Character Essay
Who is Ivan?
At his most basic, Ivan seems to be a relatively normal young man who had a burning desire to learn magic. And one day, while on his travels, he stumbled across a sign advertising for an apprentice and thought he found his golden opportunity. It’s turned out to be quite an exciting prospect, though probably not in the way he thought it would be.
Looking at the brief flashback we’re given of him, Ivan seems to have started out as an optimistic, innocent, and pretty happy guy who thought he’d completely lucked out. But it’s more like he’s just unlucky. His apprenticeship to the Mistress has been filled with nothing but woe, and it’s clear that he’s in for way more than he anticipated.
He’s been described on the author’s twitter as a “gullible gypsy,” so let’s start there. It’s clear that when Ivan signed up to be Mistress’s apprentice he didn’t really have a clue what he was getting into. And the fact that she calls him gullible leads me to believe that he honestly, genuinely believes that she will teach him magic. Which makes it totally worth putting up with all of her torture and abuse, if at the end he can learn to be a “shit-hot sorcerer.” That being said, he’s not an idiot. Or, at the very least, he’s become incredibly street-smart and quick to suspect that he’s about to be tricked. He knows right away that the cumsprite means trouble, and he’s clever enough to figure out a way to keeping getting himself off without alerting the Mistress that he’s breaking her rules.
It may simply be because he’s young, but Ivan tends to be pretty expressive about his emotions. If he’s pissed off, it’ll show. If he’s afraid, it’ll show. And you can expect to hear about it, too. Ivan will put up with a lot of trouble from the Mistress, because she’s the Mistress, and her word is absolute, but anybody else can expect to be told to fuck off. He doesn’t try to hide it when the latest trick has him in a foul mood or he doesn’t understand what the hell’s going on, and though he tolerates and goes along with Mistress’s whims, it’s clear how much some of them hurt or humiliate or worry him, though he doesn’t actually express any of this outright. That’s probably why he makes such an entertaining apprentice; it’s so very, very easy to get a response out of him. Being with her has probably only emphasized this characteristic; living in a constant state of stress has left him a little haggard, a little strained to keep his composure and keep going, which probably contributes and emphasizes his normally expressive reactions at times.
He seems to treat his life with a mixture of weariness, acceptance, and optimism. Things are clearly not progressing as he’d hoped when he first signed up with her, but he continues to stick it out, because this is his big chance and he still believes that it’s going to pan out for him. That being said, some of that seems to be wearing away by the soul-crushing number Mistress is pulling on him, and he seems perpetually harassed, on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Good things never last- he hopes they will, but the reality is that they typically don’t, and I don’t think he’s surprised by that anymore. He expects to be confronted with traps. He knows he’s in a very dangerous situation at the hands of a very cruel woman, and that if he places one foot wrong he could be executed in some horrible and painful way. He knows enough to be properly terrified and wary of her. But it’s interesting to see how this plays out in regards to her rules on sex, which seem to be there just for the purpose of making his life living hell- because those are the ones he actually defies. Sex is one of Ivan’s greatest weaknesses, to the point where he seems like a complete idiot sometimes rather than a fairly clever man- because he thinks with his dick.
This dumb factor with sex comes from three things: 1) he’s not allowed to have sex and 2) he’s not allowed to masturbate, and 3) he lives in a castle full of scantily-clad women where licentious behaviors seem to be the norm. And he’s young, somewhere in his twenties, maybe a little younger. He’s also a virgin- at least, when it comes to women. And then, when you factor in things like his task of oiling down the hot bitches (the succubi,) who are conveniently naked and also constantly performing lewd acts on each other…well, long story short, he’s a huge ball of sexual frustration and he’d really like to get laid. With a woman. Ivan doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in men by choice, though it’s implied (and shown) that he’s at least serviced another man at the Mistress’s command. Furthermore, he definitely hasn’t grown up in the castle environment; for him, its probably utterly exotic, exciting in a dangerous and sexy way, and then he’s been told to keep his hands to himself and off himself. It’s really just too much for him, and I don’t really think he can help himself when presented with the opportunity to grab a pair of tits, even when he knows it’s a trap. He just wants it that badly, to the point where he’s willing to defy the Mistress to have it and willing to suffer the repercussions if he’s caught- if he’s even thinking that far at all.
