Okay here comes the actual infodump XD
Let me count my villains… I’m skipping the regular antagonists who are just doing their job and get in the way XD (Also gonna leave out one or two minor villains because they’re major spoilers XD)
Okay, here’s the big three!
Aydin
Is he a villain? Is he a hero? Who knows, he sure doesn’t. Okay, he starts off as a villain, then gradually has a redemption arc that ends up with him as a full-fledged main character and POV character! He has the most beautiful redemption and it makes me so happy *proud crying*
I adore his character SO much, he’s incredibly complex and fun to write, especially from his own POV. I learned more about him from that one book where I was in his POV than in either of the first two.
You know that one character who always gets all the particularly angsty character development? That’s Aydin to me XD Poor boi has gone through so much, it’s incredible. I make frequent jokes that Aydin hits approximately twenty-two consecutively deeper rock bottoms in the space of three books XD It’s not altogether exaggerated XD
He’s just so interesting to write, both because of his redemption arc and the drastic yet gradual shift in his worldview, and because he has so many fun layers. He’s disabled (His right hand is paralyzed in book 2 because of an injury) and Autistic, which I didn’t figure out until I completely finished writing him, but now it’s extremely obvious XD
I just love him, which isn’t obvious by how I treat him, but true nevertheless.
Chantara
Well… she’s… complicated. I think she’s one of the most complex characters I’ve ever written. She’s… both a villain and a victim. She became an assassin without fully understanding and ended up trapped with no way of escaping. Instead of trying to, she not only resigned herself but completely threw herself into it, casting morals aside.
She half realizes that she’s destroying herself in the process, but on a different level, she’s reveling in the ruins. Writing her is strange because she’s a truly awful person but you can see so much potential for how she might have been different, and I really deeply feel sorry for her. She has so many opportunities for redemption, but she refuses all of them and keeps sinking deeper into darkness until it catches up to her.
She and Aydin also have a complex but dark relationship, but I won’t get into all that now XD
Hakan
The straight-up evil villain of the story. He sucks and I hate him, but I’m happy with how I wrote him! He starts off according to the typical ‘evil emperor’ trope, but through the story, you eventually discover more of his motives and how he thinks. He never stops being an awful person, but he gains complexity.
I think the creepy part about him is that he’s completely convinced his actions are not only justified but right and moral. He sees himself as both the hero of the story and the victim. It’s even worse because… he’s not completely wrong. His way of dealing with it is awful but it’s almost understandable. He did face a lot of injustice at the hands of the heroes.
Anyway, a brief summary of my main three! There are lots more minor ones, but these three are the most interesting and least spoilery out of context XD
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
