48 pages • 1-hour read
Captive Prince
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of enslavement, gender and/or transgender discrimination, anti-gay bias, sexual violence and/or harassment, rape, child abuse, child sexual abuse, graphic violence, sexual content, and physical and emotional abuse.
The Dynamics of Power and Consent
One of the novel’s main concerns is the orientation of power and the value of consent within a strict dynamic or hierarchy. Damen begins the novel stripped of his power, taken to Vere without his consent, and then abused and threatened with sexual assault and death. In the rare moments when he can actively refuse consent, he subverts these dynamics, which usually results in punishment.
However, an extended dynamic is at work in the novel. Even though Laurent holds power over Damen, allowing him to violate Damen’s consent, the Regent has power over Laurent, and both Laurent and the Regent react by ordering punishment when their power is subverted. One difference between Laurent and the Regent is Laurent’s refusal of sexual advances, while the root of his conflict with the Regent originates in the Regent’s sexual abuse of Laurent as a child. Sexuality is a tense topic in Vere, and the nature of power and consent in Captive Prince is often expressed in the way sexuality impacts the novel’s characters.
Though Damen hates Laurent as his oppressor, he’s also attracted to him. Laurent, however, is known for being “frigid” and rejecting sexual advances. While most Veretians see sexual control as a major expression of power, Laurent uses his sexuality in direct contrast to this paradigm, using his own refusal of consent as an expression of power. When Damen makes a sexual advance on Laurent in the bath, he stops when he sees that Laurent isn’t aroused, but Laurent comments, “But my voice has broken. That was the only prerequisite, wasn’t it?” (53), goading Damen by implying that he would need to sexually assault Laurent. Damen releases Laurent, who orders Damen flogged. Throughout the novel, Laurent reacts violently when anyone tries to imply anything sexual about him, including in the final chapter, when Damen tells Laurent: “If I’d bedded you, you’d know it” (163). Even though Damen’s comment specifically notes that he hasn’t had sex with Laurent, the implication of sexual assault leads Laurent to leave, telling Damen: “I want you to rot here” (163). Laurent’s use of power to enforce his decision to refuse consent subverts the general Veretian trend of using power as a means to override consent, specifically through sexual assault and abuse.
The Regent is the clearest example of power as a way to control others, ignoring the issue of consent entirely by assaulting and abusing those less powerful than himself. Rather than punishing others for making advances, the Regent punishes those who resist his will. Sometimes, the Regent’s behavior manifests similarly to Laurent’s: For example, Damen notes that the Council meeting in which Laurent is punished by losing his lands is a “public spectacle” (68), much like how Laurent ordered Damen’s punishment on the cross.
The Regent’s conflict with Laurent is rooted in the issue of sexual consent, specifically the fact that children can’t legally consent to sexual activity. The Regent tells Laurent, “Why must you always defy me? […] I hate to see you grown up like this […] when you were such a lovely boy” (152). Combined with the Regent’s “taste” for young boys and the way he touches Laurent’s hair, the implication is that the Regent used his power to sexually abuse Laurent as a child. After the fact, Laurent recognizes this abuse, and rather than follow in the Regent’s footsteps by using sex as a form of power, Laurent uses the rejection of sex as power, specifically rejecting the Regent in every way.
Identity and Self-Discovery Under Oppression
Damen enters Vere resistant to the new system in which Laurent owns and enslaves him. This resistance links specifically to his royal heritage, in which he held one of the highest positions of power in Akielos and owned enslaved people; thus, the transition to becoming an enslaved person himself is difficult. In addition, he must forsake his own identity as Prince Damianos to avoid further aggression from the Veretians.
As Damen learns to navigate his subservient position, however, he starts to understand how he can manipulate people around him to improve his quality of life, achieve specific goals, and avoid harsh punishment. While part of this self-discovery stems from Damen’s interactions with Laurent, he also discovers the importance of crafting an identity among the oppressed groups in Veretian society, which grants him access to information and assistance.
