DT2 - Characters

This is a spoiler-light overview of the characters in Demon’s Throne 2. There shouldn’t be much here that’s a surprise if you’ve read the first few early chapters. I’ll just be talking briefly about a bunch of things relating to each character and interesting things in this book and past books.

Talarys

The morally bankrupt and corrupt MC. I think of Rys as a corrupting evil, rather than just being a monumental asshole or an outright monster. His behavior and reasoning is sympathetic and alluring, but the results are a loose and pragmatic dictatorship. He doesn’t really care what his subjects are doing, so long as they do what he wants when he needs them to do, and they don’t oppose him. All he cares about is power, and avoiding losing his power.

Or at least, that’s the appearance he wants to give. Rys is still human, and I round him out more here. He cares about his subordinates and loyalty; holds grudges; and is extremely arrogant and egotistical.

One of the difficulties of writing Rys is that a lot of readers self-insert. He’s a fuck-off powerful, ancient Adonis of a dude who knows basically everything and is scheming to take over the world. I get the fantasy – that’s why the book exists. The rough side is that Rys is evil, but I need to be careful how that shows.

Finally, he spends a lot of time in rooms talking to people. Demon’s Throne is intended as an actual empire builder, rather than an empire collector or a nitty-gritty town manager. I want scenes about army management, civil projects, dealing with rebellions etc. That means some “boring” cabinet scenes of decision-making and reports.

“Show don’t tell” is a funny rule here, as some people would prefer a short summary of a few paragraphs, but then there’s no interplay of the characters. If half the characters are administrators, a lot of their real interactions with Rys are going to be in these scenes (then again, if character development happens outside of a deep one-on-one conversation with the MC about the harem member’s problems, did character development really happen? Don’t answer that).

Vallis Tornnes

A dark horse harem member. In many respects. She appears to be surprisingly popular, which I attribute to the fact she has big tits, lots of humor, and good interplay with Fara.

In the original version, Vallis was Vallen, and was a guy. For a bunch of reasons, I made some very substantial edits to make her a real character (you can tell, because Vallis is in a sex scene, and makes a bunch of jokes that would never be made by a guy).

The trick to Vallis is building on her character arc. She’s defensive, hides behind humor (which apparently a few people didn’t realize, even though it’s openly called out in the first chapter of Demon’s Throne?), and has problems with how much success Rys has effectively lavished on her. I have some fun ideas of where to go with her, although some of the more interesting side-stories will go in her serial.

Fara

The fox who disliked Rys for about five chapters. Fara is already fairly far into her character arc, but it will continue to progress fairly rapidly as the fox alliance gets involved in this book. As expected, she’ll join the harem. Gotta touch that fluffy tail.

Fara, like her niece, has some massive character development over the course of the series. While some people are critical of how harem doesn’t have “the chase” of love interests, one of the best parts of it is that it allows for much more development post-relationship.

I do have to be very careful with plotting, however. Fara’s and Mina’s character arcs are ones that I really like. They have a lot of moving parts, and sometimes removing even a small piece can ruin the entire arc, as I’ve discovered when trying to simplify the plot.

Fara is one of three characters who will have a child during the series.

Grigor

An incredibly important character in the story, which is a dangerous decision in a harem book. I will admit that Grigor’s presence worried me, from a commercial perspective. Have you wondered why Rys sometimes reminds the reader that big, buff Grigor is his loyal subordinate? That’s why.

With that said, I love Grigor. He’s a huge ham and lots of fun to write. One of the themes of the demons is that, even though they are horrible monsters, they come across as loveable ruffians. Grigor rounds up the demons like they are rowdy schoolchildren, instead of the murderous, vicious monsters that they are.

His undying loyalty to Rys and deep friendship is also important on a deeper thematic level. If infernals lack souls and can only act on their personal instincts and desires, why is Grigor so personally driven by duty and loyalty?

