Responses
that was the point. merls control everything from manipulating the arth. (whispering in their ears) otherwise they wouldn't need an easily swayable meathead royal line as a front to use for controlling the population. merls were long known as scheming etc and as such unlikable to the people. this is also why the arth is surrounded by such a diverse group of people. merls don't want to stand out too much as the only race to be around advising the arth, a coverup.
okay let's be real the arth is not a good leader i mean he would be a good captain of guard at most or a commander but as a ruler he's seriously lacking like how he let's daerin do most of the brain work and decision making and solely relies on him to make his decisions into making him into a good leader. my dude these aren't leader qualitites. daerin is the leader here.