I need to talk about my new favorite villain -- Dawn/Corporal Flint/Grand Marshal Maximian Sorav. His fall (or uprise??) from protagonist's sidekick to villain is one of the best arcs I've ever read and it was truly upsetting. I felt genuinely betrayed when we see him flip from Dawn to Corporal Flint to Grand Marshal. I have so many thoughts concerning him so please forgive me if this is a jumble. 🙏🏽🥺

Dawn

Dawn is one of the sweetest, brotherly, and "softest" characters in the whole story during Act 1. He looks out of Guylag, helps with Tyro, never really complains, and is one of the easiest characters to like. I think that the betrayal he commits later on is so heartbreaking because he felt like one of safe and obviously heroic characters. On the other hand, knowing who Dawn becomes (and perhaps who he's always been) changes some of the scenes when looking back. When Dawn is telling Guy in the bath house "you deserve better" is he already imaging himself as the poor man who can never win the affections of his most beloved? Is his imaging a world in which he and Guylag and Tyro live a happily ever after or is he already writing Tyro out of the picture? We see him push for Guylag to let Tyro go into debt and work and while it seems in Act 1 that he's looking out for their family unit, we know later on he helps Tyro behind Guy's back. In the book, Dawn changes from Dawn to Corporal Flint during the attack in which they lose Three but I would argue that his full transformation happens when he helps Tyro sign the contract, something that Act 1 Dawn (we assume) would not do.

Corporal Flint

Despite hearing the name Corporal Flint many times throughout the book, I think we spend the least amount of time with that particular persona. Corporal Flint is a little cold, a little more ruthless, but still seemingly caring to a point and has a calm head when confronted with adverse situations. He still appears brotherly towards Tyro, even going as far to "help her" with signing onto a contract with BGS. However, we see him become crueler as time pass but generally, not out right cruel. An example of this would be the bedroom fight with Guy where he offers him money or whatever he'd like for Guy to love him back, implying that he's a whore. I think the obvious turning point from Corporal Flint to Grand Marshal is when Flint kills the current Grand Marshal and takes his skull.

Grand Marshal

Maximian is Dawn's final fall into becoming a villain in the story. He goes as far as to allow the murder of Tyro (someone he claimed to love before) and abuse + violate Guy (someone he claims to still love), stripping him of his name. He has no real love for Florian nor Aster, they're accessories to his cush lifestyle. He fully emotionally abuses Aster in many different scenes and seems to only give Florian a passing thought. He shows that he's a master manipulator, something he cultivates as he becomes the Grand Marshal. We see "Dawn" appear in glimpses but not long enough for Maximian to ever have a redemption arc. His arc is strictly a corruption arc, and I'm glad the author stuck with it.

It's not common to see the villain arc happen in the background instead of forefront. Dawn/Maximian is never the protagonist, just the side character in Guylag/Aster/Mallory's story, and I think that's why his descent took me by surprise. Even when all evidence was pointing towards Dawn being Maximian, I never wanted to believe it 😭 It's brilliantly done but painful all the same.