#glitchinginthegarden

From the minute go, this story attempts to impress upon the reader that Zenos's whole deal is that he's just such an incredible, unbelievable genius that nearly every other person bores him to death because they're just so stupid compared to him. That's his problem, you see: he's just too smart for everyone! From a young age he has been burdened by his own genius.

So we are told. We are then shown this kid's unsurpassed genius in no meaningful way.

This line in particular is infuriating to me:

Even had his tutors not treated him with deference, Zenos had always had the better of them, regularly surprising them with brilliance.

What brilliance? What are these brilliant insights with which he so dazzled his learned instructors? We aren't given even a single one.

But none of that matters to the author, because they just need us to accept that Zenos is an unsurpassed genius and that's why he's Like This, so that we can move on the part of the story they actually want to tell: the part with swords in it.

And I'm not sold. I just don't buy it. If he was so bored and disengaged from his lessons, how was he offering his instructors brilliant insights? And if he was responding in this way, if his teachers were able to recognize his genius, why didn't they act accordingly and move him into more advanced lessons? In his position, even in his parents' absence, why would his aptitude have been ignored?

We're also told earlier that "he preferred the silent company of books" to that of his instructors. Okay, so what books? Clearly even at that young age he did have access to something that held his attention, but the story rushes past that point without showing us, because to actually do so would undercut the point the story thinks it's making: that nothing had ever held his attention before the Corvosi stranger enters his life. Except, something clearly did, because he was reading books independently of his lessons. And it's made clear to us later that Zenos basically has the run of the royal library, because after meeting the stranger, he starts tearing through it for books on combat and no one stops him.

The thing about kids in my experience, and especially particularly bright kids, is they're generally pretty curious. Smart kids can certainly suffer from boredom, but it's usually because they not being given access to learning and activities that are stimulating at their level. When they have those resources at their disposal, they are not bored. They are voracious. They want to learn, and they are excited to share what they've learned with anyone willing to listen--even those who might not share their aptitudes. You know this if you've ever had a bright child excitedly infodump to you about their special interest that's a little over your head. They don't care! Show even the slightest interest and they are thrilled to share.

Intelligence undirected doesn't actually mean very much. Even the most brilliant kid in the world is not born reciting random facts or magically understanding complex systems they've never been exposed to, like you see with Genius Kids™ in bad movies. A child may have an aptitude for learning, and they may learn knowledge or skills at a rate that shocks the adults around them, but they do still need to learn, and they need to want to learn.

Hilariously, one of the comparisons that comes to mind is Matilda--another fictional character who becomes extremely powerful thanks in part to the ennui of her upbringing by neglectful and indifferent adults. Matilda's intelligence is an undeniable part of her character and one Dahl clearly intends to be there, but it's an intelligence that is shown to the reader. We see Matilda find her way to the library; we not only see which books she checks out and reads on her own, we get to hear some of her thoughts on these adult books so we actually know how she is processing them as a small child.

But with Zenos, we start with this contradictory picture of a kid who is both a voracious reader and utterly bored by everything, dazzlingly brilliant in his lessons while also completely detached from them. It's a very common pitfall with a writer trying to write a Smart Character (especially a smart child character) without putting much thought into how their intelligence actually shows itself.

I simply do not buy that a kid as smart as Zenos is supposed to be, with the kind of access to information and learning that he plainly has at his disposal (considering how quickly he's able to track down the secrets of the Unyielding Blade once he starts giving a shit) would be as bored and disinterested in everyone around him as we're meant to believe he is at the beginning. Like, that doesn't actually convince me he's a genius. It just makes me think he's an incurious twit who thinks he's already above it all and doesn't care to learn more.

So is Zenos actually brilliant, or does he just believe all other people are beneath him? Is his boredom actually due to his intelligence, or is he just terminally incurious until someone hits him hard enough? The author doesn't really seem to know, or care. We're just supposed to accept that he's smart.

It's lazy. It's such lazy writing, and as a reader I honestly feel kind of insulted by it.

To be entirely fair, I do recognize one particular part of this story that I think is probably pretty important to Zenos's character and which I can understand why fans would be frustrated that people don't see, and that's this:

Zenos continued. “Second, battle offers no euphoria, despite what the tales may claim. Deep down I had always known this, yet I find myself disappointed nonetheless.” He tossed the crystal at his opponent’s corpse. “Your payment for these two lessons.” So it was that Zenos yae Galvus’s first true battle came to an end. Without further ceremony, he quit the training hall, washed, and put on the fresh clothes. By the time he sat at table for his evening repast he had quite forgotten the face of his tutor. And he settled into bed, he prayed as earnestly as a boy of his years might that one day he would cross paths with a worthy foe and feel such exhilaration as the heroic epics promised.

I can see how a surface look at Zenos solely in the game might cause someone to conclude that he delights in violence or killing for its own sake, and I can see how hearing that take would be frustrating for anyone who has dug deeper into his character and understand that it's not the case. Violence is the means through which Zenos seeks exhilaration, but it's clear that most violence doesn't actually grant it. The Corvosi swordsman piqued his interest, but ultimately disappointed him. He doesn't actually desire victory, but an equal.

And I wrote about before, but this is what actually needles me so much about having to fight Zenos one last time in Ultima Thule: he wins. He gets what he wants. He never wanted victory. Had he beaten the Warrior of Light, it would have been the ultimate disappointment.