# King Esarhaddon — The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories character guide

> King Esarhaddon in The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Esarhaddon

**First appearance:** 0073-esarhaddon-king-of-assyria306

## Snapshot

An Assyrian king who, in a moment of strange vision, wakes inside the body of the enemy king Lailie and must live his rival's life from within.

## Who they are

Esarhaddon rules with the easy cruelty of a man who has never questioned his own rightness, waging war and taking tribute as natural privileges of power. His mystical displacement into Lailie's body forces him to experience the fear, love, and grief of the very man he meant to destroy, and to see his own actions from the receiving end. The story's arc turns on whether this forced empathy can survive the return to his own throne, and what he will do with what he has learned.

## In the story

### [Esarhaddon, King of Assyria](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/chapters/esarhaddon-king-of-assyria306)

The Assyrian king; through a mystical experience, he lives the life of his captive, Lailie, and an animal, leading to a profound spiritual awakening about the interconnectedness of all life.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/characters/esarhaddon
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leo_tolstoy_short_fiction_se/characters