Returning back to the idea of Ivan as a gullible individual- despite Mistress’s general attitude about her apprentices, who are treated as expendable and easy to replace (and therefore, probably not worth very much), he seems to hold the genuine belief that she’s going to teach him magic if he can suffer through all of her tasks. At some point, though, I think this must cross the line a little into self-deception, though probably unconscious. He’s not stupid- he’s demonstrated that on a fairly regular basis, recognizing when traps are being thrown his way, and he seems very aware of how precarious his situation can be. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t work so hard to beat the system and keep the Mistress from learning about him breaking her commands. And while he regards each new opportunity with cautious optimism, he doesn’t particularly seem surprised anymore when it doesn’t go his way. Experience has taught him that no matter how much he might hope or how far he might get, it hasn’t worked out yet, and if it’s cynical to look at things with the expectation that it probably won’t work out, well, he can hardly be blamed for that. At the same time, though, he holds onto an irrational hope that it will, so he keeps trying and going through the motions, holding out for that eventual payoff that he believes will come- even though, really, his situation should make it glaringly obvious that it won’t.
Did I mention that he’s something of a dork? Ivan’s a bit of a dork. For one thing, he’s clearly not as worldly as the rest of the castle, especially when it comes to sex, and so he responds to all of that with an incredibly awkward longing. He’s too eager, too expressive. He’s just not cool. He doesn’t handle anything with poise or grace. Not to mention, he’s got that hat. And he’s also just young, inexperienced and often put on the spot in situations he doesn’t quite know how to deal with, where he’s powerless to escape or just too stunned by the weirdness. It’s just clearly not a world that he’s used to, and the default response is to awkwardly over-respond.
Basically, he’s just in over his head. He didn’t have a damn clue that he was going to be the castle butt monkey, and he certainly didn’t expect getting sucked off by a spider or getting used as a rowboat. He’s just struggling to keep going and deal with what’s given to him and hold onto that dream of becoming a sorcerer, even though the odds are stacked against him. He’s a guy who’s been put through the wringer and can’t help viewing the world around him with a certain cynicism, because really, his life is filled with traps and things just haven’t been working out- yet he still hopes that it might, and refuses to give up on that hope, with the honest belief that he’ll get through his apprenticeship and learn magic and become some kick-ass sorcerer, which is what keeps him struggling on through the Mistress’s torture. He got more than he ever bargained for and now he just has to tough through it to get what he wants.
He’s a nice guy. He just has a really, really crappy life.
At his most basic, Ivan seems to be a relatively normal young man who had a burning desire to learn magic. And one day, while on his travels, he stumbled across a sign advertising for an apprentice and thought he found his golden opportunity. It’s turned out to be quite an exciting prospect, though probably not in the way he thought it would be.
Looking at the brief flashback we’re given of him, Ivan seems to have started out as an optimistic, innocent, and pretty happy guy who thought he’d completely lucked out. But it’s more like he’s just unlucky. His apprenticeship to the Mistress has been filled with nothing but woe, and it’s clear that he’s in for way more than he anticipated.
He’s been described on the author’s twitter as a “gullible gypsy,” so let’s start there. It’s clear that when Ivan signed up to be Mistress’s apprentice he didn’t really have a clue what he was getting into. And the fact that she calls him gullible leads me to believe that he honestly, genuinely believes that she will teach him magic. Which makes it totally worth putting up with all of her torture and abuse, if at the end he can learn to be a “shit-hot sorcerer.” That being said, he’s not an idiot. Or, at the very least, he’s become incredibly street-smart and quick to suspect that he’s about to be tricked. He knows right away that the cumsprite means trouble, and he’s clever enough to figure out a way to keeping getting himself off without alerting the Mistress that he’s breaking her rules.
It may simply be because he’s young, but Ivan tends to be pretty expressive about his emotions. If he’s pissed off, it’ll show. If he’s afraid, it’ll show. And you can expect to hear about it, too. Ivan will put up with a lot of trouble from the Mistress, because she’s the Mistress, and her word is absolute, but anybody else can expect to be told to fuck off. He doesn’t try to hide it when the latest trick has him in a foul mood or he doesn’t understand what the hell’s going on, and though he tolerates and goes along with Mistress’s whims, it’s clear how much some of them hurt or humiliate or worry him, though he doesn’t actually express any of this outright. That’s probably why he makes such an entertaining apprentice; it’s so very, very easy to get a response out of him. Being with her has probably only emphasized this characteristic; living in a constant state of stress has left him a little haggard, a little strained to keep his composure and keep going, which probably contributes and emphasizes his normally expressive reactions at times.
