The Gray Part 2

“It would be easy,” [Circe] hisses. “You are nothing against us!” she says, swiping her arm through the air like a knife. Her insane laughter has quickly turned to crackling fury. “And soon…even less.”

- Us Monsters, Sahu’s POV

Last week, I listed out the main human and non-human villains/antagonists of Us Monsters and touched a bit on technicalities and what this all means and ‘side’ antagonists and yadda yadda yadda.

Today, we’re taking a closer look at the grey of some of the human antagonists I listed — just like I promised!

As a reminder, here’s the list of the human antagonists:

1. Khaos — Elpis’s POV

2. Circe — Sahu’s POV 1

3. Enyalius — Hemera’s POV

4. Orthia — Khaos’s POV

5. Petbe — Sahu’s POV 2

6. Heather — Circe’s POV

And, as per usual, we’re starting with Khaos.

“It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that I was the villain of this story all along.”

- Us Monsters, Elpis’s POV (Khaos speaking)

Khaos is an…interesting villain to say the least.

It may just be me, but it’s kind of hard not to feel sorry for the guy — at least at times. The reasons for his wrongdoings can all be pinpointed back to his awful childhood and the awful way people have treated him over the years.

Does that excuse his actions? No. But since he’s not real (imagine that…), it does make him a fascinating and dynamic character. You’re always wondering what’s next with him.

When the child was about five or six years old, Enyalius returned. His child was nothing short of a prodigy and could already fend for himself with skill and magic. He could even gather his own food and find his own shelter and water.

- Us Monsters, Elpis’s POV

After his father passed away when he was 6 years old, Khaos was left to his own devices, abandoned in the forest in a kingdom that hated him. Because of this, not only did he grow bitter…but also very disjointed from society as a whole.

I didn’t understand. What crime? What charges? No one was explaining anything to me. They were just spouting words that I didn’t understand without bothering to ask if I did.

- Us Monsters 2 — A Better World, Khaos’s POV

This man doesn’t even know he has to knock on a door before entering someone’s room. He barely knows that you have to pay for things. Poor dude.

Everything Khaos knows about people is only what he’s gathered from observation — or more specifically, spying. So, his perception is definitely limited and maybe even slightly warped or biased.

It’s his magic. I’m certain of it. He told me that his magic is of illusions. Illusion magic mixed with his illness can’t be a good thing. I worry that he is using his magic without realizing it, to make his hallucinations seem far more intense than they would be for an Amity or a Firefly without illusion magic. It’s sca I do not know enough about magic to be certain, and the kingdom is already so on edge.

If I mention this, will I be accused of prejudice?

- Us Monsters, Elpis’s POV (reading a letter)

Top that with his worsening schizophrenia that melts together with his literal illusion magic…and you have a very unpredictable character.

It brings about a very important dilemma in the book.

“Khaos’s life is a tragedy. What has happened to him can remain an awful reminder of the effects of discrimination and hatred on an individual and on a kingdom. But it’s too late.” Trivia shut her eyes and tightened her hands into fists on the table. “I would have loved if things could have been different for him, but it’s too damn late. Whether or not he can change is irrelevant now. What’s done is done. The kingdom needs to rest, and it will only rest when his deeds are accounted for.”

- Us Monsters, Elpis’s POV

At what point is someone considered unsalvageable?

Nowadays, I feel like people won’t hesitate in saying “no one is redeemable to begin with!” In a lot of cases, maybe that’s true. But that also deflects from solving actual issues in society, such as discrimination and poor mental health.

(Prevention is better than cure, as they wouldn’t stop saying in English classes in school, ever.)

We’re not going to talk about my opinion on any of these things — because I don’t want to die like that. We’re just going to talk about it from a story perspective.

“You mentioned intent. Let’s talk about that. Did you intend to kill with your magic?”

Khaos paused again. Everyone watched him carefully. He lowered his gaze for just a moment. “No.”

