Ooh! That's a good take. I don't hate Letio's character at all. I know he's crazy and obsessed but... I understand why he's so obsessed with Selena. Well, I think I do (人 •ᴗ•)
It's because she told him that there's another way to live. I mean, he's lived in survival mode, at the mercy of everyone when he was young. So, it's only fitting that he saw Selena as his savior. I don't like thinking that it's a shallow kind of love. She gave him hope. That's a really powerful motivator.
And yeah, I agree! He doesn't know how better, and he doesn't know how to express love at all. I mean, there's no doubt in my mind that he loves her. He knows her, keeps her secrets and helps her behind the scenes... He's like the stalker that doesn't plan to hurt you? Ugh. That sounds bad, but that's what he is. And Selena knows that he's crazy, that he's the original protagonist, so she doesn't see him as a love interest at all.
Anyway, this is just my opinion too! (*˘︶˘*).｡*♡
I personally had connected the dots from the way the saving scene was portrayed in the beginning = him wanting to end his life and her being his saving light even if we didn't know why he wanted to khs or why she became his hope. I don't think us judging if it was reason enough would change anything.
Even if he was annoying, I still think his character had lots of depth (even if less than the main characters obvi). And I felt really bad when he was rejected for 2 reasons:
1. Selena genuinely accepted his feelings and very clearly rejected them (whereas it's usually the MC dismissing/belittling the feelings), the tone of the story was grave and serious
2. We were shown that Letio's feelings were not superficial (maybe even too important lol) and that it was his sole reason for living. Thus the rejection being devastating.
So yeah, I believe empathy played a role but also media literacy (understanding ppl are not white or black).
Yeah. I don't really get why others think his love is shallow. And I imagine young Letio decided to try to khs because he was driven out basically, forced to survive on his own. It was mentioned that after being driven out of the palace, assassins after his life continued the pursuit. I bet he's so tired of running and surviving. He's supposed to grow up as a prince, but he was raised by assassins and learned their way of life.
Also, people who make other people their world exists in real life. It's quite an easy trap to fall into, especially when you've felt invisible/miserable all your life. Haaa. I feel so sad that I pray he gets a good ending too. .·´¯`(>▂<)´¯`·.
Ah, empathy always plays a role (and media literacy/reading comprehension/contextual understanding, sure!). It's so important that we get a refresher about it at work ( ◜‿◝ )♡
i know the general consensus around letio is that he’s annoying me crazy and a sociopath. & i’m definitely not disagreeing with that, like hell i totally have the same feelings but i cannot help but feel SO BAD for him
first of all, what do we know about letio as a character? we know that he’s the empress’s lost son and the original protagonist of the story but in this story he’s also deeply loyal and in love with selena. but i have always been confused on why??? like from what they showed us at the beginning, selena saved him from drowning and that it. they didn’t show anything about the conversation they had or the context of why he was drowning in the first place, till we were super deep into the story already, with both only being revealed when he met the empress for the first time and when he found selena again after she ran.
because of this, his character and motivations throughout the story is so shallow?? like really all we knew about him is that he’s obsessed with selena just because she saved him once. i just feel like he was never given time to grow and have depth as a character.
him falling in love with selena because she saved him after he had given up on everything, living a horrible life with no reason to really live. but selena saved him and promised him that one day he too, will have a happy ending. like this is so interesting??!! this shows us so much more of the reasons behind his motivations and actions and why he is so obsessed with selena.
and then his confession scene where he was begging selena to not leave him because she was his only hope and light. — we never once rlly saw that letio viewed selena as someone he was living solely living for. like yeah he killed a bunch of ppl for her and all but he just felt like the typically shallow obsessed 2nd male lead, it didn’t feel like that was rlly any motivation behind it besides “letio loves selena = must kill those who hurt her” but in the most shallow way possible
maybe i’m just a big empath but i felt so bad for him when selena was rejecting him. like yeah don’t get me wrong he’s insane and everything he did was crazy and definitely WRONG. but is it crazy if i say that he literally doesn’t know better?
idk these r just my thoughts. i feel like a lot could’ve been done w his character and his interactions with selena and the people around him better. take my words w a grain of salt! maybe i should read the novel to see if anything was changed