All about one of my characters: Vashuss

Simple and inexperienced. Malleable and naive. Confused and twisted. Vashuss is a minor villain in book 6 onward, making an appearance near the end. He is (at least, he appears to be) a metal centipede the size of a small elephant with a big head. He is supposed to be a mindless killing machine in the service of Mhaldin. Vashuss was gifted to him by Usor'an to serve the boy as his mount. Vashuss is supposed to have an artificial mind, which accounts for his gullibility.
Vashuss says very little, speaking through a free moving holographic projection that has its own voice. In this was, Vashuss essentially has two bodies. His centipede-like metal body had twelve long, flexible limbs that pull him along quite nicely. Because he is a machine he is treated likewise, shown no friendship by Mhaldin and worked nearly to death.
The truth is, Vashuss is not a machine but a hyper-intellectual infant who is stored inside the machine's giant head. Vashuss controls the machine with his mind. Mhaldin does not know it, but Vashuss is actually his bastard son, the mother of whom is Usor'an's daughter. This is significant because now Fenera's nephew is the main villain's grandson. She thought fighting her brother would be bad.

All about one of my characters: Fenera

Loving and good-natured. Arrogant and authoritative. Resourceful and smart. Fenera is a half human-half valkyrie. She is a 15 year old girl who commands a host of magical ability. She appears from book 5 onwards. Her description from book 5:
"Her girlish looks were being quickly replaced by a more womanly guise, though she still had the look of a child about her she looked a few years older than she actually was. Her face was lightly freckled and she wore her black hair behind her head in a short ponytail. She wasn’t fat like a lot of Jindarian princesses, nor was she skinny. Instead she had a lean and hardened from that had been sculpted by a lifetime of demanding work. Her mother saw to it that she learned to be a hard worker so she could grow up to be an excellent monarch. The work Fenera did, mental and otherwise, had made her strangely fit for a girl of her class"
I modeled Fenera's appearance (and only appearance) on an old classmate of mine: Brita S.
Her role in the books is an important one, almost as important as Anar in book 5. She is very skilled at healing victims of war with her mage powers and takes great joy in saving lives. She is very tolerant of others (except for Lynx Rossus whom she hates for his 'soldier personality'). Like most girls her age she loves to have fun.
In this way, she is an antithesis to her more militant twin brother: Mhadlin with whom she psychically shares thoughts. Despite their differences in ideology, Fenera loves her brother a whole lot (the feeling is mutual). The relationship runs into disaster when Mhaldin is kidnapped.
It falls to Fenera, Anar, and a group of friends to rescue the boy. Fenera is the glue that holds the rescue effort together and she needs to apply her quick thinking many times to bail the group from danger. By the time Mhaldin is rescued, Fenera is a heroine all across her homeland for her achievements (she once turned a whole invading army on its heels with her mage powers). This prompts the wrath of many, but she rises to the occasion and rapidly develops into a legend big enough to rival Anar.
When all seems well the unthinkable happens: Mhaldin turns evil. It falls to Fenera and Anar to take him down.
Fenera represents the ideal hero. She never kills anyone, she saves lives, often spending all her power on helping people. She fights only to defend, and she doesn't even kill her victims with her powers. Unlike Anar (or any action hero) she refuses to kill her enemies. The only person she will be allowed to kill (and even then, I don't know if I will make it happen or not) is her twin brother.

