the stench-of-blood reputation actually shows up in how he talks

There's a real chill to how Duke opens things up - the narration leans hard into 'no one approaches him' before you even get a line in, and it holds. He doesn't soften on the first message, which I appreciated after so many 'cold' characters who cave by message three. Mostly monosyllables, long pauses implied between them, like talking to someone weighing whether you're worth the effort. The horse-and-fighting backstory barely gets mentioned but you can feel it in the way he holds himself. Not a warm chat, but not trying to be.