A Darker Hero: Trèleris Assarion Reborn

Some of the inspirations for Trel, including Aragorn, Rand al'Thor, and the Dark Souls protagonist, with the Erdtree in the background.

Going into what I hope will be the penultimate revisions of my novel, The Shattered Ring, one thing I intend to do is to create a new balance between Trèleris and Aranèle, two of the main protagonists. I've already begun the process with Ara, but Trel is by far the more important for one simple reason: it's his book.

The Shattered Ring is first and foremost a revenge story. Trel's kingdom was burned to the ground, and his family with it, by a mad demigod ten years ago. He's lived in exile ever since, planning to rise up, kill the demigod responsible, and deliver the remnants of his people.

A heroic fantasy (aka sword and sorcery) story like this one focuses strongly on one character, like Harry Potter in the eponymous book series. Trel's pursuit of revenge has to be the beating heart of this story, and to do that, I have to ask myself a very important question: What was Trel, and what must Trel become?

This is something I need to figure out, which probably means writing lots of thoughts, so I might as well make an essay out of it.

The Old Trel

Trel up to this point is, in retrospect, not nearly as strong of a character as I thought. The Trel I wrote is both deeply flawed and held back by his virtues: either can make for an interesting character, and perhaps even both together, but not in the way I wrote it.

Worse, even though he wants revenge so desperately, he hasn't done anything to get it. No matter how I explain it away, these are flaws in the character that need to be resolved, whether that means removing them or exploiting them.

• Trel hid when his kingdom was invaded, allowing the enemy to take his siblings in order to save himself. He regrets it, but he did it.

• Despite keeping his royal status a secret, Trel lived a relatively cushy life by orphan standards. Any instinct he got during his time in the wild and on the streets have atrophied.

• Trel owns a sword, but has never practiced with it. Yes... the guy who wants to kill the most powerful demigod alive has absolutely zero skill in swordplay.

• Trel has made no effort to rally allies to his cause. Instead, he hid his identity and opened an inn.

And these are just the ones that I can think of off of the top of my head and which aren't too spoilerific.

Many of these weaknesses not only hold him back, preventing him from plausibly reaching the conclusion I want for him, but they also force the story to sideline him. It takes approximately half of The Shattered Ring, as it is now written, before he becomes remotely self-sufficient because his companions are better fighters, more knowledgeable, and have powerful magic on their side. Until then, he feels like the D&D party’s fighter is hiding behind a rock and letting the casters handle everything.

We can forgive David Charleston in The Reckoners for planning to sneak into Steelheart's palace and shoot him, because he was, what, 10? Trel is 21 and should know better, and that's not what a revenge story needs in a protagonist.

The New Trel

A new world demands a new hero, and a dark world demands a savior who's not afraid to get his hands dirty.

I've been very open that my primary inspiration for The Shattered Ring is the video game Elden Ring. Trel, then, plays the role of the Tarnished, except he's got a grudge against Radahn - and I mean prime Radahn.

Trel needs a revision in three areas: plausibility, relatability, and identity.

For the first, he needs to be given power and drive. The new Trel can't be passive: twiddling his thumbs for ten years won't get him his revenge, and he knows it. Instead of an inn, what if he bought a suit of armor? Instead of being a nameless peasant, maybe he's a local folk hero. In a world much more monstrous than in the previous drafts, maybe he lines his pocket by hunting monsters. Maybe he has a magic sword, or has spent months trying to find one.

Here's the rub. The villain, Sanguine, knows that he's alive. If Trel draws too much attention to himself, Sanguine will find him. But, in a world where the right magical runes can be used to find anybody, that's a moot point anyway. Question is, does Trel know that?

Old Trel knows next to nothing about the arcane. Maybe, instead of some of the added muscle, Trel will gain some magical knowledge - maybe enough that he knows a bit of what he needs to do even before Aranèle comes along.

This Trel, above all, needs to be worth something. He needs to bring something to the table, and being a male who's well over six feet tall, physical strength feels like an obvious choice.

For the second, I need to handle that escape better. Old Trel barely mentions what his getaway cost because, after ten years, he's just learned to live with it.

All we have on that subject is his word. There are no flashbacks, and only the occasional bout of brooding/gloating (depending on which side we're talking). We never see Assaria fall, his parents die, his siblings taken away.

I tell you that there are ashes, but I never let you see the flame.

I honestly think that even the pragmatic choice to turn his back on his blood to save his own skin could be overlooked, or at least understood, if the reader truly understood the horrors that he experienced on that day. So how do I portray that?

Emotion. Rage, grief, guilt, fear. What if Trel now has pyrophobia? What if he can still hear the screams of the people he abandoned? What if he freezes when he catches a glimpse of a girl who looks like his sister?

This is a dark fantasy world, and I don't mean that Trel needs to be this perfect ray of sunshine. Neither do I think he needs to be morally grey, but honor looks different in a broken world.

For the third, it's a matter of philosophy. The world of The Shattered Ring is a thesis, and Trel is the answer.

The world is a dying husk, and it screams that there's no point in carrying on. Trel refuses to accept that.

If Trel lays down and dies, he'll never have his vengeance and his family died for nothing. His philosophy is what we'll call nemeseoism. Trel views himself as the inescapable agent of justice, and he's determined to ensure that Sanguine pays the due price for what he's done. To that end, Trel cannot allow himself to fail.

Is this sounding kind of like a god complex to you, too? I guess that's appropriate, seeing as there's only one way for Trel to defeat Sanguine: he's going to have to become a demigod himself.

Beyond his desire for revenge, it's very important to note that Trel is an heir in exile. In his mind, he doesn't just have the responsibility to avenge his kingdom, he's also the last of the royal bloodline, so it's his responsibility to retake the throne.

That's a really important word for Trel's identity: responsibility. Yes, he's driven by emotion and his own desires, but I think his core motivation is that he thinks he has to do this. That he also wants to is just an added bonus.

In summary, Trel is a broken man who thinks he needs to kill a god. This is an immense burden, and in order to carry it, he'll need incredible willpower; the kind of will that can break the world.

Trel is strong. He is powerful. But he's not enough. That's where Aranèle, Adria, and the others come in: Trel is going to need a Round Table of his own in order to succeed.

Now See?

He already feels better, and what have we really done? We've just added a couple of things to a flat character, and by doing so, we've rebuilt him into someone we can really root for.

Who's better? The innkeeper who lost everything and goes on living his life until allies find him? Or a knight errant who's actively searching for weapons and support? I know which one feels more compelling to me.

If you agree, then The Shattered Ring might just be for you.