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before the lunatics call me a cesar apologist, i would like to say that i just enjoy a villain. i mourn the normal childhood ruby, cesar, and enzo could have had if it wasn’t for their batshit crazy father. i appreciated the backstory for cesar because it dives into how he was brainwashed into thinking violence = love. i’m not saying he was right in his treatment towards ruby but tbh, who wouldn’t also be insane if their dad beat the living shit out of them every single time something inconvenienced him? even ruby went insane. as of now, i truly don’t see any redemption for him but it saddens me to see him live through abuse and continue the cycle without ever breaking free and becoming happy. unfortunately for him, i believe he’ll only stay a villain. if they didn’t show how crazy abusive his dad was to him also, i think i would have been able to hate him without feeling guilty. truly, if he had just communicated with ruby that everything he did was to protect her, i believe things wouldn’t have been as twisted as they are now. yes it was wrong, i’m not defending him! the pseudo incest was nasty, not defending him again, but i do see why he would grow to be obsessed with ruby. his dad’s fucking crazy and beats him, and enzo gets to do whatever he wants because he’s the pope’s real son PLUS he’s not considered capable enough to be the next pope. obviously with those two, ruby who’s innocent and sweet (my poor ruby ) would be his only solace. not defending him! cus ppl can’t understand a nuanced take.
moving on to freya, i was lowkey disappointed that her arc as a villain wasn’t as fully developed as cesar’s. with her, she’s just branded as some jealous woman who wanted to become queen. but why? i wish we could’ve gotten more! i haven’t read the novel or seen any spoilers so i don’t know what happens next but i wish we could’ve gotten backstory on her too. why is she so obsessed with power? did she truly love izek? what’s her relationship like with her mom (as we’ve seen in previous chapters, it’s not the nicest) i do sense a small redemption arc with the most recent chapter but i wish we got something else besides her being a childish woman whose sole purpose was to get in between ruby and izek. i’m so tired of women being villains but it’s only because they want the man like hello?? women are so much more than their relationship with a man? we could’ve gotten a woman who was hungry for power. she could’ve harmed both ruby AND izek because they’re the greatest contender for the throne. but no, they went the route of her wanting izek and wanting to be a queen. why couldn’t it just be her wanting to be a queen? no man! freya could have been cesar’s level of a villain and not just some third rate villain.