All about one of my characters: Mhaldin

Downtrodden and in pain. Resourceful and extreme. Exceptional and deadly.
If my whole series was published and sent to stores tomorrow, Mhaldin would be the most controversial character. He is a fifteen-year-old boy with a valkyrie mother and a human father, making him a, as someone once said "male valkyrie". He does not have the usual array of powers but does share the thoughts of his twin sister, Fenera. The two are as close as peas in a pod, both willing to die for the other. His description in book 5:
"Mhaldin was slightly skinnier than his sister though this was due to his body shape and not to a lack of fitness. Actually, Mhaldin was far more athletic than Fenera and stood almost a foot taller than her. He almost always seemed to be projecting a cheery mood. While some might make others feel uncomfortable with their rough appearance or negative attitude, Mhaldin’s demeanor was such that those around him could feel positive just by looking at him even if he wasn’t more cheery than the average person. Like Fenera he was very well disciplined."
So why the idea of controversy? He sounds like a nice enough kid, right? Actually, he isn't all smiles. Religious fanatics hate him for being a male and a valkyire. He has survived 6 assassination attempts. During the course of book 5 he is kidnapped, tortured (Mhaldin is the tortured '13 year old' I refer to in the 'Eray Rated R' post, although the draft it refers to is outdated: Mhaldin no longer gets executed), and nearly killed by decapitation. When finally released, he adopts a horrifying anti-social demeanor. His ideology? The world has rejected him, therefore, he has the right to fight back. During the course of book 6 he takes a terrible revenge on those who wronged him. In the end, tens of thousands of people are killed and Mhaldin murders one too many people and joins Usor'an to escape the law. It falls to his sister (who shares his thoughts and still dearly loves him) to take him down.
Mhaldin, as I believe, pushes the envelope of what is appropriate. I do avoid excessive description when he is being tortured, but do not hold back when he is killing people (in one instance, he slaughters a keep full of unarmed bandits). Is it right to have a teenage boy pile up the bodies in the way he does: a purely anti-heroic style? Maybe it isn't.
Being a villain, Mhaldin is destined for punishment. Not even I know how this is going to end. My projected ending is to have a family member (i.e Fenera) kill him and then mourn over it but do not know exactly how it will go down (one particularly morbid version has Fenera and Mhaldin kill one another, then have their father discover the bodies). I want the scene to be perfect: a totally eye-flooding tragedy that lies at the end of a very long fall from grace.
(edit) in the Theme Songs post, when I say Mhaldin's theme is the Soccent Attack from the Transformers score, I mean the song that plays during the Michael Bay Transformers movie when Blackout attacks Soccent. This song (please don't pull it YouTube) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM7SWfYSxw4

All about one of my characters: Rossus

Militant and diciplined. Patriotic and devoted. Artistic and rugged. Rossus is one of the supporting characters. He is a young Chazzan, the son of a deceased lord, who was given a vast amount of property for his inheritance. This is a lot of responsibility for the 16-year old since his blind mother cannot help him too much with the care of the property. He doesn't have to spend a lot of time with his wealth though since he is in the army. His noble birth guarenteed him a high position within the Chazzan Army as a prefect-in-training. He works under an official Chazzan legionary officer as an apprentice, learning how to be an officer so that he can assume his station of command when he comes of age.
Rossus is a very patriotic Chazzan, showing intense nationalistic loyalty. He can't stand Verrelinorians (an attitude he considers patriotic). He salutes all of his social/military superiors and acts with exaggerated dicipline around them. He demands everyone excet close friends and family call him by his last name: Rossus. His first name is "Lynx" and it is only what those closest to him call him (or those who Rossus lacks the power to condemn for calling him it). In the story that makes it easy to tell the status of his relationship to the person speaking to him. To everyone, he acts with a military attitude, demanding people stand quietly when he talks to them and referring to them by their last names or simply "sir" or "madam".
Physically Rossus is a thick boy with black hair which he had cut down to the point of baldness so he could wear a helmet. He wears a uniform even when he doesn't need to. He speaks with a "heavy central Chazzan accent" which is comparable to a Germanic accent.
Since he is so strict, someone once asked if he had a personalty under "all that soldier". He does. Out of a uniform he is a devouted outdoorsman who loves to explore nature. This is reflected in his love for drawing animals and scenery. He also is a hunter when taking time off work in the countryside. His skills with a bow are very good though he's no Robin Hood.

Anar on Hero Machine

I have made an image of Anar on Hero Machine. To access it, go to: http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/heromachine2/heroMachine2.asp

Once there, copy and paste the code below into the load window, which can be accessed by clicking on the blue "load" button in order to see the image of Anar I made.

