Naberius “Chew Toy” Tern absolutley exudes straight boy insufferable vibes but he truly has one of the worst jobs in the universe. at least on par with, but possibly even worse than Colum Asht’s job, frankly. Colum gets soul siphoned on the reg but his necromancer at least seems to care about him. Naberius doesn’t even have that?

Judith’s files say he was born to a longstanding cavalier family, so he was literally Assigned Cavalier At Birth (ACAB lmao). he never had any future other than to be owned and dominated by the one he was created to support and follow. and he didn’t only have one necromancer, like most cavaliers. he had TWO to contend with. it doesn’t rlly matter for this that Coronabeth wasn’t a necromancer, she was in the necromancer social position relative to him. and he kept Coronabeth’s secret from the rest of the universe for his WHOLE LIFE, fought their battles, trained from the cradle to be their sword. maybe even trained & taught coronabeth, depending on how deeply kept her secret was. and his necromancers???? bit him??? regularly??? hard enough to draw blood. and when trying to call the Fifth’s ghosts Ianthe literally didnt just bite she like, ripped out a whole part of his palm. they did this regularly enough that he doesn’t ever flinch. even when coronabeth sinks her teeth into him purely out of emotion, he just submits to it. he knew there was no higher necromantic purpose in that bite. literally “this is my emotional support chew toy”.

and not only that…… Naberius’ necromancers didn’t even like him. they made fun of him and debased him publicly, who knows what went on in private. and we didn’t get much info, but he didn’t sound like he had anyone close to him back home – he mentions he should have stayed home and gotten married but Ianthe said no one was even offering, implying maybe he was as isolated at home as he was at Canaan. Coronabeth, who he clearly seemed closer to, publicly told him off for daring to defend her to Ianthe. when Ianthe killed him, ATE him, consumed his soul, the only thing Coronabeth said was “who cares about Babs?” all the other Lyctors have spent 10,000 talking about their cavaliers, but when Ianthe ascends she barely mentions him. I can only imagine their official binding ceremony as an awkward event filled with too much pomp and circumstance, featuring them all swearing one flesh one end while Ianthe and Coronabeth made direct eye contact and he was mostly ignored.

this post is already long enough but im fascinated by the different ways the inherently consumptive nature of the necro/cav relationship is portrayed throughout the nine houses. i think the Third has one of the most blatant, but also (bc Gideon just thinks Naberius is an ass, and Harrow barely remembers him) one of the most narratively ignored.