2. What the Skarabs mean to Thorne

2. What the Skarabs mean to Thorne The most personal way into the Skarabs' role is through Thorne. When his village was attacked, he got his wife and son away to safety. He survived with them, but that choice left him carrying guilt over the people he had not stayed to defend. That history follows him into Dorothy's journey. His need to recover his honor, and the pressure he puts on himself over courage, come from an actual loss. The soldiers on the witches' side are connected to the event he keeps measuring himself against. His conversation with the Scarecrow gives another view of the same decision. Thorne sees his departure as a failure. The Scarecrow can understand a man saving his family. The attack has left him with a question that winning another fight won't automatically answer: what should he have done when people he loved needed him in different places? The Skarabs remain part of the larger conflict, too. They are among the forces involved when Lynessa's army moves against the Emerald City. The forces associated with the devastation of a village now help threaten a much larger center of resistance. That is why their importance goes beyond how many soldiers a hero can knock down. Through Thorne, the original series shows what survives an attack: a family that escaped, people who were lost, and someone who cannot stop judging the choice that kept him alive.