Random Hot Take: Riftan isn't sexy... (Spoilers because people might get upset for what I'm about to say, lol)

He's borderline abusive but people excuse it.

Oh absolutely. I've been saying this for ages, but his (symp)athizer(s) aren't ready for that conversation.

He is a terrible husband. People excuse it because he’s emotionally constipated and “ it was a different time”

Spoiler.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
He’s suppose to be, the way I read the novel, both max and riftan are products of their time. Maxi will have a character growth jump start next major arc. That will conflict with riftan’s view of her, and the rest of the story is basically about Maxi continuing to exponentially grow and riftan finally opening his mind about it. Him being a modern supportive husband is basically the end of the story and we don’t get to see much of it in the novel. The political aspect is also fairly interesting in this book but they kinda went nowhere with it in the end iirc. If you’re not into character growth slow burn this is going to be insufferable to you for sure. They rehas the same “can maxi go to war or not, and riftan is u happy about it” like 3 times before riftan fully accepts her as an equal to him (not above him as a lady to protect, not below him as his wife to protect) but like, it gets there and the background setting story is kinda interesting. Most novel readers are here to see if they make Cahil a bigger character and see id we get a longer ending.

No offense to you, but these “he’s awful on purpose” defenses are really getting old.

Here’s my question: if Riftan was intentionally written to be a problematic ML, then why do the novel, the manhwa, and even Manta themselves depict this guy as some romantic hero who just “wants what’s best for his wifey UwU”? We hardly know anything about the guy in the main story, yet he’s supposed to be the secondary protagonist. I understand that the story primarily follows Maxi, but if you’re going to frame the narrative as having two protagonists—especially when those protagonists are a married couple—then it’s the author’s responsibility to actually develop both of them. The author clearly dropped the ball in that regard, which is why she later wrote a separate, prequel-esque installment centered on Riftan’s perspective. But by the time she does this—and considering its subpar execution—the side story feels less like a meaningful addition to the narrative and more like damage control.

Through Riftan’s POV story, we get a better idea of what his past was like, and it retroactively contextualizes some of his behavior in the main storyline. But in the long run, it doesn’t really characterize him in any meaningful way. All we really get out of his POV story is his traumatic past and why he's so obsessed with Maxi. When you realize just how shallow and unhealthy his connection to Maxi actually is—especially considering that he never meaningfully works through his emotional immaturity or volatility for Maxi’s sake—you can’t help but question whether his side story was even worth telling, given how little it ultimately impacts the larger narrative. How does his POV story actually change the overall narrative? How does it meaningfully develop his character when he lacks any real personality outside of “I’m obsessed with Maxi and I want to raw-dog fuck her every day”?

What I'm trying to say here is sure, Riftan’s POV story provides context for his behavior, but it doesn’t meaningfully change his characterization or development within the main narrative. Riftan doesn’t even have a character arc in the first book, and by the time he *does* get one in the second book, we’re already approaching the finale of the series. So, any “development” he finally receives ends up feeling cheap, rushed, and unearned.

Good to finally see more and more readers finally waking up to Riftan’s toxicity.

I think you have to read between the lines a little more, and also idk what translation you read , but I know for me I probably did a lot more imagining/suspension of disbelief.

Here’s my take if this helps you like, consume this with less frustration:

I skipped riftan’s pov by accident and read it later. In my opinion, it didn’t contribute much to the main story having skipped it between part 1 and 2. It was nothing more than to bridge how riftan first came to have maxi’s existence in his mind, and how maxi as not the only reason he went to war, in fact it felt like an after thought compared to protecting his step father’s new family. It frankly brings in more plot holes imo overall, and I have mostly banished it from my mind.

The story to me is two people living under a frankly modern version of misogyny in a medievalish setting. Maxi believes she’s useless and riftan thinks maxi should live a life of luxury and essentially uselessness. First maxi breaks free of this, and then riftan has to be pried open to this idea, quite repetitively and annoyingly until the end when he acknowledges her as an equal independent human being with genuine strength. Like by the end they are the ideal-by-modern-standards couple. The author sucked at this and didn’t need to have them have the same fight 3 arcs in a row, I still like the story even if it was written kinda poorly.

