Tobias
Quick Facts
- Role: Kaden’s disciplined third in command; secretly the ancient King of Yejedin, Haldnunen
- First appearance: Chapter 2 (on a balcony, overseeing and judging from above)
- Allegiances: Kaden’s inner circle; later reframed as a strategic alliance between two powerful entities
- Powers/Skills: Tactical command, relentless surveillance, mastery of forbidden necromancy
- Key relationships: Kaden, Dianna, Alistair, Liam (Samkiel)
Who They Are
From the moment Tobias steps onto the page, he reads as the perfect lieutenant: precise, controlled, and quietly terrifying. With deep ebony skin and a taste for crisp button-ups and polished cuff links, he projects order in a court that often revels in blood. That surface order masks a colder truth—beneath the obedient general is an ancient sovereign, Haldnunen, who’s playing a longer, darker game than mere service to a tyrant. His elegance is a weapon, a studied contrast to the gore-streaked ferocity of Alistair that makes Tobias’s violence feel all the more calculated.
Personality & Traits
Tobias’s persona is a performance of loyalty and discipline, and the novel uses that performance to misdirect readers. His sharp eye, disdainful tongue, and merciless pragmatism function as tools of control—first to prop up Kaden’s regime, then to advance his own hidden agenda.
- Unwavering devotion (on the surface): He executes Kaden’s orders without hesitation, relishing the spectacle of Kaden’s “justice.” That obedience later reads as tactical cover rather than fealty.
- Hyper-observant: “Always keen and always watching,” he clocks absences in crucial meetings and senses looming danger (like the unease in the restaurant before violence), making him deadly both on the field and in court.
- Antagonistic toward Dianna: He dismisses her as “childish” and sneers at her as Kaden’s “pet,” needling her insecurities and rank. His contempt feels personal—but the reveal reframes it as strategic psychological warfare.
- Pragmatic and ruthless: He feeds Dianna celestial blood after the convoy ambush purely to preserve Kaden’s favorite tool. Ends justify means, including reanimating the dead when it serves his aims.
- Cruel, theatrical tormentor: Once unmasked as Haldnunen, he delights in breaking people from the inside, taunting Liam and Dianna about love, weakness, and doom—turning intimacy into a battlefield.
Character Journey
Tobias’s “arc” is less a transformation than a revelation. For most of the story, he is a finely tuned instrument of Kaden’s will—predictable in his loyalty, efficient in his brutality, and openly contemptuous of Dianna’s elevation above him. The mausoleum confrontation shatters that reading: Tobias raises the dead and names himself Haldnunen, revealing that his supposed servitude has always been an alliance between monsters. Every earlier act—his vigilance, his sneers, even his moments of “mercy”—rearranges under the weight of that truth. He isn’t a henchman climbing the ladder; he’s a king biding his time.
Key Relationships
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Kaden: Tobias appears as the ideal general—trusted, incisive, and brutally effective. After the reveal, their bond reads less like command-and-obedience and more like a compact between predators, each using the other’s power to further his own legacy.
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Dianna: He relentlessly undercuts Dianna’s authority and dignity, calling her “childish” and Kaden’s “pet.” What looks like bruised pride over her promotion doubles as a campaign to destabilize her psyche and keep her predictable.
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Alistair: Unlike his open contempt for Dianna, Tobias treats Alistair as a peer. Their whispered conferences and shared grins at Kaden’s cruelty suggest a working rapport built on mutual appetite for violence—Tobias’s manicured, Alistair’s feral.
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Liam (Samkiel): Tobias’s jabs at Liam’s true name and origins signal an ancient familiarity. He relishes twisting the knife—reminding Liam of eons-old identities and threatening him with an endless supply of corpses—because for Tobias, history is leverage.
Defining Moments
Even before his mask drops, Tobias leaves a trail of controlled menace. Each scene seeds the truth that explodes in the crypt.
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Introduction on the balcony (Chapter 2)
- What happens: From above, he calls Dianna “childish,” eyes “quick as a viper’s.”
- Why it matters: Establishes his predatory vantage point—always watching, always judging, already positioned as superior.
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Ending Dianna’s visit with Gabby (Gabriella Martinez) (Chapter 5)
- What happens: With Alistair, he intrudes and, in the restaurant, senses a threat before it breaks.
- Why it matters: Hints at preternatural perception and underscores his role as the court’s early-warning system.
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The ambush and “rescue” (Chapter 15)
- What happens: He orchestrates chaos around Logan’s convoy and force-feeds Dianna celestial blood to keep her alive for Kaden.
- Why it matters: Mercy, redefined—his aid is transactional, reducing people to assets within a larger plan.
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The mausoleum reveal (Chapter 43)
- What happens: He animates the dead and claims his true name, Haldnunen, escaping with the Book of Azrael.
- Why it matters: Recontextualizes his entire presence—from loyal general to ancient king—and reframes the central conflict around his older, more catastrophic ambitions.
Symbolism & Themes
Tobias personifies the peril of trusting appearances: the perfect subordinate who’s actually a sovereign hiding in plain sight. His “loyalty” to Kaden becomes a mask for a deeper betrayal—of both people and the natural order.
- Betrayal and Loyalty: Tobias weaponizes loyalty, using it as camouflage to infiltrate and destabilize from within. His allegiance looks absolute until the moment it serves a greater self.
- Power and Corruption: His necromancy violates the boundary between life and death, turning bodies into instruments. Power, for Tobias, is control over endings—and the audacity to reverse them.
Essential Quotes
“Childish.” The word echoed from above us as Tobias hung over the large balcony that lined the second floor.
This opening volley crystallizes his posture: elevated, condescending, and already dictating the psychological terrain. The balcony vantage point literalizes his claim to superiority—he looks down on Dianna in every sense.
“You’re late.” His eyes cut to mine, quick as a viper’s and just as venomous. “You both are.”
The simile casts Tobias as a coiled predator—speed and poison rather than brute force. He governs with precision and sting, signaling that his power lies in timing and targeted strikes.
“Oh, trust me, I don’t, but Kaden would be upset if he lost his favorite pet.”
Here, “trust” is a tool he refuses to extend, and “pet” reduces Dianna to property. The line exposes his utilitarian calculus: people are assets preserved only for their usefulness to Kaden—or to him.
“I have not heard my real name in eons, Samkiel.”
With one sentence, Tobias collapses mortal timelines and drags Liam into ancient history. The invocation of a “real name” shows how he wields memory and identity as weapons, making the past inescapable.
“Well, it’s a good thing, Samkiel,” he said, his voice deep and menacing, “that I have bodies to spare.”
This is necromancy as taunt. Tobias doesn’t just command the dead; he flaunts their expendability, turning mortality into an inexhaustible arsenal designed to break his enemies’ hope.