K is for Killing a Character

In fiction, especially in the fantasy genre, characters can be ill-treated. There are dungeons and battles. I admit to imprisioning characters. Epic battles between the two mortal enemies often end with the death of one or the other. And, I tend to pen tales where the bad guy gets his comeuppance in the end.

But there are more characters than just the main couple and the forces they oppose. There can be parents and friends, sword carriers and those recorded in the annals of history.

When I started writing, there were a few inviolate rules. Main characters don't get killed, they live to fight another day. You don't kick the dog or beat the child. Now have I ended character stories? Yes. The love story between Lasair and Cailin, whose legend is recounted in the novella, FOREVER BOUND, one of the tales in First Change: Legends From the Eyrie is one such event. The dragshi are more than just a man or woman. Each are two beings–one a dragon, the other a human–sharing one body in space in time and able to change forms with the other at will. One additional fact? Like the true dragons, the dragshi mate for life and cannot live without each other.

Some characters, like Turnaimh and Gremeille in Hatchling's Mate, die off-screen to show its impact through more of the characters. Others are more immediate.

From Windmaster Legacy, an excerpt of the murder of the golden mare, Zethar.

Her head bowed, Ellspeth allowed the tears to run freely down her face. Their salt burned where Third’s blows had cut her skin. “Water gods, give Zethar a smooth sail to the other world,” she whispered. “Let her and the foal graze amongst tall grass.”

Ellspeth remained frozen in place as heartbeat after heartbeat, the mare’s life-force fled. Finally, an empty blackness filled what had once been eyes full of life. Although she had never experienced it, she recognized the signs of berserker rage growing within her.

“Your lives are forfeit!” Ellspeth screamed at those around her. “Zethar wasn’t a horse you could dispose of at will. She was a fàlaire, a magical creature. And she was with foal. You ended two lives.”

Instead of fighting the insane anger, Ellspeth gave in to it and used it to enlarge her powers. All threat to her own child submerged beneath her fury over the loss of Zethar’s foal. In Ellspeth’s mind, her fingers grasped a flaming sword. The tip of the weapon caught the dissipating life-force of the fàlaire. Flicks of the blade twirled the energy together into a swirling column of bright red. Now bound into a solid mass, the flare roared skyward.

Even though Ellspeth recognized the figure who strode through the stunned men, she made no move to evade Bashim. Only when he kicked her away from Zethar did the battle madness lessen.

Killing a character can be done. However, regardless of whether it elicits a, "He deserved it" or a tear, the author takes a chance. More info on the topic can be found at How and When to Kill A Character.


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~till next time, Helen