He seems to treat his life with a mixture of weariness, acceptance, and optimism. Things are clearly not progressing as he’d hoped when he first signed up with her, but he continues to stick it out, because this is his big chance and he still believes that it’s going to pan out for him. That being said, some of that seems to be wearing away by the soul-crushing number Mistress is pulling on him, and he seems perpetually harassed, on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Good things never last- he hopes they will, but the reality is that they typically don’t, and I don’t think he’s surprised by that anymore. He expects to be confronted with traps. He knows he’s in a very dangerous situation at the hands of a very cruel woman, and that if he places one foot wrong he could be executed in some horrible and painful way. He knows enough to be properly terrified and wary of her. But it’s interesting to see how this plays out in regards to her rules on sex, which seem to be there just for the purpose of making his life living hell- because those are the ones he actually defies. Sex is one of Ivan’s greatest weaknesses, to the point where he seems like a complete idiot sometimes rather than a fairly clever man- because he thinks with his dick.
This dumb factor with sex comes from three things: 1) he’s not allowed to have sex and 2) he’s not allowed to masturbate, and 3) he lives in a castle full of scantily-clad women where licentious behaviors seem to be the norm. And he’s young, somewhere in his twenties, maybe a little younger. He’s also a virgin- at least, when it comes to women. And then, when you factor in things like his task of oiling down the hot bitches (the succubi,) who are conveniently naked and also constantly performing lewd acts on each other…well, long story short, he’s a huge ball of sexual frustration and he’d really like to get laid. With a woman. Ivan doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in men by choice, though it’s implied (and shown) that he’s at least serviced another man at the Mistress’s command. Furthermore, he definitely hasn’t grown up in the castle environment; for him, its probably utterly exotic, exciting in a dangerous and sexy way, and then he’s been told to keep his hands to himself and off himself. It’s really just too much for him, and I don’t really think he can help himself when presented with the opportunity to grab a pair of tits, even when he knows it’s a trap. He just wants it that badly, to the point where he’s willing to defy the Mistress to have it and willing to suffer the repercussions if he’s caught- if he’s even thinking that far at all.
Returning back to the idea of Ivan as a gullible individual- despite Mistress’s general attitude about her apprentices, who are treated as expendable and easy to replace (and therefore, probably not worth very much), he seems to hold the genuine belief that she’s going to teach him magic if he can suffer through all of her tasks. At some point, though, I think this must cross the line a little into self-deception, though probably unconscious. He’s not stupid- he’s demonstrated that on a fairly regular basis, recognizing when traps are being thrown his way, and he seems very aware of how precarious his situation can be. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t work so hard to beat the system and keep the Mistress from learning about him breaking her commands. And while he regards each new opportunity with cautious optimism, he doesn’t particularly seem surprised anymore when it doesn’t go his way. Experience has taught him that no matter how much he might hope or how far he might get, it hasn’t worked out yet, and if it’s cynical to look at things with the expectation that it probably won’t work out, well, he can hardly be blamed for that. At the same time, though, he holds onto an irrational hope that it will, so he keeps trying and going through the motions, holding out for that eventual payoff that he believes will come- even though, really, his situation should make it glaringly obvious that it won’t.
Did I mention that he’s something of a dork? Ivan’s a bit of a dork. For one thing, he’s clearly not as worldly as the rest of the castle, especially when it comes to sex, and so he responds to all of that with an incredibly awkward longing. He’s too eager, too expressive. He’s just not cool. He doesn’t handle anything with poise or grace. Not to mention, he’s got that hat. And he’s also just young, inexperienced and often put on the spot in situations he doesn’t quite know how to deal with, where he’s powerless to escape or just too stunned by the weirdness. It’s just clearly not a world that he’s used to, and the default response is to awkwardly over-respond.
Basically, he’s just in over his head. He didn’t have a damn clue that he was going to be the castle butt monkey, and he certainly didn’t expect getting sucked off by a spider or getting used as a rowboat. He’s just struggling to keep going and deal with what’s given to him and hold onto that dream of becoming a sorcerer, even though the odds are stacked against him. He’s a guy who’s been put through the wringer and can’t help viewing the world around him with a certain cynicism, because really, his life is filled with traps and things just haven’t been working out- yet he still hopes that it might, and refuses to give up on that hope, with the honest belief that he’ll get through his apprenticeship and learn magic and become some kick-ass sorcerer, which is what keeps him struggling on through the Mistress’s torture. He got more than he ever bargained for and now he just has to tough through it to get what he wants.
He’s a nice guy. He just has a really, really crappy life.