My Theories - Tumblr Posts

It depends on what Soman wants to prioritize in Fall's ending? The shock factor or tragedy?

If it's shock, Fall could end with any manner of plot twists, identity swaps, other possibilities, etc. But shock may only last as long as it takes your brain to catch up; tragedy leaves a lasting impression, and will always make you consider what could have been.

I expect both shock and tragedy because they often go hand in hand, but I'd prefer tragedy, I guess?

If it's tragedy, think about it:

Why build up Rafal as the most widely sympathetic character in Rise, to not tear him down? And then, not make him the tragic villain? A tragic villain could be more tragic than an undeserved death. Partly, because he's orchestrated his own downfall by means of his own flaws. Becoming a villain and living as someone else or the worst version of yourself is arguably worse than just dying and being remembered for the way you once were. Because your self and memory are tarnished.

In becoming what he is in the main series canon, the main series villain, we get to see how far he's fallen. And, that is potentially far more tragic, seeing how far he's fallen and what he's become. This would also be a bonus to the readers of the main series because Rafal tends to elicit more of a reaction from us than Rhian. Because, we've only known Rhian for one book versus our longtime familiarity with Rafal?

Also, at this moment, Rhian has less motive/cause to become a villain than Rafal does. (Unless something happens to Rhian in Fall, and changes him.) I mean, who's the one who is always annoyed by and complains in his internal monologue about all the blithering idiots he's surrounded by? Rafal!

The Creation Theory and Context for “When Lightning Falls”

If anyone has been around these parts long enough, yes, this theory was dredged up from an old post’s comment section because it’s relevant to my upcoming Fall prediction fic, “When Lightning Falls.” And, yes, I'm aware that it could definitely be outdated by canon.

Note: One thing about the fic that is different from this theory though: Rhian is Good and Rafal is Evil. The Storian’s manipulation, puppetry, and intentional inciting of confusion don’t apply in the exact same way in the fic as they do in the theory. In the fic, the brothers were just created as replacements for the old School Master, to fill the role. That is the purpose they were created for. And, their purpose in life is to serve the Storian as School Masters. I will elaborate on that in a bit, if that comes across as unclear.

Also, in the fic, Rafal starts out only detecting a slight tear in the Storian’s veil, the elaborate illusion he’s been living in. I headcanon that, even as a child, he was the discerning, perceptive sort, and that almost nothing got past him. Unlike Rhian that is. Because with Rhian, you can pull the wool over his eyes, and he wouldn’t blink. It’s not Rhian’s fault though. He’s just moral and trusting, and thinks others are like himself.

⸻

Now, without any further ado:

I think magic is not dependent on soul purity every time. There are probably other unknown factors involved, like bloodlines possibly? I think in the case of canon, we just happen to see the exceptional cases, like Sophie and Agatha. They are pure, but they were created from magic, so of course, they would be more powerful than most. Partly, because of their souls' potential, and the unusual circumstances of their birth, I would guess.

This leads me to theorize that Rhian and Rafal must have also been the result of an unusual case.

(Thank you to @mariiwhalegirl for the prompting/inspiration!)

Before reading Rise, I thought vaguely that the brothers could have been born from magic, or that they were descended from an exceptionally magically-gifted bloodline. Now, these ideas are still possible, but since we don't know about any other pairs preceding them, we could assume that they are the first, created for the purpose of Balance. That's what I think after reading Rise. Because, all other Good-Evil pairs in the series were born after them.

They're more powerful as sorcerers than the average person (and maybe, less humanly flawed—however we decide to interpret that—hold onto that thought for a bit. It will come up later in this theory).

They are also more uncanny than the average family tree, which could have some black sheep members of the other side in it (where the branches have toxically mixed), but surely not of the same birth or even from the same generation. Like the few Evers in a Never kingdom, or the few Nevers in an Ever kingdom. But those are natural outliers.

I also remember that a lot of the time, being taken by the School Masters (this was probably from Aladdin's pov) was an honor, no matter what side you were destined for. It's almost entirely too much of a coincidence that the brothers’ job as School Masters, a job which existed before them, became their job. It's just too fitting.

So, with that, I propose that the Storian could have created, not borne them, for the sole purpose of taking on a job where naturally-born Evers and Nevers had previously failed.

They could be the only people in the Woods without real parents. No connection to anyone except the other of the pair. Besides, the aged man we saw in the prologue of Rise was only one man, not a Good and Evil pair. Using an already existent person, and removing their mortality didn't work, so maybe, a more enduring solution had to come from elsewhere, which led the Storian down the path of creation.

The Storian must have thought the brothers were the perfect fit for the job, like a god thinking their creation is flawless. But, the Storian probably forgot that despite everything and its creations' seeming invincibility, they were still human, still fallible.

The Storian must have thought no information would overturn its design of the system with not one, but the two School Masters intended for the role. Specifically, a system where the roles are reversed, and the two humans don't have the faintest idea that they are supporting the wrong side, if Rafal is Good and Rhian is Evil. That is still debatable.

Or, it might not have mattered who is which, Good or Evil, because the point was for their loyalty to their blood to override their loyalty to their side. So, by design, being loyal to a side that isn't theirs, that belongs to their blood (their brother), and never knowing this could keep them and the Woods in Balance.

They would be unwittingly supporting the other side, not their own, and thus, the risk of supporting their true side over their blood would be diminished, out of the question. Since they would never support the other side they believe isn't theirs. Since they are supporting their blood in a way by supporting their brother's true side.

To clarify, I mean, in supporting Evil, Rafal would be indirectly supporting what Rhian stands for, without realizing it, and Rhian would be doing the same, supporting Good which could be his brother's true side.

In fact, Rafal's seeing through the veil, the Storian's ruse, could be the reason why the Storian tried to distract him with fairy tales about himself, to get away from the real issue, and the hidden system falling apart. It could also explain why the Storian lashed out and cut Rafal's arm because now, Rafal's started on a dangerous and unstable train of thought, when he started questioning his Evil status and Rhian's Good status.

And, the Storian can't get Rafal to forget it, so letting it pass, or allowing for Rafal's self-destruction, whichever comes first, is the easiest way to wipe the slate clean. Except, maybe only one brother died by the end of the fated war, so the Storian's creations were harder to get rid of than it realized or ever anticipated.

(And, letting your creation think he’s going insane with paranoia usurping the seat of his mind is far less work than explaining yourself as an immortal deity. So, the problem will solve itself in time, albeit messily, and it will end in mortal tragedy. But who cares? As the Pen, it’s not your life at stake.)

So, the Storian could have spun an elaborate web of, not lies, but misperception to maintain the Balance. But anything built on an untruth isn't designed to last. Not that the Storian cared about its creations.

The Storian must have either decided to start afresh, like with a Noah's ark of destruction in some symbolic way by tearing down the brothers, or by triggering a specific sequence of the fated Great War. Or, it has mistakenly self-sabotaged itself and its Woods by letting its sentient creations become too self-aware, breaking from their originally-established, intentionally-switched roles.

Also, the Noah's ark thing: we've seen the Schools rising out of the sea (probably the Savage Sea?) in the trailer for Rise. I mean the new castle Schools, not the original manor by the way. So, that could be a parallel?

Also, there's the Abel and Cain parallel I've mentioned before. Abel and Cain are recognized as the first children borne by humans. And, Rhian and Rafal could possibly be the first children not borne by humans in the Endless Woods. That's why they could be an unprecedented, and thus exceptional case.

Lastly, it (the Storian’s system) could have been that the only way for Good and Evil to coexist stably: With an Ever to support Evil and a Never to support Good in such a high position. They would just have to be unaware of it to follow through with the job the Storian assigned them.

Basically, the theory here is that the Storian not only puppeted the brothers as they were, but that they are artificial souls, designed to be puppeted by their Master. They would be Masters in name only.

In actuality, they'd unconsciously be slaves to their creator.

In the end, I would call this theory: "The greatest trick the Devil Pen ever pulled was convincing Men that they were loyal to their own side."

And, Rafal did call the Pen "the little devil," so why not?

When Lightning Falls

This will be my last hurrah before the fall. So, happy reading! If it can be called that.

Summary:

A travesty and a tragedy, told in two parts. A flashback from Rhian and Rafal’s past as it ties to their present. From how they began and where they started to where they are now. From School grounds to the Great War in Neverland, suspicion and chaos abound. By the Storian’s reasoning and the Storian’s reasoning alone, where they began brought them to where their luck ran dry.

Context:

This, in a way, serves as both a prequel and a prediction fic. It’s sort of a two-shot, two-scene fic. Part 1 takes place when the brothers are around seven years old. And, the first part is largely based on my theory about the brothers’ origins. That theory is essentially about how the brothers could have been an exceptional case, born from magic, like Agatha and Sophie were, to be the souls that they are. And, not only that, they may have been created, not born, with a certain intent, so they could be used by a certain villainous pen.

Warning:

This fic is probably a bit less sympathetic toward Rafal by its conclusion than my usual writing is.

Important Note:

I have not yet read Fall. Please do not post spoilers in the comments, or send me any through PMs. I am trying to avoid all spoilers until I have the time to read Fall.

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Rhian ran toward Rafal when he landed with a soft thud. His brother had been teaching himself how to fly lately.

Lightning cracked overhead, lighting up the sky and the manor, almost as if it were day.

“Fala, I’m scared.” Rhian pressed against his brother hard, and Rafal didn’t shove him away. Rhian continued hyperventilating, one breath after another, like the treads of soldiers, constant and quickening.

Rafal held Rhian in his arms like a vise, and squeezed him with a comforting pressure. Rhian’s shallow, rapid breaths receded, and his shoulders stopped shaking.

Rhian lifted his head from where his chin had been resting on Rafal’s shoulders. “Why do you think the Storian won’t let us leave?”

Rafal let go, and brushed his sopping, white hair out of eyes. He remained silent.

Rhian continued on. “School Master says It will let us explore the Woods when we come of age. How old do you think we’ll be by then? Not as old as School Master, right?”

“Not as old as School Master. Maybe, as old as the students.” The growing brothers almost reached the School Master’s waist, but Rafal didn’t think it meant much. The School Master was stooping more by the day. Hunched more and more drastically, like he was withering.

“And not as wrinkly, either” said Rhian.

“No, not as wrinkly either. He’s probably due to die a couple years down the line.”

“How do you come up with these things?”

“Everyone dies. You know that,” Rafal averred.

“I know, but I don’t talk about dying all the time,” insisted Rhian.

Rafal frowned.

“So, why do you think we have to stay?” Rhian asked again.

Rafal glanced around as if he were afraid someone would look over his shoulder, but all the faculty and students were inside the warm glow of the manor. He peered into the nearby windows on his tiptoes, gripping the ledge. Just to be safe, he told himself. Then, he ducked down lower.

Rhian observed him, and furrowed his brow at his brother’s classic paranoia. “No one’s out here, Fala.” Nonetheless, Rhian followed him, and sat on the wet grass, leaning against the wall beside Rafal.

“I’m just making sure,” Rafal explained. “I haven’t got all the facts yet. But, the last time I was with School Master for a lesson, he looked nauseous. He said that we were growing like weeds, and might replace him one day. His voice croaked, his bones creaked, and his hands shook. But he continued on with that lesson, and it gave me an idea.”

“What about? I was with the Dean for Etiquette that day. He says ‘Etiquette is what separates Good from boorish Never thugs,’” Rhian recited.

Rafal’s expression soured and he rolled his eyes. “Ok, at some point, we have to have a talk about not believing everything you hear.” He got back on track. “He told me that once, all Ever kingdoms were more closed off than they are now. The common people were called serfs, and they were bound to the land of their kings.”

“Are we serfs, Fala?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet. Maybe, one day, we’ll solve it. Find out what It wants. Leave the School grounds.”

“But, the Pen is Good, right? Doesn’t It want us to be safe? Can’t we trust It? Shouldn’t we stay?”

Rafal didn’t respond, grimly clutching the soaked knees of his pants.

A clap of thunder resounded, followed by lightning riving the sky apart.

Rhian raised his voice over the roaring storm, to reassure his brother. “Then, we won’t be a bother or a burden anymore! Maybe, It’ll give us an important task someday. We won’t be worthless anymore! Maybe, we’ll be useful.”

“Maybe,” Rafal said pensively, too wary to agree, narrowing his eyes in thought.

⸻

Rhian awoke in the night with a jolt and stood. He had repeatedly fallen in and out of a dreamless, jarring, electric sleep. But, unlike his sleep, this place was far from colorless. No, the entire alien island of Neverland brimmed with power and electricity. It was enough to electrocute a full-grown Stymph.

