I was wondering what exactly are Iliya and Dimitri’s opinion on Ben? And also what are some differences in the way the two characters treat him?
Ben is the latest of Volkov’s toys. However, like Volkov, they see Ben as fresh meat. He’s never been a victim before and they smell blood in the water. They both enjoy watching him suffer and there’s probably been many evenings when they were doing abusing Ben that they either had to go take a cold shower or finish themselves off. Dmitri is always trying to get Volkov’s approval. Volkov is his mentor and has been for some time now. He has that same deep sadistic streak in him that lets him get off on inflicting pain and enjoying people suffering. He also thoroughly enjoys humiliating people. Ilya, while also nursing a hefty sadistic streak that Volkov works to cultivate, is not quite as creative in ways to abuse people. He doesn't like playing second fiddle to Dmitri, but he knows he hasn't earned the number two position yet. Ilya tends to rush things and accidentally inflict worse damage than he intends, like we saw when he tried to force feed Ben when he was sick. At the end of the day, Ilya is more of a brute and less clever than Dmitri. Dmitri is more subtle and cruel in his methods, like when he caned Ben and spent the last several strokes hitting him in the exact same spot.
