#and without the backstory of a fallen angel raping and tormenting an indigenous tribe that geographically/historically weren't there like???

[ruindunburnit]

@cuttoncandyhair You're not annoying me at all! I'm enjoying the challenge! 😊

The thing about Rephaim is that while, if it were up to me he simply would not exist as a character, I'm glad you've suggested him because he presents a bigger challenge than the others so far.

Rephaim:

- Knows many languages, verbal and written, but never learned the language of his mother's tribe, Tsalagi (the Cherokee language) at his father's orders. This is because Kalona feared that Rephaim knowing their language and culture would humanise them in his eyes, and so see Kalona's victims as people (or, even worse, his family).

- Kalona needn't have worried about Rephaim loving the Cherokee people more than him, because Rephaim's inherent love for his father combined with Kalona's strategy of withholding affection and encouragement has left Rephaim with a desperate need to prove himself good enough and an endless well of second chances to give him. He knows right and wrong, he knows what his father does is evil and what he orders him to do is evil, but at the end of it all that is his father, and he only wants what any son wants - to hear him say "I'm proud of you". He also knows that his reasons for following orders do not absolve him of his crimes.

- After the events of the original series, Sylvia Redbird took Rephaim under her wings as a language and culture student during the evenings. He may have only seen himself as someone worth saving when Stevie Rae was the first person to see goodness in him, but finally being claimed by the culture and finding a place in the Cherokee nation (and eventually going to therapy) helped him find an identity outside of being his father's foot soldier. Stevie Rae is also convinced that she can teach him to play the guitar, but he's happier dancing while she plays.

If you send me the name of a House of Night character, I will give you one of my headcanons for them. If I don't already have one for that character, I'm making one up.