@extremely-judgemental ok you got me thinking again about this
Does cassian see anyone close to him as individuals? Or perceive/conceptualize them beyond thier purpose in his life? (This includes rhysand too, to my surprise)
Like,, we find out in the wings & embers novella that a huge reason, even if he regretted it bc of what happens afterwards, he slept with mor was to hurt azriel. He literally saw that azriel (whom he bullied severely in childhood) was getting closer to Morrigan and was jealous that azriel "might not be entirely his anymore", so he decided to interfere to ruin that (potential) bond.
This adds another messed up layer to the disaster that is the "failed engagement" backstory for Morrigan; cause there's a high possibility that he doesn't even like or care about neither azriel or Morrigan's wellbeing, but basically uses them for validation of *not* being a bastard. Therefore the moment these two deviate from their positions of "best buddy who is always in second place to me" (az) and "pedestalized ideal who'll fuck me" (mor) they need to be put back in place, no matter how damaging the means are.
(I wonder what reaction cassian would've had if Morrigan breaking her engagement by having sex with him went all fine and dandy actually. I think he only felt remorse because of how extreme the consequences were, not the action itself)
The only reason this isn't really noticed as a character trait for cassian is because his surface level personality and the narrative portrays him as a uwu himbo fratboy and you're supposed to root for him despite everything. And the few times that the mask is off, and his true colors are revealed, it's done to characters that the narrative primed the reader to hate viscously, regardless of context (nesta, to some degree eris)
(I could say a ton about "nessian" and how fucked up it is, but it won't be anything someone else hasn't said and can be summed up as this: cassian wants a mate and a family. Nesta is cassian's mate. Cassian will break Nesta to have a mate and a family)
It kinda goes to show how fucked up he is tbh. All of cassian's relationships (personal or otherwise) are there to maintain his main character fantasy and he's willing to do anything, ranging from selflagellation to abuse of a 25yr old to basically selling out his own people by enforcing rhysand's brutality towards them for a crumb of that sweet, sweet validation from his destined superior. Christ almighty.