The greens were electrifying. Vivid, electric greens. Deep emeralds. Wintry radium greens. Salty, metallic, phosphoric greens. Vibrant patina. Phantasmagorical greens permeated every vine and leaf. It was like a Man-made world. The first he’d ever known. The humid, acidic atmosphere clung, stinging eyes, and biting at exposed skin. His hair drooped lifelessly, and he moped at its sorry state, trying to arrange his curls so he’d look marginally presentable. The oppressive moisture did no good. His every attempt fell limp, and he gave up.

Although unseen insects hummed incessantly, Rhian knew he must have been the only human presence for miles. He was alone, for now. Yet, he didn’t feel alone. The jungle thrummed with life.

The sky on the other hand was bleak, overcast, a deep, iron grey. Its distortions reminded Rhian of a warped mirror, like he was under a dome, to be examined by some cosmic forces above. Only, he couldn’t see without. Others could only look within. And, oddly, he couldn’t see his own reflection in the broken sky.

His and Rafal’s bond had fractured like the shattered sky above them, and Rafal had taken off in the night, in a fit. They were divided as the broken firmaments above were, lightning criss-crossing, momentarily scarring the sky. Rhian wished he had been able to string together words in some way to force Rafal to understand. They’d uncovered cracks and flaws, but there was something, maybe, several things Rafal wasn’t telling him. And, it was infuriating not to be trusted. Afterall, the Storian was to blame. It alone with its tales had bred a competitive spirit within them. Lost in his thoughts, Rhian decided to keep walking, find civilization, if there was any in this hellscape.

Instead, he trod upon a war zone.

Rhian shook his head. He couldn’t tell which side was which. It was complete and pure chaos. Worse than any chess-like, storybook-sanctioned maneuvers. Was anything fair? Whose turn was it? There were no turns he soon realized. Real war wasn’t founded on turn-based gameplay. Then, what qualified as an Attack or a Defense? Anything and everything, he expected.

A long shadow glided toward Rhian, as if it were clawing and reaching for him, and he looked up. His shadow touched Rafal’s.

Rafal approached, all decked in black, eyes cold, face hardened like a mask, chiseled and sharp. He now stood a few yard lengths away from Rhian on the crest of a low outcropping of cracked, old stone. Lightning flashed behind him, as if it were at his command. A cruel, psychological trick of sorcery.

Rhian shuddered, intimidated.

Rafal looked like a living ice sculpture in the dying light of the moon. Neverland’s forest was drenched in a frosty blue.

Clenching his fists, Rafal stuffed down his traitorous thoughts. Yet, in the heat of the battle, months of pent-up stress and frustration and rage and guilt and Storian knows what were boiling over, irradiated emotion he couldn’t contain. Fear and unfounded suspicion. Mistrust and deceit all swirling in a cauldron. Those Seers! He'd kill those Seers, every last one! Look what they'd caused. They'd made a madman out of him. But, what if he were fated to do so? They would laugh at him in their dying breaths.

It was the Pen's fault, a voice said. It was the Pen's fault then! Mistrust of himself, of Rhian, that was unfounded, and irrational, and ridiculous. It mortified him. Thinking this way.

He was shaking now, and for the first time, he felt cold. And completely numb. And then, he felt nothing at all. His senses deadened, like he'd been drugged, sedated, his body leaden, like he was no longer in control of his own mind. A passive observer. The Evil, his inclination, the stirrings were taking over. Consuming him. His own soul betraying him. No, he shook his head. It was the Pan. It was Neverland. It was the air. Nothing more. A shadow. Facing his brother would be light enough to clear the shadows away. Clear the fog of war away.

Rhian was sure something was going on within Rafal, but he couldn’t tell what. His self-destruction?

Rafal told himself, this was his only choice, his only option now, the only solution. He was the School Master, who alive, could maintain the Schools, who wouldn't create one mess after another. He was the Pen’s only option. The Storian would favor him. It had to. He’d preserve order, nevermind Balance or love. He’d use the Rules because the Rules had never betrayed him. Rhian had betrayed the Rules. Following them was the only viable end. Ending his brother and his reign was the only viable end. When he tried to love his brother, he was only betrayed, by the only love he had ever relied on, by the person who was his match.

He needed someone who could love while in pain, shared pain, to fuel the darkness pumping in his heart, someone who’d been denied their victories, their End by all the world. He’d give someone else an Ending. Another True Love. Someone who’d been repressed, never free, like himself, always living in Good’s shadow. Someone else due credit like him. Who deserved to be acknowledged, appreciated for who they truly were. Someone who wouldn’t hide, who could be their true self with him and he with them. Someone who could never be good enough, no matter how hard they tried. Never pure. Never Good enough. Evil’s love. For sides, not Balance. None of the grey, the doubting, the blood ties, the torn loyalties, the competitive priorities. Someone on his side. For once, someone who’d support him. See eye to eye with him. Offer him a perspective his brother couldn’t.

If he couldn’t find another equal, he didn’t even need love. He would much rather prefer to be feared, obeyed. At least those were constants, reliable. Yes, that was his decision. His plan. Find a replacement. Find a True Love of his own. Succeed where Rhian failed. Overtake Good, prove Evil could love. That Evil could replace Good, have everything Evers had. Lead by example. Overtake his brother in what he couldn't do.

Rhian shuffled anxiously. Rafal had a faraway look in his eyes, and Rhian wouldn’t hesitate to call the psychotic gleam in his eyes crazed. “Rafal?”

Rafal jerked to attention, straightening rigidly. It was as if he’d moved to consciousness. “Rhian,” he said inscrutably. “I know how to free us from the Storian’s grasp, Rhian!” Rafal shouted across the battlefield, his voice echoing. He steepled his hands. “We have to break the Balance. Again. But this time, on purpose. The Pen can’t condemn us as failures if we prove we have the free will to choose to break the Balance and our connection to it. We can be human.”

Rhian’s head swam. Here Rafal was, spewing nonsense and contradictions. This Rafal didn’t sound like the brother he knew. The one who worried about his well being and preserving the Balance. His eyes looked wrong. Like he was fully unfettered, and had no loyalties. To nothing and no one. Like he had floated away, and couldn’t breathe the thin air of the stratosphere. Neverland had taken a toll on him, and Rhian had been suspecting a tropical fever or some other cause of madness for days. But he had been too afraid to broach the subject. He should have.

“I can free you, Rhian! The only way we can be free is by trusting Death. Death is the one constant other than the damned Pen!”

The Ever-Never Army roared in the background, and Rhian was forced to shout. “There must be a more sensible path, Rafal! Rafal?”

Rhian’s brother had materialized in front of him, closer, and looked at him wide-eyed, hands twisting around, almost beckoning, with stiff movements. Like a puppet on a string.

“I'll rule the Woods, so the Pen doesn’t have to. No one will meddle with the tales. Only I will be the tales’ one Master.” Rafal shot a burst of black magic at Rhian.

Rhian managed to deflect Rafal’s magic at the last second with his gold fingerglow, an intense flare so light it was almost white.

Back and forth. Thrust and parry. Attack. Defend.

Black. White.

Black. White.

Black. White.

Their magic lit up the skies in the first and last fireworks display Neverland would ever witness. Any direct onlookers would have been blinded. When their glows made contact, all the figures in the forest were drenched in silver, like the pallor of the moon magnified. Oddly, the battlefield, the site of a war, became beautiful for an instant. The horror, gore, and radiance coexisted as one.

A shaft of lightning emanated from Rafal’s positioned fingers, piercing Rhian square in the chest as it crackled, and Rhian went deaf, crumpling to the ground, his chest turning concave as he leaned into himself.

Now, Rhian was splayed on the ground, streaked with his own blood, soaking into the soil. Rhian twitched a last time, and fell still.

Rafal grinned demonically, a visceral euphoria flooding his senses. They were no longer enthralled! This was it. His Ending and Its End.

He conjured a glossy, black crown, dark as pitch, with spikes that could lance through flesh, and crowned himself ruler of all the Woods. The metal sat cold at his brow. He shivered in anticipation, but got no response. The war raged on. What he didn’t realize was that the crown immediately rusted as he slid it on.

He felt his fingertips burn then, and watched as his hand shriveled. His long fingers distorted into misshapen claws.

Then, pain wracked his entire body as it contorted to match. His eternal punishment, if anything lasted forever.

He wasn’t free from the Pen. He was only bound to it more. So be it. Someday, he’d unchain himself. He felt nothing now. Had nothing to lose. Had infinite time. Nothing in his way. No one to hurt.

With the last vestiges of his magic, he conjured a silver mask, melded with the shadows, transformed, and fled Neverland at last.

⸻

Note:

Songs I was inspired by:

“Different songs” - Set It Off

What changed? What changed?

It's more than just our age

“Who’s In Control” - Set It Off

So tell me who's in control

Is it you? I don't know

This song is hypnotic and very much fits Rafal’s canonical interactions with the villainous Pen.

“Killer in the Mirror” - Set it off

As seen in the imagery about the Neverland sky.

“The Good, the Bad and the Dirty” - Panic! At The Disco

If you wanna start a fight

You better throw the first punch

Make it a good one

And if ya wanna make it through the night

You better say my name like

The good, the bad, and the dirty

[...] I know what it's like to have to trade

The ones that you love for the ones you hate

Don't think I've ever used a day of my education

There's only two ways that these things can go

Good or bad and how was I to know

That all your friends won't hold any grudges

I got the final judgment

“In The Dark of the Night” - Jonathan Young

Alternate titles I considered: “When Lightning Breaks” and “When Lightning Rives Us Apart.” Neither of these had as striking a link as the actual title has to Fall.

Also, I find childhood to murder and its aftermath to be a fun contrast.

Although I wrote Neverland in hues of green, it’s actually a bioluminescent blue island as I found out yesterday from more Fall promotional content. I find it interesting that Neverland is blue, actually. I wonder if a section of that landscape was lifted or squared off, and if the roots of all the trees were re-interred near the Schools to form the Blue Forest we know in the present. Or, could seeds from Neverland have been planted to grow the Blue Forest from the ground up?

Yes, I used the lightning motif. Love it. I used the duology trailers and cover reveals as inspiration. That division, that split, the fractures in the sky, in the Schools, in the systems, in the existing structures, in the relationships. It implies a lot I think, assuming the execution in this fic turned out all right. Just, the Ending is like tracing over broken glass, I’d say. It can never be repaired.

Again: I haven’t read Fall yet. I will post a notice when I have finished it. Please do not comment any spoilers, or send me any through PMs.

Also, I will write happier fics in the future. This was just a prediction fic, and I’m well aware I could be completely wrong on several accounts.

Is the Brig of Betrayers called the Brig because Rhian just had to name it something pirate-ish?

If Evers believe in Father Christmas, then would Nevers believe in the Krampus?

The Stymphs' Symbolism and the Storian's Interference

All right, here's our equivalence:

The Stymphs = Fate

Ok, so, with the girls in book one:

Agatha and Sophie are carried off by a Stymph, and they are thrown into their respective schools. No choice. No say in the matter. They've lost their agency, completely.

They are mastered by a Stymph, by fate. Conquered.

Then, the shift happens. They become the masters of their own fate, in riding the Stymph, in steering on top of the Stymph, into the School Master's Tower.

By TLEA, again, their relationship to the Stymphs changes. They're a little beholden to them and fate, in becoming who they are. Fate and the particular Stymph's original actions, its involvement in their kidnapping, I mean, shaped them both, ultimately. The girls are also beholden to the Stymphs for helping them, by not obeying "Rafal" when they help the archer students and Merlin during the second Great War.

⸻

Then, for the prequels:

Who is master of the Stymphs? Rafal, of course.

Yet, Rhian is the "author of own misfortune," or fate.

Rafal is the original master of the Stymphs. In a way, Rafal was destined to become Fate, to become the Balance, had he managed to live long enough to be the One.

Because, he was about to be named the One True School Master, and through the Schools, he would have been master of the Woods' fate, been able to willfully control (or indirectly influence, through the curriculum, the students' educations, and how prepared they would have been, should their fairy tales begin) the fate of all the Woods, all its possible futurities, in theory, to an extent.

But, really, it's the Pen that is Fate, not Rafal himself, when it really comes down to the truth.

However, Rhian disrupted "fate," or the Storian's plans, by being the cause of his brother's death.

And, when he was left with the Stymphs he "inherited," he probably couldn't quite automatically rein them in. I think he had to tame them, or find a literal spell to mollify them with, to get them under his control. Probably symbolically because he was never meant to be Fate or the One in the first place.