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All about one of my characters: Asseah

Religious and aristrocratic. Responsible and proud. Kindly and liberal. Asseah is the queen of the valkyries and has a minor role in book 2, a significant albeit small role in book 3, and a large role in book 4.
When first introuduced she is a mere princess of nineteen or twenty years. Then her mother dies and she assumes the throne. Asseah spends most of the series as the queen of the valkyries. She is also fated to be the last of the royal line since she is childless when he valkyrie race loses its ability to reproduce. It falls upon this poor woman to lead her race into a dignified extinction as its last ruler.
Asseah is more religious than most characters and often turns to the valkyrie goddess Lunas for guidance. She prays a lot and makes many religious offerings to her goddess. She also ridigly adheres to religious traditions with the exception of one. Being a race of females, the valkyries are commanded by their taboos not love a man. Asseah finds herself smitten by Anar to the point where she believes she has angered the goddess. Though when the choice finally comes to choose between honoring love or the goddess, Asseah turns to Anar.
Asseah's attachment to the Erayic boy causes turmoil throughout books 2, 3, and 4. Her justification for loving Anar? According to her, now that the valkyries are unable to reproduce they would have to change their customs if they are to avoid extinction. For obvious reasons Asseah resents the idea of the valkyries dying out.
She is the manistestation of feminine power in the series. As well as being Anar's love interest she is also a key player in the war against Usor'an, taking on important policial roles in her homeland of valkyrie-controlled Chazz. It is her lands that get invaded by the Demon Empire and thus she has to take it to herself and her people to save themselves.
She is concerned with the survival and comfort of her people first and foremost, sometimes putting more importance in that than defeating demonkind. There is one instance where she throws a liberating army out of a valkyrie city so it could be repopulated pronto, denying the city's use by the military. As a ruler she allows no one to push her around!
Asseah looks like, and this is directly from the description in book 2: her hair is long and blonde, her skin is pale, she is delicately built. Her legs are her major phyisical flaw. She lost her legs in an accident and goes around in a wheelchair.

All about one of my characters: Saldella

Cunning and brave. Stalwart and headstrong. Devoted and polite. Saldella is one of the secondary characters in the series.
She is a human woman from a place called Quezellia in Eray and is a solider in the Higharc army. She is encountered by Anar shortly after his unit gets destroyed. Saldella was apparently a surviving member of the army Anar was in. She is one of his companions throughout the story. Rook is his other companion for most of the remaining time, and his dark and brooding personality is very foul to constantly deal with. Saldella provides some humanity to accompany Anar. She is someone he can talk to and relate to since Rook's social skills are poor. She is sort of a place to go and rest after dealing with Rook's wicked attitude.
She dresses in the typical uniform of the Higharc infantry and carries a standard sword and shield. Her preferred method of fighting is in formation with her comrades which is something her travels do not offer her. When the time comes to fight she is usually found on the defensive. She is definitely not Xena but she doesn't stand in the back and wait for a man to save her. When the battle begins she just wants to stay alive.
Saldella was originally a drem-like reptilian serpent-person who was immune to fire (explaining how she survived the demons) but that really wasn't needed so I made her a human and blamed her survival on luck.

A picture of Rook a friend drew for me

A friend of mine, Aaron Dalzot, was kind enough to bring Rook to life with his artistic talent. I gave him a description and Aaron drew him. I only just managed to find an image of the drawing on his facebook page. And so here it is, an image of Rook, all credit goes to Aaron of course.

All about one of my characters: Skander

Alone and nervous. Divided and eager. Treacherous and persistent. Skander is one of the minor villains of the series, appearing in a minor role in book 2 and taking on a more important bit during part 3. He is an anti-villain, as Rook is an anti-hero, although you'd never guess when you first meet him. Skander is a half-demon and was raised demonic society, therefore he feel sympathetic to the goals of the Demon Empire. He tries his best to see that Usor'an's goals are fulfilled. When he first meet him, he is devoid of feeling and seems completely soulless. He appears to revel in carnage and fanatically loyal. How then can Skander, a heartless ass, be a person who pursues evil intents with a good persona? The answer lies in his blood. Skander is only part demon. All demons are devoid of sympathy and enjoy fighting, but Skander doesn't truly have these qualities. His human side gives him compassion and the ability to feel.
Skander doesn't want to be a half-demon, he wants to be a full demon. The only way he can be a true demon, according to Skander, is to have no emotions and to love killing. So he pretends to be a soulless freak to try and beat emotion out of himself. Skander hates killing because his emotions keep getting in the way. He prefers to negotiate, forgive, and make peace. So he is alone, stuck with the wrong friends and trying as hard as he can to be like a demon but never managing to lose his feelings.
Skander is still a villain, he believes in the ultimate demonic goal. Alas, he cannot try to bring this goal about through violence because he is bothered by fighting. One important thing about Skander: he is dishonest. He is one of the only villains with the capacity to betray...

