#nathian

The ending of 'Ravenlord' is important for many reasons, but among other things, I find the question of loyalty and leadership responsibility particularly interesting.

While Corax tends to take on an enormous amount of personal responsibility, even for things beyond his control (though this is likely not a positive trait but another manifestation of his ego), at the same time, when his pride drives him to act impulsively or irrationally, he fails to realize how this may be perceived by his legionaries – especially those whom he has led to genuinely believe in the cause.

Part of this may be because, for Corax, loyalty to the Emperor is simply a given, and he seeks no reward or recognition for it, so he expects the same from his subordinates, and in my view, he does not sufficiently value their individual devotion. Even though Corax knew there would be traitors within the legion, until this moment he had never connected this to the consequences of his own mistakes.

Here, Nathian is important not so much in himself, but precisely as an example and manifestation of Corax’s pride, stubbornness, and disregard. No matter how wrong Nathian himself may be, his grievances are partly valid. Loyalty cuts both ways; it is not a given, and one must live up to it.