Pirates in the past

Koen is continuing to move along nicely. As of last night, I am at 85,878 words, and I’ve reached a crucial moment in my story. Koen the Gray, the story’s protagonist, is about to meet a young Wendell the One Eye (though, at this point, he still has both his eyes). Those who have read my Absolution of the Morning Star series will know that Wendell plays a vital role in Erikson Gray’s story. He is also probably my favorite character. I’ve been looking forward to coming back to him again, but also reluctant. I’ll explain why in a moment.

Wendell first steps from the shadows in Dawn of the Ligthbearer, book one of the Absolution of the Morning Star series and continues to play a substantial role in The Mourning Son (book 2) as an antagonist to my main character, Erikson Gray. He plays a slightly subdued role in Noonday in the North (book 3), but he will make a grand reappearance in the next installment of the Absolution of the Morning Star series, Destiny of the Daystar. I have big plans for Wendell, but we won’t go into that here.

I don’t know where Wendell came from, exactly. He began as a brief mention, and when it came time for Erikson Gray to meet this character in the sewers of Grafton Notch, his personality was already formed. As a pirate, he draws much from Robert Newton’s Long John Silver in the 1950 version of Treasure Island. It is hard to write a pirate without using that mold. There are some differences, though. First, he is thin and angular, with a broad, big tooth smile- think Willem Defoe and Ron Moody’s Fagan. Second, Wendell is a master of rebirth, having several lives and careers by the time he meets Erik. And third, although greed drives Wendell, something else moves him. If you want to know what, you’ll need to read my books 😉

Wendell has been a joy to write. He’s flawed, complex, and very human. Sometimes, the reader can sympathize with his struggle; at others, you wish him dead. At various times in my story, Wendell is referred to as a trafferthwr (troublemaker) and a cythraul (demon) in forest speak. These words have a specific connotation in Lucardia as a creature who has avoided a destined death and is therefore unhinged from fate. They run amok, ruining the destinies of others with their mischief. In The Mourning Son, we discover that Wendell is more complex than he initially appears and has a fascinating past that will interact with Erikson Gray in exciting ways, which brings me back to Koen.

Wendell is 56 in the Absolution of the Morning Star series, making him an old pirate. He’s had various ups and downs, and by the end of The Mourning Son, he is at about the lowest point in his life. Injured and now in the service of another, he has a long way to crawl, though, by the end of Noonday in the North, we catch a glimpse of a potential rise, and that is why he will play a more prominent role in Destiny of the Daystar.

Koen takes place nineteen years before Dawn of the Lightbearer. Wendell is thirty-six and in his prime, making a name for himself as captain of the Lion. But here lies my apprehension. Continuing a character’s story is one thing, but writing a character in the past when we already know his future is something else entirely. I can’t just set out and see where the story takes me. I have to be methodical and create a man before the world has chewed him up and spit him out. What kind of man was Wendell when he was in his thirties? Indeed, it has to be a man who gets himself into trouble because Wendell has caused a lot of trouble in Lucardia’s history. It has to be a man who lives up to the monikers of trafferthwr and cythraul, but at the same time, I need to be careful with his interactions with Koen as there is a deeper story here in how their tales interact with Erikson’s.

*Sigh* This will be tough, but if I pull it off, I just might create the epic tale I want to make. Oh, the struggles of an author. Wish me luck!

Cheers!