All about one of my characters: Rarend

Cunning and quick. Ruthless and evil. Selfish and genocidal. Rarend the Black (or Rarend the Bright as he is known to those who think him a hero) is a character in my stories. Though he doesn't actually appear in most of the books, he is shown in flashbacks and reffered to countless times. The sword of Rarend, which is Anar's weapon, used to belong to him.
Rarend is a griffin, a spawn of demonkind. In my stories, the griffins (stock fantasy creatures) are an intelligent race which has gone extinct along with the dragons during an event known as the Sky Wars. The griffins were created originally by a demon and therefore they are technically demons. Rarend is one of them, he was the only griffin at the time of the Sky Wars who truly remembered his race's origin. Rarend was also a servant of the demons and had the title of "Demon King" or ruler of the Demonic Empire.
Rarend's goal was to hijack the Sky Wars and use it to destroy the dragons and griffins. He did this by covering his black pluemage with chalk and impersonating a newborn (Rarend is unusually small). When he shows the wisdom of an adult and the leadership skills of a monarch (which Rarend is) the griffins made this "newborn" their general in the Sky Wars, thinking him to be a messiah. Rarend betrayed this trust and led the griffins on countless disastrous campaigns against the dragons, who were fighting the griffins. These campaigns saw the deaths of over one million griffins and dragons, but were carried out in such a way that the griffins thought Rarend was actually leading them to victory. The griffins blindly followed this messiah to their deaths.
A man named Erson discovered what Rarend was doing and persuaded him to see his mistakes and realize that he was serving the wants of his superiors in Demon Isle instead of himself. Rarend betrayed Demon Isle and stopped working for them, thus enough griffins survived the Sky Wars to establish the Higharc. A new king, Usor'an, was crowned and Rarend went into exile.
This story takes place 200 years before book 1 and forms the foundations of its plot.
As the story progresses, Rarend's role becomes more direct. We finally get to see him in book 3, where Anar fights him. He is a supporting character by book 4.

All about one of my characters: Jacob

Street smart and brave. Stout and informal. Lawful and strong. Jacob is one of the later-occuring characters within book 1, and throughout subsequent works he takes on a more profound role. He is a human in his late twenties or early thirties. Although it is not ever mentioned what his last name is, I have theorised that it is not important enough to mention and will therefore give him none.
What is Jacob's role in the story? He is met at the very end of book 1 and provides the characters an inside contact into the city they are trying to sneak their way into. He is the ringleader in a band of vigilantes that inhabit his home city and they are known as the Iron Hand. When something happens to the Iron Hand to stoke Jacob's anger, he sides with Anar and his troope. Jacob the vigilante doesn't play much of a plot related role in the story. Where other characters make deep decisions about the way things go, Jacob utilizes his intelligence to the aid of another. He helps Anar with his task in the city he lives in and he works to fight against the enemy with his street hardened skills.
Jacob has a backstory which goes above and beyond most other characters of his importance. Being a vigilante, as his backstory went, always meant he was defying the odds and working for the city, taking it easy in the local tavern when on his off time. During his early life around his late teenage years, Jacob took a wife and had two daughters. He could not devote enough time to them and his drinking (vigilante work in the city is hard) seperated him from her. In the end he was found passed out on a table, drunk as ever. Disgusted at her husbands show of foolishness and apparent inability to visit him, Jacob's wife left him forever. To make it worse Jacob has since found out that his wife informed their children of his fallacious passing. By book one he is a hard bitten brute with nothing to lose although his heart is still open to empathy.
Jacob fights with dual rapiers and wears a dark red hood (he stops wearing it forever by the end of book 1). His face is scarred and his hair is "the colour of dead grass". Though I do not mention it, his voice has a heavy Irish sounding accent to it. He is quite street smart and very skilled with his weapons.