Also, I don’t think you’re supposed to like him until the end when he acknowledges her. He’s otherwise just supposed to be the stubborn measuring stick/final boss we use to tell how much maxi has grown, so he kinda has to be stable. Riftan is the ideal hero of the time and setting. To me, Believe it or not, the story is about maxi basically becoming stronger than him, and he’s not really a full protagonist imo. Like we don’t even see him fight the dragon at the end, it’s all maxi and her golems. He’s just like, a progress bar in my mind.

Think of it as a story where each characters support and approval is a major mile stone
Level 1: Ruth
Level 2: Agnes
Level 3: Cahill Leon and maybe Elliot?
Level 4: that other blonde guy who has his own side story about swearing loyalty to Agnes who’s a hard ass to maxi
Level 5: riftan

I think the author just legit got tired and didn’t explore different pathways with some of her characters, and like, didn’t spend enough time working on riftan during the story, so all his stuff happens like, right at the end ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

I Ike this story a lot for maxi, it’s like, not at all riftan’s story. If anything I read a lot of his pov for Ruth’s backstory, who ended up being a much more interesting character for getting exiled.

I think also logistically the author took the story to its end a bit early due to known pirating issues. Because like, Cahill Leon is a much better character in many ways: he was supportive of Maxi which lead us to see him and her in clever situations. I genuinely thought he was going to reveal he was one of the ancient lizard people who returned to the church/reconnected with the church but it never went that way and he was legit just a friend (like maybe he was supposed to be 2nd ml, but it never felt like the author wrote them that way in their parts alone together, they only seemed to be a possible item from rifan’s perspective)

So my theory was cahil and Richard Brestom were supposed to get somewhat more proper endings, but didn’t because of the story ending early. ¯_(ツ)_/¯


Anyway, riftan is ultimately one of the most boring characters in the book, but he’s important to maxi, and her goal to prove to him she’s capable is like, the overarching plot point. He was just a goal post and definitely not utilized super well other than for smut and being a blocker for maxi to overcome or prove wrong during most of the story

Like sorry, to sum up the above, I said a while back in the comment section, riftan is actually the antagonist of the story, you’re not supposed to like him, he is often the source of conflict, helps dues ex machina maxi out of bad situations, or whatever, he’s just the workhorse character for the author, but is ultimately also the goal post. Sorry for the long rant above. Like I separate riftan and how the author chose to use him in my mind. I feel like maybe you don’t dislike riftan, you dislike how the author wrote him?

Ehhh, I say both, really. For one thing, with how the canon characters—as well as the fandom—exaggerate how "attractive" he apparently is, I find myself feeling not just confused, but also annoyed because I literally see zero sex appeal from him, appearance-wise.

As for how he was written, I genuinely have no clue as to what the author was going for with him. As I mentioned before, he has zero personality outside of fucking Maxi, he's an insufferable brute who literally respects no one, not even his own wife whom he allegedly has loved since childhood, and the only thing he seemingly has going for him is that he's the strongest man in the land, somehow. So not only does he lack personality, but he's also incredibly OP to the point that literally no other living being could truly ever challenge him, which in essence, makes him a very boring character, as you rightly put. I guess that's also why the smut scenes ick and piss me off so much—I mean, aside from them also feeling very borderline rape-ish. This dude is so boring and unlikely that he even makes sex uncomfortable, lol.

I'm honestly surprised by your stance of Riftan's POV since his sympathizers *swear* by it as being the ultimate defense for why Riftan is the way he is, and how it actually characterizes him, or some shit. Honestly, your take on the story genuinely makes it feel more palatable for me, and because of this new perspective, I might actually return to this story eventually. Clearly, not in the immediate future, because I still want to blow off mad steam over how much I hate Riftan, but possibly after the manhwa finally concludes.

Bro I just love reading your rants literally don't feel alone with my feelings when I read them

Lol, that means a lot, thank you!

This story has been such a disappointment for me, and it's all because of Riftan, so I desperately need to shout into the void about it. Attracting like-minded people to discuss what went wrong with the story also helps tremendously.

Side note, but I find it really strange whenever a fan says it's "sad" or "dumb" that I dropped the series because of Riftan, as if he isn't a central character who's pivotal to Maxi's story or something. Of course Riftan's characterization will either make or break the story, he's the fucking male lead, like, what??