Thorne's the bad guy in the sense that the Summoned there are basically living in a gilded cage. They're under tight control and watched closely. They live in the castle and the people there are very sensitive to any displays of "disloyalty." [ In quote marks. ] There's the threat of being thrown in the dungeon all the time, they tried to execute a Summoned once. It's a tense place to live.

[ Not where he would choose to have so many of his loved ones trapped, to be honest. Jesper didn't intend to make so many close connections there, but that happens. No connections are planned, they simply grow. But he's continuously stressed out and worried about them. Some day he'll get them out. ]

The Free Cities and Solvunn aren't the good guys, they have their own motivations and pitfalls and everything. But I prefer it here because we've got more freedom to work and make our own lives. And I hate farms. And cults.

[ Jesper grew up on a farm. He hates farms. Luckily Inej agreed to swap over to the Free Cities when he first arrived rather than making him go to Solvunn. He knows he would have hated it there. He's never really come across religious zealots like there were in Solvunn too. So upsides, downsides. It's all what you'd expect of a weird situation like theirs. ]

Nah, we're not civilians. The people don't seem to care that much that she took over. I haven't seen any riots or arguments. I'm from a place where the merchants and rich folks are in charge.

[ No democracy in Ketterdam. ]