HS3 - Characters

This is a spoiler-light overview of the characters in Heretic Spellblade 3. If you’ve read the first 5 or so chapters on Patreon, you’re fine to read this. I’ll just be talking briefly about a bunch of things relating to each character and interesting things in this book and past books.

Let me know if this sort of thing interests you, for reference in future months. I'll be posting the Sen story within a few days as well.

Before I jump into it, I’ll mention that HS3 and HS4 tell a combined plot. HS3 is the build-up over a decent length of time, with the last act of the story being an eruption of sorts that leads into HS4. HS4 will be a much faster paced book, because I’ve done a lot of the planting and worldbuilding in HS3.

Nathan

The competent, knowledgeable, and stoic protagonist who is plagued by worries and concerns about his past and mistakes. This book finally forces him to confront a lot of what he’s been hiding and some of the worst parts of his old world.

One of the more difficult parts of this book has been maintaining Nathan’s agency in a book that is literally about him preparing for everything to go spiraling out of control. You can see this in some of the recent HS3 chapters, where I have him make the deal with the mages and talk with Ciana, right before everybody else talks politics (which he stays out of).

Fei

Somebody called her the mascot of the series, and I think that fits. She’s been given a few other names, some less appropriate than others. Lots of fun to write, although she’s definitely very tropey.

As the cover spoils, she gets a second sapphire in this book. Despite that, she plays a support role in this book and will be hanging around with Ciana a lot. Her and Sen are the energetic cast members, so I try to ensure at least one of them is around at all times to liven things up.

Sen

Literally an anime character. That was my thought when I heard Steph voice her in the audiobook, which is great, by the way. I don’t know how much people like Sen, but she’s definitely a character I ended up liking way more than I expected. Curiously, people seem to understate how much screentime she got in HS2 – possibly because it was shared?

Sen remains a support character here, training and improving. The fact she’s a combination of new and old Sen still bothers Nathan (Sunstorm is different, but we’ll get to her). Also, she’s lewd and very enthusiastic about it. Like Fei, she’s energetic and livens up the scenes she’s in.

Sunstorm

The descended secondary character. Sunstorm overlapped with Seraph in many ways, which is why she got flanderized into a head-collecting killer. I know this disappointed some people. One of the arguments in haremlit is about harem size. I’m a big harem guy, as you can probably tell from my books, although I try to give as many of them proper character arcs. Sunstorm, sadly, won’t get a proper character arc other than her general growth as a person.

As a sidenote, Sunstorm is intended to be Korean, but she grew up in the Federation so it doesn’t really show. Describing Asian appearances from the perspective of a fantasy-dude who can’t just say “Korean” is something I need to learn to do without being creepy/weird. One of the reasons almost every other harem author just writes isekai.

Seraph

One of the slow burn harem members. Seraph’s interest is fairly clear, but she’s toying with Nathan and he has eyes for his old Champions. It’s intended to be a fairly obvious flaw of his, given how hard Anna had to jump him at the end of HS2 for him to finally notice her.

She’s Chinese. Same problem as Sunstorm, although I think people got this one given she wears a cheongsam and uses tonfas. Also, if you listen to the audiobook, it’s super obvious.

Trope-wise, Seraph is Nathan’s dragon and values that position. She and Narime fight over this, as there’s now competition over Nathan’s advisor slot. Narime’s currently winning, by virtue of fluffy tails and sharing his bed.

Narime

Fluffy tails. I, uh, have a thing for them. Let’s leave it at that. Obviously Japanese. To Nathan, she’s one of the most important people he ever met, as she taught him tons. This causes occasional problems in the current world, as can be seen in some of the recent chapters. Narime’s relationship with Nathan can’t be the same as the old one – before, he was a young Bastion she helped raise and doted on; now, he’s an experienced Bastion who reeled her in.

Ciana

She’s back after an absence. I rather like her character arc in this book, and it continues into HS4. She’s rather transparently modelled off Nearl from Arknights. Her youth and growth is the main focus (also, she is a beastkin…). Nathan also has some hang-ups over her, given she was the one Champion he actually saw dead in his world, and she died protecting him.

