radha rama.
the analysis
radha rama is such an interesting character, because she has the potential to be more than she is, but she plays by the rules of the game and aims to follow in her father's footsteps – she idolizes rajamannar, eager to maintain his approval of her.
her father's validation is something she's been consciously striving to attain from a young age, and as a woman, it's something she's put consistent effort into, especially with how she's surrounded by the harshest of men at court.
the power her presence exudes and the way she wields fear is something she imbibed through carefully watching her environment. and she definitely had to figure out how to come across as ruthless, because Khansaar especially is a shark-eats-shark world.
her hatred for Varadha is something she's been familiar with ever since he was born, and she hates him even more than Rudra does – but unlike Rudra, she never wasted her energy on childhood pranks and displays of ego, instead putting that drive towards building herself: she's extremely self-reliant and a self-made person.
she's very ambitious, and completely capable of using anyone to get where she wants, and definitely thinks that relying on people emotionally, or telling them your plans, is weakness.
she seems like the type of person who doesn't understand the need for emotional vulnerability or forming relationships, unless it's to build connections. she's indifferent to her own brother, distant with her husband, and yet has utmost fealty for rajamannar's word, but we aren't sure yet if that is as his daughter, or in service to her karta.
she's very situationally aware and keeps tabs of her own on the lords and others at court, through obulamma, and other possible connections she has,
which is why it's all the more surprising that she was blindsided by her own husband - she was surprisingly affected when she found out that bharava was a shouryaanga.
which leads me to believe she either: overlooked the signs because she was fond of him (which is doubtful) or she severely underestimated him.
bharava is someone who most likely has very little emotional attachment to radha rama, with how devoted he is to the shouryaangas and their goal. all he had needed was a way into the mannar family and to be closer to the throne, and he easily could have convinced radha rama that he wanted the wealth and status. additionally, with how self-reliant rama is, she wouldn't have had a pressing motive to take a husband, which leads us to the possibility that bharava was able to provide something of value to radha rama in exchange.
with what we know of rama so far, it's easy to assume that she wanted to live on her own terms, personally and politically. her view on relationships and her primarily logical nature would've led to her wanting to get marriage out of the way, and particularly to someone who would not interfere with her life.
she definitely thought she was trading him a seat in court, in exchange for her absolute freedom.
so, in a way, she underestimated him and assumed he was another violent, power-hungry man, not unlike every other man she'd had experience handling.
but to discover that she'd let an enemy into her closest circle must have been a shock to her, especially with her self-assuredness and her devotion to her father and his cause.