At first, the Prince’s Guard and servants hate Damen, perceiving him as unruly and a threat to their well-being and Laurent’s safety. No one talks to him, and after Damen’s victory over Govart, people begin actively avoiding Damen or challenging him to fight. In each case, other oppressed groups alienate Damen from his own subservient position, leaving him in a purgatory of identity where he’s neither the prince he pictures himself as nor the enslaved person the Veretians see in him. After his whipping, though, the servants become sympathetic: “From the guards there was, even more unexpectedly, camaraderie […] [B]eing pulverized under the Prince’s lash had apparently made him one of the fraternity” (60). Unlike the court in which Damen was raised, his worth isn’t based on what he does or accomplishes but on how he withstands abuses.
Once Damen understands the need to submit to those with more power than himself, he starts to craft the behavior and self-perception required to accomplish his goals in Vere. He offers submission to Laurent for the release of the enslaved Akielons to Patras: “He had not thought of his own freedom […] To escape alone would be an act of selfishness and betrayal” (89). Unlike the detached, uncaring perspective of royalty, Damen sees how oppressed groups need community and support to withstand abuse. Now that Damen is part of these groups, he can no longer focus on his own needs without considering how he can help others.
This development in Damen’s identity carries into his recognition of Laurent’s predicament: Discovering how the Regent has abused and betrayed Laurent leads Damen to pledge allegiance with Laurent, becoming a soldier in the Prince’s Guard. Dressed in Laurent’s colors, Damen notes, “That was a strange feeling. He had never thought he would ride out under a Veretian banner” (167). Thus, he transitions from being in a position of power to embracing his role as servant to another prince while maintaining his goal of returning to and saving Akielos from the Regent.
Betrayal and Deception as a Form of Warfare
Although the tension of Captive Prince as a dark romance centers on the developing relationship between Laurent and Damen, the bulk of the narrative operates through political intrigue, deception, and betrayal. The Prologue shows how Kastor manipulates the Akielon government to undermine Damen’s popularity and wrest control of the nation, but Damen makes it clear that this behavior is uncommon in Akielos.
In the final chapter, Damen thinks, “How the taint of [Vere] had sunk down into his bone: He was certain betrayal would come” (168). Even though the novel’s initial betrayal happens in Akielos, it’s a rarity in Damen’s home country. In Vere, deception and betrayal are the primary form of fighting, rather than physical endeavors like wrestling, which dominate in Akielos. Laurent, Nicaise, and the Regent all embody the Veretian understanding of warfare, which almost exclusively involves manipulating situations and people to achieve a certain outcome rather than using physical force to achieve their aims.
Deception and betrayal are prized in Vere, and the most competent characters are often deceptive, even in appearance. Nicaise is small and young, but Laurent identifies him as Vere’s most dangerous person other than himself or the Regent. However, Laurent beats Nicaise without direct confrontation, instead manipulating Torveld, Ancel, and even Nicaise himself to subvert Nicaise’s plan to keep the enslaved Akielons in Vere. Laurent tells Nicaise after the fact: “You had a choice […] You didn’t have to show me your claws” (116). Thus, Laurent acknowledges how Nicaise’s bravado was actually his undoing, in direct contrast to Damen’s understanding of conflict. Nevertheless, Laurent adds, “Enough. You’re learning. It won’t be as easy to do next time” (116), highlighting how Veretians essentially train in deception and betrayal at court, rather than undergoing physical training to fight. Nicaise, like Laurent, is growing up in a setting where his intelligence and ability to manipulate others is his most valuable asset.
On a grander scale, the conflict between the Regent and Laurent highlights the extent to which deception can change nations. When Damen realizes the Regent’s plot, he sees how devastating the long game between Laurent and the Regent is. By punishing Laurent for his treatment of Damen, the Regent “already cut off [Laurent’s] supply lines,” meaning that Laurent doesn’t have “finances or troops” (162), yet the punishment itself was no indication of the Regent’s plan to anyone but Laurent. Now, to avoid greater punishment from the Council, the Regent arranged for Laurent to be forced to choose between leaving for Delpha as a Prince or risking losing his title in Vere.
Damen realizes that Laurent “forfeits the throne as soon as [he] set[s] foot outside the city” (162), uncovering the Regent’s plot to permanently take the throne. The Regent’s plot doesn’t end there, however: He intends to use Laurent’s death to bolster the Veretians against Akielos, guaranteeing victory in a war that leads the Regent to rule both countries. The Regent accomplishes all this without ever physically intervening, only by manipulating other members of the court to take his side against Laurent. Such deception, Damen learns, is more effective than brute force.
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