I’ve mentioned before, but Ciana got cut from Book 2 due to unfortunate circumstances. It might be a while before I ever go into the full details. But the short version is that the first act of HS2 needed reworking – it was originally a Diet arc in Aleich, which Anna summed up at the start of the book. Ciana, Tharban, and a bunch of characters now appearing in HS3 for the first time were all cut completely, and Nurevia had her arc cut short (she originally joined Nathan in the book). That was the editing hell of HS2, and why it took so damn long. I also forgot to even mention her after the editing, which was a mistake.

This means I’ve had to retroactively justify what happened. It also makes her decision to join Nathan less impactful, but I think her character arc post-decision still works. She’s still the best horsegirl in the story.

Vera

The most polarizing character in the series (imo). She got the cover art for the first book for reasons (she was the heroine of the original version that I scrapped in early 2020). Like Seraph, she’s a slow burn harem member. Unlike Seraph, her interest in Nathan is much more selfish and she’s more independent.

She’s being trained up to become a Bastion by Nathan, but she wants the power and status without the responsibility. Her arc will carry over into HS4, but the seeds are planted here.

Anna

The noble girl with something to prove due to family issues. She avoids quite a few tropes (she’s not that sheltered, and she’s fairly blunt). Also, she should have shown the most character growth, but I kind of botched her arc during Book 2.

What was supposed to happen in HS2 was that it become apparent that she was playing along with Nathan’s scheme, but stepped back when Alice came into the equation and was somewhat jealous. Feedback suggests that the jealousy didn’t come through much, and neither did her interest in Nathan. Interestingly, you can hear her increasing confidence in the audiobooks (or, you will, once HS2 is out in audio), which is a testament to how good Steph is.

Anna was also the target of a soft retcon that I’m still smoothing out. At the end of HS2, Nathan confronts her about if she’s sure about stepping back from power. This is how Anna joins the harem, and it ended up overshadowing the part about Anna’s power. Oops. So I ended up retconning the countess/duchess thing, because I failed to properly establish it in HS2.

Alice

An Imperial Princess whose position is just complicated enough that I’m not sure many people understand it. Her mother is the Emperor’s daughter, and married Archduke Hans von Milgar’s son, making Alice the granddaughter of both Emperor Gorthal and Archduke von Milgar. But because the archdukes are obscenely powerful, they can’t be elected emperor, so Alice can’t be elected empress.

If you’ve followed my very subtle hints, the Emperor doesn’t think very much of that rule, given Alice’s current position.

Anyway, Alice’s little arc in HS2 was that she adjusted her approach to both men and politics, due to Nathan’s influence. Hence the Emperor’s comment in HS3 about how much better it is that she’s wearing dresses all the time now. It’s also a reverse of the Charlotte/Nathan situation, where Nathan became incredibly attached to Charlotte (to the extent it reshaped his life), Alice is feeling the same about Nathan. Fairly simple character arc theming, even if the execution isn’t always there.

Finally, Alice, Anna, and Charlotte form a noble triangle in Nathan’s life. Charlotte is the past princess, and is in his past homeland. Anna represents his present, and the one he supports and relies on for everything now. Alice is his future, and is Charlotte’s mirror in the Empire. Again, simple theming, although I don’t use this one very heavily.

Kadria

Another polarizing character, but for different reasons. I’m not getting into it, but if you know the genre, you know why some people dislike her and Vera.

Despite that, Kadria is easily one of my favorite characters in the series. She doesn’t get a cover for the sole fact that her body type is not Amazon-friendly for lots of reasons. The mixture of teasing, supportive, and insulting she has is something I like, although she’s deviated a lot from her original concept (which is good, because her concept was a completely different character who is way too lewd for my books).

She is the prime driver of the entire series. Something that is easy to forget at times, as she only shows up occasionally, and Nathan has a habit of cutting her out. The Messengers we’ve seen so far are people from Earth who have been isekai’d. That was something I decided at the start, before I came up with the Lovecraftian monsters behind everything, that Messengers are the actual isekai’d characters. It’s a fun little twist. Anyway, she’s up to something in HS3. There are hints as to what, but it won’t be revealed until HS4.

The Twins, Laura and Maura

Big busty succubi who are a little stupid. They’re a lot of fun to write. I can’t say much about their role in HS3 other than they have one. They’re basically screwing around, instead of actually invading, which is why the first scene with them involves them grilling burgers.

Fyre

The ascended extra. I didn’t even give her a name in HS2, because her entire role was just to show the state of the beastkin in the Federation and establish Nathan’s rep.

