We get to see Essek be a bit cringe in the privacy of his own home

We did get a taste of that cringe in the chapter snippet released via this Polygon article (*cue dramatic throwing of items on desk*) where Essek lashes out after receiving a sending from Ludinus. We’ve never seen him outwardly display such strong emotions at that point in the timeline of the campaign, so I’m excited to see what else he does to warrant this cringe status lol.

There are multiple flashbacks interspersed in the story

We will most likely get to see Essek think through significant moments with the Nein. The review also mentions him contemplating how they “convinced him to walk on the floor,” which I can already hear him reflecting irritatedly yet fondly about.

Essek examines himself in the mirror and compares his looks to his parents

We got a look into Deirta’s story in the animated series but we still know sooo little about Mr. Thelyss. Dani Carr, if this is the moment we finally learn more about his lore I will be forever grateful to you. I have always been of the mind that Essek looks most like his father because his daddy issues are strongest, and after the animated series released it turns out I was right >:) See that evidence here. But truly I do want to know how Essek views himself in comparison to his parents, who he surely knows view him as a failure in many ways.

Essek: “What would happen if, instead of standing still, he made the most frightening choice possible and let himself fall?”

Astrid: “We’re his liabilities, not his Volstrucker. I am sick of it.”

Sprinkle: “Day after day, I continued to defy death!”

Avantika: “No more careful walking around men's ambitions. No more surviving and calling it a life. If she wants power, she will take it for herself.”