And so, of course, Fate's attendants (the Stymphs) wouldn't have followed him willingly, at least, not right away because the ending simply wasn't meant to be, but just so happened to happen nonetheless. (I know the Stymphs' behavior actually must originate from the fact that Stymphs supposedly only like Evers, but I'm looking at this from an angle that's outside of the narrative, and I don't need to rely on the in-universe reasoning at the moment.)

Was there a line after the climax of Fall about this at all? About the Stymphs being disobedient toward Rhian or outright loud and unmanageable, or am I misremembering?

Anyway, Rhian became master of Fate, of the Woods, in becoming the sole School Master. But that only happened when there was no one else left to assume the role. He was the only option, sort of a second-choice. Or, possibly even third, when we consider Pan as the hypothetical third candidate to be the One. Rhian was the default, sadly enough, the lone, surviving one. He wasn't even meant to be School Master, the rightful One, yet he had to be chosen. The Storian was compelled to because there was no one else.

Thus, the "ownership" of the Stymphs and of Fate was transferred over to Rhian.

And remember, once, Rhian was Fate's personal punching bag. He suffered a lot, for his naivete, and from some external causes, like Hook and Vulcan, sort of, even if he was wrongly influenced by the end of it all. And yes, while many events were partly his fault, they also may not have been. The plot could have been the result of very poor happenstance and intersections of the times the brothers lived in, as, we can observe all the turbulence in Rise, during that one particular school year.

⸻

Oh! And I wonder if the Stymphs forevermore missed Rafal, their original master? Did they show any signs of missing him? I'm not sure.

But, I am sure that they knew Rhian replaced Rafal because they can read souls, tell them apart, they way they seemed to instinctually read Agatha's, Sophie's, and Aladdin's souls, to know which Schools they belonged to.

I don't think there's any direct evidence of the Stymphs' mourning though. Did they ever screech, or cry out, as if in pain, like deprived animals? I suppose I could imagine that plausibly happening, with how they were left behind...

AU Idea

So, there's a particular moment in book one, in which Sophie hears a voice, from "somewhere deeper than soul." And, this may be a reach, but I have a theory.

First, look at this:

This is the voice that convinces her not to go along with Rhian's corrupt soul. It says the very same line that both prequel Rafal and later, Lady Lesso have said. It could very well be Sophie's own subconscious, but what if it wasn't? What if it came from outside of her? It could be ghost Rafal's presence, who appears shortly thereafter. The true Rafal. And although this line probably appears in the series four times, at least, the real Rafal is the first person to say it, chronology-wise. So, why couldn't it be him?

Anyway, now, for this AU, we're taking Rafal's "ghost" presence into consideration, not necessarily any variations of his character depicted in canon.

The concept in the screenshot above, about a warlock sincerely believing he's a paladin, a devout holy knight, recalls Sophie's initial denial of her Evil soul fairly well, so in this AU, Sophie could be a high priestess/sorceress (perhaps, like a Morgan le Fay/Lady Morgana figure?), who mistakes herself for Good, as usual.

Meanwhile, everyone else would quite transparently see that that the "benevolent deity" she serves clearly isn't that Good (and neither is she). Thus, again, it's obvious to everyone but her, which makes for staggering comedic potential. Like:

Someone else: Unleash the witch! [said with a similar, booming intonation as "UNLEASH THE HOUNDS!"]

Sophie: Not a witch, darling.

Someone else: Fine, priestess.

Sophie: Indubitably so.

For further context, this Rafal was a vengeful spirit, wrongly slain and never properly laid to rest, elevated to the status of eldritch god by having a patron. So, he tries to coax Sophie's Evil out, little by little, but can't seem to move her to consciousness. And, she's absolutely, infuriatingly irremediable. That false, incurable belief of her Goodness is well-entrenched in the bedrock of her being by this point of her life. So, he continues to work tirelessly to no avail, while she is doing irreparable damage to her psyche, denying her true Evil's emergence, suppressing it, along with his influence. Though, everyone else should be rightly grateful toward the fact that Sophie hasn't awoken the full extent of her deity-derived powers.

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"Who's your deity?" Agatha asked skeptically.

"Rafal of House Mistral, Sorcerer King, Master of the Dark Arts, and Magus of Deception," Sophie stated primly.

"Sophie... are your sure that you're a holy high priestess? That name—it sounds... Evil."

"What tripe!" Sophie rebuffed. "You're just splitting hairs that this point, Aggie, darling. An eldritch god is an eldritch god."

"Whatever you say." Agatha held up her hands in surrender. "I'm not getting between you and that thing of yours."

This "thing" you speak of would not hesitate at murdering you by unpleasant means, a deep, spectral voice seethed from Sophie's lungs.

"Why that's beyond the pale, Rafal! I will not be your vessel for an act like that," Sophie's voice returned to overtake the deity.

You're boring.

"And you're terribly uncivilized," she argued. "Find another follower if I won't do!"

But the other mortals don't understand.

"Then stay dormant when Agatha's around, or speak from the sky or the mists for all I care, not my airways, mind you. And don't let your winds ruin my hair. I expect to look presentable from all angles."

You expect me to use my sorcery for that?

"I won't do my libations for you otherwise. You'll wither before I next restore you."

Fine.

Agatha shook her head. "You need an exorcism."

I am sharing the funniest dnd character idea I’ve ever had bc I know I’ll never get to play them and I refuse to keep a joke to myself

Childhood Headcanons

These particular, sort of apocryphal headcanons (depends on who believes what after all) provide further context for the brothers' childhood under the constraints of my canon-divergent fic, "When Lightning Falls," that was proved wrong by canon after the release of Fall.

There's also an accompanying Creation Theory I made up, to provide context for the fic, which becomes especially relevant here.

And, if anyone's wondering, this post has been around for far too long—I just never posted it some while after the fic itself was done. I have a lot of stuff on backlog anyway, and figured I may as well edit and post this.

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Note:

Most of these thoughts focus on Rafal, and there is a slightly dark undercurrent that runs throughout this post.

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First, the brothers were originally foundlings, like in the fairy tales of yore.

Fittingly, they have been the youngest and the oldest beings ever to live at the School, at different points in time.

At first, they led a deathly existence, an insecure, unstable one, with potential death at every turn.

Rafal became used to death threats, and being called "demon spawn." He hardened in response. Ever townspeople tried to ward him off, but their feeble sigils did no good, did no true harm against him and his latent sorcery, even whilst he was still learning magic.

They were found, possibly, doddering around in the Woods, on the outskirts of the School, at somewhere from three to five years old? So, they conveniently have little to no memory of their existence beforehand, as vagrants, outcasts, rejects, waifs, who knows—they were alone in the world.

The twins crashed through the brambles, clothes torn, faces scratched, scrapes on their limbs, drenched by the rain, just... waiting to be taken in like strays, as if they simply... appeared.

Rhian trailed after Rafal who forged a path ahead, until they emerged in the light of a clearing, as if guided by the hand of fate, to the School for Good and Evil.

Shortly after their discovery, they became the youngest students to ever attend the school.

Of course, taking them in was the Good thing to do, but perhaps, if we let conspiracy run rampant, the Storian had a hand in the proceedings.

Oddly enough, the Pen just might have brainwashed all the faculty to come to the unanimous agreement of raising the brothers as their own, among the lot of them. How odd that they agreed for once, the one time in decades that Good and Evil have agreed on any matter.

It was probably done for the greater fate of the Woods, the way they were all swayed by the Storian, nearly unconsciously.

And so, they came to terms with the new status quo because there seemed to be something behind this decision of the Pen's, that was greater than they could ever know, or so they believed.

They accepted it. They didn't question it because it was so obviously the Storian's doing. Controlling their minds that had already been made for them. No chance to decide for themselves.

But, they let the Storian handle it, handed over all control to the Storian. Because, no one, not even the highest ranking sorcerer or fairy godmother of either School, or lord or lady could have taken issue with what the Storian did. No one went against it. No one could. Contradicting it would have been a death wish just waiting to happen.

And they all knew that. They knew that very well, considering the nature of the tales they taught.

Eventually, they came to the common conclusion that these children must have been their future School Masters.

Thus, they took the Storian's apparent decision to heart because it wasn't their place to step in.

No one could overrule the Pen, so they lived with it, and continued to train the mysterious, foundling brothers—while they worried for their lives and all that was to come.

That particular set of faculty became a little like the brothers' parents, until they died off, one by one, each from old age or the occupational hazards of working at such a School.

Their professional lives were demanding and they didn't pay as much attention to the brothers as they should have.

All they could do was follow through and hope the Pen had charted the right course, that it chose well in the end.

Even if they would never live to see the future, they were aware they had played a monumental role in securing safety and balance for the Woods, by acting as these children's first, human influences.

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"When Lightning Falls" takes place around three years after the brothers' arrival, when they're about seven, so they've had time to have grown used to the schools.

Everything has become a bit mundane to them. There's nothing new because it's all they've ever known and grown up with, unlike the incoming students' experience of the manor every four years.

So, they've never been around peers their own age, which led to Rhian feeling special and becoming fragile with no challengers and to Rafal gaining a massive superiority complex.

During those years is when Rafal starts on his skepticism, early in life.

Rafal starts to question the Pen, and ask why of everything and everyone that can possibly answer him, or that would answer him if he persisted and probed enough, and didn't relent. And he threatens his way to the answers, to get his way, to figure out what makes everything in this world of theirs tick.

It's the only way he knows, to bribe or exchange, even unethically, or to beat and to hassle information out of others, to trap them in their own bedchambers or offices and not release them until they answered him or fulfilled his demands.

He learned the word "leverage" early on, and the Evil faculty thought he was a prodigy.

He doesn't know any other way because the Never faculty took him in first, claimed him as one of their own. They took a liking to him and his silence, over his crybaby brother.

Predictably, the Never faculty were rough around the edges and they never showed displays of pleading and begging, so Rafal never did that, even as a child.

He never learned the art of apologizing either. Everyone was remiss to let that pass by... but it was too late.

He refused to resort to such means as begging, to lower himself in that way, like Rhian would, even at such a young age, because he wasn't taught mercy. He was told kindness was a weakness and that justice was right. And so, even as a young child, he maintained an adult-like level of dignity in how he conducted himself, always.

Meanwhile, he'd look on at his brother, and wonder: why is he acting so childishly? Having Evil imposed on him forced Rafal to grow up sooner, before his time.

Evil taught him never to whine and whinge, to never cry to get his way. He could already get his way, by other, more sinister means. Cleverer, more artful, more guileful means besides, and in doing so, he could still feel superior, boosting his ego, inflating it and inflating it as a result.

So, that was what he'd grown up around. It was the natural way of things, to him.

At least, this is how children ought to be treated in his eyes, simple as that. And he turned out fine, didn't he? Of course he did. No question about it. He's him, and he's great. The best. Superior to all others, everyone else in his school.

He probably considered himself the smartest little boy alive, not necessarily the most knowledgeable, but the most clever or capable of outwitting others, of negotiating deals, and plotting schemes and doing other, crooked deeds. He thought himself smart in that artful sense, skilled to the point that he could outfox adults over twice his age, outdoing the teenage students in everything he did.

Oh, and if certain knowledge were established as forbidden? Rafal would still try all the more diligently to go after it. That's how he contended with all things.

And what of Rhian? To Rafal, Rhian was naive. Secretly, Rafal never considered Rhian his match. No way, no how. That brother of his couldn't tell Good from Evil in the simplest of challenges.

The Evil faculty were decently well-meaning, thinking Rafal would be good villain material, but again, they weren't exactly attentive or warm or caring like Good's faculty was in "parenting" Rhian.

They weren't neglectful either, but still, Rafal was left to his own devices outside of lessons, and he grew accustomed to being alone when Rhian wasn't around to play with him. Not that he really played that frequently.

Thus, time passed, and the staff believed the twins to be foundlings. That they were adopted, taken in under their wings. Children of the School.

In reality, the twins were children of the Storian.

Everyone knowingly buys into the lie because they didn't want to think beyond the present. They wanted to believe the brothers were of woman-born, abandoned, and insignificant. But, the truth could only be delayed, not buried.

The brothers are foundlings, they all said, persistently. That's what most of the faculty believed, and that's what the brothers were led to think.

Yet, a select few knew their actual purpose of existence: the brothers were not being trained up to follow the Rules of fairy tales themselves—they were being trained up to rule. (Or rather, "rule" as figureheads for the greater Pen.)

They were bound to the School grounds, and only a few people, none in living memory, knew they belonged to the Storian...

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Any thoughts anyone?

Insane thought about dismemberment incoming—

"Removing the pinion joint of a bird stops the growth of the primary feathers, preventing the acceleration required for flight and is analogous to amputating a human hand at the wrist" (Source).

