Quick Facts
- Role: High-ranking celestial; strategist and de facto commander of The Hand of Rashearim on Onuna (Etherworld)
- First appearance: Referenced by name via a memory extraction in Chapter 1; appears in full by Chapter 9
- Distinctive traits: Commanding presence, “normal stoic features,” glowing blue eyes in celestial form
- Key relationships: King and comrade to Liam (Samkiel); adversarial guardian to Dianna; coordinator among The Hand, including Logan
Who They Are
Boldly dutiful and sharply clear-eyed, Vincent is the spine of The Hand in a century stretched thin by absence. While Liam recedes into silence, Vincent fills the vacuum with strategy, diplomacy, and relentless vigilance, ferrying intelligence between celestials and mortal councils and steering responses to the Ig’Morruthen threat. He embodies the order The Hand was meant to uphold: disciplined, principled, and unafraid to speak hard truths to a king he still loves like a brother.
Personality & Traits
Vincent’s restraint is not emptiness but control. His steel-edged pragmatism keeps operations focused, yet his loyalty runs hot enough to confront a monarch he believes is failing. He is the kind of leader whose authority is felt before it’s voiced—someone who will guard a perceived monster without flinching, and challenge a grieving king without blinking.
- Stoic and serious: Introduced as “very tight-lipped” (Ch. 1), he maintains a calm, cool demeanor—even when challenging Liam in Ch. 9—signaling self-mastery under pressure.
- Leader under absence: With Liam withdrawn, Vincent coordinates The Hand’s work on Onuna, briefings, and responses to the Ig’Morruthen attacks; other celestials defer to his judgment.
- Loyal but blunt: His Ch. 9 confrontation—comparing Liam to Unir—shows fierce allegiance to the ideals The Hand was forged on, not blind obedience to its founder.
- Distrustful of threats: He treats Dianna as an “abomination soaked in death” (Ch. 49), guarding her without compromise and opposing any alliance he views as reckless.
- Duty-bound to the core: Whether liaising with mortal councils or standing watch over a dangerous captive, his first instinct is always the mission and the safety of the realms.
Character Journey
Vincent enters the story already fully formed—a seasoned operator forged in war and centuries of service. Across the book, his arc is less about transformation than revelation: the mask of stoicism cracks just enough to show the weight he carries. The fulcrum is Liam’s return. Where Liam withdraws into Grief and Trauma, Vincent doubles down on duty, becoming the living reminder of the oath Liam once embodied. Their confrontation in Chapter 9 exposes his private anguish: he mourns not only the dead of the Gods War, but the living loss of the leader who once inspired him. Vincent’s struggle is the collision of faithfulness and disillusionment—how to serve a king who no longer serves the vision they shared.
Key Relationships
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Liam (Samkiel): Vincent’s oldest bond and greatest sorrow. He reveres Liam as king and brother-in-arms, but refuses to excuse his abdication. By naming the resemblance to Unir, Vincent risks the relationship to try to save it, pushing Liam toward the leader he once was rather than enabling his withdrawal.
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Dianna: To Vincent, Dianna is lethal ambiguity—an intelligence threat wrapped in a body count. Even when ordered to guard her, he keeps a professional, ice-cold distance, policing the boundary between necessary cooperation and moral compromise. His hostility sharpens the ethical stakes of Liam’s choice to trust her.
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The Hand of Rashearim (including Logan): Vincent is the hub that keeps the wheel turning. With long-standing comrades like Logan, he coordinates missions, consolidates intel, and anchors morale. Their respect for him is practical, not ceremonial: he gets results, maintains order, and holds the line when others falter.
Defining Moments
Vincent’s major beats reveal a commander who leads through both precision and painful honesty.
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First mention (Chapter 1): Dianna uncovers Vincent’s name while probing a celestial’s memories, flagging him as a high-priority figure for Kaden. Why it matters: Before he appears, his reputation shapes the board—Vincent is a strategic piece everyone is already watching.
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The confrontation with Liam (Chapter 9): After briefing on Ig’Morruthen activity, Vincent breaks ranks emotionally, accusing Liam of mirroring Unir’s tyranny and abandoning their shared ideals. Why it matters: It reframes Vincent’s stoicism as wounded loyalty; he’d rather risk wrath than watch The Hand’s purpose decay.
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Guarding Dianna (Chapter 18): Liam assigns Vincent to monitor Dianna while he departs to retrieve Gabby. Why it matters: The choice signals absolute trust in Vincent’s incorruptibility and underscores his unwavering stance against perceived threats, even when the order itself hints at Liam’s uncertainty.
Essential Quotes
“Vincent is very tight-lipped. I think they know the attacks are not just frequent. They have a target. We just don’t know what it is.” — Peter McBridge’s colleague, Chapter 1
This early outsider view cements Vincent’s reputation for operational secrecy and strategic focus. Even secondhand, he’s framed as someone who understands patterns before others do—and refuses to tip his hand until he’s certain.
“You are not the same man who freed me from that wretched goddess, Nismera. You are not the same man who laughed and joked and drank with us like we were brothers. You are not the same man who forged The Hand long before the war. What happened to the man who thought to forge a world where celestials are treated as equals instead of the mindless, fucking puppets the gods made?” — Vincent to Liam, Chapter 9
The speech is a ledger of losses: freedom, fellowship, founding ideals. Vincent appeals not to Liam’s authority but to his original vision, revealing that his loyalty is to the mission and the man who once embodied it—an indictment and an invitation at once.
“I don’t see Samkiel anymore. I only see Unir. You are no better than him.” — Vincent to Liam, Chapter 9
Invoking Unir is sacrilege by design. Vincent weaponizes truth to shock Liam out of apathy, showing that the worst betrayal isn’t treason but surrendering the self that made The Hand worth following.
“If you value your modesty, I suggest you change before Vincent arrives, for he is not to leave your side until I return.” — Liam to Dianna, Chapter 18
Liam’s order frames Vincent as an uncompromising constant: ever-present, unpersuadable, and above manipulation. It testifies to Vincent’s reputation as a human firewall—trusted to enforce boundaries when others might blur them.