“Are you sure? Can you elaborate?”

Khaos folded his arms and looked down at the table. “No. When I attacked the kingdom, there were too many people to take note of their fears individually. I wasn’t aware of how deep some of them went. I didn’t expect anyone to die.”

- Us Monsters, Elpis’s POV

How much can you blame on Khaos when he specifically stated it was a loss of control of his magic that society never bothered to teach anyone how to handle?

“It’s always been this way, ever since I was a child. I’ve been treated like I was less than everyone else, like I was already evil.” [Khaos’s] voice cracked then, growing louder and more anguished. “I didn’t ask to be born this way! I didn’t ask to be his son! Everyone treated me like his deeds were my own before I even did anything!”

- Us Monsters, Elpis’s POV

How much can you blame on Khaos when society pushed him aside to begin with before he did any wrong?

He was sick and no one did anything about it.

- Us Monsters, Elpis’s POV

And how much can you blame on Khaos when his mental illness pushed so many of his actions before anyone even attempted to help him?

The problem is, the world isn’t black and white. Blame doesn’t always have to fall on one specific person or anyone at all. It’s just a matter of figuring out whether this one specific person is such a bane on the world and beyond help that they have to be dealt with — but dealt with how?

Even without all of that, the way other characters perceive him so diversely is another penny for thought.

Elpis — our main protagonist — wants to help him and is very much in love with him. Other characters have feelings towards him that range from adoration, respect, guilt, fear, and hatred. So, outside of Khaos’s own POV, there’s not really any set path for how you as a reader are supposed to perceive him.

“Did I do this?”

“Huh? D-did — -?”

“Did I hurt — -” I attempted, but I knew that I had. “Did-did I…”

I trailed off, not knowing what else could be said about my deeds.

- Us Monsters 2 — A Better World, Khaos’s POV

His POV doesn’t help much with this dilemma, because you can see that he is genuinely working to change himself through the majority of the entire plot. Not to mention you get a feel for his deteriorating mental health, his confused worldview, and his guilty conscience.

This is what makes Khaos such an amazing antagonist/character.

Eek! I love him! ❤

My test readers had mixed opinions about him. Some started out hating his guts and some started out obsessed with him. As they read on, some ended up actually liking him and some ended up being…not fond of him.

Khaos isn’t really a bad person. He’s just very damaged, flawed, and confused.

This was so complicated.

Where do you draw the line?

Where does anyone draw the line?

How do you decide how big of a sentence someone so sick deserves for their crimes? How much of their privacy do you respect at the stake of the world and the people around them? How do you decide when it has become too hopeless to try and help them anymore?

I could hear my fingers crush the useless papers on the table.

I wish I knew the answers because I was afraid that no one else knew either.

- Us Monsters, Elpis’s POV

Forgiving him is always optional, but it can’t be disregarded that his actions were driven by things that would have pushed many others to do the exact same things, if not worse. It also can’t be disregarded that so many of his actions could have been avoided if he had only gotten the help he needed early on — or even just if people had been kinder to him.

Evil? No. Forgivable? That’s up to you.

Moving on.

Let’s talk about Circe.

Even though she’s the main villain in Sahu’s POV, she actually doesn’t get a lot of pagetime. She only really pops up halfway through the book to replace Khaos as her antagonist.

I think that’s really funny, but anyway.

It’s kind of hard to call Circe evil or bad at all because she hasn’t really done anything. At least, not much.

This is kind of difficult to grasp from Sahu’s POV in Book 1 because Sahu has already formed an absolutely hideous impression of her and no other POVs in the book meet her yet to give their opinion.

(Hemera knew her for a time, but her personality or intentions weren’t specified either.)

The other characters around Sahu seem to adore and respect Circe, but Sahu speaks of them as if they are brainwashed like a cult or simply…witches.

And it’s not like she has a great impression of witches.

But let’s discuss Circe outside of Sahu’s prejudiced perspective.

