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I feel like people who are skipping through S2 are the ones getting some things HORRIBLY wrong about the characterization in this story on a fundamental level. It genuinely pained me reading some of these comments especially because the flashback season was far more than just exposé into Brian’s life.

What really stood out to me wasn’t just Brian, but Sol and Lorkan. The author puts in painstaking efforts to show that Sol, although dragon, is not at all resistant to change nor things that may challenge his current worldviews and uses them to change his own entirely as he evolved. Lorkan on the other hand warps human worldviews to fit his dragon perspective, never truly growing as a person. Lorkan serves as a character foil from the way they take in the information of the human world around them, to how they perceive Brian.

Everything they— Sol and Lorkan— stand for are polar opposites, and this is reflected within the very countries they rule. Sol’s country is a reflection of BRIAN’S will, and a world he wants to maintain with Brian’s memories and ambition. Lorkan’s country is one representative of his OWN will and stagnation. Sol maintains his empire on the basis of selfless devotion, while Lorkan does so on selfish possession.

Brian’s world was crafted by Sol to accommodate him and become a safe space, but Lorkan crafted a world that was against Ian to make him depend only on him. Brian vs. Ian is a biproduct of each respective brother’s direct influence.

Lorkan views Ian an object to keep, a bird that would clip its own wings for him and stay in the birdcage of that empire he crafted for him. Lorkan sees Ian as Brian— he is stuck in his ways, and is the example of a dragon who remains a dragon.

But ever since the beginning of the manhwa, in the present timeline, Sol viewed Ian as his own person, and that becomes so abundantly clear the more you read on. Why? Because he is adaptable and not scared of change like his brother who is a freak for control to the point of going out of his way to groom Brian’s reincarnate into loyalty; he groomed him into the very bird he wished he had that he spoke of in S2.

Brian and Sol already discussed what would happen after death in S2. They already established that if they were to cross paths in their new lives, Brian (now Ian) would not remember, nor would Sol force him to remember. Instead, Sol would allow the newly reincarnated Brian to fall in love with him naturally… AS HIS OWN PERSON. It’s exactly opposite of what Lorkan did to get Ian to stick to his side.

I think it’s seriously unfair and even ill informed to judge his interactions towards Ian on the basis of him being human as a CENTRAL part of S2 was him NOT being human. Sol is a dragon, and although he spent so long in the human world, he ultimately views the concept of life, death, and identity completely removed from how humans do.

Even currently, Sol is not quite treating Ian as Brian out of a desire for Ian to ‘be’ him, he isn’t even ‘treating’ him as Brian, and it’s why he didn’t tell Ian about Brian for as long as he did because he DOES see Ian as his own person, and he could also hope for him to regain his memories for closure— these two things do not need to be mutually exclusive like many try to make it out to be, and this hope isn’t a bad thing inherently. The narrative is only so heavily skewed against Sol’s favor because we are seeing this all through IAN’S eyes.

To me, it seems like Sol is trying his darnest to probe out Ian’s feelings at this moment, as he is at a true loss for *why* Ian feels the way he does— how would he understand how Ian feels if Ian doesn’t speak directly to him on the matter? Ian misinterpreting his intentions only makes the conversation far less productive too, as we have seen that Sol learns best with directness.

I think because of how the author wrote each and every character and having the world actually affect their actions, these misunderstandings are necessary and realistic, as it shows a much more deep rooted issue beyond Brian/Ian. It shows the depths of Lorkan’s influence on Ian, and shows us just how imperfect Sol is in spite of his trying. You really cannot point fingers at one party or the other, as they both are hurting badly.

The way this manhwa presents itself kinda reminds me of the game nu:carnival in the way it takes itself only half serious with its clear as day porn plot devices, but has memorable characters and an actually very grim, dark overarching plot. Because why am I actually getting kinda invested