Responses
apparently you can only be part of the kings heart council (and nobly mentally deranged in a way that mocks everyone with civic mental derangement or be the living embodiment of brain farts. There's no in-between. Except Ashler, whose personal tragedy revolves around him having spare common sense.
The only saving grace is that the merry band of villains around Trudi seem to only have access to EVEN LESS mentally equipped people (who think attacking a dragon in human form is their best idea as of yet, what could go wrong, really. Have a boulder.)
In every chapter, we have to reiterate that none of them, as in NONE OF THEM, is normal. They are all insane in varying degrees