You’ll see another side of that question toward the end of Act 1, when one of the most important infernals of the series makes an appearance.

Orthrus

The mystery benefactor that nobody trusts and that nobody can do anything about. He holds knowledge and power that Rys needs, but he has no power of his own and needs Rys for his own reasons.

The pair also have more in common than they care to admit. Both are deeply intellectual and curious about the world. They get along quite well, besides their frustrations about relying on each other and their mutual distrust.

The mystery of Orthrus can’t truly be resolved until the end, which might irritate some people. He will be constantly dangled in front of people, with little bits unveiled at a time, until the last book.

Maria Jarsil

Rys’s pet duchess. Her character arc is basically done at this point. She’ll hang around, help with administrative stuff, look sexy, and probably show up in the sex scenes of some other characters.

If Maria does have fans, I might continue to develop her, but her primary purpose was to fulfil the sex scene quota in the first book while I focused on a slower burn for the other characters. It’s difficult to know where to go with her, as her desires have largely been met, and she’s a very satisfied sub. I’d need to invent a new character arc for her.

Tyrisa

The arrogant flat-chested secretary who does all the paperwork and aspires to become a Darus Triplet.

Other than being cute and playing off Vallis, Tyrisa is someone to be raised and molded by Rys. I actually need to work out a proper character arc path for her, as while I know the destination, I don’t know the arc (you know, the most important part of a character arc).

Alsia

Originally the most popular harem member, she appears to have been overshadowed by my improved writing in the intervening years. Or maybe Amazon’s tastes are different to my old audience.

Alsia is cold and pragmatic, but much softer under the hood. She’s a type of kuudere (cooldere), and her type changes over the series. Initially, her “cool” side only breaks when confronted by lewdness. But like proper kuuderes, she’ll transition more to the dere side in general.

She’s actually on the front-cover of Book 1, but it doesn’t quite capture how I imagined she looks. It’s still a great cover, and the cover’s appearance trumps my internal image in the end. But Alsia dresses more conservatively, and I imagine her coat as something closer to Edward Elric’s red coat.

She’s the second harem member to have a child in the series.

Mina

The harem member that I will shove down your throats until you like her. No exceptions.

But seriously, I do like her. Which comes with a risk: because I am rewriting everything, I can actually give her too much time or overdevelop her and potentially ruin the things that made her great to begin with.

Mina dances around a number of tropes – she’s not quite a yandere, namely. Tropes aren’t bad, and I use a lot myself, but I prefer to avoid creating “trope grab-bag” characters. They’re pretty popular in the genre, because they’re easy for readers to latch onto and create a sense of recognition that many find comfortable. The downside is that the character arcs tend to suffer, assuming there even is a character arc.

Like just about every character, Mina’s long arc starts with how she gets tangled up in Rys. She’s an overachieving, extremely bright and capable fox, who has dedicated her entire life to training, and expected to fly up the ranks. Then she got shit on from a great height, through no fault of her own. It’s a very empathetic/sympathetic story to many people, I imagine.

The result is that she is desperate to prove herself. Unlike Vallis, who feels guilty because she feels that she is undeserving, Mina feels that she is getting something that she spent her entire life training for. Sure, maybe a little early, but she’s an arrogant little shit and that’s what makes her loveable, especially given how much she’s hiding behind her mask. She’s an easy target for corruption: she wants to impress Rys, and the more he responds to that desire, the more she becomes his tool and becomes molded to his desires.

Also, there is some delicious comeuppance to come later, as Mina grows in power and competence. Book 4 should be a fantastic book to write, when I finally get around to it.

She’s the third and final harem member to have a child.

Mave

A character that you’ve barely seen, but who will play some rule in this book.

Briefly, I will mention that I actually was on the fence about revealing her gender in the final chapter. I added that chapter in based on beta reader feedback. Initially, I planned to keep her gender secret, but decided that was silly (a lot of people would clue in, and those who didn’t would be less interested because “male PoV”).

