unlike Jamie and Cersei, their relationship can be read as on the line of incestuous but not over it. My take is they are all each other has. They are not able to have real intimacy with anyone outside the organization, and everyone inside the organization is just as mentally unstable and distrustful as they are, and I'm sure relationships are regulated. They lost their parents young and were raised in a decidedly unhealthy environment where they were purposefully traumatized and trained to lie, seduce, and kill. They cling to each other because they are the only real thing they have left, the only real thing they ever had.
Title: Smells Like Teen Spirit
Artist: Maila J
Footage: Black Widow; Star Trek: Picard