diff --git a/write.go b/write.go
index fb44a48..74e5ea5 100644
--- a/write.go
+++ b/write.go
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ type WriteOptions struct {
 
 type EventTraveller struct {
 	ID       string
-	JSON     []byte
 	Event    roots.ValidatedEvent
 	Subgraph *EventSubgraph
 	Error    error
@@ -37,12 +36,10 @@ type WriteReport struct {
 	Error                error
 }
 
-var ErrMalformedJSON = errors.New("unrecognized event format")
-var ErrInvalidEvent = errors.New("invalid event")
 var ErrDuplicate = errors.New("event already exists")
 
 func WriteEvents(
-	events [][]byte,
+	events []roots.ValidatedEvent,
 	driver neo4j.Driver, boltdb *bolt.DB,
 	opts *WriteOptions,
 ) WriteReport {
@@ -59,14 +56,15 @@ func WriteEvents(
 		return WriteReport{Error: fmt.Errorf("error setting up bolt db: %w", err)}
 	}
 
-	travellers := createEventTravellers(events)
-	parsed, parseExcluded := parseEventJSON(travellers)
-	queued, policyExcluded := enforcePolicyRules(parsed, boltdb, opts.BoltReadBatchSize)
+	travellers := make([]EventTraveller, 0, len(events))
+	for _, e := range events {
+		travellers = append(travellers, EventTraveller{ID: e.ID(), Event: e})
+	}
+
+	queued, excluded := enforcePolicyRules(travellers, boltdb, opts.BoltReadBatchSize)
 	converted := convertEventsToSubgraphs(queued, opts.Expanders)
 	writeResult := writeEventsToDatabases(driver, boltdb, converted)
 
-	excluded := append(parseExcluded, policyExcluded...)
-
 	return WriteReport{
 		ExcludedEvents:       excluded,
 		CreatedEventCount:    len(events) - len(excluded),
@@ -85,38 +83,6 @@ func setDefaultWriteOptions(opts *WriteOptions) {
 	}
 }
 
-func createEventTravellers(jsons [][]byte) []EventTraveller {
-	travellers := make([]EventTraveller, 0, len(jsons))
-	for _, j := range jsons {
-		travellers = append(travellers, EventTraveller{JSON: j})
-	}
-	return travellers
-}
-
-func parseEventJSON(in []EventTraveller) (parsed []EventTraveller, excluded []EventTraveller) {
-	for _, traveller := range in {
-		var raw roots.Event
-		err := json.Unmarshal(traveller.JSON, &raw)
-		if err != nil {
-			traveller.Error = fmt.Errorf("rejected: %w: %w", ErrMalformedJSON, err)
-			excluded = append(excluded, traveller)
-			continue
-		}
-
-		validated, err := roots.NewValidatedEvent(raw)
-		if err != nil {
-			traveller.Error = fmt.Errorf("rejected: %w: %w", ErrInvalidEvent, err)
-			excluded = append(excluded, traveller)
-			continue
-		}
-
-		traveller.ID = validated.ID()
-		traveller.Event = validated
-		parsed = append(parsed, traveller)
-	}
-	return parsed, excluded
-}
-
 func enforcePolicyRules(in []EventTraveller, boltdb *bolt.DB, batchSize int) (queued []EventTraveller, excluded []EventTraveller) {
 	for i := 0; i < len(in); i += batchSize {
 		end := i + batchSize
@@ -169,8 +135,11 @@ func writeEventsToDatabases(driver neo4j.Driver, boltdb *bolt.DB, travellers []E
 func writeEventsToBoltDB(boltdb *bolt.DB, travellers []EventTraveller) error {
 	var events []EventBlob
 	for _, traveller := range travellers {
-		events = append(events,
-			EventBlob{ID: []byte(traveller.ID), JSON: traveller.JSON})
+		j, err := json.Marshal(traveller.Event)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to serialize event %s: %w", traveller.ID, err)
+		}
+		events = append(events, EventBlob{ID: []byte(traveller.ID), JSON: j})
 	}
 	return BatchWriteEvents(boltdb, events)
 }
@@ -190,5 +159,3 @@ func writeEventsToGraphDB(driver neo4j.Driver, travellers []EventTraveller) ([]n
 
 	return MergeSubgraph(context.Background(), driver, batch)
 }
-
-
diff --git a/write_test.go b/write_test.go
index f4c568d..2685aca 100644
--- a/write_test.go
+++ b/write_test.go
@@ -6,139 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 )
 