I will say that I did consider ditching her entirely, given the amount of harem members in the series. The problem is that doing so would make the Malus League arc less interesting.

The Darus Twins

The only outright yanderes in my books, in my opinion. Sunstorm isn’t one, because she shows no violent tendencies toward Nathan. I discussed Mina above. Fyre flirts with the idea, but she keeps her jealousy under control.

But Darus? Oh no. These girls will resort to violence first, simply because they can.

In the original version, they didn’t make an actual physical appearance for ages. Instead, they were a hidden terror. A villain that struck at infernals connected to Rys in Hell, and sent him creepy messages through the knowledge Gift (which was text-only). I used them to bait and screw with readers, and it was fun.

However, I don’t think that would work in a normal novel. Readers forget names of major characters in these. I guarantee most people don’t even remember who the major powers of Hell are, because they don’t actually turn up. If I want Darus to be a villain waiting in the wings—a threat that slowly closes on Rys as he attracts attention, until she starts killing every infernal that she thinks he ever slept with and deploying all of her agents in Harrium—then I need her to make physical appearances from time to time.

She’s a ticking timebomb, even if she’s a huge trope.

Also, they’re based on Stheno and Euryale from FGO. I don’t need to commission art of Darus – reams of it already exists.

Maliah Jyarvic

The Big Bad of the Malus League. In another life, he could probably work with Rys to take over the world. Reality is cruel sometimes.

Lacrissa, the Succubus Queen

Rys’s tormentor, and a figure of extreme danger. Part of the theme of Lacrissa is that she never really appears. Rys’s relationship with her is extremely complicated – without her, he’d be long dead and utterly unimportant to the world, but she also tormented him and abused the shit out of him. Her views of him are never really shown properly, but she was definitely the jealous type. Rys leaving made her very pissy.

In the end, she will be constantly mentioned and brought up. But above every other powerful infernal, Rys will avoid her the longest.

Fat Fred

A joke character, who may not be a joke anymore. I never give away whether Fred is actually fat, or simply a massive demon prince that Rys bullies because he can. Rys, Fred, Grigor, and Asa go way back, and they are all old buddies from the Empire that worked for Rys. Fred is a fairly simple character, and works on juxtaposition: he’s a ham, acts pompously, lots of fat jokes are made about him, he’s extremely powerful and intimidating, he eats a lot, etc. But sometimes simple is best.

Asa

The succubus character. Oh boy, this can surely cause no problems. Nosirree.

Right, so, succubi create lots of drama in the genre. I steer clear of commenting on this stuff normally, as I do on everything community- and genre-wise, because I prefer to remain in my shell publicly (I'm a lurker by nature). In short, succubi have a knack for breaking certain norms of the genre and people get upset.

Asa isn't a harem member, and doesn't strictly break genre norms. But I've had one scare with HS2, under highly questionable circumstances. Making some very minor changes to her in order to confidently fit in is a simple enough thing to do.

Self-publishing is never a guaranteed thing. Sales can shift, and readers can hold grudges that can seriously affect success for smaller authors. You can't always prevent this, and there are things I won't change because I feel they'll fundamentally change the books. But flirting with genre norms is unwise, especially over a topic that already caused me very questionable trouble.

Anyway, that’s the thorny topic addressed. This is a topic I don’t like talking about. Talking about nakedly commercial stuff is difficult, and I considered just glossing over this entirely. At the same time, becoming more comfortable talking about certain topics is part of why I have a Patreon.

The Minor Infernals (Terry, Taras, Margrim, Mary)

I’m a huge fan of military fantasy and epic fantasy, and one of the hallmarks of these genres is that they includes lots of tertiary characters. A lot of LitRPGs do the same – I remember somebody complaining about how lots of long LitRPGs on RoyalRoad like to refer to characters from 100 chapters ago by name, with no introduction, as a bonus to readers with really good memories (or, really, those who reread the stories religiously).

