So, I have some thoughts on Viren, Terry, and Claudia. (Naturally, spoilers for Book 4 ahead, as well as discussions of domestic abuse. I’ll also note here in case somebody wants to do some Discourse™ - I hope it’s not necessary, but still, in case - that I am a survivor of abuse, and have been a caregiver for my abuser, a parent.) With that said, let’s dive in (dive off?)!
Terry and Claudia treat Viren in completely opposite ways. Three guesses who treats him the “right way” - that’s right, the one who didn’t have to grow up being taught and emotionally abused by him. In a work explicitly about breaking the cycles of harm, this is very significant. This is a meta about this.
In many ways it’s completely natural (in a terrible way) for an abused child to, when finding herself suddenly more powerful by far than her abuser, to treat the abuser the way that she herself has been treated and seen modeled. Terry obviously hasn’t been raised (badly, dangerously, harmfully) by Viren.
Obviously, Claudia’s dark magic raising gives her a sense of entitlement towards the bodies of others -- they’re used for spell components, after all! Why should she listen if Viren says that he’d prefer palliative care than the slim chance of survival (and certainly a less enjoyable time than “enjoying the time he does have” would be)? He has no say over his own body; she’s a dark mage, she’s in charge here, so what happens to bodies is her domain, not the domain of the people in them.
Terry, again, does not have this. In fact, he models a very different conceptualization of love - a healthy one - when he says (I’ve slightly paraphrased rather than dig through the episode again for the exact dialogue) “I don’t control them. Plants and I have a healthy relationship. I know that they’ll be there for me when I need it.”
Claudia hits Viren. She embraces him, and he weeps. Terry suggests hugging Viren, then, when Viren doesn’t consent to it, Terry verbally states “I respect your boundaries”.
“That went well,” says Terry, when Viren first dismisses him. He seems to mean it. When Viren tells him, essentially, to suck it up about having killed somebody, he puts in a lot of thought, then has a genuine discussion with Viren about why he isn’t going to do that, and what he’s going to do instead. (It reminds me of Amaya’s “two cakes” assertion.) Terry is showing Claudia and Viren both a better way to love than what they have been practicing... and, right now, Viren seems more receptive than Claudia.
Neither Terry nor Claudia seem to notice initially that Viren is struggling with the ascent up the Storm Spire; however, it’s important to note that Terry is following Claudia’s lead. When Viren has a panic attack and loses consciousness, Terry, without being patronizing or critical, grounds and reassures him, telling him what’s going on and affirming that it’s okay. Terry is sitting with him. Claudia... is not. She’s standing ahead, impatient. When they keep going, she continues to lead the way; Terry follows not her, directly, now, but Viren; stays on the other side of him so he’s no longer bringing up the rear, can no longer fall behind unnoticed.
Viren tries to hand the staff that he once used over to Claudia. She uses it for one spell, then.... then who is carrying it? Terry.
Terry offers Viren a hand up. Viren hesitates. (Claudia never gives him an option to say ‘no’ about receiving physical contact.) The last time somebody offered Viren a hand up, and he took it, I think was Sarai, just before her death (her death, one could argue, because she stopped to save him). He takes Terry’s offered hand. I don’t think he wants Terry dead.
It’s also interesting that as much as Terry struggles (as he should, of course!) with taking a life while Viren scoffs that he has never hesitated to do the worst things imaginable to protect his family... Terry says to Claudia that she’s done terrible things, but until now (until it’s about a moonshadow elf rather than Viren’s life) he’s believed they were justified.
Viren also seems genuinely considering of what Terry has to say about feelings, and protecting people, and at the least awkward and at most genuinely sorry for snapping at him the way he did.
Then, of course, there’s The Scene. The coming out scene, where Terry says that he chose the name Terrestrius. Viren says “it’s a strong name.” Strong. It’s his idea of an affirmation.
“I ask you and your brother to reject history as a narrative of strength, and instead have faith that it can be a narrative of love.”
I think Terry’s offering up love as an alternative to strength. Unlike Claudia, he doesn’t expect Viren to be strong. He reaches out his hand to Viren. To assist him when he is, this season, shown to be physically weak. (“There will be stories of armies, battles, and decisive victories. But this isn’t true strength — it’s merely power. I now believe true strength is found in vulnerability. In forgiveness. In love.”)
