Basgiath command · Dain's father · architect of the Athebyne trap · the same face as his son, turned to ice
Colonel Aetos
Dain got his warmth from somewhere, and it wasn't this man. Colonel Aetos is what happens when you file every human life — including your own son's word — under acceptable losses.
Once General Sorrengail's aide, later King Tauri's pick for Commanding General of Basgiath — a smiling, courteous officer who set the cover-up that sent Xaden's wing to die.
The officer · Who he is
Courteous, smiling, and colder than the mountain.
He came up as Lilith Sorrengail's aide and rose on pure institutional loyalty — order and obedience prized above any life in the room. Where Dain is warmth that curdled into control, his father skipped the warmth entirely. When Lilith dies, King Tauri hands him command of Basgiath, and the ice gets a throne.
Athebyne · What he did
He weaponised his own son to set a death trap.
Aetos used the memories Dain read off Violet to send Xaden's marked-one wing past the wards to Athebyne — and Resson — to die. Liam among them. He didn't need to lie to Dain to do it; he simply used what the boy handed him in good faith and let the bodies fall. The most chilling thing about him is how reasonable he sounds while he does it.
His war
The son he used, the wing he sent, and the commander he outlived.
Swipe to meet them all
Also in the story
Connected
Allies, rivals and enemies — the ones this story crossed.
The File
- Series
- Fourth Wing · Iron Flame · Onyx Storm — The Empyrean
- Role
- Basgiath command · later Commanding General of Basgiath
- Origin
- Rose as General Lilith Sorrengail's aide
- Family
- Dain Aetos's father — the warmth without the warmth
- His weapon
- Dain's memory-reading signet, aimed at cadets who trusted him
- Notable
- Architect of the cover-up that sent Xaden's wing to die at Athebyne
- Status
- Alive. Order and obedience above every life in the room.
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