If Rafal's hands were cut off, would he be able to fly? Or rather, would he be able to balance properly whilst in flight? I know his flight relies on magic, but logistically, this could be interesting...

CONSIDER: Shadows and Light

The Symbolism Surrounding Rhian, Rafal, and the Pan

Fun fact: Under certain conditions, a flame will not cast a shadow.

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As we saw in Rise, Rhian could turn into a golden glow, turn into light, his non-human form, just as Rafal could turn into a shadow.

And those facts bring me to how the Pan subplot and the brothers' main plot might parallel each other more than we may think.

That Hook had to kill the Pan’s shadow was probably no accident. It likely couldn't have been a coincidence—it has to be a casual quality of the magic system in SGE and Peter Pan lore in general, no doubt.

So, we have: killing the shadow (the Pan's or symbolically, Rafal himself).

Rhian killed the shadow to his light.

And besides, an excess of light eradicates all shadows, and fire, specifically, can cast very distorted shadows because it's always in motion, and therefore, it's restless. This could mean fire as a light source could affect the shadow's "power," its appearance, just as Rhian, like a fairy-tale Nemesis (perhaps?), might have weakened Rafal as Rhian became stronger, and that Rhian had been a force that changed or warped Rafal as a person, while also becoming colder himself. Meanwhile, Rafal's hair curled slightly and he gained more color and warmth to his complexion towards the climax of their tale.

I wonder if, in getting his magic back from Hook when it was released, Rhian had been further corrupted or overpowered enough, to overpower Rafal (while, all the while, the Storian had been stripping Rafal of the magic he held) because it didn’t dissipate by itself, with the loss of his immortality(?). Hook could have been acting like a temporary storage unit for that magic, until it returned, meaning the Storian may not have been able to rescind it from Rhian directly.

(And did Kyma release Rhian's magic when it was transferred to her? Or did it just disappear/dissolve without returning to its owner?)

Then, we can ask ourselves: what was the only move that could kill Pan? Somehow, magically killing his shadow. His life source. The apparent source of his immortality.

And, Rhian killing the source of his former immortality (his brother, and as a result, their bond along with Rafal's death)? Well, that’s killing a shadow, too.

Thus, the two plots line up exactly.

Rafal was once Rhian's shadow, in a sense, the person who stayed by him, who saved him again and again. Thus, Rhian destroyed himself, to an extent, by killing that shadow. He not only killed his life source, the love that kept him alive, by severing the twins' bond, but lost a part of his identity when he killed Rafal. Thus, he ages. Like the Pan as he died, Rhian was no longer a perpetual youth, no longer a young "lost boy."

And sometimes, Rhian's shadow strayed too far and left him (Rafal deserting the School at the start), just as Pan’s shadow isn’t always right by the Pan himself. The Pan's shadow had a life and will of its own, seemingly, like Rafal did.

Rafal getting his own life, by venturing out, beyond the School, was one step away from having his identity always tied to Rhian. Maybe, just maybe, Rafal wasn't inseparable, inconceivable without Rhian (the light source), his other half. But, Rafal always did revolve around Rhian (when Rafal had his few, less selfish moments). Because, he simply can’t be brought up or thought of alone, at least not in the tales, in their world. One brother's presence always summons the other's to mind, when you talk about them. That’s how locked together, how insoluble their combined identity was, or plural roles were. The shadow was tethered to his object. They can’t be torn apart, not even in memory, which makes the nature of the tales themselves all the more reductive, dehumanizing, even.

Rafal Has Baba Yaga Morality

I can't quite contain or explain my evil ways Or explain why I'm not sane All I can say is this is your warning

This one is less of a theory and more of an observation. It's also partway a "defense" of Rafal, but not really.

Note: The "you" referenced doesn't refer to anyone in particular. It's just the pov of a would-be victim, or the collective, generalized "you" that would form an audience.

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Rafal has very "Baba Yaga," "The Scorpion and the Frog," "Dead Dove: Do Not Eat," "It's exactly what it says on the tin" morality, but that's not to say he's at all predictable. He's predictably unpredictable. He is the poisonous frog or bird, draped in naturally bright colors, that is very obviously toxic.

And no one believes him or his outward "labels" when they wrongly give him the uncalled for benefit of the doubt (probably because he's intentionally attractive)! And it usually works out in his favor! Which is a strength in a way. It's only the rare Good he does on occasion that leads people to believe otherwise, or think too highly of him, when really, he's flawed and human, humanly grey.

From there, we know he has the capacity to be both lethal and kind, like the figure of Baba Yaga in the tales:

"Baba Yaga is an ambiguous figure in many folktales and legends. While sometimes she is depicted as a cannibalistic, child devouring witch, other times she is a benevolent sorceress who assists the hero or bestows knowledge."

His morality is variable. He can be both Good and Evil when the situation calls for it. He is adaptable, flexible, and not 100% consistent like Baba Yaga is, not any one thing or role.

I've never read the source material, but this quote I've seen exemplifies him well:

“He is a weapon, a killer. Do not forget it. You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature.” ― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

As for the tale of "The Scorpion and the Frog," referenced in TLEA, he often doesn't lead people on. They do that all on their own with their assumptions and he reaps the benefits. Oftentimes, it's others' own faults for screwing themselves over. They know cognitively that he's Evil, but the fact doesn't actually register in their brains.

And that is a feat in itself, in their world, in the world he lives in. It is absolutely commendable in a perverse way, so I must applaud him at this point.

Despite not bothering to present himself, despite not caring about presentation (on a conscious level, if that's the lie he tells himself?), and despite presenting himself as the worst, at his personal worst, his poorer nature, he still surprises people with his humanity.

But, what they should never be surprised by is his Evil. You do not forget what a spear is capable of just because it's used as a walking stick for however long. You do not suddenly trust a ravenous, wild animal because it appears domesticated.

He steps forward as his worst self, his craftiest, least trustworthy self, that is artful and guileful and who will outwit you, who will outfox you, and you still trust him, while not managing to feel insane for doing so. Somehow, you're compelled to trust him, if only because he's so magnetic and attractive of a force, like a certain type of true Evil sometimes is, that charisma. He attracts people and doesn't repel them. Again, it's not always consciously his fault—it's just a quality to his very being.

And, if you still lie to yourself and think he's not using you after that, after glaring, flashing, blaring warning signs, you have only yourself to blame.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Yet, in this particular case, even the first time, you haven't been fooled. You were never fooled. You just thought otherwise, awarded Rafal the benefit of the doubt, and played the fool.

You've only chosen to believe what you wanted to see and have led yourself astray. Because, he never fooled you. He was not the active agent in that last sentence. Read that line again, I ask you. He never fooled you.

You built your own illusions of him, in your mind, by your perceptions. You've painted Rafal differently than how he truly appears in his true form. You've laid your own bait, set your own trap, made your own bed, dug your own grave. It's often not entirely his "fault." (Unless, he's in conscious manipulation mode.)

That is why you are the author of your own misfortune, and he is not. He is "blameless," in that one regard. He is not whom you've made him into. Thus, never trust him is the moral here. And that is what everyone should know, if they ever want to beat Rafal at his own game.

Except Rhian. Rhian should have been the one person to trust Rafal, unlike all the rest. But the opposite happened. All the rest trusted him, and Rhian did not. (The irony!)

"And so it is written." You got exactly what you told him you wanted (if we go by "exact phrasing" logic, like with a rogue genie) or, alternatively, you got what he told you you'd get. He just outmaneuvered you.

The fascinating thing is: he never lies about what he is and whom he truly believes himself to be: Evil. It's his true nature (discounting his arc in Fall for a moment).

People can only blame themselves when they expect him to miraculously rise above and set his best foot forward. It just isn't what he does. And that's just like how the scorpion acts with the frog. The frog naively believed the scorpion would betray its own nature. But the scorpion is a scorpion. What else can you expect? Each of Rafal's victims had been too soft and idealistic about him.

He is an honest villain, a constructive villain, not a destructive one, as I once sort of coined the term, in an earlier post.

Once, in the Doom Room, Rafal even told Midas outright that he could offer Midas nothing, truthfully, aside from trying to get Midas home to Gavaldon. Probably, because in that moment, honesty would have served him better than a lie could have.

That is one thing I find strange and that I somewhat "admire," if you can say that about a clear-cut villain. For all he does, he is (almost always) straightforward and open with his plots. (Unless he withholds information, but that is not lying. Instead, such behavior falls under strategic lies of omission, a completely separate matter.)

It must be another trick up his sleeve, a weapon in mental arsenal. He is often open, clear, and honest about his intentions, say, with James and simply letting him die after he's served his purpose, at least. James wasn't kept the dark.

The point still stands. Rafal doesn't represent himself as something that he's not. Sure, he is a trickster, but he doesn't deny it, or lie about it.

He never leads people to believe he is someone he is not, or when he does, how much of it can you blame on him when everyone already knows he's the very public figure of the literal Evil School Master?

He owns his identity, (or what he sees himself as)—which is as close to the truth as he can realistically get because it's all he knows. He's not an omniscient being.

He does the "best" that he can, and he's usually not wrong about souls, others' souls, that is. Not his own. Apparently. But, few literary characters are capable of complete and total self-awareness, and Rafal is no exception to that. If he were 100% self-aware, the story wouldn't work. That said, I think he was more self-aware than Rhian, initially.

To reference the trickster archetype in relation to him again: he can really swing either way. Everything is up to his whims, impulses, or calculated designs, at any given moment, even if he appears to play "fair," meaning, usually, that he plays with interpretations, loopholes and the like, while staying within certain constraints.

He's not discreet like Evil Rhian had been for a stint. He had been proud of his Evil, to an extent. So, perhaps, that grants him a little leeway or likability. At the start, he simply isn't ashamed of himself, for working situations and people to his advantage (until his conscience catches up to him a little). His Evil is the high-flying banner he and his Nevers unite under; it's their common purpose/drive, to live and to strive for.

But, it always bears repeating: His reputation always precedes him as the Evil School Master.

So, again, you can't blame him for anything Evil he's done, can't pin it on being unexpected because it's always expected. You let your guard down. You can only justifiably be surprised when he does Good, and let that temper and moderate your expectations. (And the inverse of all this is probably why we sometimes might have expected too much, not too little, as is the case with Rafal, from poor Rhian.)

If Evil is what all have come to expect, like what James Hook expects from Rafal: a cold, soulless person, driven by deep villainous purpose, and Rafal doesn't directly tell anyone otherwise about his nature, no one can argue Rafal didn't play "fair," by those technical standards.

They knew exactly whom they were dealing with, and (unconsciously?) chose not to believe the man himself, the one who should know himself best.

By the Rules of Good or Evil, you expect him to be unpredictable, and you can call him out on being unpredictable because he's known for it. Known to commit atrocities, even when you seem to have trust between the both of you. That's why you can never tell.

I don't think Rafal actively encourages or cultivates trust in other people (unless it's a case of his deliberate manipulation). Part of the facade others perceive could just be his "trustworthy" aura.

And, people still expect better from him, implicitly! But how wrong they are. If nothing else, the misplaced trust probably stems from the aura he exudes as I can't think of another reason at the moment.

Because, like always, they put their trust in him—he didn't force them to hand it over—so, they have exactly themselves to blame, when they underestimate him, or think they can beat him.

That's why, in the end, I feel like the phrase: “It takes one to know one” applies really well to Rafal because he continually saves Rhian from being taken advantage of by men a lot like himself, considering how he constantly takes advantage of and uses others.

Now, I'll just leave you with this parting thought: as a villain, Rafal weaponizes the naivete and stupidity that is already there, already present in his victims. So, when Rhian sheds his naivete, he can no longer be used by his brother.

TLDR: Rafal is everyone else's "Vulcan" in a world full of trusting "Rhians."

@heya-there-friends and @wisteriaum I wanted to subject you to this possibly cursed thought(?): If Rafal knew what whump was, he'd probably read it.

Of course the brothers gain in pride as the prequel storyline progress. That we know. The tension and stakes build to new heights. But you know what else also reaches new heights? The School Masters’ tower itself, an office Rafal had built likely for the express purpose of shutting out irksome interruptions from the inferiors down below, the very symbol of his pride, of his literally elevating himself above all the rest.

Rafal headcanons (not all have a basis in canon):

He doesn't and will never get hype culture much to Rhian's chagrin.

He probably has some item, like an article of clothing, such as socks, that he buys duplicates of, so he doesn't have to waste thought and energy on them everyday.

He likes olives, especially the sour ones, in some of his sandwiches.

He suffers from "irony poisoning" by a certain stage in life.