-// Test helpers
-
-func validEventJSON() []byte {
-	return []byte(`{"id":"c7a702e6158744ca03508bbb4c90f9dbb0d6e88fefbfaa511d5ab24b4e3c48ad","pubkey":"cfa87f35acbde29ba1ab3ee42de527b2cad33ac487e80cf2d6405ea0042c8fef","created_at":1760740551,"kind":1,"tags":[],"content":"hello world","sig":"83b71e15649c9e9da362c175f988c36404cabf357a976d869102a74451cfb8af486f6088b5631033b4927bd46cad7a0d90d7f624aefc0ac260364aa65c36071a"}`)
-}
-
-func invalidEventJSON() []byte {
-	return []byte(`{"id":"abc123","pubkey":"xyz789","created_at":1000,"kind":1,"content":"test","tags":[],"sig":"abc"}`)
-}
-
-func malformedEventJSON() []byte {
-	return []byte(`{malformed json`)
-}
-
 // Pipeline stage tests
 
-func TestCreateEventTravellers(t *testing.T) {
-	cases := []struct {
-		name     string
-		input    [][]byte
-		expected []EventTraveller
-	}{
-		{
-			name:     "empty input",
-			input:    [][]byte{},
-			expected: []EventTraveller{},
-		},
-		{
-			name:  "single json",
-			input: [][]byte{[]byte("test1")},
-			expected: []EventTraveller{
-				{JSON: []byte("test1")},
-			},
-		},
-		{
-			name:  "multiple jsons",
-			input: [][]byte{[]byte("test1"), []byte("test2"), []byte("test3")},
-			expected: []EventTraveller{
-				{JSON: []byte("test1")},
-				{JSON: []byte("test2")},
-				{JSON: []byte("test3")},
-			},
-		},
-	}
-
-	for _, tc := range cases {
-		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			result := createEventTravellers(tc.input)
-
-			assert.Equal(t, len(tc.expected), len(result))
-			for i := range tc.expected {
-				assert.Equal(t, tc.expected[i].JSON, result[i].JSON)
-			}
-		})
-	}
-}
-
-func TestParseEventJSON(t *testing.T) {
-	cases := []struct {
-		name          string
-		input         []EventTraveller
-		wantParsed    int
-		wantRejected  int
-		checkParsedID bool
-		expectedID    string
-		wantErrorText string
-	}{
-		{
-			name: "valid event",
-			input: []EventTraveller{
-				{JSON: validEventJSON()},
-			},
-			wantParsed:    1,
-			wantRejected:  0,
-			checkParsedID: true,
-			expectedID:    "c7a702e6158744ca03508bbb4c90f9dbb0d6e88fefbfaa511d5ab24b4e3c48ad",
-		},
-		{
-			name: "invalid event",
-			input: []EventTraveller{
-				{JSON: invalidEventJSON()},
-			},
-			wantParsed:    0,
-			wantRejected:  1,
-			wantErrorText: "rejected: invalid event",
-		},
-		{
-			name: "malformed json",
-			input: []EventTraveller{
-				{JSON: malformedEventJSON()},
-			},
-			wantParsed:    0,
-			wantRejected:  1,
-			wantErrorText: "rejected: unrecognized event format",
-		},
-		{
-			name: "mixed batch",
-			input: []EventTraveller{
-				{JSON: invalidEventJSON()},
-				{JSON: malformedEventJSON()},
-				{JSON: validEventJSON()},
-			},
-			wantParsed:   1,
-			wantRejected: 2,
-		},
-	}
-
-	for _, tc := range cases {
-		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			parsed, rejected := parseEventJSON(tc.input)
-
-			assert.Equal(t, tc.wantParsed, len(parsed))
-			assert.Equal(t, tc.wantRejected, len(rejected))
-
-			// Smoke test first parsed id
-			if tc.checkParsedID && len(parsed) > 0 {
-				assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedID, parsed[0].ID)
-				assert.NotEmpty(t, parsed[0].Event.ID)
-			}
-
-			// Check error text on first rejected event
-			if tc.wantErrorText != "" {
-				assert.ErrorContains(t, rejected[0].Error, tc.wantErrorText)
-			}
-
-			for _, reject := range rejected {
-				assert.NotNil(t, reject.Error)
-				assert.Empty(t, reject.Event.ID())
-			}
-		})
-	}
-}
-
 func TestEnforcePolicyRules(t *testing.T) {
 	db := tempDB(t)
 	require.NoError(t, SetupBoltDB(db))