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Joseph Kavinsky, often referred to as simply Kavinsky, was a student at Aglionby Academy.


Biography[]

Early History[]

Joseph Kavinsky was the son of a Bulgarian mobster who lived in New Jersey. He and his mother lived in a "vinyl mansion" near Henrietta. Kavinsky was known for his drug-fueled parties, drag races, and the ability to procure powerful drugs and illegal fireworks. His Fourth of July parties were legendary. Kavinsky clearly had a talent for crime. He came from a pretty terrible home life and clearly struggled a lot with self-hatred and drug addiction.

The Dream Thieves[]

Kavinsky approaches the Raven Boys at Nino's one day and gives Ronan a pile of leather wristbands identical to the ones Ronan always wears. His only explanation is, "I just thought of you. Regift them. White rabbit shit." In retaliation, Ronan dreams a near-perfect copy of Kavinsky's ever-present white sunglasses.

Declan later tells Ronan he doesn't want him around Kavinsky. He tells Ronan that Kavinsky is dangerous but doesn't offer a concrete reason why. After church, Ronan runs into Kavinsky at an intersection. Ronan tosses the dream sunglasses to Kavinsky, who admires them, despite the tint being a shade too dark. They street race.

Kavinsky later drops off a pile of fake IDs with Ronan's face and details (the birthdate obviously wrong, probably on purpose) at Monmouth. Believing that Kavinsky was also responsible for breaking in and trashing their apartment, Gansey and Ronan go to confront him. They find Kavinsky at an abandoned fairground in the middle of a substance party. Ronan throws Kavinsky over the hood of his Mitsubishi Evo and punches him. Gansey warns Kavinsky to stay out of Monmouth. Kavinsky has no idea what they're talking about. Ronan throws a fake ID at him.

Kavinsky is proud of the IDs but denies trashing Monmouth. Gansey and Ronan eventually concede that Kavinsky might be telling the truth, which means that someone else is after them. At Kavinsky's prodding, Ronan blows up the Mitsubishi. Kavinsky asks Ronan to come to his Fourth of July party. Gansey tells Kavinsky to stay out of Monmouth, and he and Ronan leave. Kavinsky texts Ronan, "see you on the streets."

The next day, Ronan steals the Pig and goes to race Kavinsky. Noah appears in the Camaro. Ronan greets him and says he hasn't seen Noah for a while. Noah says he doesn't want to watch Ronan die and threatens to get Gansey. Ronan is not impressed. Kavinsky pulls up in a Mitsubishi identical to Kavinsky's previous car, the one Ronan blew up. In the distance, Kavinsky's friends pull up in their cars: Jiang’s Supra, Skov's RX-7, and Swan and Prokopenko’s matching Golfs. Ronan had beat them all before. Kavinsky and Ronan race. Impossibly, Kavinsky's Mitsubishi beats the Camaro and drives far ahead.

Kavinsky returns to save Ronan from the night horror attacking the Camaro. He shoots the night horror with a "small, imaginary-looking gun, shiny as chrome." He kills it in two shots but shoots it four more times. Kavinsky does not seem affected by the night horror. He gets out of his car and comes to look at the wrecked Camaro.

Kavinsky asks Ronan to think, saying, "What did your mom do when your goldfish died?" Ronan doesn't understand, so Kavinsky repeats the question. Ronan still doesn't get it. Kavinsky tells him to put the night horror in the back of the Mitsubishi and get in.

Kavinsky drives them to the fairground. He stops and tells Ronan, "I know what you are." Then he shows Ronan dozens of white Mitsubishis, identical to the one Ronan destroyed. On closer look, Ronan realizes they aren't identical. The more he looks, the more he realizes many of them have mistakes: missing lights, missing doors, strange headlights. Ronan realizes these are dream cars. Kavinsky took them from his dreams.

Sometime later, Kavinsky answers Gansey from Ronan's cell phone. He tells Gansey the Camaro is totaled. He toys with Gansey and tells him Ronan can't come to the phone because he's having a coming of age moment. Gansey asks Kavinsky what he wants. Kavinsky says, "Same thing I always want. To be entertained."

Ronan wakes up in Kavinsky's home theatre. He has realized that everything Kavinsky gave him was a dream thing. Kavinsky snorts a line of coke and they bicker. Kavinsky tells Ronan he's seen him do it. Kavinsky claims to have watched Ronan's "suicide attempt" from Prokopenko's window. He saw Ronan wake up and the blood appear. He's known for months, well before they started racing each other.

Ronan then demands Kavinsky to tell him how he controls his dreams. Kavinsky agrees to teach him. They go to the fairgrounds, where Ronan shows him what he can do. Kavinsky is not impressed by Ronan's pen. He produces a green pill. It knocks him out and stops his pulse. Then he wakes up holding a pen cap. He gives Ronan a green pill and begins teaching him how to be a dream "thief."

Ronan tries to dream up the Camaro. It's a poor attempt and is missing the engine. Ronan and Kavinsky argue, and Kavinsky tells him he had to practice and wait for the dream place to "get its juice back." Kavinsky compares dreaming to stealing televisions from Walmart--"Walmart can't keep making TVs all night long!" Kavinsky gives Ronan a red pill. As Ronan is falling asleep, immobile to the drug, Kavinsky presumably touches his tattoo, Ronan sees this happen, but soon after sees him snorting a line of coke before he falls asleep. Ronan is able to dream up a perfect copy of the Camaro. He realizes that Kavinsky's and his dreaming is draining Cabeswater and the ley line. He tells Kavinsky he's leaving. Kavinsky tries to convince Ronan to leave Gansey and stay with him. Ronan refuses.

