Character Analysis
As Lord Ryuu's second born son—and only heir by the time the war is out—Gyaar isn't your average Uplander warrior. Why? Well for one thing, he doesn't think you should lead with your sword and ask questions later. During the battle, Gyaar doesn't take to war the way his older brother did, and when his dad wants to torture people for information, Gyaar flat out says no. You go, Gyaar.
Daddy Issues
Which brings us to Gyaar's daddy issues. Like it or not, his dad expects a lot from him since he's the heir to the kingdom. This is reasonable—running a kingdom is a pretty big responsibility, after all—but his expectations for how Gyaar should act aren't always. Lord Ryuu want his son to be a macho man, and Gyaar's wacky decision to keep a Downlander (a.k.a. Cam) around without showing him who's boss frustrates and confuses him, and pretty much everyone else too. What kind of future king doesn't just slay his enemies? The kind called Gyaar, apparently.
Gyaar recognizes that his dad is in charge, but he also thinks the guy is ruthless and merciless—both things Gyaar does not want to be. So part of his struggle to figure out what to do with Cam has to do with the fact that he's not sure how to treat the enemy who spared his life—it's one thing to know what you don't want to do, but another thing entirely to figure out what you do want to do. And another part of his struggle comes from his reluctance to go against his dad, who he understands runs the show right now.
When Lord Ryuu leaves Gyaar in charge of Cam, he says to his dad:
"You have entrusted it to me, Father. Do you not have faith in your decision?" (12.100)
It's a tricky maneuver. If Lord Ryuu continues to questions Gyaar's handling of Cam, then it will show distrust in his own decision to trust Gyaar in the first place—in other words, they both become trustworthy. So the only choice, really, is to leave Gyaar be. By doing so, Lord Ryuu shows confidence in his own decision making ability. Looks like our soldier's learning how to stand up to daddy dearest, and the student's becoming the master.
Frenemy
By far Gyaar's most significant relationship in the book is with Cam. You might find this hard to believe since they're on opposite sides of the tracks, but that's kinda the point. Gyaar goes through a rough time (just like Cam does) trying to figure out why his enemy would save his life on the battlefield. Now we know there's more to the story (ahem, Cam was just scared to kill someone), but this is a big moment that turns these sworn enemies into frenemies. At one point, the two share their thoughts on the matter:
Cam was a voice, a deeper darkness in the dark night, that was all. "Here is another: You looked at me and it was like looking into a mirror, in time to come." (12.204)
Nothing says kindred spirits quite like seeing yourself reflected back by another person, which is exactly what happened to Cam when he had the chance to kill Gyaar in the war. And Cam's resemblance to Gyaar's older bro helps Gyaar realize that his enemy isn't all that different from him either. Hmm… maybe there wasn't a need to fight a big war after all.
Gyaar's Timeline