Character Analysis
Dr. Torrens is King Augustine's chief physician and Cabbarus's main opposition in the government. He believes Cabby is keeping the king sick in order to control him—and he's right—so Torrens opposes Cabbarus and urges his patroness, Queen Caroline, to resist the Chief Minister as well.
Torrens wants the king to heal from his grief, so he discourages the king's desire to get a necromancer to raise his daughter from the dead. This works against Cabbarus's aim of keeping the king as miserable as possible in order to stay in power himself, so he manipulates King Augustine to declare Torrens a traitor. But the honest Dr. T really does just want the best for his master, as we can see here:
Dr. Torrens was not famous in the Juliana for sparing anyone the rough side of his tongue, but he said with unusual gentleness, "Majesty, none of us knows what lies beyond the tomb. I can only tell you this: Death is not unfamiliar to me. I have seen more of it than I wish. Disease, accident—the forms are different, the end is the same. What befalls us afterward is a mystery. Death is a fact. Forgive me, Sire, if I wound you, but the princess is dead. Unless you accept that simple fact, you will be prey to every false hope." (9.14)
There is such gentleness and honesty in this moment. Dr. T clearly understands the king's pain—he's not aggressive with his assertion at all—and yet also very clearly encourages the king to make peace with the loss of his daughter. Talk about bedside manner, right? This guy's one of the good ones for sure.
Cabbarus isn't having it, of course, so he sends an assassin to kill Torrens, but Torrens escapes and eventually links up with Keller, and then Florian. There he reveals himself to be loyal to his royal master and mistress—though he wants freedom in Westmark, Torrens, born a commoner, doesn't share Florian's extremist views. He still thinks the monarchy should rule, but he just doesn't want some corrupt guy like Cabbarus at the head. Check it out:
"You cannot believe that," cried Torrens. "Do you see no difference between a monarch and a tyrant? The chief minister has been a disaster for the country. As king, he will be still worse. At court, the only one who dares oppose him is Queen Caroline. Her life may be in danger as a result. Cabbarus will let no one stand in his way. He has banished me, he has tried to have me murdered. But I will not leave the kingdom. I seek honest men to join me and support the queen's cause, to bring force to bear—" (16.18)
Torrens is firm in his conviction, and he clearly adores his master and mistress. This loyalty works out well for him in the end, too, since Torrens ends up being named chief minister when Cabbarus is deposed. It seems like it'll be an improvement for the kingdom as a whole, too, since this is one devoted dude.