Saddle anon again. Tbh Dain is lowkey fascinating in the inconsistency between what we're told and how he acts. Like, I never hated Dain because honestly, maybe I'm just more into military fiction than some romantasy readers, but Dain's first appearance screamed PTSD to me, like the focus on saving Violet and please let me save someone in this godforesaken place vibe, read like someone who'd made friends and tried to save people here before and had to watch them die. But yeah, the character and the narrative always push this idea that Dain is a rule follower and codex lover, and this isn't just something Xaden pushes because he wants him away from Violet, he thinks it in his pov chapters too. But, yeah he's constantly willing to risk breaking the rules. And everyone likes to talk about the whole not believing Violet about Amber thing, but it's not Violet saying it, it's Xaden, and he has presented no proof at that point, even Violet hadn't confirmed it yet. I think it's much more obvious Dain does what he thinks is right, it's just what he thinks it right is the story he's grown up with, not what's actually right, and I think that's obvious in how quickly he turns when he discovers the truth.
I think if RY wanted to make Dain a rules guy, she should have let him rules lawyer it, use loop holes to get what he wants and work on technicalities, or make him more earnest and less overbaring. There are lots of examples of well done beloved rules guys, after all. Or, if he should have been a good but overbaring guy, that should have been more obvious.
Honestly, the more I think about it, the more it kind feels like Violet doesn't entirely know Dain that wel at all, just a version of him she wants to see or imagined, and when he didn't live up to that romantic vision of him she had in her head, she turned him into a villain. Doouble this given the implications that Asher might have been influencing the both of them from OS.
yeah this is all good stuff on how to improve Dain's function within the story because he's villainized worse than the fucking absolute monarchy in this series.
the part about how Dain's concern for Violet could be more self driven by PTSD and showing the damaging effects of The Death School does a much better job at expressing the impacts of this sort of environment rather than killing off characters i barely remember the names of. it would also do a better job at showing Violet how much Dain has changed from childhood to now. which the books barely do.
and Xaden is such an ass sometimes lmao. i wish people recognized this about him. he can come off like a jock. he's huge. he's strong. he's the bestest fighter ever, capable of taking down people who have 10+ years experience and training on him. and Dain, lbr, was raised as a nerd.
and the way Violet and Dain were raised should also come up more often because they are the nepo babies here. their family members are WELL established within the military and they were raised on military grounds. they are the most indoctrinated out of all of them. so if Violet gets the ultimate pass that doesn't have her really critically examine her biases towards Riders, then why does Dain have to be dragged through the mud?
also, as a side note, can we FINALLY get a copy of the Codex? people keep flouting this thing as the only thing that can control riders, but i highly doubt that.
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