All about one of my characters: Anarasorian (Evolution)

Anar has a short and simple name. I cannot remember how I came up with it and it means very little. Many of the characters in my writings are "recycled" from D&D games, other stories which I have scribled down and then lost over the years and other places. Anar is one such person.
Originally a boy of 16, I aged him up to 20 in order to make his heroism a bit more realistic since I did not want a godlike child soldiers beating up on the enemy as is all too common in works by such names as JK Rowling, Philip Pullman, C.S Lewis and Brian Jacques. Even 20 seemed a bit old for him and I cut it down to the bare minimum of 19. He was recycled from a pervious story of about 100 pages of handwriting which I haven't read. This little story, known as Halfscore, forged the foundations for what I am working on now. His original last name was Engeel which became the name of one of his brothers and Viex replaced it. He has no description in Halfscore and thus his current look did not evolve from anything the way Rook's did. The concept of the Anar character has come some ways.
He was intended to be some godlike individual, a concept discarded. The idea is that nothing he accomplishes is due to destiny or inheritance, he has to work to become a hero (inspirational message?)

All about one of my characters: Anarasorian (Appearance)

Young and promising. Eduacted and talented. Inquisitive and adventerous. Anarasorian, more commonly known as Anar, is the main character and all the stories are told from a 3rd person view of his perspective with occasional sidetracks to other scenes. When I describe a feeling someone is having, it is almost definitely Anar feeling it.
He has black hair, usually worn to the right side of his head. He is fit, being a farmhand, and educated in warfare. Many authors base their characters on themselves in part and Anar is based slightly on my own appearance, mostly with the hair though his skintone is more European than mine. His appearance is nothing special so the reader could make him into whatever they want and it wouldn't change the story.
When the story starts, he is a typical farmer though he gets a Higharc uniform by the time he's in the army. Later he acquires a full suit of platemail which he wears, though rarely does he wear his helmet which he finds uncomfortable. His change of clothing is supposed to show his progression from a farmer into a soldier and later, in books 2 and 3, into a Jindarian commander and a hero.
With his strong build, intelligence and adventerous ways one might ask if he is perfect, if he is a "Gary Stu". He could be seen as an impossibly perfect individual though he does have a few weak points. For one, he hates his father though it plays a small role in the story it still shows through. Anar cannot describe his parent without noting his anger when things are not going his way and cares very little for his feelings. He has a terrible fear of the dark which comes up here and there. Finally, he has little experience in the outside world and there are times when he opens his mouth when he should best be quiet. These are some rather minor points in comparison to his strengths and in the end, does come off as a strangely perfect person. Hey, he's got the whole wrath of the Demonic Empire staring him in the face, he'd better be something special or the story wouldn't be very long.

All about one of my characters: Anarasorian (Summation)

Anarasorian Viex (or Anar) is the main character in my books. When the stories start he is nineteen years old. His birthday is December the 5th. He has the adventerous personality that any hero of his genre cannot do without as well as an extensive knowledge of military history which is the result of having a childhood friend who taught him all he needed to know about life in the army and the army itself. Needless to say, this knowledge serves him well in his travels and in his military career as a Higharc militiaman.
He grew up on his farmstead on Eray with his three brothers and parents. He has had a life which is more comfortable than the lives of most Erayic commoners. His family is richer than most others, have better living conditions, and most importantly: better food. Though this plays little active role in the stories, it does account for Anar's lack of disease and outstanding health which keeps him going through his journey.
While the role of "young hero" may be a cliche, it is an unavoidable one. A story about a middle aged hero may be difficult to appeal to the young readers. Anar is a lot like the typical hero. He is exceptional, wants to do his part, and brave (somewhat). Unlike many heroes of his type, there is no question about his parentage. There is also no question that he is a regular guy with no prophecy telling of his ascenion or destruction of evil and no secret inheritance lurking in the background just waiting to slap divine power in his lap. He is like any other farmhand: a normal human being.
He becomes a soldier and later gains some authority and acquires the power to direct his own actions in the army. By the end of book 1, he is a very different person.