I made a post about series length earlier this year. Since then, I’ve committed to making HS a six book series. That meant I reworked the plot to fit into the last four books more neatly, as I had more time. Fyre got promoted as part of this, rather than creating a whole new character. She’s a reminder that I should always create extra characters in earlier books, just in case I need them later. Her behavior appears natural, given it started in the previous book, whereas a new character might raise eyebrows if they acted that way.

Also, she’s amusingly similar to Ciana, a fellow horsegirl. That’s a coincidence, but I do intend to milk it. There will be at a threesome. Fyre’s actually booked out with group scenes in later books. We’ll see if I get to them all, given I don’t usually have massive amounts of sex scenes in my books.

Vala

Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film.

Nathan’s remaining trigem Champion from the opening. I think most people forgets she exists. The problem with introducing her, is that she’s young and inexperienced right now. Why would she be anywhere near the biggest, greatest schemes of the Empire? Anyway, she’ll show up eventually, and I need to keep reminding people that Nathan wants her bad.

Nurevia

A genuinely sadomasochistic dark elf. BDSM dark elves are very much a trope/meme, these days. They vary from Warhammer’s genuinely S&M dark elves, to the softer variety that probably does softer stuff than many couples do. Nurevia is closer to the former, in that she likes being hurt and hurting people, as well as being dominated. I’ll likely stick to the dominance angle with Nathan, as he’s not a monster, and because I don’t want to write actually violent sex scenes for lots of reasons.

Like with Ciana, Nurevia lost a lot of characterization from Book 2. Her arc is tied into Tharban, so cutting Tharban from Book 2 made it impossible to have her genuinely join Nathan. In HS3, I’m tying her arc into Astra as well.

On a sidenote, my dark elves are now Russian. I’m not kidding. In the audiobook for HS2, they all have Eastern European or Russian accents (I did mention that Nurevia should have an Eastern European accent). It is glorious. Definitely something I’m leaning into with HS3.

Astra

A complicated character. I have a funny story to tell about how Astra’s story in HS3 came to be, but it’s fairly spoilery. For now, know that she’s tied into Nathan’s character arc and is a fairly enjoyable character to write. A dominant fighter type that appreciates strength and competence above all else.

Tharban

Nathan’s father and an unapologetic brute and monster. I have mixed feelings about him, because it’s impossible to go into much detail about him. I don’t want to repeat the same arc that I did with Torneus. At the same time, part of what comes up in Heretic is that there is nuance in politics, even if Nathan ends up making decisions because he needs to stop demonic invasions.

But, uh, I don’t really want to get into the nuance of Tharban’s position or the Nationalists. The Nationalists were generally based more on a rebellion against a Holy Roman Emperor (Henry IV) and other historical revolts by nobles against ruler, but I’m well aware what people will see instead (especially with the beastkin). Anyway, the plot lets me avoid it, due to all the scheming I’m establishing. Sometimes, having an asshole villain is best.

Leopold, Emperor Gorthal, Archduke von Milgar, Kuda

The book has a bunch of supporting male characters. Leopold is probably the most important, as he’s shown up in a bunch of past books. The Emperor and Milgar have been presences in the past, which gives them narrative heft even if nobody really cares about them as characters. Kuda basically exists.

As the series grows more and more into epic fantasy, the roster of required characters grows. This is part of the reason why Demon’s Throne is structured the way it is. By keeping Rys tucked away, I can avoid dealing with less important characters. Think about how many random nobles exist in Game of Thrones?

Now remember how insanely long every book in that series is. I’d love to write books that long, but it wouldn’t pay the bills. This is also why a bunch of major nobles aren’t named and basically don’t exist.

Maylis

Not a planned harem member. Probably won’t even receive much attention, given how big the harem already is.

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Happy to answer any questions or comments, although I don't want to spoil the book. Hopefully this didn't go too far behind the looking glass for some people, or spoil things that I thought were already in the early chapters.

As mentioned earlier, not sure if this is something people are interested in. Maybe it had too little detail, or was too writer-focused. Or maybe I should do something like this after the book is out.

Finally, I'll mention that my favorite characters are Fei, Sen, and Kadria. I won't pick between them. You might think that's cheating, but both Fei and Sen grew on me a lot.