One of the worst things in the world to him is writing Thank You cards, usually to people like alumni who send generous donations. He always foists the task off on Rhian because he can’t bring himself to sound sincere or fawn over anything. Also, it irrationally humiliates him to have to thank someone for something in person, even if it's something small. He doesn't know why he feels that way, and doesn’t care enough to find out. It’s an unplaceable, inexplicable feeling, and it’s just there.

On the converse, Rhian lets him respond to the letters of complaint and petitions for reform. He vetoes almost everything.

He likes to manipulate the sky and weather patterns, particularly lightning, to look more foreboding, as if nature were his personal backdrop. He secretly lives for drama as long as it stays a spectator sport for him. (This one might be canon going by the Snow Ball edict scene in Rise, but it's sort of unconfirmed.)

If he ever appreciated sentimental elements in the tales (unlikely), he’d never tell anyone. And he would only play those things out in his head where there would be no record of them.

In his own thoughts, or if he were a writer, of course he’d write about taboo subjects, but the one obvious thing he intentionally wouldn’t write about would be love (or specifically romantic love). He’d probably write around love. He’d write the negative space that makes love’s presence known, but somehow not engage with it directly, eye to eye, and instead define it by what’s not present in his work.

He’d avoid thinking or writing about the human condition, even if all writers, by default, end up writing about human condition in some shape or form, by hazard of being a human. He’s immortal and he’d view himself as above human and above humanity as a sympathetic trait. Simple as that. (He’d be in denial, essentially.)

And yet, he’d write about it. Incidentally. The same way he’d write around love—somehow managing to snare everything he’d circumvent into his works while he circumvents it.

His critics and fans would have a field day, trying to parse out what might have been intentional or not on his part.

For his part, he’d never give interviews, and would let his works stand for themselves, alone, as art, as they’re meant to be read: gone into blind. He hates it when educators flatten his works, so they can be consumed by a broader, apathetic (in his eyes) audience. He hates abridged versions.

He even hates abridged versions of the tales the Storian writes, and he unconsciously spurns the laymen of the Woods.

Even if he wouldn't write about love, a subtle, recurring theme of his would be sacrifice. Sacrifice for personal gain and ambition, or whatever else there is that he’d value, that wasn’t always in his hands, that didn’t always drop into his hands immediately, if he couldn’t orchestrate it.

He wouldn’t admit to valuing Rhian, but well… that’s one other “thing” he keeps like an object to be owned. It’s a form of "love." And to him, sacrifice is a form of "love" or devotion, because you let go of everything else for the one gain, in pursuit of it.

He often thinks along the lines of “all-or-nothing," "the thought doesn't count," and “actions, not thought, not words.”

If he wrote, lectured, or thought around love, he'd also leave a gap for his students or readers to fill in for themselves.

And it's just as well that he probably would only ever write the povs of hard-boiled figures like detectives, or the solvers and perpetrators of crime that would never fall prey to emotional appeals. He can’t stand putting himself in the shoes of the “fool” or the duped, even in an imaginary world, even in the safety of his head—because what if it bled into his real life? He's not superstitious, but what if, one day, he were played for a fool? Never. He would never allow that.

And it makes sense really, as, ironically, writing these figures, the least emotionally vulnerable characters for an audience or outlining them on the blackboard for his students when discussing a tale is probably at once the most impersonal route and also the most revealing. To his students, those behind-the-scenes decisions are themselves telling in some way.

It’s all just up for interpretation—because, what would he be if he didn’t leave gaps and holes in his character? The chinks in his armor are left there for others to do the work for him because he’s impressively lazy and apathetic about "introducing” himself, and has the good fortune of having a job that doesn’t require introductions to new faces, aside from the students he doesn’t truly need to know by heart in order to teach. They can just fill in the gaps however much they want, ideally or relationally and so on.

And he’s content to leave them with a false image of himself because even that’s less unnerving and disconcerting as people being too close for comfort, and knowing too much of what he can no longer moderate in the privacy of their own minds. You can’t unknow something or someone after all.

He’s afraid of the "mortifying ordeal of being known" in a less conventional way. To an extent, humanity is fear-driven deep down. Thus, he doesn’t want to give anyone a window into his psyche—lest he be taken advantage of, so he contents himself with not being known at all, feeding into his paranoia that the world is out to get him.

Why give it more ammo? He should deprive the world of anything it could use against him. Maybe he has a fear of being mocked for however he really is? Though, if there is a facade (I mean, he is a public figure), it's not actually that far removed from whatever he doesn't reveal anyway.

Perhaps, he would respond to mockery internally the way he did at his own Nevers expressing their hatred of him with a brief, sharp, jabbing twinge of hurt, at the disapproval he largely never cares about, but that under the right conditions, he may indeed care about.

Now, he's no longer in a position to be mocked, but perhaps, before becoming School Master, he used to tell others harshly: "Do. Not. MOCK. Me." whenever they would mirror him because he did not think as far as to realize that emotional reciprocation was two-sided, especially with Evers and their behaviors. Yet, he mocks Rhian, Evers, pirates, and everything else in sight. Nothing is immune from being subject to his irreverence, and he is both hypocritical and hyper-critical.

Theory: Rhian once had a tendency to fall in love easily and intensely, but what if most of that part of his soul was the piece that transferred to Hook when Hook had his magic? Did Hook only love Kyma because of the magic's influence overtaking how he usually would've felt toward someone new? Hook was, forgive the pun, originally the seducer, the hook, not the baited. And, during Fall, did Rhian succumb to the rot in his soul faster without that particular piece, meaning he was an incomplete version of himself all along and therefore more susceptible to the Pen?

Rafal's flight required blood magic to work, and it's never been confirmed if that spell requires the user's own blood or another's.

WHAT IF RHIAN'S FIRST USE OF BLOOD MAGIC AFTER HE STOLE RAFAL'S FACE CAME FROM HIS BROTHER'S BLOOD?

Maybe there was some pragmatism to stabbing Rafal (aside from it being a quick, easy-to-execute death), consequently drawing his blood when the Pen was removed after a delay...

Is Rafal an Allegory for Autism and Is He Autistic Himself?

DISCLAIMER: This is just one niche interpretation of the text that points to his being autistic, even if it were not intentionally written into the narrative. I am in no way claiming this interpretation is factual or that it is an absolute or “correct” reading of the text.

Therefore, feel free to disagree with me or add onto this! I will not be offended by opposing viewpoints at all, and it could be fair to say I’m just pathologizing him, if that’s the case, which may be true. I’d also love to hear other takes if anyone agrees with me, or suspects another form of neurodivergence, seeing as comorbidities are possible and one condition doesn’t rule out the existence of another as symptoms alone could themselves be attributed to other causes.

@hyperfixating-chic Thank you for bringing up the idea of Rafal having autism since I had previously suspected it due to some of his (potentially negligible) traits, and discarded the idea. Now, I see it as plausible and your thought about masking definitely helped everything else slot into place!

Currently, I'm straddling the line between:

Is Rafal an unintentional allegory for autism, or beyond that, does he have enough traits for him to actually be autistic?

With him, any traces of autism seem to present themselves in such minor ways that I might just be cherry-picking evidence to fit this particular image of him. Though, his autism could just be higher-functioning anyway. And, while he does have seemingly autistic traits, there could be other, equally plausible reasons for their existence apart from neurodivergence, such as his idiosyncratic personality. And, because he is fictional, we can’t truly be sure.

One side note: The word “autism” could be translated as “selfism,” as the prefix “auto-” means “self,” or it could allude to self-absorption. Yet, not all autistics are selfish and some may only appear “selfish” to others. However, this interpretation of the word happens to work in favor of Rafal’s autism existing, as he is selfish (and does possess a somewhat graceless mode of socializing).

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Evidence for his character being an allegory:

He's central to the order of the world he lives in, to the Schools running, continuing on, to pure utility, but does he have any social value beyond that?

Quick digression: I'm almost tempted to say that the worst thing someone whose opinion Rafal actually cares about could say to him is: “You're useless/purposeless." (And that is what I have him think about, or say at times, to Rhian, but if it were directed toward him, I feel like it would be something he couldn't brush off easily.)

Looking at his “value” and other traits:

He has virtually no relationships and thus, has little social currency apart from his School Master status.

He is viewed as an outsider in a sense by society (partly because of how far above everyone else he stations himself). But, if he didn’t do that as well as threaten punishment so frequently, would he be ridiculed behind closed doors? Even though he was admitted to the Black Rabbit, it was (probably?) because he was respected and feared, not because he was “welcome” in an amicable way, even if he was treated well. How do we know he wasn’t merely tolerated because he had to be, according to social conventions or mandated politeness driven by fear? Albeit, some Nevers probably did actually idolize him.

I believe there was even an assumption by others that he had a purpose for being at the nightclub, that he was there strictly for business, to scout out prospective students, not necessarily because he was there to join the festivities. Though, I may be misremembering.

He is irreverent and a “killjoy” to some, often upsets the status quo on large (leaving the School) and small (the trainwreck at the Snow Ball) scales, and often questions things usually accepted by most. He also doesn’t respect any authority apart from his own. This again is due to his Evil, in-narrative, as Evers are commonly depicted as rule-followers and traditionalists. (Neurotypicals, those who aren’t neurodivergent, generally do not question implicit social rules, even when there is no reason to keep to them or no reason for their existence.)

Rafal might only have been valued for his tangible, quantifiable contributions to society, as both a Never of prodigious talents and as an individual with a high-standing.

That begs the question: what about him as a person?

He is broadly viewed as unlikable.

To play into allegory, he is dehumanized, not necessarily for potential autism, but for his Evil, if it could be seen as a symbol of his autism.

At the start, Rhian, in originally wanting to eradicate Evil from the Woods and reform every soul, inadvertently demonizes him. And so do his students, when they sentence him to prison.

Sometimes, in-world, the Pen dehumanizes him (as well as Rhian) for his position as School Master. It reduces him to his role, strips him of individuality and selfhood because he is one of an indivisible pair, and it views him as replaceable, which, again, relates heavily to utility above all else, in how his sole purpose for being there and having his life preserved is pushing the tales and future forward.

So, while yes, he is respected and valued and held up as an exemplar for what Evil should be, how deeply does others’ approval run? Was anyone in-world willing to vouch for him or defend him as a person, for personal traits, apart from his skills and achievements?

(I’m not trying to suggest this in poor taste, but a real-world example of this phenomenon happening historically is the moral quandary of saving Einstein, who might've been neurodivergent. Einstein’s singular life as a Jew was prioritized over other lives, a plurality, during the Holocaust because he was a genius and therefore, a person of value. And, to generalize, sometimes groups only claim unlikable or "inferior" individuals as one of their own because they can benefit and get ahead from doing so. For instance, a Nazi could rationalize something absurd and say: "Oh, that Jew. He's a personal friend of mine. He's an exception, not like all those others. He's a good guy, and so, I'll help him escape Germany." Any “loyalty” from a member of the in-group is conditional. The moment that person of value crosses a line or becomes useless, it’s “abandon ship!” Or worse, denial: "They were never that great in the first place!")

Initially, to Rafal's students, he was a Folk devil, or their chosen scapegoat, even if their accusations against him proved pretty valid later on with the torture. (So, admittedly, he is deserving of a lot the narrative did to him, and can’t be defended completely.)

In fact, both Rafal’s own students and Vulcan (importantly designated as Rafal’s competition) seemed perfectly happy to see him fall. Thus, we can ask: did he suffer from a case of Tall Poppy Syndrome?

For reference, here’s a definition of the term I’ve pulled from the internet:

“Tall Poppy Syndrome occurs when individuals are attacked, resented, criticized, or cut down due to their achievements and success. The metaphorical ‘tall poppy’ represents someone who stands out from the crowd, excels, and reaches new heights.”

Maybe, he was only ever valued, not for who he was, but for what he could bring into the world.

Even if anyone post-Fall suspected that Rhian was the “Rafal” they saw, maybe they truly didn’t care. They still had a “him” in a sense that must have seemed just as good and serviceable as the original—if, again, they only valued him for the sake of utility.* It probably didn’t matter because no one was suffering from a lack of Evil School Master (yes, just the title, not the name) and likely no one realized they were suffering from a lack of Rafal (and balance). Him as a person probably meant nothing in their eyes, considering how he used and abused them.

So, here we have a figure, who was never that personable to begin with, who only succeeded in further alienating himself from potential allies and friends as stakes rose, who excelled in other areas rather than socially.

Could he have used his sorcery and other preternatural, prodigy-like abilities (considering his mental/physical age, if not his chronological age) to compensate for his ever-present social deficit? Possibly.

*Thus, we might be able to confirm he was always viewed, not for who he was, but for what he could do.