All about one of my characters: Usor'An (Appearance)

Charistmatic and strict. Terrible and mighty. Clever and honorable. Brutal and powerful. Usor'An is the current king of the demons and rules the demonic nation which is on Jindaria. The demonic nation is the main source of the problems in the series and are the main antagonists (there are others, but the demons are the worst). Usor'An fills the role of monarch and military commander as did many real world leaders.
He has a very militant personality as do many villains. He is a very intelligent man who takes a good long look at something before acting. His charistmatic personality is one of his greatest strengths and weaknesses. He is an excellent leader of his people, but he is also very concerned about his impression on others. He worries about "losing his honor" and can sometimes be driven into spasms of rage if things aren't going the way he wants them to. In other words, his massive ego can slow him down, and it does throughout book 2. Usor'An isn't crazy, he is just too concerned about how he appears. He's more than willing to delay an important attack just so he can arrange to lead the army personally (as he does in book 3).
Usor'An is very clever and can arrange elaborate plots to defeat his enemies from behind the scenes (as he does in book 1). He rigidly adheres to law because he would look poor in the eyes of others if he didn't. He is somewhat chivalrous in his upholding of the laws and wouldn't break a promise even if it compromised one of his plans.
While he may be a minor character in book 1, he is the main villain in the other two books. He fights with a huge war hammer and a small sword.

All about one of my characters: Usor'An (Summation)

Destroyers are a type of demon. They live to be centuries old, age slowly (a 300 year old destroyer man looks like a 60 year old man) and look very humanlike. The only difference is that they have cloven hoofs for feet and sport a pair of horns. Some but not all have batlike wings. They are organised into various households which are like family clans but far bigger and with more influence on politics. Below are some symbols for five of the thirteen destroyer households. (left to right: Usor, Skeert, Cro, Wisha, Killia)

A destroyer has two name which form their name. The first is their house's name and the second is their personal name. A girl could be named Sue, but if she was in the Cro household she would be named Cro'Sue. Usor'An's personal name is "An", but since he is of the Usor household the name he goes by is "Usor'An".

Usor'An looks like a well built man of about fourty (he is 200 years old). He doesn't have wings and keeps his white hair long. Being a demon he is spiteful and wicked. He is not the insane madman that some villains are, but rather the witty and clever villain who is always one step ahead of the hero and is an expert at talking down to people. He's a warrior who fights with a huge war hammer and a small sword which is stored withing the hammer's hollow shaft. His black armor is decorated with a short cape of dark blue (to reflect the Usor symbol) and to show his status. He is almost completely fearless and the only person who can frighten him is Rook.

Usor'An is a typical villain in that he has a straightforward goal and that he is an object of fear to his enemies and friends alike. He is completely ruthless as villains should be and all-round evil. He plays a minor role in book 1, but when book 2 begins, he is thust into the spotlight as the arch enemy of Anar.

Thus far, my favourite thing he has said is "know that there are things, things such as you, that do not win the right to exist"

All about one of my characters: Rook (Evolution)

He wears a cloak of dark brown that never seems to get dirty. Upon his back is emblazoned an outline of a bird that he claims to be a rook. The black metal mask he wears moves as though it were his face and it wraps around his head like the mask of Loki from the film "The Mask" starring Jim Carrey. He wears a hood and keeps a sword sheathed at his waist.
As I have already said, Rook was originally a Dungeons and Dragons NPC. He underwent some extensive changes from his days as a D&D character to the Rook of book 1. Originally he had a cloth mask which I liked because it reminded me of Leatherface. But a problem arose when I was writing book 1. I wanted it to be impossible for him to remove his mask until he learned all that there was to learn about his forgotten past and a cloth mask could be cut off with ease. The mask became metal. His personality also went through some changes. Originally he was a leader of an orginisation of an adventuring army and although it suited him for D&D I wanted an anti-hero. I made him ammoral to give him the frightening aspect of unpredictability and cruelty. Though he got no other cosmetic changes, I do think he has changed a lot since original conception, mostly in his goals and moral values.
He was also killed at the end of the quest he was in for D&D. This obviously would not happen in the end of book 1 yet I knew he might have to pay for his sins one day. I don't know if I'm going to kill him but he will pay one day. Will he inherit the death of his previous incarnation? Maybe... But if he dies, he won't die like V did.
It's odd, but I never read "V for Vendetta" or saw the film until long after book 1 was finished. When I saw the film, I saw Rook in almost every single aspect of V and now feel compelled to state that all similarities between V and Rook are coincidence. I want to be original, and though the idea of a masked anti-hero may not be original I would not model a character after another person's work so deliberately.

