Tyranny's code switching is interesting, especially when compared to her sisters, and I haven't seen a lot of talk about it.
Like, we really got a good look at it this last episode (29) with Tyranny with Wicander and Bolaire vs Tyranny with Yanessa. As well as how the sisters present themselves in bringing in Kattigan.
A lot of what we've seen of Tyranny so far has been her casual "I'm here to have fun and see new things" presentation. It's a presentation that is largely open to showing Tyranny's feelings, sharing her thoughts, and acting on impulses.
And why wouldn't this be what we mainly see? Most of the time, the only one around who can punish her harshly (aka return her to the Pit) is Wicander, and he's so lenient. Look at how much pushing it takes to get him to push back. His most likely response to her crossing a line is yelling (which Tyranny finds hot) or gentle corrections (which is more common). Everyone else? They might think it's weird, but they brush it off as her being a demon, maybe give her a little course correction if she oversteps.
And Tyranny is getting to explore the world, have some fun. And some not so fun times where she gets to vent her upset too. It's all a very open showing of feelings.
Then there's those moments of lock in, where Tyranny switches to professional demon mode. The presentation where you can believe that she's here to spread her father's dominion and work with great powers to take over the world.
This is what we see when Tyranny reports in to Yanessa after her and Wick's disappearing act, what we saw when she tricked the Mercanaud twins out of snipping Teor's shadow. It's a projections of competence and professionalism, a "Yes, your radiance, it shall be done" vs "Yeah, I can totally do that."
And it's not that Tyranny is any less competent when she's valley girling it up, we've seen her poking Wick and advising him while in casual mode, but that she brings it into focus when she goes professional.
And it's interesting that we haven't really seen that code switch from Tyranny's sisters.
Like, they can lock in while wearing disguises. There was no big give away to Kattigan or the Seekers when they encountered the sisters in disguise that these were goofy (scary) demons. But when Enmity, Agony, and Cruelty are in their true forms, they don't ever really go professional like Tyranny does.
I almost wonder if it has to do with the archtypes they embody. Or rather that the sisters maybe know and are committed to fully embodying theirs while Tyranny is still figuring hers out. After all, we don't know how much longer they've (maybe) been on Aramán than Tyranny.
Assuming their names match the archetype, at least in part, there's subtler versions of enmity, agony, and cruelty, some professionalism to be found. The right time and place to let loose vs button is up, the nice disposition hiding the knives. But tyranny? It can get a lot further if it looks professional, dependable, on the outside than being a kid in a candy shop, high on the power.
I dunno. I just think it's interesting we've seen Tyranny code switch from impulsive and a little goofy to buttoned up professional while her sisters really haven't, despite Brennan having demons take their cue from Whitney's choices in playing Tyranny.
