Category: Inspirations

In Defense of Lilith

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While she comes across as a one dimensional evil character in the book, I’d like to dedicate this week’s post to the redeeming qualities of the goddess Lilith. For starters, she truly would have called off Brudas’ assault on Shade and Nikki had they simply forsaken Hados and Korena as their friends and deities. Secondly, despite the previous fact and their current animosity, she still loves Hados and Korena; if not like a brother and sister than as her closest friends. She’s also quite devoted to Bolfodier, as she tells Shade and Nikki when they meet her, she is spending all her godly energies to keep Bolfodier in relative peace. But perhaps the most redeeming action Lilith has ever committed in her saving of Korena’s life on the night that Nina was murdered. She did this not only to give her daughter one last gift in saving the being that was both step-mother and daughter to Nina, but also for the love Lilith had for Hados (both platonic and romantic). Even in the modern setting of the story, Lilith still harbours feelings for Hados, but knows that he can never feel the same way about her. This is why every 100 years or so she searches out a man that reminds her of Hados in some way, shape or form and has a child with him.
Let me know if this helps redeem Lilith in your eyes, or if she even needed redeeming in the first place. I know that when I first envisioned her, she was meant to be the only god the world had while being a subtle jab at Catholicism with her appearance being that of the typical depiction of the Virgin Mary, but bearing the name of the mother of demons/one of the first demons (source depending). As I continued writing the other stories that would become the book, she eventually devolved into the seemingly antagonistic one sided character that she appears to be. And while I’m ok with that in terms of this story, I didn’t want you readers to feel that way about her; she’s like Iselda: the book only shows the Dark Union side to Lilith, not the queen of Braria that we see of Iselda throughout The Kanta Chronicles.

Batman Reference and Reverance

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Since today sees the release of the Lego Batman Movie (which I can’t wait to see btw), I thought that today I share my love of the Caped Crusader by revealing the connection it has to The Kanta Chronicles. As we all know the Dark Knight’s alter ego is Bruce Wayne; and it is in a combination of his two names that he appears in our story. I take great care when it comes to names, so it should be no surprise that when it came to naming Jazabel’s three bats, I gave the biggest one with black fur a name that draws immediate recognition and connotations. By calling the bat Bruce, I hoped to draw in the popularity of Batman into this pet, and by extension the character of Jazabel and story as a whole.
Batman has always been one of my favourite characters and his movies are among my favourites, with Burton’s 89 film being my all-time favourite movie. And short of writing Batman stories, this was the only way I could think of to pay homage to this pop culture and literary icon while still adding my patented blend of recognition and confusion (similar to my Lady Macbeth and Zelda references).
Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na BATMAN!

 (words to live by)

Pics That Helped Flesh Out Characters and Locations

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As I was writing the last and longest section of the book, I started looking online for pictures of fantasy backgrounds, characters etc. to help with my visual descriptions. Google images and Deviantart were a big help here. Here’s what I used to inspire the character of Jazabel Nyx, the setting of Victorinox and a picture that I feel would make a great side view of Sabrina.

The Origins of Nina

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I want to take this time to go into some of the inspirations behind the character of Nina. Seeing as most of you haven’t read the three stories on fictionpress that are the book, don’t worry this isn’t about to spoil anything major, it’s just a look into why I created this character and what inspired me to do so.
Nina’s story, if you think about it, serves as the backdrop for the second part of the book. And as a character that is never really seen and only talked about once or twice, is pretty impressive. When I wrote the initial story (part 1 of the book), Nina wasn’t in it as the Temple of the Goddess was meant to be a monument to Lilith and appear more like the Spirit Temple in Ocarina of Time. I only added in Nina a couple of years later when I decided to write the second and third parts and post them all online. I originally wrote her as a sort of Christ-like figure, she’s part divine and dies because of her love for humanity.
But also around this time was when my school put on a production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, which was a beautiful show that I saw like four or five times (and as someone who didn’t consider himself as a Chekhov fan, that’s saying something). And the character that stole the show for me was the character of Nina; her actress brought out both the physical and emotional beauty of the character, and the tragedy of her story was impossible not to have your heart moved. And it is this performance that I truly based Nina off of: her love of acting is so complete that she would rather destroy herself and continue acting than not act and try to live a happier life. Also (don’t yell at me if this is wrong, but feel free to point it out), I believe that the form of a female child in Spanish is Nina, and I thought that was a real appropriate and nice fit for the character.
Ok, that’s my blurb about about the goddess Nina. Let me know if this better informs your reading when the book is eventually published (hopefully by the start of summer), or if you go and read the early draft on fictionpress.

The Value of Gold

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Though I didn’t know the real reasons (though I knew there had to be real reasons) when I wrote the second and third parts of the book, the concept of why gold is our most precious substance greatly fascinated me. And it was for this reason that I added the detail of the golden dagger that brought out the hatred of the god and goddesses of Bolfodier. Seeing the power the precious metal had over Nina and other divine beings, man spread the word of the power of gold. And it’s for this reason that gold becomes the highest form of money in the world (though by the time of the story, nobody knows this).
Just another little nugget of information to help enrich the reading experience when it comes. Leave your thoughts and comments below!

Cadel Thymab’s Origins

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For the 2 people who have actually read the FictionPress versions of the stories, I’m sure you can remember the chapter in which Jazabel tells Nikki about the Ladies of the Night. But what you may have not been able to put your finger on was the familiarity of the story of Cadel Thymab. And that’s because I actually based the character and story on that of Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth. Cadel Thymab is actually an anagram of Lady Macbeth. Macbeth was one of my favourite Shakespeare plays growing up and I’ve always been fascinated by it’s seepage into pop culture. And the character and story of Cadel Thymab was me throwing my hat into the ring and seeing how the world would welcome this ‘what if’ scenario that I’ve concocted.
Now, with this new evidence in mind, I encourage you to go back and reread Ch. 13 of part 3 of the Kanta Chronicles and then let me know what you think about this bit of lore to the world of Bolfodier. Or if you had pieced this together already, let me know that too as well as if you think I did Lady M justice.

A Link To The Legend: Hyrule’s Influence on The Kanta Chronicles

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So, for those of you who don’t know me all that well, I’m a big Legend of Zelda fan; and as such, it has subtly and not so subtly woven itself into The Kanta Chronicles. From Zelda Kanvice to Lullaby Falls, there are many allusions to my favourite video game series. The Temple of the Goddess was originally meant to be the Spirit Temple from Ocarina of Time (as was the island of Vagala meant to mirror the Gerudo Desert). And Shade and Nikki’s final confrontation with the Beast meant to be a reflection of the first part of the final battle against Ganondorf in Twilight Princess where you battle Puppet Zelda. Even when I drew the map, I couldn’t help myself in inserting the Triforce (I’m leaving it up to those with eagle eyes to find it, a hint of which can be found in the chapter where Pan and Iselda travel to the aforementioned Lullaby Falls). But seeing as I haven’t released the chapter regarding Lullaby Falls, the attached pictures should help those of you willing to take the time to go looking for it (as an incentive, I’ll give the first person to find it a special prize).