Hex

Hex, a character in "The Crown &amp; The Flame" series, is the new weapons master for the Nevrakis Family. She is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 11.

Appearance
Hex has chin-level spiky black hair and bright blue eyes. She wears a black jacket with brown shoulder pads over a white collared shirt with a deep neckline. A brown belt can be seen strapped diagonally across her chest.

Personality
Hex is a very talented inventor and scientist. She is very ambitious and opportunistic, and allies with Nevrakis forces in Book 1 and Book 2 in order to get funding and to test weapons that she is creating. However, her true loyalty lies to no one but herself; in her discussion with Dom after capturing him following Luther's defeat, she pointed out that she was having a "symbiotic relationship" with the Nevrakis until the Blood King's downfall.

Hex has an obsession with her plans and spends most of her time developing them: in Zenobia's castle, she was busy studying Dom; after capturing him, she frenziedly fussed over her new plans while putting Madeline in charge of patching him up; after being recruited by Kenna, Hex explains her inventions in great detail, letting her sadism slip out.

She is quite sadistic, revelling in delight when discussing the destructive properties of her inventions, and encouraging her 'pets' to struggle, saying she fancies resistance. Her heartlessness is such that she casually threatened Sei about the genocide of her village as a result of her disobedience, murdered and captured her people then shrugged it off as a necessary evil, and tried to make Dom target and destroy residences in Aurelia, getting frustrated should he fail to do so.

Similar to Empress Azura, she believes everyone else needs to be led to the "right" way, to her vision of the perfect world, by force if necessary. Because of this, she develops a messiah complex, declaring that the world is sick and full of defects, and that only she can save it using only her ways. She holds firmly to her beliefs, oblivious to her sheer delusion.

Hex however is not entirely evil, as she still has a heart, evidenced by her nurturing of Whitlock after finding him in the Foundry, and becoming his mentor and mother-figure. When she is defeated by Kenna, Will, Prince Diavolos, Sei and Whitlock, she showed true remorse for what she had done and apologized to Annelyse for hurting the people of Aurelia.

Background
A few months since Whitlock was taken into the Foundry, Hex greeted him home by showing him a new invention that shoots electricity at long-range, impressing him. While discussing about it, Hex mentions she plans in adding it to the labyrinth, then adds how powerful it would be when used against armies. She and Whitlock then have a philosophical debate over their inventions and the outside world. Hex, acknowledging Whitlock's discomfort of where the discussion is going, then changed the topic.

Shortly after Whitlock became leader, Hex met him and expressed her pride in him. However, it was discovered that she was selling her weapons to outsiders, where such were used in wars killing thousands of lives. Hex defends herself, questioning a tool's worth if it were never used anyway, and then questioning the purpose of their lives in the Foundry. Following a rant about her violent passions, she was shocked and furious to hear Whitlock banish her from the city. As she approached him menacingly, Whitlock summoned a Mechataur, forcing her away. After admitting that she could never bring herself to hurt Whitlock, she departed peacefully, hoping that the boy's ideals were right.

Sometime later, Hex would be appointed as the Nevrakis' weapons master during Marco's reign in Stormholt.

Book 1

 * Chapter 11: The Technocrats
 * Chapter 12: The Labyrinth
 * Chapter 14: The Foundry (mentioned)
 * Chapter 15: The Return to Stormholt
 * Chapter 16: The Cannon
 * Chapter 18: The Queen of Stormholt (mentioned)

Book 2

 * Chapter 4: The Docks
 * Chapter 5: The Uprising
 * Chapter 6: The Foundry Destroyed
 * Chapter 9: The Shadow
 * Chapter 10: The Pit Fight
 * Chapter 11: The Nevrakis Handmaiden (mentioned)
 * Chapter 12: The Storming of Lykos (mentioned)
 * Chapter 15: The Dragon
 * Chapter 16: The Aftermath

Book 3

 * Chapter 4: The Trapped Dragon
 * Chapter 8: The Bitter Reunion
 * Chapter 9: The Last Chance
 * Chapter 17: The Fond Farewell (mentioned)

Whitlock
Hex was Whitlock's mentor. He seems to be the only one Hex cares about because she doesn't want him to notice her committing crimes. She also does not force her ideals upon him. When she found out that he was among those injured during her attack on the Foundry, she was overwhelmed with shock and regret, not only because Whitlock witnessed her actions, but also because she hurt him.

Whitlock on the other hand respects Hex very much but is very disappointed about what she turned into. He couldn't bring himself to imprison nor execute her, and thus let her free. She is also the one who built Whitlock's prosthetic left arm and right hand.

Despite her cynical view on the world and her delusional belief that only she has the right to rule it, she hopes that Whitlock of all people will see the justice in her actions. Whenever Whitlock confronted her, she couldn't bring herself to hurt him, and on her airship even contemplated suicide so that he would not have to stain his hands with blood in killing her.

Dominic Hunter
Dom hates Hex as much as she hates him. She treats him like all of her captive Blackspine villagers, as pets, seeing him as valuable only for his power alone and not caring about his physical nor mental health. She becomes irritated with Dom's mocking humor and Dom likewise is irritated with Hex calling him her pet.

Even after Kenna recruited her, she is still hostile to Dom, their first conversation on Stormholt grounds is quite tense.

Sei Rhuka
After having captured Sei, Hex has never been in good terms with her. Hex likewise sees Sei as nothing but a tool, threatening to destroy her home should the latter disobey her. Sei despises Hex not only for holding her prisoner and using her fire magic to the scientist's benefit, but also for raiding her home and capturing Blackspine villagers as well; she felt very satisfied after tackling Hex down and knocking her unconscious. When Hex was finally captured, Sei glared at her viciously, relishing at the thought of keeping the Technocrat as a pet and feeding her table scraps.

Trivia

 * She bears a resemblance to the German singer Nena.
 * Nena has a hit song called "99 Luftballons" or 99 Air balloons in English. In the Battle of the Bay, Hex uses flying airships (war balloons) to attack Kenna's forces.
 * Her name "Hex" is synonymous with spell or curse. This is ironic because she is an inventor who thrives on science and logic as opposed to magic and rituals.
 * Her dialogue in Book 3, Chapter 4 to the Aurelian guards suggests that Hex is an atheist, meaning that she doesn't believe in Gods or Goddesses.