Working on part 26 of “Wait for me,” and any of the necromancer characters (Isla, Rae, Centross) could have easily turned out like Lennarius had the circumstances been just a bit different.
Not to spoil too much what happens in the next part so if you don’t want a vague idea of the first chapter then ignore this post but…
Like Rae and Centross talk about it and their feelings towards Len. They both acknowledge that it would take one death and a bit less support from those around them to turn out like Lennarius.
Even Isla has a moment where she’s like “I don’t care if killing you [talking to someone] will make me a monster as long as my child and his friends are safe.” All it would take is a death or two and grief to turn Isla, a character who has been nothing but kind and supportive to others (ignoring the point where she threatened Momboo into bringing Rae back), into a monster like Lennarius.
And Lennarius is a character who is hated and feared for very good reasons. He’s not a good person. He’s grieving Vorago’s death and dealing with it horribly (you thought Rae had bad coping mechanisms?????) to the point where he made himself into a monster just to bring Vorago back, regardless of if that’s something Vorago actually wants. Lennarius is feared and hated, but also pitied by some who can understand the pain of loosing family