#darksight

Arctic never manipulated or attempted to change who Foeslayer was even with his all powerful magic giving him the power to do so

What makes Darksight different (and worse) is that Darkstalker was willing to control Clearsight, and when he "recreated" her, he never accepted the parts of Clearsight that made Clearsight who she was

Before anyone else brings it up, yes Arctic is a shitty awful emotionally abusive father who denied his daughter the agency he unwaveringly gave his wife, but the topic is his treatment of Foeslayer alone.

i like to imagine that for mind readers like listener, clearsights complicated ass brain is really really hard to get a grip on all at once. you walk past her and just mind-hear a loud ominous humming/swarming sound

Darkstalker was always incredibly manipulative, and no healthy functioning relationship can be born from that. From the moment he hatches, he knows that his mother loves him more because he's her perfect dragonet. He lets his sister's egg remain unhatched because he knows that he won't have to share his mother's love with her, at least not to the same extent, if she doesn't have the same powers.

Darkstalker also routinely lies to Clearsight about not reading her mind throughout the book, well before Fathom arrives. He thinks about how he could be king and even if he has to kill dragons to get there, it'll end up okay, and if he just nudges Clearsight in the right direction she'll understand. He thinks about this under the guise of "it'll make it easier and she'll understand one day," but it's blatantly deceitful.

Clearsight isn't innocent either. She remains so focused on the future and everything that could go wrong and trying to micromanage that, that she misses it actively happening. It isn't her fault, Darkstalker is solely responsible for his actions, but she even manipulates how they meet so it happens the way she wants.

In an effort to be on equal footing, they lie to each other and bend the truth or try to catch each other off guard. Some lies are innocuous but they build and build until there's nothing left. Their relationship is also built off of the expectation of a relationship. They do spend quality time together to get to know each other, but they immediately accept that the other is the only one for them despite being dragonets.

I think this toxicity is fascinating, and should be talked about more within the fandom! Both parties are deeply flawed and that's what makes them such good characters, but it's also why I don't believe they would've ever worked out. We know Clearsight saw futures where they were happy, but I don't believe those futures were likely at all. Darkstalker was power hungry from the moment he hatched, and Clearsight was far too detached from the present to have any chance at stopping him early on.

Say that you love me

Fool me, fool me

Go on and fool me

Love me, love me

Pretend that you love me

Leave me, leave me

Just say that you need me

(DISCLAIMER: This is a very personal drawing!)