If the word 'characters' refers to the 3 men, their choices/decisions are based purely on their selfish desires. This is going to be long, but here's a breakdown.
The priest- wants to play to role of savior and 'save' Eris. As well as is projecting his dead mother onto the MC (if he 'saves' her, it will make up for his dead mom)
The knight- felt that his only 'purpose' in the world was to slay the dragon (since that had been his role when he was born). However, after he slays the dragon, he not only finds out his 'purpose' was a lie, but he no longer had a 'purpose' when the dragon was gone. The MC is the only one who didn't see him as a dragon slayer and didn't have an inflated/romanticized image of him. Also, what's even a better role than a dragon slayer? A loyal knight to the most understood villainess ever (Eris). This is why the knight, especially hates Anakin, he's playing 'the role,' he wants and 'doesn't deserve' (because in the knight's eyes, it's a role only 'worthy people' ie. like himself, can play).
The prince- struggles under the pressure of the expectations that come from his role as the crown prince and his father. He struggles with an inferiority complex and with the idea not he's not good enough/talented enough to hold the role (spoiler: he's not). This is why he hated Eris because not only was she better and more talented than he was, but she was a constant reminder of his position (he needed her and her political power, he wasn't good enough alone). He also got a thrill over the idea that that same capable person was obsessed with him and despite how horribly he treated her she always returned and still loved him (he had power over and the devotion of a powerful/talented person). The reason for his obsession (more like desperation) is also the same reason for his hate. Not only did he lose the thing that he assumed would be always there (Eris' love for the prince was his safety net). Without her love his position (as a man and as the prince) instantly became unstable, it wasn't the title that made the prince powerful and respected, it was Eris. Recognizing that made him obsess over her. Losing her love made his pride as a man drop (because the patriarchy judges a man's worth by the amount and quality of women that they can be with. Eris would be the equivalent of a big shiny trophy that the prince can put on his desk). He clearly doesn't 'love' her but loves what she 'represents' and gives him. And because Eris knows this, laughs at him and refuses to even give in a little bit he becomes desperate and worse, violent. Instead of acknowledging his inferiority complex and weaknesses, from the beginning, he decided that Eris was the villain and the root of all his problems. The issue is that because of this mentality/thought process when it became blatantly clear that he NEEDED Eris and she was the source of his power, he couldn't accept it. Therefore, he followed down the pathway of twisted 'love' and violence (trying the R*pe her, locking her up, and forcing her to be tied to him because unlike Helena, Eris wasn't going to play into his delusions).
The reason it might be hard to follow is because their thought process doesn't factor in common sense, consequences, or how it affects anyone else. All of their 'feelings' are also superficial and it's based purely on what they want (whether it is both or one over the other). These characters are actually a perfect example of how many men in reality use women to validate their worth instead of working on themselves or going to therapy (think of how men will rely on women to help them with fashion or skincare instead of doing the work themselves).
They also followed this SAME thought process with Helena in the story prior to their obsession with Eris.
The priest - liked Helena because she played to his ego/saviour complex (he also got to 'save her') as well as validated his fears and feelings (ie. the part when he felt self-conscious/inferior about his commoner background (he and Helena are the 'same' but he technically holds a higher position than her, so his position becomes stable) and his love for sweets (he doesn't have to confront other people's judgement if he uses her as an excuse to enjoy them. Lame just grow a pair and eat the macaron)
The knight- gets to protect the innocent and weak Helena from mean and scary people (he gets to play the role of saviour and a lady's knight). Again to bring it up, what's the next honourable position in society after dragon slayer? A beloved lady's knight (with Eris being a powerful political villain as well and picking on Helena, this plays more into the innocent girl being attacked by a dragon lady trope). Furthermore, with Helena, he can also be perceived as a 'man' and be validated that way.
The prince- as stated previously has an inferiority complex over his position, abilities and father. By claiming to be in love with a maid, he can claim 'moral high ground' with all of them (he chose love over everything trope). However, the catch-22 is, that he still holds a position over Helena and he KNOWS IT. In his and Helena's relationship, the power balance is completely to one side (his). Helena can't go against what he wants or he punishes those around her (this was seen in the story when he would take his anger out on Eris and the maids/workers around Helena). Effectively hurting and isolating Helena as well as placing her in the position of others' hatred/annoyance (she became hated by Eris and isolated by the castle workers). This also works in the prince's favour because now he gets to play the role of protector and protect her from the enemies HE created. He also amplifies this by not giving her the power to stand on her own, so she always has to rely on him to protect her.
The moral of the story is that NONE of these men had genuine feelings for either Eris or Helena, their feelings were based solely on their need to validate/stabilize their positions in society and their feelings of inadequacy as men. NOT ONE choice, decision, or action they performed throughout the ENTIRE story was selfless. Everything they did, they did for themselves.
This is also why Anakin is such a brilliant character, he is a perfect foil to these men. Completely opposite to those 3, Anakin did everything for the MC, every choice, decision, action, and words were all performed with the MC's well-being and feelings in mind.
most misunderstood villainess***
This was exactly what I felt about the priest, prince and knight characters.
I couldn't put it in words but yeah, these three were making decisions based on their position, status and stability and are doing things that would please the society they are living in.
If prince was genuine and deserving of that title, instead of thinking of Eris as a possession or a competitor he would have considered her as a partner or a friend and tried to change things but, he didn't have the courage to do it. Too oppressed and too prideful. But nothing mattered for him in Helena's case because, she doesn't belong to high society and he doesn't even need to think of her position as it was never a threat for him.
I bet, his mother would've supported him if he went on the path of rebellion considering what emperor did to her other son.
The knight on the other hand is acting all high and mighty because he defeated a dragon and is potraying Eris as the same in case of Helena. I hated how he forced her to consider herself as a weak little girl when he noticed her changed personality and started potraying, "must protect the weak because I am entitled to be a knight as someone who killed s dragon".
And the priest, apart from potraying his mother's figure onto Eris he displayed weird feelings. He creeped the hell out of me when he revealed he can just bring her back to life even if she's decapitated. Their interactions were the most uncomfortable thing to watch for me. Because if what he felt towards her considering she's his sister.
I felt real bad for Eris each and every time she discovered the thinking process of these characters. No wonder, og Eris planned to just leave that world for good.
Apart from all these, Annakin was the only one that did everything for Eris. He didn't just blindly follow her rather, he observed her, tried understanding her. Hell, he was loyal enough to consider his feelings towards her as nothing if she doesn't want it. I don't have enough words of how good his character was written. He didn't try to hold her back when she said, she wants to leave and the only way is to die as if that wasn't hard enough, she asked him to cremate her because of that threat from the priest. I was very happy when Annakin managed to land a cut on that guy.
He could've went emotional and asked her to stay, could've acted on his emotions and saved her when she was under the gluittone. But , he didn't! Because for him Eris's safety matters more and he understood, even if they run away they can never be happy and with how it was said about the story bring on loop, she might be hurt again and again. He choose to let her go, I bawled my eyes out when he said, he wouldn't have promised to meet her again if he thought it's going to end like this. All in all, they met. Annakin is the perfect definition of a knight.ヾ(☆▽☆)
I'm late but THANK YOU!!!! THIS WAS AN AMAZING EXPLANATION ヾ(☆▽☆) I'm enjoying and rereading it one more time
I'm glad I could help ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~
I swear when can i find a man like Anakin
For me this was so frustrating to read because you don't really know what any of these characters want. Like why is it that they change their mind every five second, people might disagree but this was difficult to enjoy.