His death was caused by the failure to say the right, emotionally-weighted words in an emotionally-charged situation.

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Evidence for being autistic himself:

His default mode of speaking appears to be deadpan with little intonation and his emotional expression is overall low. He’s also rather impassive and placid compared to other characters as long as he remains in control and isn’t taken by surprise. Thus, I suspected he could have a flat affect (or blunted affect), unless he is deliberately seducing or appealing to another character he intends to manipulate to his own ends.

He has irreverence for existing traditions or established ways of doing things, given how he changed the date of the Snow Ball without warning, without consulting anyone, and with little concern for others because he saw his decision as fit to serve himself.

He seems to have a case of one-track-mind or monotropism when it comes to saving Rhian or attaining power for himself at any cost. His narrowed, obsessive focus tends to center on either Rhian, vengeance, the balance, or gaining control over his immediate surroundings whenever he is incapacitated; he has a need for order and control in everything he approaches. He also has a strong internal sense of justice, however perversely-aligned his may be.

He doesn’t distribute his attention widely, and (once) seemed to love his brother deeply and narrowly. He had no friends outside of Rhian, his twin, which could’ve been a given since the start. He had difficulty maintaining all of his relationships (or situationships) and had a marked lack of interest in forming relationships or friendships with others outside of Rhian because he often cut ties with people like Hook or Midas when he no longer had a practical use for them.

One of the greatest “sins” to some autistic people is lying, and it occurred to me that, a few times over, Rafal never lied. (This statement excludes the few exceptions of his Fala disguise, a thought not completely of his own volition which the Storian may have planted in his mind or implicitly suggested with its illustrations, and his general practice of withholding information.) He just weaponizes shades of the truth, unlike Rhian who did outright lie at times. Rafal instead misled, passively allowing people to believe what they wanted to believe about his moral character (oftentimes in the “fact” that he was trustworthy) without truly affirming their views of him or correcting them, as long as doing so continually worked to his advantage. He let them fall into their own delusions, and used lies of omission, which aren’t technically lies.

Although he is often driven by his selfish, insular nature, like towards the singular pursuit of power and becoming the One in Fall, I also suspected that he's often mind-blind in regards to others, sometimes willfully, if it’s not “errors” in how he processes the world. I would guess that he might experience difficulty in understanding and empathizing with others' perspectives, meaning he has trouble with “Theory of Mind.” As evidence, he uses the “wrong” wording when he attempted to placate Rhian at the climax of Fall before the fratricide scene since he’s not used to consoling or providing others with emotional reassurance or comfort. In addition, he seemed unable or unwilling to sympathize with Rhian’s perceived loss to him when he momentarily appeared to hold the Storian’s favor.

Rafal also strikes me as the type of person to devalue a form of emotional, Ever-like “data” he cannot read. If he does (or ever formerly did) suffer from mind-blindness, I have a theory that, possibly, because he could have begun with the inability to comprehend others' mental states, he found an alternate way to operate in and successfully navigate his world with, to thrive in it, consciously comporting himself as Evil, due to the easy potential overlap in autistic behaviors and being a conventional Never, in a way that was insensitive and cold enough to allow for any kind of social faux pas he could have made to be viewed as intentional on his part, assuming he spent most of his time around others masking his autism (covering up and compensating for deficits so as to be perceived as “normal”) even if such a label probably wouldn’t exist in the Woods. He also seems to dislike or barely tolerate any kind of flagrant sentimentality.

If the above point were true, then he would probably not only lack affective, visible empathy he could feel, imitate, and display through his facial expressions and body language, but also cognitive empathy. And this could be potentially because it would be convenient to him, to disregard and not take into account data that is ostensibly “meaningless” to him. Besides, I think there is a chance he’s taught himself to be persuasive or seductive when he wants to or “has” to be, in order to appeal to his victims. The other general possibility I had in mind was that Rafal could have learned to read people until it became second nature to him, with how he used suggestive manipulation on Aladdin to get the thief to steal back the lamp, proving Rafal consciously knew how predictable and pliable human nature could be.

In total, from what I can tell, he is able to manipulate others exceptionally well and lead them on, and yet, when it comes to actually relating to anyone, he seems to have difficulty understanding their points of view if he doesn't just flat-out disregard them in favor of his always being "right," which brings me to his tenacity, how he seems set in his ways, and leans towards extremes. Rafal seems like an all-or-nothing person, and either commits all the way to a cause, even bringing life-or-death ruminations into his internal monologue, or is apathetic and doesn't care at all.

Perhaps, Rafal suffers from sustained emotional dysregulation during certain plot points. He clearly has an inability to “let things go,” as is common with autism because when he was more than slighted by his mutinous students sending him to Monrovia Prison, his temper flared and he went to an extreme of methodically torturing every last child. And afterward, he continued to hold onto a grudge against that one particular class, until he was in closer contact with them, and gradually began to see himself and how he’d conducted himself as School Master from their perspective, literally in the shoes of the Never student Fala he fabricated.

He often has sharp lines of dialogue and witticisms the reader sees as comedic when his intention probably wasn’t to be, thereby meaning he could be unaware of precisely how he comes across to others, as hyperbolic as he is.

His quick wit and resourcefulness led me to think that he is at least partly a verbal thinker, evinced by the Vulcan shanty he composed and some of his scathing one-liners. Plus, he does muse philosophically on occasion in his narration, about matters like the nature of Evil, villainous purpose, and its role in the Woods, or how villains usually work alone while pirates, as a breed, are known to be more communal.

He also twists others’ words at times, uses the “Exact Phrasing” fairy-tale convention, and exploits loopholes oftentimes. I’m pretty sure he sees language as up to interpretation? E.g., he offers to pay a Man-Wolf his "weight in gold" and then, turns the Man-Wolf into gold to make an example of him, weaponizing literal meaning. Overall, as a reader, I feel as if I must watch out for the true meaning of his dialogue.

His reclusiveness, contrasted with Rhian’s desire for romantic love and companionship, and his general social withdrawal are quite prominent, and those asocial, isolative (or more destructively, “antisocial”) tendencies could, as well as being a preference, function as a coping mechanism. Perhaps, he feels better and overall more regulated whilst alone than in the company of other people, who neither give him peace of mind nor obey him, especially those whose every action he cannot control? And maybe, he needs room to breathe and think, and left the School at the start of Rise to shut out the offending emotional stimulus of Rhian’s words, about how all Evil-doers could be reformed to Good and that Evil lacked purpose. If he was emotionally affected by the brothers’ argument, the Aladdin bet, and the chaotic events of the Snow Ball, maybe he just had to sever himself from it all and leave it behind?

He might have Sensory Processing Disorder, which often accompanies autism. I’m not an expert, but from what I could see, there are hints of Rafal having an aversion to light, such as when, in his internal monologue, he remarks on Rhian's glass castle. Additionally, when he intentionally renovated his School, it was dark and dimly lit.

In the ice classroom, he sat at his desk for days on end, entranced by the mirror he enchanted to view the Doom Room with, like he was watching television, like it was some form of a singular obsession, and he did all that presumably without feeling any bodily discomfort. Thus, it occurred to me that, while this instance could be attributed to his invulnerability/immortality, he might just have trouble with interoception or internal bodily sensation. He rarely seems to sense or acknowledge dehydration, exhaustion, or hunger, and seems ascetic while Rhian is slightly more dependent on creature comforts.

One last qualifying trait could be Rafal’s lack of sensitivity to (external) pain as seen when the Storian slashes his palm open for the oath.

As far as the previous two points go, I’ve been questioning whether his potential difficulty with interoception could coexist at once with the artificially-induced traits of his Storian-bestowed invulnerability that later fades over the course of Fall, rendering him mortal, or conditioning over his lifetime as an Evil-doer, as Evil thematically seems to undergo more pain than Good does throughout the series. Even while vulnerable and mortal in Fall, he manages to walk on his limp, and contends fairly well with his broken leg, despite the pain.

If his invulnerability or his Never status does indeed coexist with his possible interoceptive difficulties, it could mask the deficit of sensation, instead being construed as simple invulnerability or the “mettle” of a tough, stoic, Never soul, as Rhian, who possesses the same invulnerability, reacted more towards the same source of physical pain than Rafal did.

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Counterarguments:

Despite all these signs, anyone could have all or most of these traits in isolation, which still may not add up to a complete diagnosis. Basically, this is not only a matter of totalling up traits. We don’t really know how his brain functions as he is fictional and I would bet that if he were real, he couldn’t be arsed to answer interview questions.

I don’t believe he was intended to be autistic, given the fantasy genre of the series and its vaguely historical time frame, even if all this could form a viable headcanon.

We can't entirely be sure that he has a social deficit, or if his manner and apparent “deficit” are displayed by choice or out of practicality.

The most generous (non-deficient) interpretation we can hand him is that he’s simply out of practice. After all, he almost never associates with social equals, aside from Rhian, whom he doesn’t view as an equal.

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In response to my one of my counterarguments:

Then again, neither was Sherlock Holmes intentionally written as autistic since the diagnosis didn’t exist during the Victorian era and hadn't come about until later in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's lifetime—although many people today conclude that Holmes is indeed autistic and use modern terms to describe him because Doyle based him off of an “eccentric” academic acquaintance, the medical professor Dr. Joseph Bell, who might have been autistic.

In conclusion, I could just be a bit delusional, and this speculation could be far-fetched. Do you think I’m reading too much into whatever may have been intended for Rafal’s character? Could Rafal be autistic, or if not, could his characterization indicate some other type of neurodivergence?

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Thank you for taking the time to read through my thoughts! I’m open to “peer-review.” Anyone?

@discjude Thanks!! And yes, I agree that a lot of neurodivergent traits do apply to Evil on the whole. Oddly questionable, but the Nevers are at least intended to be "outcasts," which the label "neurodivergent" is too often synonymous with.

I can definitely see the overlap of "undesirable"/Evil traits being neurodivergent ones, considering how book 1 Agatha was ostracized. It's also strange that she's (seemingly?) the one exception among the Evers because most Evers are either less developed, minor characters, or simply don't display (as many if any) signs of neurodivergence or mental illness. In fact, Beatrix calls Sophie "mentally ill" (colloquially) when Sophie starts to act out in book 1. I would guess Evers likely carry more stigma about these "flaws" anyway though.

This is more of a speculation since I don't have evidence for it, but apart from something general like rejection sensitivity, do you think Japeth could have SPD or be a Highly Sensitive Person?

Actually, I'm going to take a stab at "diagnosing" Japeth. Considering Aric and his proclivity for knives, that's probably a poor choice of words, haha. First, I'm just going to set aside sociopathy/psychopathy because every major villain in SGE has this to some degree, even if it was a one-off incident of behaviors and not a continuous trait.

I agree with you about over-attachment and over-sensitivity. Maybe the over-sensitivity could extend to rejection sensitivity, but that would probably fall under a larger condition, not sure which. If anything he exhibits is part of a greater personality disorder, I would say Japeth goes under Cluster B and possibly Cluster C while Rafal goes under Cluster A and also possibly Cluster C. And, Sophie and Rhian I would file under Cluster B too, in my opinion.

I also decided I wanted to bring in Evelyn because it occurred to me that her butterflies could be a symbol of being very attuned to sensation also, like Japeth's scims are. (Also, she is easily another one of the obsessive characters.) Could these creatures represent something like SPD, meaning Japeth could've inherited the disorder?

Or, alternatively, the creatures could represent something Cluster A, like Paranoid Personality Disorder or some kind of hyper-vigilance, that extends beyond her magic to her psyche.

We know "magic follows emotion." And I wonder if magic is also defined in a "form = function" way? For example, if Evelyn's brain demanded that extreme level of hyper-vigilance, if it went beyond espionage as an excuse for the surveillance, to measures for her personal safety as a reason, could the butterflies have adapted themselves to suit this purpose and assuage her, if she did feel paranoid or dysregulated during any given moment?

And does this mean magic-users (discounting mortals with ordinary fingerglows—I mean the Mistrals, the Saders, Nimue, and Merlin) are more prone to having atypical nervous systems/wiring? We did see the Lady of the Lady give into her extreme loneliness, and while she didn't exactly have a mental breakdown, she did seem unresponsive for some time, and there's always a chance that went beyond a usual depressive state.

And if that were true (form = function), could it apply to Rafal's shadow and his nervous system? My assumption is that when he's in his shadow form, he registers less as far as sensation goes because he doesn't have a corporeal form during those moments and can phase through things, I think, and yet, he can still interact with objects (the bodies of kidnapped students) of his choosing, selectively, which means he's still made of smoke-like or fine matter. I wonder if that form is his inadvertent way of tuning out the world? And if that were true, it would connect back to monotropism again or the ability to hyper-focus, with an "attention tunnel," dissociating from the world to the point that he genuinely wouldn't hear anything he wouldn't want to hear and only perceive the one object in his sightline because he's managed to close out all else. I guess my specific theory here is that his shadow is a method of entering a state of Flow?

