I fully agree with 2&3, but as a fanfic writer i actually find Dexter interesting to write and read about because we don't know a lot about him.
In the books he's witty and often seems to be untroubled by traumatic experiences but it's also hinted that there's a lot of depth to his character. So, it's really interesting to kinda fill in the gaps that Landy leaves.
I guess, that means that I'm more interested in the idea of him as a character than his actual character in the books because there's really not a lot about him there... (it´s the same with Saracen, Aurora and the Monsterhunters)
The few scenes where we can catch a glimpse at his character are really interesting. Take TM7 for example: He could have told Skulduggery about the god killers and let him deal with them but instead he assembled a team and took care of it himself. If you combine that with him constantly seeking out adventures all over the world, it shows that he needs to be constantly fighting for what he believes is right - even after the war is over. The other dead men (except for Skulduggery) all settled down but not him. Skulduggery fights because of his guilt and his need for revenge. So what about Dexter? There must be something in his past that drives him. Maybe war is all he´s ever known, so he doesn´t know who he is or what to do after it ended or maybe there´s something dark in his past, too. We don´t know, but that makes him interesting.
That´s where my personal headcanon sets in: His father fought against Mevolent. While he was away, his mother raised him and his siblings, but due to the high child mortality rate he´s the only one who made it past the age of ten. His siblings all died. Anyway, while his father was fighting, his mother got killed by the mortals in their village for being a witch. Dexter had to watch helplessly. It made him so angry that he lost his way for a couple of years. He ran away, until he was taken in by a family that supported Mevolent. They raised him, so he took on their beliefs. Only several years later when he saw a whole village of mortals get slaughtered, he remembered how his biological parents raised him. He ran away again. This time in search of the resistance, but when he finally found it, he had to find out that his father had recently died in battle. That´s when the guilt and the self loathing began. He joined the suicide mission with the other dead men as a way to punish himself. Obviously, it didn´t work out. Not that time and not after. Then the war was over and he still felt like he needed to make up for his mistakes. That´s why he takes on missions by the sanctuaries all over the world, why he helps wherever he can. Sometimes that´s enough, sometimes it isn´t. It´s always been this way, but know he doesn´t have the other dead men to talk to anymore. They all drifted apart after the end of the war. So he has to find other, less healthy coping mechanisms. They don´t work, but he puts on a brave face and laughs it off. Then the war between the sanctuaries starts. He would never admit it, but fighting alongside his brothers again is the best thing that could have happened. Until they die, one after another. First Ghastly and Anton. Then Ravel. Even though he´s a traitor it still hurts. He gets possessed by a remnant. Just one more thing to feel guilty about. It doesn´t matter, he can handle it. But then Saracen dies. His best friend for centuries dies and he can´t handle it anymore. It´s all too much. He doesn´t want to fight anymore. Skulduggery is the only one who´s left but he only ever cares about Valkyrie nowadays. Tanith tries to cheer him up. She really really tries. It doesn´t work. Saracens death is what finally broke him.
unpopular sp opinions?
1- If Dexter wasn’t hot, people wouldn’t find him nearly as interesting - not his fault, but the lack of actual characterisation of any characters after book 7, with everyone becoming the same generic sorcerer, is pretty awful.
2- Tanith and Ghastly never even went on a date and y’all made out that they were soulmates -_- Like feel free to ship them but I feel like after Ghastly’s death everyone was like oh my god how is Tanith ever gonna get over the death of a man who she only spent four books with, when surely we should be focusing on the dead men who’d lost their best friend of FOUR CENTURIES
3- Militsia + Val are actually cute together and I quite like the reality check she’s giving Val