Chapter nine: Reunion

[baeraad]

Halfway there! To celebrate, I typed up Aseena's stats, according to my latest idea for how a Demesneverse RPG character sheet would look.

...

... what? I like stats. I find them soothing.

Name: Aseena
Home: Tenchurch Abbey
Caste: Servant
Lifestyle: Sophist
Character: Inquisitive
Tragic Flaw: Scatter-Brained
Talents: Basic Athletics, Basic Charm

Comments

[yahalomay]

Is it wrong that I feel a strong sense of accomplishment for having created a villain that you hate that much? :D

XD I know that I come across as very forgiving of people/"villains" in real life, but in novels and fiction, it's like I have a switch that I can flick and my hatred flows like wine at a tavern. Sometimes in action movies, like Die Hard or Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, I can sit down in the middle, ask whoever it watching "Who is the bad guy?" and thoroughly enjoy myself watching him lose.

I do still enjoy it when authors attempt to pull the rug out from under me and it turns out suchandsuch is SURPRISE EVIL, or when the main character doesn't realise the villain is evil/doesn't realise quite the extend of their villainy, though. Like, in Merlin, when I was still watching, one of my favourite parts of predicting when Morgana would go over the Dark Side. Or, you know, in Mortal Engines, how Valentine is evil, but the main kid doesn't realise it until later on? Or how Mr. Motley from Perdido St Station is obviously a villian? Or Niska in Firefly. I enjoy yelling with glee "No! No! Run away! Obviously so evil!"

I haven't yet been completely shocked/unwitting of SURPRISE EVIL before, so I don't know how I'd react if an author ever complete pulled one over on me.

The villain has to be pretty irredeemable though. It was hard in FomF (... hehe, FOMF! Like flask of chemicals puffing up smoke or a dragon puffing smoke out of its nostrils), because I knew Rina was like that because she'd had a sad, hopeless life - but in this, I can gleefully and completely hate Mansuur.

[baeraad]

but in this, I can gleefully and completely hate Mansuur.

Mansuur really has no particular redeeming features, no. Growing up, he was told that he had a destiny to help bring about the end of the Demesne, and he had the choice to embrace that destiny and be a pivotal figure in an epic disaster, or renounce it and be a regular person. He chose the option that made him the most important and special. That tells you pretty much all you need to know about Mansuur. :P

And just to make the difference between him and his FomF counterpart more pronounced, let's remember that Rina was possessed by a demon, and thereby physically incapable of moving past the moment of perfect despair she was trapped in. Mansuur could, theoretically, get over himself at any moment and seek redemption - he just sees no reason to do so.