Given all the others who are worse off, August should thank his lucky stars that he's a Seer and wouldn't be doubted for it. This may be a reach, but I think that if he were apart of our world, he would be accused of having Schizotypal traits (or something else in Cluster A but different from and less poorly than Rafal's presentation of it) and a case of Magical thinking (without the compulsions).

Plus, Soman semi-frequently describes himself as obsessive and as a control freak, and talks about how his creative projects, like New Novel, consume him—and while I certainly can’t assume anything about him since he’s a real person, I can't help but wonder if he has some traits that could be interpreted as neurodivergent, which filter into his characterization and get blown up, because, the characters are more "distorted" and larger-than-life. I don't usually get the sense that he exaggerates when he characterizes himself, even if his prose style can be melodramatic.

From my experience, few people tend to characterize "obsession" in a positive light, which is unfortunate. But, this also means, few people actively identify with being "obsessive" or "control freaks" in a sincere way, beyond it just being a throwaway line or a socially-acceptable instance of bragging. I'm probably just splitting hairs, but nowadays, I feel like when people say they're "obsessed" with something they aren't truly. Or, instead of that accusation, it could just be how they're using the word.

The question I have is usually: are you using "obsessed" as an intensifying verb or do you really mean it? It can't just be an activity that becomes "out of sight, out of mind" as soon as you aren't doing it during another moment of that day.

I, personally, feel like "obsession" can't be something that happens or unravels in a casual sense. It's never casual, like influencers who claim they are "obsessed" with a product to generate hype. The obsession, in my very subjective opinion, has to be something that either dominates your thoughts, consumes your waking life during more passive moments as you actively think about it when you're bored, waiting, or have nothing to do, or streaks through your head even while you're not actively thinking about it because of your associative powers funneling toward that thing.

Hopefully, the Evil/autistic allegory was subconscious. I can't say there's nothing wrong with it in and of itself. And I can't say it's uncommon either. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr is a novel on my tbr list and I've already heard from online reviews that the villain exhibits autistic traits. Maybe, it'll end up being another Rafal-like case once I read it, idk.

(And probably everyone, including neurodivergent people, have some form of internalized ableism.)

Even if the allegory wasn't the best move, for most of the trait-bearers to be villains, it's not a completely awful oversight given the overall message. To me, at least one thing I would say wasn't mishandled or unintentional was that we are told (even late into the story) that both Rhians are in the wrong, in general, and there's the fact that both Rhians are punished by the narrative, backing up the messaging—even if they were punished for what they did, if not for trying to "cure" their brothers.

Is Rafal an Allegory for Autism and Is He Autistic Himself?

DISCLAIMER: This is just one niche interpretation of the text that points to his being autistic, even if it were not intentionally written into the narrative. I am in no way claiming this interpretation is factual or that it is an absolute or “correct” reading of the text.

Therefore, feel free to disagree with me or add onto this! I will not be offended by opposing viewpoints at all, and it could be fair to say I’m just pathologizing him, if that’s the case, which may be true. I’d also love to hear other takes if anyone agrees with me, or suspects another form of neurodivergence, seeing as comorbidities are possible and one condition doesn’t rule out the existence of another as symptoms alone could themselves be attributed to other causes.

@hyperfixating-chic Thank you for bringing up the idea of Rafal having autism since I had previously suspected it due to some of his (potentially negligible) traits, and discarded the idea. Now, I see it as plausible and your thought about masking definitely helped everything else slot into place!

Currently, I'm straddling the line between:

Is Rafal an unintentional allegory for autism, or beyond that, does he have enough traits for him to actually be autistic?

With him, any traces of autism seem to present themselves in such minor ways that I might just be cherry-picking evidence to fit this particular image of him. Though, his autism could just be higher-functioning anyway. And, while he does have seemingly autistic traits, there could be other, equally plausible reasons for their existence apart from neurodivergence, such as his idiosyncratic personality. And, because he is fictional, we can’t truly be sure.

One side note: The word “autism” could be translated as “selfism,” as the prefix “auto-” means “self,” or it could allude to self-absorption. Yet, not all autistics are selfish and some may only appear “selfish” to others. However, this interpretation of the word happens to work in favor of Rafal’s autism existing, as he is selfish (and does possess a somewhat graceless mode of socializing).

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Evidence for his character being an allegory:

He's central to the order of the world he lives in, to the Schools running, continuing on, to pure utility, but does he have any social value beyond that?

Quick digression: I'm almost tempted to say that the worst thing someone whose opinion Rafal actually cares about could say to him is: “You're useless/purposeless." (And that is what I have him think about, or say at times, to Rhian, but if it were directed toward him, I feel like it would be something he couldn't brush off easily.)

Looking at his “value” and other traits:

He has virtually no relationships and thus, has little social currency apart from his School Master status.

He is viewed as an outsider in a sense by society (partly because of how far above everyone else he stations himself). But, if he didn’t do that as well as threaten punishment so frequently, would he be ridiculed behind closed doors? Even though he was admitted to the Black Rabbit, it was (probably?) because he was respected and feared, not because he was “welcome” in an amicable way, even if he was treated well. How do we know he wasn’t merely tolerated because he had to be, according to social conventions or mandated politeness driven by fear? Albeit, some Nevers probably did actually idolize him.

I believe there was even an assumption by others that he had a purpose for being at the nightclub, that he was there strictly for business, to scout out prospective students, not necessarily because he was there to join the festivities. Though, I may be misremembering.

He is irreverent and a “killjoy” to some, often upsets the status quo on large (leaving the School) and small (the trainwreck at the Snow Ball) scales, and often questions things usually accepted by most. He also doesn’t respect any authority apart from his own. This again is due to his Evil, in-narrative, as Evers are commonly depicted as rule-followers and traditionalists. (Neurotypicals, those who aren’t neurodivergent, generally do not question implicit social rules, even when there is no reason to keep to them or no reason for their existence.)

Rafal might only have been valued for his tangible, quantifiable contributions to society, as both a Never of prodigious talents and as an individual with a high-standing.

That begs the question: what about him as a person?

He is broadly viewed as unlikable.

To play into allegory, he is dehumanized, not necessarily for potential autism, but for his Evil, if it could be seen as a symbol of his autism.

At the start, Rhian, in originally wanting to eradicate Evil from the Woods and reform every soul, inadvertently demonizes him. And so do his students, when they sentence him to prison.

Sometimes, in-world, the Pen dehumanizes him (as well as Rhian) for his position as School Master. It reduces him to his role, strips him of individuality and selfhood because he is one of an indivisible pair, and it views him as replaceable, which, again, relates heavily to utility above all else, in how his sole purpose for being there and having his life preserved is pushing the tales and future forward.

So, while yes, he is respected and valued and held up as an exemplar for what Evil should be, how deeply does others’ approval run? Was anyone in-world willing to vouch for him or defend him as a person, for personal traits, apart from his skills and achievements?

(I’m not trying to suggest this in poor taste, but a real-world example of this phenomenon happening historically is the moral quandary of saving Einstein, who might've been neurodivergent. Einstein’s singular life as a Jew was prioritized over other lives, a plurality, during the Holocaust because he was a genius and therefore, a person of value. And, to generalize, sometimes groups only claim unlikable or "inferior" individuals as one of their own because they can benefit and get ahead from doing so. For instance, a Nazi could rationalize something absurd and say: "Oh, that Jew. He's a personal friend of mine. He's an exception, not like all those others. He's a good guy, and so, I'll help him escape Germany." Any “loyalty” from a member of the in-group is conditional. The moment that person of value crosses a line or becomes useless, it’s “abandon ship!” Or worse, denial: "They were never that great in the first place!")

Initially, to Rafal's students, he was a Folk devil, or their chosen scapegoat, even if their accusations against him proved pretty valid later on with the torture. (So, admittedly, he is deserving of a lot the narrative did to him, and can’t be defended completely.)

In fact, both Rafal’s own students and Vulcan (importantly designated as Rafal’s competition) seemed perfectly happy to see him fall. Thus, we can ask: did he suffer from a case of Tall Poppy Syndrome?

For reference, here’s a definition of the term I’ve pulled from the internet:

“Tall Poppy Syndrome occurs when individuals are attacked, resented, criticized, or cut down due to their achievements and success. The metaphorical ‘tall poppy’ represents someone who stands out from the crowd, excels, and reaches new heights.”

Maybe, he was only ever valued, not for who he was, but for what he could bring into the world.

Even if anyone post-Fall suspected that Rhian was the “Rafal” they saw, maybe they truly didn’t care. They still had a “him” in a sense that must have seemed just as good and serviceable as the original—if, again, they only valued him for the sake of utility.* It probably didn’t matter because no one was suffering from a lack of Evil School Master (yes, just the title, not the name) and likely no one realized they were suffering from a lack of Rafal (and balance). Him as a person probably meant nothing in their eyes, considering how he used and abused them.

So, here we have a figure, who was never that personable to begin with, who only succeeded in further alienating himself from potential allies and friends as stakes rose, who excelled in other areas rather than socially.

Could he have used his sorcery and other preternatural, prodigy-like abilities (considering his mental/physical age, if not his chronological age) to compensate for his ever-present social deficit? Possibly.

*Thus, we might be able to confirm he was always viewed, not for who he was, but for what he could do.

His death was caused by the failure to say the right, emotionally-weighted words in an emotionally-charged situation.

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Evidence for being autistic himself:

His default mode of speaking appears to be deadpan with little intonation and his emotional expression is overall low. He’s also rather impassive and placid compared to other characters as long as he remains in control and isn’t taken by surprise. Thus, I suspected he could have a flat affect (or blunted affect), unless he is deliberately seducing or appealing to another character he intends to manipulate to his own ends.

He has irreverence for existing traditions or established ways of doing things, given how he changed the date of the Snow Ball without warning, without consulting anyone, and with little concern for others because he saw his decision as fit to serve himself.

He seems to have a case of one-track-mind or monotropism when it comes to saving Rhian or attaining power for himself at any cost. His narrowed, obsessive focus tends to center on either Rhian, vengeance, the balance, or gaining control over his immediate surroundings whenever he is incapacitated; he has a need for order and control in everything he approaches. He also has a strong internal sense of justice, however perversely-aligned his may be.

He doesn’t distribute his attention widely, and (once) seemed to love his brother deeply and narrowly. He had no friends outside of Rhian, his twin, which could’ve been a given since the start. He had difficulty maintaining all of his relationships (or situationships) and had a marked lack of interest in forming relationships or friendships with others outside of Rhian because he often cut ties with people like Hook or Midas when he no longer had a practical use for them.

One of the greatest “sins” to some autistic people is lying, and it occurred to me that, a few times over, Rafal never lied. (This statement excludes the few exceptions of his Fala disguise, a thought not completely of his own volition which the Storian may have planted in his mind or implicitly suggested with its illustrations, and his general practice of withholding information.) He just weaponizes shades of the truth, unlike Rhian who did outright lie at times. Rafal instead misled, passively allowing people to believe what they wanted to believe about his moral character (oftentimes in the “fact” that he was trustworthy) without truly affirming their views of him or correcting them, as long as doing so continually worked to his advantage. He let them fall into their own delusions, and used lies of omission, which aren’t technically lies.

Although he is often driven by his selfish, insular nature, like towards the singular pursuit of power and becoming the One in Fall, I also suspected that he's often mind-blind in regards to others, sometimes willfully, if it’s not “errors” in how he processes the world. I would guess that he might experience difficulty in understanding and empathizing with others' perspectives, meaning he has trouble with “Theory of Mind.” As evidence, he uses the “wrong” wording when he attempted to placate Rhian at the climax of Fall before the fratricide scene since he’s not used to consoling or providing others with emotional reassurance or comfort. In addition, he seemed unable or unwilling to sympathize with Rhian’s perceived loss to him when he momentarily appeared to hold the Storian’s favor.

Rafal also strikes me as the type of person to devalue a form of emotional, Ever-like “data” he cannot read. If he does (or ever formerly did) suffer from mind-blindness, I have a theory that, possibly, because he could have begun with the inability to comprehend others' mental states, he found an alternate way to operate in and successfully navigate his world with, to thrive in it, consciously comporting himself as Evil, due to the easy potential overlap in autistic behaviors and being a conventional Never, in a way that was insensitive and cold enough to allow for any kind of social faux pas he could have made to be viewed as intentional on his part, assuming he spent most of his time around others masking his autism (covering up and compensating for deficits so as to be perceived as “normal”) even if such a label probably wouldn’t exist in the Woods. He also seems to dislike or barely tolerate any kind of flagrant sentimentality.