“These hunters came to our village and tried to kill us,” [Circe] says, her tone turning to a hiss. She leans forward on her throne. “Naturally, we defended ourselves. Would you not have done the same, or do you only kill in cold blood?”

- Us Monsters, Sahu’s POV

All the witch hunters she claimed to kill were out of self-defence — and most of them she didn’t actually kill. She’s just trying to mess with Sahu when she implies so. She sent the majority of them off with a warning or a spell.

“That’s not the point,” [Circe] says coldly, the faint trace of a smile in her voice. “The point is to create more witches. We need more witches than normal people, you see. And then…what will you do about it?”

- Us Monsters, Sahu’s POV

Her plans for world domination are really just her still trying to mess with Sahu. Some of her words are true enough, but most of it is exaggerated and Circe herself knows that.

“But she told me that I couldn’t go home, now that I was a witch. She said that the world was cruel and they wouldn’t accept me as I was now. I had been so close to death that the only way to save me was to turn me.”

- Us Monsters, Sahu’s POV (Renpet speaking)

Other than Sahu, everyone Circe has turned into a witch had either given consent or was on the brink of death with nothing else to save them. And while doing anything to anyone without their consent is terrible — especially something so life-altering — being a witch isn’t a bad thing per se. There’s really only one known kingdom that would discriminate against you for it, and Circe lets any witch she turns live in her safe village should they have nowhere else to go.

Is she mean? Oh, definitely. At least to Sahu.

Though, let’s be real, Sahu kind of deserves it. She’s more of a villain than both Khaos and Circe honestly. Sahu is literally racist and genocidal.

But why is Circe the way she is?

Circe has possibly the most tragic backstory of them all. I won’t get into too much detail for the sake of not getting into heavy spoiler territory but she was trafficked as a teenager and only escaped years later.

Witches weren’t her traffickers. Humans were.

“She’s just trying to scare you,” [Iphi] says gently. “She would never harm anyone without reason, and that includes non-witches.”

- Us Monsters, Sahu’s POV

The thing is, that’s not why she hates humans. In fact, she doesn’t hate humans at all — well, not the innocent ones anyway.

After leaving her prison, exploring the world, and studying magic in hopes of controlling her own sudden burst of power, Circe only experienced more unfairness in the world outside — especially in Hemera Kingdom. This made her feel the need to create a safe space for witches like her who have been hurt and abandoned.

It twisted into something bigger. Being as powerful as she is, those she brought with her started idolizing her. Experiments and studies that started only for the sake of her own little village became something else. Her people were begging for more.

“Circe has noble motives. Khaos only wants to rule for self-seeking reasons. She just wants this…this horrible prejudice to end, Sahu. It isn’t fair. We were all — most of us anyway — were born like this. We didn’t choose to be this way. I would have done anything to be born without this curse.”

- Us Monsters, Sahu’s POV (Iphi speaking)

They didn’t want to only be safe in this world she created. They wanted to be safe everywhere. And they knew Circe could accomplish this if she tried.

Circe never was and never has been evil. She merely has ambitions that are a bit…out there.

The cult-like nature of her village really has nothing to do with her. Circe has the tendency to let people do what they want. If her people aren’t hurting anyone with their ideals, then she sees no reason to stop them. After all, she didn’t plan to be Queen of anything. They made this so.

“We are not. We are creating an army to gain peace and true equality. If you force us to fight, then so we shall. If you reject our egalitarianism, then we will leave that dream behind and become more. But we will not harm the innocent as you do.”

“T-that doesn’t…but that would hurt us!”

“How? How does equality hurt you so?”

- Us Monsters, Sahu’s POV

If it gives them some semblance of hope and reassurance in an uncertain world, she’ll let it be.

I don’t see anything wrong with that.

Next week, we’ll talk about Enyalius and Orthia — Khaos’s father and the present Queen of the main kingdom respectively.

Live lovely,
Ning