JamiKali

Jamikali is the slash ship between Jamil Viper and Kalim Al-Asim from the Twisted Wonderland fandom.

Canon
Kalim and Jamil hail from the land of Scalding Sands. Kalim is heir to the Al-Asim household, while Jamil's family is a long lineage of servants under the house Asim. Both boys grew together and had a good relation between them. However, Jamil learned to hold himself back with the push of his parents so that he couldn’t overshine Kalim, the house’s heir.

Eventually, this led to Jamil developing an unrelenting hatred towards Kalim, as he is a very proud person, but he had to keep his emotions under wraps so that it would not bring any inconveniences to him or his family. It was a resentment stemming from the fact that he could never get the recognition that Kalim seemed to be easily handed. This resentment is shown after he overblots when he said he wanted to be number one. In contrast, Kalim, ever oblivious to Jamil’s emotions, was the person to receive the recognition for Jamil’s hard work. He was very happy to have a loyal and trusty friend like Jamil by his side to the point that he always complimented him near constantly.

When Jamil received the acceptance letter from NRC (Night Raven College), he believed it was his chance to gain his freedom and to never hold back from anything or anyone. However, his happiness got cut short when two months after the beginning of the school year, he finds out that Kalim also unknowingly enrolled at NRC as well. This caused him to lose his freedom and the chance of him becoming the House warden of Scarabia in order to still fulfill his duties as Kalim's servant. He later learned from the Headmage that Kalim's admission was due to a very generous donation from Kalim's father that he couldn't refuse.

Prologue
Only Kalim made an appearance in the prologue.

Chapter 1
Both Kalim and Jamil made an appearance together in episode 1-8. Both were mentioned by Trey clover and Cater Diamond and their sprites were shown.

Chapter 2
Both of them appear in episode 2-17, in which Jamil was one of the students that got injured on “accident”. They were both interrogated about the events by Riddle Rosehearts, Cater Diamond, MC, and Grimm.

Chapter 3
Kalim and Jamil make an appearance in Octavinelle finale (episode 3-39) for a small preview about the plot of next chapter. This is the first reveal of the Scarabian training camp.

Chapter 4
In this chapter, MC and Grimm met Jamil in the kitchen during winter break alongside many Scarabia students. Here they learn that Kalim gave the order that all Scarabia Students must stay in school during winter break to follow a harsh studying session because Scarabia placed last in both the Magift Tournament and the midterm exams. During this, Kalim showed very different personalities, he went from cheery and positive to downright bossy and selfish within the spawn of few minutes. With his alternative personality, He gave the order to the other students to lock MC and Grimm in Scarabia, and also forced them to participate in the study regiment.

Later it is shown that his “alternate personality” was actually Jamil hypnotizing Kalim into going along with his plan to get him kicked out of school which was eventually revealed by Azul and his henchmen. This leads him to overblot and push the group away but Kalim seems to be less interested in being angry and more concerned about Jamil’s wellbeing, going so far as to fight him out of his blotted state and crying over Jamil when he passes out. The chapter ends in a party, Disney-style, but it’s more or less clearly defined that Jamil isn’t hiding his intentions anymore when Kalim assumes their friendship once again.

Chapter 5
Jamil and Kalim are still reeling the effects of Jamil’s overblot, but are shown to be in Book 5 working through it. Most of Scarabia rightfully holds a grudge against Jamil for his hypnosis over the whole dorm, but Kalim keeps him as his vice-housewarden due to their situation being more nuanced, saying “He’s not the only one at fault for this mess” and sharing the blame. This shows Kalim’s character growth as he starts to understand the status he has over other people and how he uses his experience with Jamil’s overblot to better their relationship. It shows that Kalim is finally starting to understand who Jamil really is instead of a best-friend standin. Even after the incident, Kalim stays loyal to him because in his eyes, Jamil could’ve hurt him much much sooner and with more serious repercussions. To quote Kalim, “He let the dark thoughts get the better of him for a brief time. Other than that, he’s a perfectly capable guy…I know I can’t exactly call him a good guy, but still.” He says this after he reminds the dorm about why he was such a good vice-housewarden in the first place. Jamil is there to see this scene unfold and this has some effect on him as he is the one relaying this flashback.

After the flashback, Jamil states that they’ve been “treading water ever since” and that each Scarabia student was watching to see which side was more beneficial to work with, as true to their meaning of the dorm. According to him, his social standing has plummeted as a result of his overblot so he still chooses to hang out with Kalim even with their strained relationship.

Their relationship is later referenced in Book when Kalim tries to practice singing for the competition as he did not get a lead role. He realizes how much he’s been holding back Jamil in chapter 30 and basically proclaims that he wants to be at his level so that it could be an equal opportunity without any status at play. Jamil happens to see this interaction as well. Other than those two scenes, their relationship is fairly the same to outsiders.

Fanon
JamiKali is the second most popular ship under the Twisted Wonderland tag on AO3, with 270+ works. JamiKali quickly grew on the fandom due to their closeness and the lore behind Kalim and Jamil. People like to headcanon that Jamil always liked Kalim, but bottled up his emotions due to their difference in status. Another popular one is that Kalim wants to work harder in order to become better himself, but to also reduce Jamil's work and give him well deserved breaks.

While JamiKali is one of the most popular ships on the fandom, some people feel uncomfortable with it. It’s easy to see why as in canon, Jamil did attempt murder on multiple people, Kalim included, when he overblotted. Other reasons as to why the ship might not be for some fans, is the power imbalance between both characters as Jamil is technically a servant for Kalim. Not to mention, their completely different personalities. That's why fans started to ship both characters with other people, which formed new pairs in the fandom! Even if JamiKali is still the most popular by a mile, some of its rivals are AzuJami (Jamil x Azul) for Jamil, and FloKali (Floyd x Kalim) and SilKali (Silver x Kalim) for Kalim respectively.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Trivia

 * When Jamil cut himself with a knife on accident, Kalim stated that even the head cook was blown away.
 * Jamil's favorite dish is curry, while it is Kalim's least favorite.
 * In the vignette Agreements with Jamil, it’s stated that Kalim follows Jamil’s rule of not touching kitchenware