Like everything, this approach has mixed reception. A lot of readers skim read, and extra characters bother them. Many people are just bad at names and remember characters. It’s another thing readers don’t remember, and can make it difficult to understand the book entirely by context. This is why I often include so much extra narration or thoughts. I have been repeatedly reminded that you can rarely repeat the same information enough times. Such is life.

What I like about tertiary characters is twofold: the first is that they can represent a body of characters or an organization. They anthropomorphize (no, not in the furry way) an entity, giving it emotions, thoughts, and goals, and make it a thing that the MC (and readers) might care about. This is the same reason why villain characters, rather than villain organizations, work better—and yes, I should use this lesson better at times, especially after HS3.

The second is that they can grow and produce little character arcs that observant readers can enjoy. Taras turned out to be a character that a lot of people enjoyed more than I expected, for example. Terry and Margrim can grow and become more powerful as Rys’s armies and power stretches across the archipelago. They become a visible extension of his growth, rather than just Grigor saying “we control the archipelago, General” and the map updating.

I don't expect to have too many of them, but the few I have are important, I feel.

The Imps

To end this on a lighter note, lets talk about the most important characters of all.

The imps are a lot of fun to write. Stupid but cunning. They mess with other characters, but never Rys, who has considerably influence over them. Lots of silly jokes, such as the imp union (which doesn’t exist, honest) and their teasing of Vallis.

In the end, a lot gets done due to the imps. One might have to wonder how their system of respect works, given they value Mina but not the administrators.

I don’t plan on them being a real plot point, for reference. They’re just for fun.

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Commentary: I had actually planned to talk about a specific character who I am almost certainly cutting, but there’s already a lot of thoughtful stuff in this post. Some of it is very forward looking, which makes sense given the timing of the story and its nature.

One of the things about Demon’s Throne is that I’m leaning on themes fairly heavily. It’s something that I quite like from a lot of Japanese and Chinese stories. Rather than just throwing a lot of crap together, they try to use themes to create a more interesting story. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all, or creates a very vapid story still, but it can often hit the mark better than nothing at all. The flipside is that a lot of people don’t notice themes, so why bother. Or a worse reaction.

In this case, I’m mostly working with the idea of corruption and “what is evil, anyway?” Although I hadn’t played it at the time of writing the original story, I am familiar with Tyranny now, and it’s a game that I really like (despite its flaws). The way that people get lured into doing questionable things is something I’ve personally questioned in my professional life (including now).

A common writing adage is “write what you know.” I’d argue that still applies in fantasy. Sure, I don’t have a harem of women, I don’t fight in a fantasy world, summon demons, or travel through dimensions, but there are more personal questions I can reflect on.

Heretic Spellblade represents the experience of questioning my decisions and regrets throughout my professional life. It’s presented in a far more interesting format (saving the goddamn world through dimensional travel with a superpowered harem), but the core concepts come from personal experiences that many people will have gone through. That's why it messes with the extremely common "redo history and be perfect" trope the way it does, instead of playing it dead straight like so many LitRPGs and light novels. Also, timey-wimey stuff is fun.

Demon’s Throne, by contrast, was originally written during a period of life where I questioned where I was professionally. I didn’t think about it much at the time, as it was written to be an escapist piece, but as I rewrite it with much clearer (and less bitter and angry) eyes, there are very clear and common threads that take me back to those days. I’m a much happier person as an author, and part of that is choosing what I do and don’t do while self-publishing, rather than being pressured by others.

Ironically, while writing a story about an evil overlord pressuring everybody else into getting his way. Funny that.

Thoughts and feedback are appreciated, or you can just take it in, I suppose. Sorry if this “Characters” post ended up being so much deeper and tangential than intended. I've been very thoughtful lately, and some of that leaked in here. This post ended up being delayed as I filtered out some stuff that I felt was inappropriate, too, but more made it in than probably should, arguably.