● Cry For the Devil: Zaheer is a bloodthirsty, torturous Complete Monster who killed off most of Jarah's family for his own tyrannical rule. He then jails Jarah and his little sister, torturing Jarah for months so he gives up all of his engineering and advanced plans. He doesn't care about the Alourian people, he just is looking out for himself. ... but that's what's been keeping him alive. After he breaks out of imprisonment, Jarah learns more about him through story and hindsight. Zaheer's own parents were allegedly killed by his own, and he wants revenge. Jarah can understand this but still doesn't condone it, but it gets worse: Zaheer is, in fact, abused by the only living family member he has left: Dasche, his uncle, who's tortured him for three years. It warped Zaheer into thinking his actions to Jarah were justified. In the end, in a rare in-universe example, Jarah cries for Zaheer when he puts it all together.
Jarah: By all the gods. I never would've known. To think cruelty meant, to me, my father's sharp words at my lack of swordskill. To think that it meant withstanding his blows. If there is anything cruel in this world, it is being made to suffer quietly and to have no choice in protection. |
