#I hope Astrid realizes the way this co-opts people like her too and can get to a better place

[glyphknight]

I just want to say that Caleb being a private instructor for students who didn’t get into the elite magic school (and not just providing extra tutoring for his students at Soltryce) was something I hadn’t considered and is so, so heartwarming and affirming. 

Having been a “failure,” he accepts the “rejects” and “failures” - he sees and nurtures their potential. This flies in the face of Soltryce’s harsh “rigorous” standards which was used by Trent as priming / grooming for his even “harsher” “lessons.” It denies the commonly accepted idea that anyone who doesn’t make the cut is just not good enough. 

I think a lot of people have had this experience IRL, including myself, where a curricular program basically expected you to “do whatever it takes” even if it means running yourself ragged to meet extremely high expectations “for your own good.” 

Caleb’s gonna raise up some competent wizards who will think for themselves and not have their ethics dictated by loyalty-first to the Empire or the Cerberus Assembly. He is fully aware of how the Empire’s propaganda was used by Ikithon to groom students and commit atrocities (Oh man, I have...thoughts about how Astrid initially reacts to Bren breaking in the comic).