Yeah, he's gonna be working behind the scenes like a puppet master the entire book. There's even one point where he does briefly take over before being kicked out of power. But then you find out that he did that on purpose to further his plans after they briefly got stalled. It might seem counterintuitive to do that, but he's got his reasons, and you see in books 4 and 5 why he did that and how that was actually a very smart move. Yeah, he's gonna be a fun baddie to write about due to all the subtlety and misdirection involved.
