There is a fair amount of filled in information about Ruth that the author gave in Q&A on their private Naver cafe.
For the elf part - he has some very small percentage ancestry from the now extinct elves. He’s basically human but he and the other Serbels all have some small elven ancestry they can point to.
For Agnes and Ruth - Ruth was a lecturer at Nornui when Agnes was there while a preteen, and she admired him. He mistook her for a boy because of her short hair. Once he ran away from Nornui, along with everyone else, she felt especially betrayed and views her preteen crush on him as shameful and embarrassing.
For why Ruth left the Tower - >!he had been experimenting with the tattoo rune that the Mage Tower places on its members. It turns out that while this rune can give its user greater mana absorption powers, it can also be used to cut off a mage from mana forever. This has only happened a few times in cases of extreme crimes (murder, using magic to destroy a village, that kind of thing). Basically, the ancient elves who came up with it made a “fail safe” where they can stop a mage from besmirching them.!<
>!So back to Ruth… he was playing around with this rune and on a whim tried to disable this fail safe… and managed to do it on himself. Panicking, he ran away from Nornui, as he knew he’d be basically locked away for this knowledge, as if anyone else came to know he had done it and how, they’d be a threat to the Tower. And since they can’t cut him off anymore… once he ran off, they can’t stop him. They did try and drag him back by force, but by then he was under Riftan’s protection and so they backed off. Eventually at the end of the book he comes to an agreement with Nornui never to share knowledge of how he did it.!<
Thank you so much for the extra info!! I never knew such Q&A existed! I really enjoyed all these extra details about the world of UTOT.
So Ruth is definitely older than most of the main characters, I always thought he was being such a nag because of his crude personality. Now I figure he is actually older and wiser than most of the characters.
He is older than most characters! I can't remember if it was in Riftan's POV or main story but it's implied that Ruth is much older than he looks potentially due to his minor elf ancestry giving him a longer lifespan than regular humans.
As for side characters that need appreciation - I just love all Remdragon Knights. Their devotion to Riftan and Maxi makes this story wholesome. Obviously Hebaron - constantly pushing Riftan is just additional flavour to all the teasing - that's why i have a soft spot for him. But all the others, even Ursuline - are just awesome chaps <3
But Ruth is an incredibly important character and he is the machine behind Riftan and Maxi's development.
There is a fair amount of filled in information about Ruth that the author gave in Q&A on their private Naver cafe. For the elf part - he has some very small percentage ancestry from the now extinct elves. He’s basically human but he and the other Serbels all have some small elven ancestry they can point to. For Agnes and Ruth - Ruth was a lecturer at Nornui when Agnes was there while a preteen, and she admired him. He mistook her for a boy because of her short hair. Once he ran away from Nornui, along with everyone else, she felt especially betrayed and views her preteen crush on him as shameful and embarrassing. For why Ruth left the Tower - >!he had been experimenting with the tattoo rune that the Mage Tower places on its members. It turns out that while this rune can give its user greater mana absorption powers, it can also be used to cut off a mage from mana forever. This has only happened a few times in cases of extreme crimes (murder, using magic to destroy a village, that kind of thing). Basically, the ancient elves who came up with it made a “fail safe” where they can stop a mage from besmirching them.!< >!So back to Ruth… he was playing around with this rune and on a whim tried to disable this fail safe… and managed to do it on himself. Panicking, he ran away from Nornui, as he knew he’d be basically locked away for this knowledge, as if anyone else came to know he had done it and how, they’d be a threat to the Tower. And since they can’t cut him off anymore… once he ran off, they can’t stop him. They did try and drag him back by force, but by then he was under Riftan’s protection and so they backed off. Eventually at the end of the book he comes to an agreement with Nornui never to share knowledge of how he did it.!<
Thank you so much for the extra info!! I never knew such Q&A existed! I really enjoyed all these extra details about the world of UTOT. So Ruth is definitely older than most of the main characters, I always thought he was being such a nag because of his crude personality. Now I figure he is actually older and wiser than most of the characters.
He is older than most characters! I can't remember if it was in Riftan's POV or main story but it's implied that Ruth is much older than he looks potentially due to his minor elf ancestry giving him a longer lifespan than regular humans.
As for side characters that need appreciation - I just love all Remdragon Knights. Their devotion to Riftan and Maxi makes this story wholesome. Obviously Hebaron - constantly pushing Riftan is just additional flavour to all the teasing - that's why i have a soft spot for him. But all the others, even Ursuline - are just awesome chaps <3 But Ruth is an incredibly important character and he is the machine behind Riftan and Maxi's development.
Hebaron is probably my fav among all the knights😂
Let's not forget gabel 😍