I like Winter, and I still do, even though his actions toward Raymon are unacceptable. Winter is genuinely interesting to me. While the author isn’t particularly great at character development and there are plenty of things that could be improved, it’s still enough to keep me buying and following the story.
Winter is basically a delusional madman. He’s violent and frightening, but not a cruel mastermind. In fact, he’s quite naive and childish. The way he acts with Raymon, like a clumsy, confused puppy, doesn’t seem fake either because he genuinely doesn’t know how to love Raymon. I’m not excusing his behavior, just analyzing it from Winter’s pov.
The author gives a lot of hints that Raymon always feels a strange sense of safety and familiarity with Winter, even when he’s kidnapped. I think they might have some kind of shared past. This is just speculation, but something could have happened that forced Raymon and Winter to depending on each other. This might have led to Winter’s possessiveness and obsession. It also seems like Raymon, although psychologically affected like Winter to some degree, has had some kind of therapy. I’m not say Raymon is entirely healthy, but at least he’s not in as bad a state as Winter. And because there’s such a big gap between them, Winter planned to imprison Raymon from the start. “Luckly” the incident with the other stalker gave Winter an opening to become fwb with Raymon, but that still wasn’t enough. Raymon could still leave him, so Winter stuck to his plan. However, Winter wasn’t really mentally prepared to face the real Raymon, not the idealized version of him. That’s why he panics so easily and acts so childishly. Winter isn’t a smart villain. If Raymon were calm and thought things through, he’d probably realize he could manipulate Winter instead.
I like Winter, and I still do, even though his actions toward Raymon are unacceptable. Winter is genuinely interesting to me. While the author isn’t particularly great at character development and there are plenty of things that could be improved, it’s still enough to keep me buying and following the story.
Winter is basically a delusional madman. He’s violent and frightening, but not a cruel mastermind. In fact, he’s quite naive and childish. The way he acts with Raymon, like a clumsy, confused puppy, doesn’t seem fake either because he genuinely doesn’t know how to love Raymon. I’m not excusing his behavior, just analyzing it from Winter’s pov.
The author gives a lot of hints that Raymon always feels a strange sense of safety and familiarity with Winter, even when he’s kidnapped. I think they might have some kind of shared past. This is just speculation, but something could have happened that forced Raymon and Winter to depending on each other. This might have led to Winter’s possessiveness and obsession. It also seems like Raymon, although psychologically affected like Winter to some degree, has had some kind of therapy. I’m not say Raymon is entirely healthy, but at least he’s not in as bad a state as Winter. And because there’s such a big gap between them, Winter planned to imprison Raymon from the start. “Luckly” the incident with the other stalker gave Winter an opening to become fwb with Raymon, but that still wasn’t enough. Raymon could still leave him, so Winter stuck to his plan. However, Winter wasn’t really mentally prepared to face the real Raymon, not the idealized version of him. That’s why he panics so easily and acts so childishly. Winter isn’t a smart villain. If Raymon were calm and thought things through, he’d probably realize he could manipulate Winter instead.