A hallmark of a strong team is a good secondary and tertiary set of players waiting for their chance to perform. Some fantasy writers are like the kind-hearted coach that insists everyone gets a chance to play. I think this is one of the reasons some books are huge. What would normally be third string relief are given point of view and granted extensive backstory. And as per the mouse-and-cookie adage, this leads to them rising to the forefront and becoming one more main character, which in-turn requires their own seconds, which then rise, and the cycle continues until a series has more principle characters than there is deer in a protected forest after an easy winter. The result can often be the same—open season.
In Riyria, I kept most of my seconds and thirds asseconds and thirds. A few managed to stand out. Of those rarely seen, but beloved third string players, two received lots of fan mail: Gwen and Hilfred.
If you’ve read the series, you know who I’m speaking of. If you haven’t you’re going to feel a bit left out for the rest of this article. Both filled the roles of motivation and backstory for primary characters, but very little of their stories were ever told. In creating the Riyria Chronicles I had the chance to reveal those histories, which until now, had only been notes for character motivation and description.
When I set out to write the prequel, The Crown Tower, I sought to create the origin tale of Royce and Hadrian, but much of that story was revealed at the end of Revelations. A lot was left out and I knew the story would be entertaining, but I wanted to provide the reader with something new, something unknown to deepen the reading experience. Many have asked to learn more about Gwen, and as it is my habit in Riyria novels to split stories into two separate tales that run concurrently and then slam into each other near the end, I followed the same pattern.
The result is that The Crown Tower also contains the origin story of Gwen DeLancy. Her role in the grand series was always kept to the past and background, but in this new book she takes center stage—she is Christine Daaé having her opera house moment in place of Carlotta. In some ways she steals the show as hers is the more perilous, more desperate tale. As a result, in this book, hers is the true hero’s quest. For the success and failure of all rests on her courage and determination. At long last, fans of Gwen will get to see what makes her who she is, and to see her in action. I was very pleased with how her story came out, for hers is much more the true hero’s tale of an unlikely champion leading a motley fellowship against incredible odds, and yet done in microcosm, as I tend to feel the best stories are.
In the second book of the Chronicles, The Rose and the Thorn, Royce and Hadrian are together, but not yet Riyria. This is where things coalesce. Readers of the series will see elements appear, and drift together developing a haze familiarity. Once again I wanted to add depth and dimension, and so added Hilfred as a point of view character. Like Gwen in Crown Tower, Hilfred’s life story brings a new and fresh element to a pair of tales that series-readers will find familiar. The whole story, that previously nothing more than hints and references in Revelations, is shown providing explanations for old, and foundations for first time readers.
With any story so much is left off the page, so it was wonderful to reveal more of what lay in my notebooks, more of how the elephant got his trunk, the camel got his hump, the leopard got his spots, and how a pair of thieves became Riyria.