If the above point were true, then he would probably not only lack affective, visible empathy he could feel, imitate, and display through his facial expressions and body language, but also cognitive empathy. And this could be potentially because it would be convenient to him, to disregard and not take into account data that is ostensibly “meaningless” to him. Besides, I think there is a chance he’s taught himself to be persuasive or seductive when he wants to or “has” to be, in order to appeal to his victims. The other general possibility I had in mind was that Rafal could have learned to read people until it became second nature to him, with how he used suggestive manipulation on Aladdin to get the thief to steal back the lamp, proving Rafal consciously knew how predictable and pliable human nature could be.

In total, from what I can tell, he is able to manipulate others exceptionally well and lead them on, and yet, when it comes to actually relating to anyone, he seems to have difficulty understanding their points of view if he doesn't just flat-out disregard them in favor of his always being "right," which brings me to his tenacity, how he seems set in his ways, and leans towards extremes. Rafal seems like an all-or-nothing person, and either commits all the way to a cause, even bringing life-or-death ruminations into his internal monologue, or is apathetic and doesn't care at all.

Perhaps, Rafal suffers from sustained emotional dysregulation during certain plot points. He clearly has an inability to “let things go,” as is common with autism because when he was more than slighted by his mutinous students sending him to Monrovia Prison, his temper flared and he went to an extreme of methodically torturing every last child. And afterward, he continued to hold onto a grudge against that one particular class, until he was in closer contact with them, and gradually began to see himself and how he’d conducted himself as School Master from their perspective, literally in the shoes of the Never student Fala he fabricated.

He often has sharp lines of dialogue and witticisms the reader sees as comedic when his intention probably wasn’t to be, thereby meaning he could be unaware of precisely how he comes across to others, as hyperbolic as he is.

His quick wit and resourcefulness led me to think that he is at least partly a verbal thinker, evinced by the Vulcan shanty he composed and some of his scathing one-liners. Plus, he does muse philosophically on occasion in his narration, about matters like the nature of Evil, villainous purpose, and its role in the Woods, or how villains usually work alone while pirates, as a breed, are known to be more communal.

He also twists others’ words at times, uses the “Exact Phrasing” fairy-tale convention, and exploits loopholes oftentimes. I’m pretty sure he sees language as up to interpretation? E.g., he offers to pay a Man-Wolf his "weight in gold" and then, turns the Man-Wolf into gold to make an example of him, weaponizing literal meaning. Overall, as a reader, I feel as if I must watch out for the true meaning of his dialogue.

His reclusiveness, contrasted with Rhian’s desire for romantic love and companionship, and his general social withdrawal are quite prominent, and those asocial, isolative (or more destructively, “antisocial”) tendencies could, as well as being a preference, function as a coping mechanism. Perhaps, he feels better and overall more regulated whilst alone than in the company of other people, who neither give him peace of mind nor obey him, especially those whose every action he cannot control? And maybe, he needs room to breathe and think, and left the School at the start of Rise to shut out the offending emotional stimulus of Rhian’s words, about how all Evil-doers could be reformed to Good and that Evil lacked purpose. If he was emotionally affected by the brothers’ argument, the Aladdin bet, and the chaotic events of the Snow Ball, maybe he just had to sever himself from it all and leave it behind?

He might have Sensory Processing Disorder, which often accompanies autism. I’m not an expert, but from what I could see, there are hints of Rafal having an aversion to light, such as when, in his internal monologue, he remarks on Rhian's glass castle. Additionally, when he intentionally renovated his School, it was dark and dimly lit.

In the ice classroom, he sat at his desk for days on end, entranced by the mirror he enchanted to view the Doom Room with, like he was watching television, like it was some form of a singular obsession, and he did all that presumably without feeling any bodily discomfort. Thus, it occurred to me that, while this instance could be attributed to his invulnerability/immortality, he might just have trouble with interoception or internal bodily sensation. He rarely seems to sense or acknowledge dehydration, exhaustion, or hunger, and seems ascetic while Rhian is slightly more dependent on creature comforts.

One last qualifying trait could be Rafal’s lack of sensitivity to (external) pain as seen when the Storian slashes his palm open for the oath.

As far as the previous two points go, I’ve been questioning whether his potential difficulty with interoception could coexist at once with the artificially-induced traits of his Storian-bestowed invulnerability that later fades over the course of Fall, rendering him mortal, or conditioning over his lifetime as an Evil-doer, as Evil thematically seems to undergo more pain than Good does throughout the series. Even while vulnerable and mortal in Fall, he manages to walk on his limp, and contends fairly well with his broken leg, despite the pain.

If his invulnerability or his Never status does indeed coexist with his possible interoceptive difficulties, it could mask the deficit of sensation, instead being construed as simple invulnerability or the “mettle” of a tough, stoic, Never soul, as Rhian, who possesses the same invulnerability, reacted more towards the same source of physical pain than Rafal did.

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Counterarguments:

Despite all these signs, anyone could have all or most of these traits in isolation, which still may not add up to a complete diagnosis. Basically, this is not only a matter of totalling up traits. We don’t really know how his brain functions as he is fictional and I would bet that if he were real, he couldn’t be arsed to answer interview questions.

I don’t believe he was intended to be autistic, given the fantasy genre of the series and its vaguely historical time frame, even if all this could form a viable headcanon.

We can't entirely be sure that he has a social deficit, or if his manner and apparent “deficit” are displayed by choice or out of practicality.

The most generous (non-deficient) interpretation we can hand him is that he’s simply out of practice. After all, he almost never associates with social equals, aside from Rhian, whom he doesn’t view as an equal.

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In response to my one of my counterarguments:

Then again, neither was Sherlock Holmes intentionally written as autistic since the diagnosis didn’t exist during the Victorian era and hadn't come about until later in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's lifetime—although many people today conclude that Holmes is indeed autistic and use modern terms to describe him because Doyle based him off of an “eccentric” academic acquaintance, the medical professor Dr. Joseph Bell, who might have been autistic.

In conclusion, I could just be a bit delusional, and this speculation could be far-fetched. Do you think I’m reading too much into whatever may have been intended for Rafal’s character? Could Rafal be autistic, or if not, could his characterization indicate some other type of neurodivergence?

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Thank you for taking the time to read through my thoughts! I’m open to “peer-review.” Anyone?

What Rafal's Physical and Immaterial Coolness Could Represent

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As a forewarning, this post is more... observational and has less of a singular, hard-hitting point to it. (Also, see Conan Gray's "Fight or Flight" song for reference, as, most of this post occurred to me in relation to that very song, if you interpret parts of it as representing Rafal's internal monologue on the subject of Rhian's substitutes during Rise.)

Also, this is a long post, so it's going under a cut.

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Why is Rafal's immediate response to personal hurt avoidance of all things? Isn't that kind of a heightened, overly instinctive, clearly "uncool" reaction to have?

And yet, strangely, we still classify it as in character for him. His leaving was, arguably, the most iconic and true-to-self thing he did across both prequels. So, I want to ask: why is that?

That he just up and left seems apathetic and could be construed as part of his cold, cool nature, of course, but still—when we look at what his reaction truly is: he chose flight.

(Flight as opposed to the alternative fight, freeze, or fawn responses.)

FLIGHT! Like, can you believe it? This man, who's so headstrong and willing to stare down anything, chose flight. Let that revelation sink in. (Maybe this is more obvious than I think, but I can't believe I hadn't thought of this weird discrepancy before. Flight!)

Anyway, to explain Rafal's reaction to (potentially) having been emotionally hurt by his argument and corresponding bet with Rhian at the start, I'm going to reference a theory from an old post, as it has suddenly become relevant once again.

In short, the idea is about how Rhian's expressions of authority are personal while Rafal's are nearly always impersonal. Rhian is a master of social dynamics, considering how deftly he lies in Fall to gain favor from others and influence their views of him. And, this makes sense because he once cared so much about how he was perceived, as we take into account his original self-consciousness and his high-minded, conscionable tendencies from Rise. He is the one who wields interpersonal power as Rafal, correspondingly, wields impersonal (often more tangible and brutish) power.

If anyone would like more elaboration, here's an excerpt from that old post:

The strange thing is, in Fall, Rafal admits to having conceded a lot of the time to Rhian in the past, in the face of smaller, pettier arguments, a trend which also represents his yielding to Rhian's (supposedly nonexistent) authority in the early days. That tendency seems self-contradictory of Rafal, but perhaps, even Rafal's authority is situational. He's capable of exercising it over everything and world, but not over his own brother. He can't rein Rhian, the inevitable force, the "fatal" (to invoke both death and "fate") tides of change, the Prime Mover, in. Meanwhile, Rhian is the inverse of that. Rhian cannot exercise authority over everything and the world, but he can do so over his own brother. Besides, Rafal, often by sorcery or by outright manhandling, manipulates and exerts his physicality over others and his environment while Rhian rarely does. And yet, Rafal (from what I remember) never so much as lays a hand on Rhian during Rise (in Fall, everything changes and escalates). I don't yet know why this is, but I think this observation is true most of the time. At least, I haven't thought of any exceptions yet. The working hypothesis I have is that Rhian (being the brother who chose to stay in the comfort and limited confines of the home, according to the Bettelheim text's ideas) only initially felt comfortable to do anything there. To act, and exercise his authority in an intimate, narrow, personal way. By contrast, Rafal (the more worldly, well-traveled, and inconstant brother) wants to gain independence from their stifling "home" life, under the Storian, and, as a result, upon his return, could've felt like a stranger in his own home and with Rhian (who's also changed in his brother's absence regardless). Thus, while Rafal can certainly exercise his authority impersonally, he doesn't feel at ease exercising authority over the familiar because it could be too close for comfort, too unsettling, unsettlingly different and the same, like he can't shed the disbelonging that drove him out of the fairy-tale construct of the "home" as a safe, childhood refuge in the first place—when Rhian first questioned his very core purpose and Evil's existence.

Thus, again, Rafal's ability to wield power is, without exception (I think), always impersonal.

The closest he comes to Rhian's brand of power, which involves acting on a smaller scale or more on an individual, one-to-one level and being intimate, are his interactions with Hook and Midas. And, despite those seductive instances, Rhian is still the master of all the smaller scale exploits, like with Hephaestus and the Pirate Captain rescuing him from the Doom Room where he'd been "abandoned," whenever these acts are in fact intentional.

Yes, Rafal possibly unwittingly, by being more open with his victims, has broader appeal, but that side of him isn't all pure strategy, done with intentionality. Part of it is just how he is. Rhian, unlike his brother, strikes at something inside people that doesn't just rely on scare tactics and classic, one-dimensional intimidation. In Fall, he gains a creepiness factor and the ability to lie convincingly, importantly, without blushing.

Also, I want to commentate a little on Rafal's novel instance of blushing during Fall, which was quite unlike his usual self.

First, here's some context about physical coolness, the socially-perceived "cool factor," and how blushing can only ever be sincere and is valuable because it is involuntary from Quiet by Susan Cain:

I suspect Fall aimed to establish Rafal as more "trustworthy," and as more subject to having humility thrust upon him, than he had been in Rise, when he had previously been insurmountable.

Yet then, after that "invulnerable," unaffected precedent he set about himself, he started blushing, signaling that he suddenly began to care, and that the opposite was true of Rhian as Rhian changed throughout Fall and became more immune to his old, constant feelings of shame that originally must've formed his moral compass.

Also, Rafal gets more points towards being an actual sociopath! He just partially lost his former, low-reactive temperament when he turned "Good."

One other thought of note:

Has anyone ever headcanoned Rafal as having an avoidant attachment style? To complement that, Rhian would probably have an anxious attachment style.

Essentially, the traits of these attachment styles are Rafal and Rhian personified.

Rafal:

Rhian:

Do you think/Feel Rafal or Rhian is a psychopath? Or they just flat out monsters.

No, I do not believe either of them are psychopaths (or completely cold-blooded monsters), even if Rafal did exhibit some psychopathic or ASPD-like traits during Rise. Both brothers have/had displayed consciences at times and seemed at least capable of affective empathy. Whenever I claim a character is "psychotic" or a "psychopath," I am usually using the colloquial meaning, not diagnosing them. Also, I'm not an expert and they are fictional, so I can't really confirm anything about them. Despite all this, there is a chance the Pen robbed Rhian of his humanity, which could mean he became a psychopath or an otherwise remorseless person in Fall.