I think I have a piece of concrete in my backyard that would make a better leader than him. It's never killed anyone or made any bad decisions. ...honestly, I would probably trust the piece of concrete before I would trust Axis.
Hell, I'd make a better leader than Axis. I've never led anyone in my life, but at least I'm a people person and a good listener who cares about others. Axis seems to actively dislike absolutely everyone unless they're providing him with some sort of short-term gratification like sex or praise, and even then the liking only goes that far and instantly vanishes when they're not doing that for him any more.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it was so everyone can fawn over how awesome he is as a general, and so that he has (in Douglass's opinion) a 'legitimate' reason for his arrogant attitude.
That's pretty much exactly it as far as I can tell - that the position and the incredibly loyal followers (just how he earned that level of loyalty and love from his men will never be explained) are just another Sue accessory to make him seem more impressive. He could have just been a member of the rank and file but noooo.
How can anyone put their trust in him?
The short answer: they cannot and should not. He also cheats on every girlfriend he ever has, constantly, so he can't be trusted in his personal life either. He cheats on Faraday, then cheats on Azhure as well.
Oh, and he cheats in combat situations as well by using underhanded tactics to get the upper hand. He challenges someone to "honourable single combat" twice in this trilogy and both times he wins by doing the exact opposite.
If Douglass wrote a more realistic army, I have a feeling that Axis wouldn't have very many soldiers left to command, because all the rest would have deserted him!
Instead of which they're just a hive mind who endlessly adore him. There's not one single deserter or even a voice of dissent.
...why is he a protagonist again? In any other story, he would be a villain of the highest, most despicable caliber.
Because clearly the author was so obsessed with him (and later Azhure, who replaces him as the new favourite Mary Sue to an insane degree) that she only thought of him as an actual person who matters. Nobody else deserves to be treated like a human being, and Axis always has to be right, so therefore everything he does is justified.
Also she was clearly very taken with the stereotype of the guy who's incredibly aggressive and violent in all areas of his life, because that's "sexy" and "masculine". And as long as he's sexy it doesn't matter how fucking toxic he is or how horrible it would actually be to be in a relationship with him.
It's not even a thing of the past, is it? We're still getting characters like him, albeit in most cases somewhat toned down. I'm currently sporking The Fourth Wing and the "romantic hero" in that thing is also really aggressive and violent and is also repeatedly stated to be bad news... but that is just framed as making him even more sexy and desirable. The idiot protagonist actually gets all lubed up over him WHILE HE'S BEATING HER UP AND HUMILIATING HER.
It's like nothing else matters except sex to these people, and it boggles my mind. Axis is even more horrible towards Azhure, yet she just reacts to this by falling more and more deeply "in love" with him, she can't walk away, etc.
Which gets even more insulting when you consider the fact that Azhure is an abuse survivor. Yet now it's Axis dishing out the abuse, suddenly it's okay! Because oh, he feels bad about it afterwards so she just instantly gets over it when in reality she wouldn't be able to be in the same room as him without panicking.
So yeah, short version is that Axis being depicted as a "hero" and Azhure being expected to just get over what he does to her (you are REALLY not prepared for what goes down in the next book) is absolutely disgusting and offensive.
That could only be true if those people have absolutely no idea what the word 'feminist' means.
This was the 90s, so that meant "women characters exist!" = "feminist". Well, again, it's not a thing of the past there either. Paolini thinks he's progressive and feminist because he has a token black woman in a position of authority and a couple of other major female characters. And never mind that they're all misogynistic stereotypes who only care about looking pretty and having babies.
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Hell, I'd make a better leader than Axis. I've never led anyone in my life, but at least I'm a people person and a good listener who cares about others. Axis seems to actively dislike absolutely everyone unless they're providing him with some sort of short-term gratification like sex or praise, and even then the liking only goes that far and instantly vanishes when they're not doing that for him any more.
That's pretty much exactly it as far as I can tell - that the position and the incredibly loyal followers (just how he earned that level of loyalty and love from his men will never be explained) are just another Sue accessory to make him seem more impressive. He could have just been a member of the rank and file but noooo.
The short answer: they cannot and should not. He also cheats on every girlfriend he ever has, constantly, so he can't be trusted in his personal life either. He cheats on Faraday, then cheats on Azhure as well.
Oh, and he cheats in combat situations as well by using underhanded tactics to get the upper hand. He challenges someone to "honourable single combat" twice in this trilogy and both times he wins by doing the exact opposite.
Instead of which they're just a hive mind who endlessly adore him. There's not one single deserter or even a voice of dissent.
Because clearly the author was so obsessed with him (and later Azhure, who replaces him as the new favourite Mary Sue to an insane degree) that she only thought of him as an actual person who matters. Nobody else deserves to be treated like a human being, and Axis always has to be right, so therefore everything he does is justified.
Also she was clearly very taken with the stereotype of the guy who's incredibly aggressive and violent in all areas of his life, because that's "sexy" and "masculine". And as long as he's sexy it doesn't matter how fucking toxic he is or how horrible it would actually be to be in a relationship with him.
It's not even a thing of the past, is it? We're still getting characters like him, albeit in most cases somewhat toned down. I'm currently sporking The Fourth Wing and the "romantic hero" in that thing is also really aggressive and violent and is also repeatedly stated to be bad news... but that is just framed as making him even more sexy and desirable. The idiot protagonist actually gets all lubed up over him WHILE HE'S BEATING HER UP AND HUMILIATING HER.
It's like nothing else matters except sex to these people, and it boggles my mind. Axis is even more horrible towards Azhure, yet she just reacts to this by falling more and more deeply "in love" with him, she can't walk away, etc.
Which gets even more insulting when you consider the fact that Azhure is an abuse survivor. Yet now it's Axis dishing out the abuse, suddenly it's okay! Because oh, he feels bad about it afterwards so she just instantly gets over it when in reality she wouldn't be able to be in the same room as him without panicking.
So yeah, short version is that Axis being depicted as a "hero" and Azhure being expected to just get over what he does to her (you are REALLY not prepared for what goes down in the next book) is absolutely disgusting and offensive.
This was the 90s, so that meant "women characters exist!" = "feminist". Well, again, it's not a thing of the past there either. Paolini thinks he's progressive and feminist because he has a token black woman in a position of authority and a couple of other major female characters. And never mind that they're all misogynistic stereotypes who only care about looking pretty and having babies.