I’ve been thinking about how it’s not really Laurent who’s responsible for portraying Auguste as a golden hero who could do no wrong. It’s actually mostly the regent, and the rest of the Veretian court following his example. It’s also Damen through his power as narrator.
Damen is the first character to describe Auguste. He introduces him as a noble warrior of indomitable spirit, a beacon of strength in the chaos of Marlas. An honorable man. A worthy foe. Even six years later, the impact he had on Damen is clear, and it’s also clear Damen respected him enormously.
Then throughout book 1, the regent and the court constantly hold up Auguste as a foil to Laurent’s shortcomings. Auguste was willing to serve his country as a soldier while Laurent is a coward who weasels out of border duty. Auguste was a true leader while Laurent just seduces and manipulates people. Auguste had honor, Laurent has none. This even goes on for more day-to-day events: the regent makes a point of reminding everyone that Auguste was actually good at hunting while Laurent has won only by killing a horse, and a random groom echoes his sentiments, telling Damen that Auguste tamed horses while Laurent kills them.
By the end of book 1, it was so well established that the world thought Auguste was the perfect warrior, perfect prince, perfect man, that I suspected that there would be a plot twist in book 2 that he was secretly evil or something. But at this point, Laurent has only mentioned Auguste indirectly, to say that he hasn’t believed in Akielon honor since Damianos killed his brother.
For all that Paschal says Laurent had hero-worshipped Auguste, we get a more human, less hero-worshippy picture of Auguste from Laurent than we do from any other character. Most of the time, when Laurent mentions Auguste, it’s to tell anecdotes of things Auguste said to Laurent or did with him–ordinary stories that suggest nothing more than that Auguste was a good brother. Laurent tells Damen that Auguste had no gift for practicing or recognizing deception, which in modern terms seems like a polite way of saying Auguste was a bit naive, and in Veretian terms might straight up mean Auguste was bad at politics. And he tells him Auguste preferred women, also not a trait valued in Veretian men.
This is significant, because it makes it far more striking when Laurent does make sweeping statements about Auguste’s greatness. It’s not that Laurent in general has an Auguste-shaped blind spot in his ability to judge character–instead, he’s talking about Auguste like that for a situation-specific reason.
The two times I can think of when Laurent sounds more like he’s talking about Auguste as a hero rather than Auguste as a regular person are in his sword fight with Damen in Kings Rising, when he nonsensically insists Auguste would have beat Damen in a duel; and in Prince’s Gambit, when he calls Auguste the best man he ever knew.
Laurent calls his brother the best man he ever knew and tells Damen he reminds him of him, and the fact that he always speaks of Auguste in down-to-earth terms makes the compliment more personal, more meaningful. There are similarities between Damen and Auguste readily apparent to anyone who knew the two men only slightly, or only by reputation. Both are great warriors, both are natural leaders, both are brave and loyal to their countries. But Laurent isn’t just saying Damen is like Auguste, the best man he ever knew, because Damen is a brave and honorable warrior. That’s not how Laurent talks about Auguste. No, Auguste is the best man Laurent ever knew because of who he was with his family, with the people he cared about, and Damen reminds him of that Auguste as well.
In terms of the sword fight, I think it makes the scene all the more heartbreaking. Throughout the trilogy, we hear again and again how good a fighter Auguste was. Laurent does this too, but not nearly to the same level. Laurent says he was not a fighter, like Auguste was, but it’s more a contrast of his and Auguste’s motivation to train than it is commentary on Auguste’s skill. Jord tells Damen you only need to be half as good as Auguste to be ten times as good as anyone else. In contrast, when Laurent explains he knew he would have to be very good to beat Damen, he doesn’t just say ‘because Damianos beat my brother,’ as Jord might have. He says it’s because Damianos was known to be the best fighter in Akielos and beat a large number of the best Veretian fighters.
From anyone else, Laurent’s insistence that Auguste was better, good enough to beat Damen might sound like disbelief that anyone could beat Auguste because Auguste was so impossibly talented. From Laurent, who doesn’t belabor his brother’s skill, it sounds like simple refusal Damen could beat Auguste because that would mean Auguste would die, and there’s a part of him that still can’t accept the world would let that happen.
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