Why would Viren send Soren to kill the broyals?
I’m bothered by the fact that Viren chose to send Soren in particular to kill the broyals. Why? It seems strange that a highly controlling and manipulative man would send his ditzy child to carry out a delicate mission.
Firstly, Soren questioned Viren’s orders in the tower when he was asked to only to detain Callum. It seems odd that after that Viren would think it wise to then ask Soren to kill them. There’s a big difference between the two. It is also Soren’s sworn duty to protect the broyals as a Crownguard, and from what we’ve seen of Soren it appears that he takes his job rather seriously. Not only that, but it is directly against Soren’s nature.
He is shown to be sensitive and gentle towards those with less power than himself (The pretend stab to get Claudia’s attention, Soren and the tracking hounds, emotional eating after a tense conversation with dad, the split second of wonder while watching the moon month fly around him). Yes, we have seen Soren at the point of lopping off Runaan’s head, but he had reason to as the king (who he was sworn to protect) has just been killed only moments before, and we can assume he has learnt some of his father’s biases in respect to the elves. On top of that, Viren also has a very low opinion of his son, and it’s quite clear that he favours Claudia over Soren.
He clearly cannot stand Soren. In terms of legacy or whatnot, there’s no way that Viren actually plans to have Soren as his heir I’m sorry.
This is a complete 180 from Viren’s behaviour as shown above. Even Soren seems confused at the sudden affection he is now being shown. Viren is cunning, he must know that his son is too gentle to murder two kids.
Which brings me to the why there may be anything motive for this mission. It doesn’t matter which way the mission goes, Viren benefits from the results. If Soren manages to kill the broyals, not only would Viren have access to the throne, but also would have managed to test Soren’s loyalty and gain a pawn. If Soren fails, he will most likely die. Viren knows that an elf has taken the princes and he also must have some suspicion that Amaya would have sent someone else as well, as he knows that she doesn’t trust him and if he honestly thinks so that is some bad judgement on his behalf. He has also ordered Claudia to place priority on the egg over her brother.
Having Soren out of the way means that Viren doesn’t have to worry about having a possible loose cannon, someone who questions his orders in front of the other guards (to a control freak this would have especially ticked him off). It also gives Viren more control over Claudia, as it is clear that she is the prodigal child. She practices dark magic, spends more time with Viren, and is given a mission that to Viren is of utmost importance. He trusts her more than Soren. But her and Soren are a tight-knit unit, and if Soren begins to have doubts about his father and the mission and talks to Claudia about them, she will most likely listen. Even if she dismisses them, the damage may already have been done. The last benefit is the image boost it gives to Viren.
If his own son were to die on a mission to rescue the Princes it would demonstrate Viren’s dedication to the kingdom, as well as create bigger enemies of Xadia (if that’s even possible at this point).
Viren is a cunning and manipulative man, and there must exist some ulterior motive for giving such an important mission to his dumb son. Amaya tells Gren and the guards to be wary of Viren as ‘he will stab you in the back’ (Thanks Biggles for pointing this out)
This implies that Viren has a history of sly betrayal. Yes, Viren doesn’t have henchmen per se, but he’s a very powerful sorcerer and possibly has the ability to magic some form of beast or charm a guard to do his dirty work. If he chose Soren for the mission there must’ve been a good reason for him to do so.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
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