Aedion Lied. Rhysand Didn’t
aedion: mask: the “Wolf of the North,” brutal general who never loses a battle for Adarlan reality: the battles are staged, the deaths are faked, and the soldiers literally get up afterward and go home
rhysand: mask: feared ruler of the Court of Nightmares who routinely terrorizes, tortures, and sexually humiliates people to maintain control reality: …he does all of that. he just feels bad about it sometimes. and also he’s very nice to a small, hidden city of people who means he’s actually a good guy, promise.
the difference is not “morality,” it’s material harm.
aedion's mask is a lie. the violence he's known for does not actually happen.
rhysand’s “mask” is just… branding.
the narrative keeps insisting that his cruelty is an act, but then: – the torture still happens – the victims still exist – the trauma is still real – the power imbalance is still enforced
“he’s pretending to be awful” only works if the awfulness isn’t real.
you do not get moral credit for being secretly kind to Velaris while knowingly ruling a court built on terror and exploitation. that’s not a mask; that’s compartmentalization.
aedion takes on a reputation so others don’t have to suffer.
rhysand maintains a reputation by making sure people do suffer and then asks the reader to applaud him because he has an inner monologue about how hard it is.
that’s not depth. that’s just doing the bad thing and insisting it counts as character complexity.
