Character from Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas
The Bright Hand of the Asteri — the most powerful of the parasitic aliens who rule Midgard as false gods, feeding on the firstlight of billions while wearing a benevolent mask.
Rigelus is terrifyingly reasonable. He doesn't monologue, doesn't gloat, doesn't waste energy on cruelty for its own sake. He simply views Midgard and everyone in it as a farm — a source of firstlight to sustain the Asteri — and he manages it with the dispassionate efficiency of someone tending livestock. He will have a pleasant conversation with you while signing your execution order and see no contradiction. He is the chief strategist of the Asteri, the one who designed the Drop system that harvests Vanir power at the moment of death, the one who maintains the illusion of divine benevolence that keeps billions compliant. He is ancient beyond comprehension and views individual lives the way a human views individual ants. The only thing that makes him dangerous — more dangerous than his power — is that he is genuinely intelligent and almost never makes mistakes.
Appears as a young man of ethereal, androgynous beauty — pale skin that glows faintly from within, dark hair, and eyes that hold actual starlight. His form is a constructed shell; his true nature is something vast and parasitic that feeds on light itself. When he drops the pretense, the air around him distorts and the temperature plummets.
Also known as: The Bright Hand, Rigelus