Kavinsky begins texting Ronan seemingly without purpose. Ronan asks him whether he would stop dreaming if he knew it was destroying the world. Kavinsky's response: "god that would be awesome." Blue and the Raven Boys decide they need to stop Kavinsky if they want to bring Cabeswater back.

On Fourth of July, Kavinsky texts Ronan what's up mofo from first Matthew Lynch's and then his own phone. Then he texts Ronan bring something fun to fourth of july or we'll see which pill works the best on your brother. Ronan calls Kavinsky, who taunts him. He tells Ronan to come to the Fourth of July party. Matthew, Kavinsky says, can be the finale. Ronan says he won't get away with it. Kavinsky says he got away with his father and Prokopenko.

Ronan, Blue, and Gansey arrive at the Fourth of July party. They wait until Kavinsky appears on the roof of a white Mitsubishi. Ronan grabs Kavinsky by the throat and demands to know where Matthew is. Instead of telling him, Kavinsky taunts him, then takes a green pill. Ronan follows him into the dream. Their dream world is the same. Ronan pleads with Kavinsky to stop. He asks Kavinsky to stay in reality. Reality, Kavinsky says, is what other people dream for you. Ronan says it's not enough. Ronan tries again to stop Kavinsky but he fails. Kavinsky dreams up a dragon made of fire and wakes up. After Adam fixes the ley line, Ronan dreams up a massive night horror and follows him.

As Gansey and Blue search for Matthew, Ronan's and Kavinsky's monsters fight. Ronan, knowing he could stop Kavinsky by killing him, refuses and demands Kavinsky tell him where Matthew is. Kavinsky deflects, saying all he wanted was this, the dream monsters fighting, Ronan creating dream things with him, or Ronan interacting with him, it's really not clear. 

Ronan realizes there is only one car untouched by the dream monsters. Matthew is in the trunk. He rushes towards it and releases Matthew just as the dream creatures are coming at them. Ronan drags Matthew to the ground, shielding him. He yells at Kavinsky to get down. Kavinsky says, "The world's a nightmare." The dragon explodes into him. Kavinsky slumps into the ground. The dragon goes limp and Prokopenko's car crashes into a building. Ronan knows Kavinsky is dead.

Personality[]

Kavinsky is abusive, rude, vindictive, and dangerous. He swears a lot. He is utterly hedonistic and has a complete disregard for the health and safety of himself and those around him. When he manifests dream objects, he steals them, compared to Ronan, who asks. He uses his ability for his own, selfish purposes, which eventually contribute to his death when he takes a fire dragon out of his dream. He likes to race Ronan and has a field full of replicas of the same car. There is "nothing about Kavinsky that wasn't despicable."[1]

Physical Description[]

Kavinsky is considered handsome. He has a long nose, spiked hair, dark eyebrows, and hollow, heavy-lidded eyes. In The Dream Thieves, he is described as having, "a refugee's face, hollow-eyed and innocent." Kavinsky typically wears a white tank top and a distinctive pair of white-rimmed sunglasses. He has a small earring in one ear and wears a gold chain around his neck.

Possessions[]

  • Mitsubishi Evo: Kavinsky's car. It's moon-white with a black grille and has an immense knife decal on one side of the body.
  • Sunglasses: K is almost always seen wearing a distinctive pair of white-rimmed sunglasses.
  • 'Gun: A small chrome pistol inscribed with the word 'Dreamkiller along the muzzle.

Relationships[]

Ronan Lynch[]

Kavinsky and Ronan clearly have an abusive relationship. Kavinsky has an unhealthy interest in Ronan. He's clearly attracted to him, and it's not clear whether his reputation with women is genuine or just him compensating. Even when both boys refuse to admit they're attracted to each other, there's nonetheless clear sexual tension to their relationship. They are constantly competing with and insulting each other. Kavinsky in particular likes taunting Ronan about his relationship with Gansey, alternately using homophobic comments about their nonexistent sexual relationship and calling Ronan "Gansey's dog." Kavinsky attempts to draw Ronan away from Gansey and his other friends. When Ronan leaves to return to them, Kavinsky tells him that he thought that Ronan was going to leave Gansey for him. When Ronan doesn't, Kavinsky acts even more violent and manipulative toward him. Kavinsky kidnaps Matthew and has him in the trunk of his Mitsubishi during the events of the Fourth of July party. He puts Matthew directly in harms way, but it is unclear if he had intent to kill Matthew with himself in a murder-suicide. Overall, their relationship was intense and unhealthy and ended in Kavinsky's suicide.


Mr. Kavinsky[]

Kavinsky is rumored to have tried to kill his father and is the reason why he was sent to Aglionby. Kavinsky tells Ronan that his father tried to kill him. It is likely that Kavinsky learned his abusive behavior from his father. It is also possible that Mr. Kavinsky is a dream creature. Kavinsky taunts Ronan over trying to kill Matthew by saying, "I got away with dear old Dad. And Prokopenko. And no offense to your brother, but they were a lot more complicated."

Appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • Rather than Disney movies, Kavinsky has porn in his home theater.
  • He has a license plate that says Thief.
  • Kavinsky's car, a Mitsubishi Evo, is modeled off of author Maggie Stiefvater's own car.[2]

Gallery[]

Maggie Stiefvater[]

Fanart[]

References[]

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