All about one of my characters: Rook (Appearance)

Dark and brooding. Mysterious and wise. Shy around strangers and bold around enemies. Faceless, amoral, devoted and cruel. Rook the Cloaked.
According to wikipedia, an anti-hero is a protagonist "who is lacking the traditional heroic attributes and qualities, and instead possesses character traits that are antithetical to heroism." Rook once smiled as he thought about breaking someone's neck, pinned a man against a wall and threatened to kill him if he didn't act more maturely, beat up an innocent man because he didn't like what he was saying, and killed his best friend to save himself. Yet he is a good guy who seeks the destruction of the antagonists and the safety of the innocent.
In the story, Rook needs the most forgiveness and is the one who seeks it the most through the destruction of evil. It is possible that he cannot help but be sinister and cruel to some even when he is trying to help others. One possibility is that he only fights for good to further his own agenda. Very little information is given on his motivations in Book 1 other than the fact that he strongly dislikes demons.
There is a lot of mystery surrounding him and his past. In the beginning, when he has no menory of who he really is, he and Anar are journeying around the country and Rook is slowly realling bits and pieces of his life. It is not known how he lost his memory although he can regain it by looking at things or visiting places that have something to do with his past. For example, if he had a favorite toy when he was a boy he could recall things he had done with the toy if he ever saw it again. I wanted the reader to want to know more about this man and what lurks behind his moving mask. His backstory is slowly revealed over the course of the series and it is the desire to know more about Rook that I hope will keep the reader reading. Although the full details about his past are still unknown by the end of book 1, we can trust him a bit more by then.

All about one of my characters: Rook (Summation)

Chapter one is called "Rook" and there is a good reason for that. It is the chapter where we get to meet one of the most impotant characters in the series. He is also my personal favourite. Why?
He was originally created to be a Dungeons and Dragons NPC and when I first described him I saw one of the players look a little creeped out and asked him what he was.
Rook looks like a masked man who wears a dark brown robe. his feet are armored and it is impossible to see anything but shadow beneath the eyeholes of the black metal mask that covers his face. When he speaks, the mask moves and flexes with his face to give the impression that the mask IS his face.
I conceived him because I wanted to make the scariest most sinister "good guy" possible. I drew some inspiration from No-Face from "Spirited Away" though I was mostly motivated by the iconic image of the cloaked-stranger. I wanted to name him after a black bird but all the good names were taken. I wanted to be original, so Raven was out. Honestly, Raven has been done so many times in so many things. I could get away with naming him Crow, but it was out because of Crow T Robot from MST3K. I wouldn't be able to think of my character without thinking of Crow! Ah!!! The only other birds that suited the role were sparrows (Johnny Depp) magpies (not scary) and Rooks. By process of elimination, Rook won. In the end I like the name Rook more than Crow or Raven.
But who is he?
Rook is a tragic anti-hero who cannot escape his dark past and now must redeem himself. He never takes off his mask around others (indeed, in the beginning of book one it was impossible for him to do so). He was involved in some very bad things in the past (what he was involved in, I shall withhold). He tries his best to be good and needs help doing so. He sounds likeable, right?
He is also completely ammoral. He sees nothing wrong with dealing out death to those who he thinks "deserve" it and is unflattering and doesn't get along with those he finds in the least bit detestable. He has no respect for tradition and hates with a villainous fury. If he wants to get the job done, he does it without obeying the laws. He's a bad cop, a vigilante, a hero who does things his way, a Robin Hood.
His greatest weakness is the constant fear he has of someone finding out about all the bad things he did before he began to wear his mask. Because of this, he stays away from most people and sulks in background, doing what he can to escape notice. He wants to be good, but if anyone finds out about his past crimes then he will be forever pursued by the very law that he wants to fight for. He may be a death-dealing vigilante but he doesn't want people to hate him.
Throughout books one and two, he sticks by the main character and acts as his second hand man, providing the muscle needed to get through a situation.