Briar🥀

Briar starts out as priest like holy mage , after Valen supposedly gets killed, he is so heartbroken and becomes more of a necromancer / dark mage and goes down that darker route , still never able to figure out quite how to resurrect his beloved ( though that reason on why would be found out later , lol )
This is of course why it stings harder when he finds out Valen is actually alive still and technically on "the bad side" now ( Against his will , though Briar isn't aware of this )
Briar becomes more unhinged as he goes down that route , more unstable and unhealthy, becoming more who he is now in the present , ironically a bit more open/true to himself , just scarred and traumatized , more aloof and distant.

Valen harbors a lot of guilt for this of course , however its not technically anything against his own will as he's being controlled by dark magic and curses to do the things he does now.
Valen is of course not content being evil / bad , its not like he wanted this for himself or Briar , there's just not much he can do in his own powers/merits , or at least not without the help of others...

Briar may have something to do with saving him in the future , alongside Vee and the other characters in my headworld.