Character from Red Rising by Pierce Brown
The Jackal — psychopath prodigy, Virginia's twin, a mind like a scalpel wielded by a soul that enjoys the cutting. He would rather rule ashes than serve in paradise.
Adrius au Augustus is what happens when Gold eugenics produces genius without empathy. The second-born twin, overshadowed by Virginia, dismissed by Nero, he spent his childhood cataloguing slights and planning revenge. At the Institute he won through manipulation, torture, and cannibalism — eating the flesh of his enemies to break them psychologically. He is terrifyingly intelligent, capable of plans within plans that span years, but his need to be recognized as the smartest person in every room is his fatal weakness. He allied with Darrow, betrayed Darrow, allied with the Society, betrayed the Society — loyalty is a concept he understands intellectually but cannot feel. He loves his sister in a possessive, toxic way that horrifies her. He deployed nuclear weapons on cities. He carved the flesh from his own father's skull. Nothing is too far because 'too far' implies moral limits, and Adrius has none. His death at Virginia's hands was the only justice the story could offer — killed by the one person he wanted to impress most.
Lean and sharp-featured with his father's patrician bone structure rendered unsettling — too-bright eyes, a smile that never reaches them, movements that are deliberate and reptilian. Missing a hand, which he lost and treats as a minor inconvenience. Handsome in a way that feels wrong, like a sculpture with the proportions slightly off. Everything about him is controlled, manicured, precise.
Also known as: The Jackal, Adrius, Adrian