Last one for the ask meme...what do you think of Mithras the Ventrue?
Your character choices for this were super fun! Thank you! :D
How I feel about this character
The man, the myth, the legend! He’s more myth than man in The Victorian Trilogy, and I really liked the concepts stuck to him: that he was once just a very good general; that it’s difficult to look straight at him/conceptualize him; that he’s super duper queer; that, even after multiple millennia, he is able to feel and feel deeply. He still grieves for his adopted son, for whatever prevents Kemintiri from finding peace, for friends long dead. There was a sense that he feels trapped by his responsibilities and people’s expectations of him, but he will perform them, and perform them well. The love his close friends have for him further suggested a likeability to the reader. Lady Anne Bowesley, Juliet Parr, and Roger de Camden are really cool. When the Giovanni demanded all Cappadocians be killed, Mithras stood up and said, “Not mine.”
Our Storyteller took Mithras’ story even further in our chronicle, San Andreas Nights. Our Ventrue patriarch, Enzo Bonpensiero, was inducted into the Cult of Mithras and helped plot the Camarilla attack on New York. On the surface, this attack was to reclaim New York City from the Sabbat. Enzo worked on a deeper intrigue: the re-establishment of the Eternal Senate, the waking of Evocati (basically Mithras’ old buddies who went into torpor to escape persecution), and the murder of Hardestadt, for his capitulation to the Giovanni.
I think Mithras very much embodies “heavy is the head that wears the crown.”
All the people I ship romantically with this character
I liked him and Kemintiri until she decided to be a doofus! There were much better ways to remind Mithras that he’s not a god! My goodness. ANYWAY, the only other Mithras ship I know is Mithras/Roger de Camden, and you know what: go be happy u big nerds. It’s really easy to imagine the pair of them, heads bent together over a map, speaking quietly to each other about such-and-such and this-and-that.
My non-romantic OTP for this character
Mithras and Lady Anne Bowesley ftw! We see a lot more of Lady Anne than Mithras in the Victorian Trilogy, and that woman works tirelessly for peace, while all other Kindred around her insist on performing nonsense (gotta love how the Tremere response to being slapped on the wrist is to plot an even bigger nonsense). She stabs patriarchy in the eye, and Mithras showers her with applause and praise. When Mithras is not suffering from malady, the Trilogy suggests they have a very good working relationship built on centuries of friendship. Almost like dual Princes of London: when one in charge, the other receives a break.
My unpopular opinion about this character
Granted I haven’t read all there is to read about London and the characters, but, um, Mithras is a better ruler than Hardestadt. Mithras isn’t destroying historical documents, mind-wiping his childer, hoarding wealth, and condoning genocide. He doesn’t like the British Empire, but it’s too big a Masquerade breach to stop. Mithras is out there confirming history, protecting his childer, has had the same chair for 200 years, and seeks justice for Cappadocians. Why don’t y’all write some homoerotic poetry and maybe ya’ll will calm down.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
I think he and Lady Anne deserve an extended holiday of rest and relaxation. Get London outta their lungs. Will the city be a crater when they return? Maybe. But they are le tired and need a nap.