#hurog

Ward's first impression of him is of "a lad with the air of a dog that had been beaten once too often". he's immortal and has spent centuries enslaved to the heads of the Hurog family, and obedience is both enforced and habitual, but once inherited by Ward and shown kindness that turns into fierce loyalty quite fast. Ward explicitly compares him to an abused animal who needs to be carefully encouraged to trust, although he's also compared to an abused animal whose poor experiences have made it dangerous to be around, which is also true! because he is, as it happens, powerful as fuck and kind of a dick. see previous post I made on this topic: honestly, Oreg is the Guy Who's A Dog of all time and I love him for that. dangerous as hell? check. shown compassion one (1) time and turned that into undying loyalty? check. "this person matters and everyone else can go hang"? check. fight response forced into freeze response when the threat is an authority? check. honestly kind of a dick? check. Dragon Blood gets into this a bit more and I love it. the way Tisala and Ward have complete opposite opinions of Oreg— Ward: you're very powerful and very damaged, which means I need to protect you even though you think you're protecting me Tisala: you're very powerful and very damaged, which makes you unpredictable and genuinely dangerous —and they're both justified! particularly fond of that one scene where Tisala pulls Oreg aside and goes I need you to talk to my friend but you're both wound tight as wires right now and for some reason your only functional coping mechanism is being a fucking stirrer, and if you mess with him he'll go for you and if it comes to a fight you will kill him, so I'm going to nip that in the bud right now, BEHAVE.