I cannot even put into words how tired I am of seeing people go on and on how Azriel is such an unproblematic character and the best of the Inner Circle, or how his only "flaw" is low self esteem. Just three things about his character everyone happily forgets:
HE TORTURES PEOPLE FOR A LIVING!!! That's, like, a MAJOR part of his job. He doesn't even seem to feel particularly bad about it. That's, uhm, not good. (And no one come at me saying that "they have different morals", because torture is presented as bad whenever someone outside of the IC does it.) And I'd like to point out that doing this job is very much his choice, since I'm sure he could have asked for a reassignment or something.
The entire matter with Mor. I know people like to pin the blame entirely on her (which I honestly find disturbing), but again: Getting a crush on someone at 17/18 and not letting it go for 500 years is extremely unhealthy. It doesn't matter if Mor tells him she's not interested, it's his responsibility to realize that (since she never shows any interest) and move on. I'd argue that Azriel is actually the one who's most at fault for the situation with Mor, since his continued pining pushes her to keep things secret (since she is apparently afraid of his reaction).
That scene where he attacks Eris during the High Lord meeting. First of all, that was extremely stupid! It was an important military meeting that could decide the fate of their land, and he attacks the son of a possible ally without provocation? Second, I know he was supposedly trying to defend Mor or something, but what he did left her "shaking and pale for hours afterwards" when until then, she had the situation completely under control. Yes, Eris insulted her, but she had picked that fight knowingly (for political reasons)! There was no reason for Azriel to intervene, and, quite frankly, he had no right. Especially since in his attempt to "protect" Mor, he obviously spared no thought at all for her wellbeing or wishes.
And in general, I keep hearing that he wouldn't stand for what Rhys and the others are doing (and hey, it's cool to have your own views of characters! I do that, too!), BUT I have not yet seen much textual evidence. He seems to see nothing wrong with the way the Illyrians and the people from the Hewn City are treated. He helped Rhys make that deal with Eris without telling Mor and apparently didn't object. While we don't see him treating Nesta badly, he certainly doesn't try to help her or make things better either. So yeah, he's no better than the other members of the IC.
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