Experience Tumblr Like Never Before
I was pondering a lot recently on why arc one Aaravos and arc two Aaravos had such different vibes (disregarding the fact that we as the viewers have tended to view him with more sympathy and pity since his backstory dropped because that can tend to make us think vibes have changed when it’s just our point of view that’s changed) and it literally just hit me. The entire point is that the vibes ARE different because Aaravos is focused on manipulating a whole new person in arc two.
In arc one Aaravos is manipulating Viren, a man who wants power. In this case, Aaravos doesn’t have to rely too much on trust (even stating that Viren shouldn’t trust him just yet at the very beginning) and needs to focus more on showing the power he has and the power he has to offer. And because of that, we see him as a very graceful and powerful man, someone who exudes extreme mystery because why wouldn’t he when there’s no reason to tell a man who doesn’t trust him anything super important/personal about himself and therefore we, as the viewers who know as much as Viren does, also view him the same way as Viren: a powerful Startouch archmage who’s knowledge is extreme and is immensely shrouded in mystery.
And because Viren doesn’t require a whole lot of trust for Aaravos to manipulate him, they never actually form a friendly bond together that’s more than just a few jokes and respect and you can tell that Viren doesn’t hold much of an emotional bond towards him at all when he gets annoyed at the "has our relationship truly escalated to this new height?” line because Viren does not feel that their relationship is more than acquaintanceship with how little trust is required amongst them.
But in arc two however, Aaravos is manipulating Claudia, an entirely different person who is so love-driven (and therefore so much more emotion-driven than Viren was) and has been alone (her dad dying and being dead for two years, assuming Claudia didn’t meet Terry till around the like one year of Viren being dead mark) for so long that Aaravos needs to rely on trust and emotional bonds more than just power (although that’s important too because he got introduced to her when Viren died) to manipulate her. And because of that, he has been so much more 'soft' and caring towards her that we no longer just see the all powerful and mysterious archmage, we see a man who has formed a bond with Claudia that goes past acquaintanceship that we never got to see with him and Viren.
That’s what made everything click for me, because I had asked myself 'why would Aaravos tell Claudia his backstory and not Viren when they have so many similarities with them both being fathers who would do anything for their kid(s) and it would make Viren trust him more?' It’s because Viren and Aaravos’ relationship never relied too heavily on trust and emotions while Claudia and his did because she’s a character who is so loving that she can’t seek out power (subsequently not follow anything Aaravos had said during his manipulation) without it being for love.
So in arc one, we only see one side of Aaravos, one that’s powerful and mysterious. In arc two, we see another side of Aaravos, one that’s caring and can be trusted by Claudia. The only times we really see arc one Aaravos in arc two is his conversation with Viren, his talk with Ezran, and the final battle because he’s no longer with people who are so emotion and love driven.