a morally complex story (summary)

not necesarily a 'light' read. It forces the reader to judge the morality of morally grey characters like Kaelis, who seemingly has never had any will or wants of his own and has been used as a puppet all his life, and whether or not his actions can be forgiven.

Obviously, child murder and sacrifice is not good nor okay, but we see as the story develops that refusing to do so results in extreme punishment, and that he has no desire or want to do such evil actions without the church forcing his hand. He feels no empathy but does not desire violence or murder and seemingly has not been raised or taught to have any sort of moral compass besides doing as he's told.
When he meets Tenedd, and finally starts wanting something for once in his life, he develops his first real connection to another living person. This is the first outside motivator he has ever experienced and is why he no longer wishes to do such violent acts, as he never really 'wanted' to in the first place; he just did as he was told regardless of his own indifference, but for once he has a reason to stop. Tenedd realises this lack of freewill or malintent and thus forgives his cruel actions, excusing them as not his own but rather the ones he was forced to commit by his puppetmaster.

Tenedd, who has spent his whole life searching for his brother, feels empty inside after finally finding him. There is no resolution, they no longer can live together, and he can't be a present figure in his life; and so now with his curiosity of his brother satiated, he has nothing left to live for. After spending his life wondering and searching, he has no home, no family, no connections to go back to. Thus, his only real connection that he has (Kaelis) is the only person he can think of going to to fill his new-found void of loneliness and lack of fufillment. Living with one purpose your whole life, only for it to be resolved so suddenly, has this affect on many people (the lack of knowing what to do, stranded without direction in life, not the running back to ur child murderer bf btw lol)
It makes perfect sense for him to go on this suicidal mission to free Kaelis as if he succeeds, his only current motivator for still living (spending time with someone he enjoys the company of) is satiated until further notice, and if he fails, he dies. And when you've not a reason to live outside of what youre fighting for, the choice may come to you easily.

Sorry for rambling! The art is sometimes a bit shotty, but I see people judging these characters a bit unfairly considering the context and I do actually find the story to be rather interesting. Always love to see stories that aren't inharently black and white, and the medieval sort of setting is always a fun one in my opinion. I do recomend to those who favour more morally complex works!