Creating the Twisted

Every epic fantasy novel needs epic villains. And a trifecta of opponents is such a classic trope. The real challenge of coming up with the Twisted, though, was that I came up with their names first. So I needed Powers that fit with the characters. The problem after that was that two of the Powers didn’t really seem that strong. Read on for how I came up with making them villains fit for an epic struggle.

Names

As you may have noticed in The Shadow Spinner, my background in anatomy (I’m a physical therapist) is featured several times. How Strength wielders need to reinforce the force meridian and the description of Healing probably makes my medical background more obvious. And so anatomy was in the back of my mind as I thought of other aspects of the book.

I kicked around ideas for the name of my primary villain. ‘Mal-‘ always comes to mind as an obvious prefix. And so Malleus popped into my head. The malleus is one of the small bones of the inner ear. Along with it are the stapes and the incus. It was such a perfect name that fit the theme of three that I immediately knew I had to go with it.

Malleus

All of the ear bones have a Latin name for what they (kinda) look like. Malleus is ‘the hammer’. This is such an epic name for a villain. If you’re familiar with the Powers in the book, it might seem like the most obvious choice for Malleus would be Forging. However, Incus translates to ‘the anvil’ so that’s actually a better fit.

And besides, I already had Malleus’ Power picked out. It had to be Fire. Every major fantasy villain has Fire because of the obvious destructive ramifications. So Malleus being ‘the hammer’ was more of a reference to the fact that he was the most aggressive of the Twisted. He led the charge in their quest to reach the Peaks.

On a side note, I wanted Fire to have more to it than just destruction. That’s why N’Halia’s adopted father, Kyros, is also a Fire wielder. He uses it exclusively to give Warmth to his guests.

Okay, enough warm fuzzy feelings, back to destruction. The other component of Malleus’ Power that I wrestled with was the Flow. The Flow is a major part of mastery, but the problem was, it seemed like he already had enough destructive power. I had to decide what would take it to the next level. I won’t reveal what it is, since that happens in the second book, but it’s pretty nasty. I will reveal an idea of what I decided not to do. Initially, I toyed with the idea of Fire wielders being able to Burn their own life force for a boost. It’s a cool idea, but just wasn’t cruel enough…

Incus

Incus is ‘the anvil’. As I mentioned, Forging was the obvious choice. I built the Church of Blood around this idea of Forging. I had a lot of fun enforcing limits on Forging, but honestly, it probably wasn’t necessary in hindsight. I think most people would have just accepted that they could imbue an item with someone else’s Power and been fine with that. If you’ve read The Shadow Spinner, then you know that I go into much more detail about the dictates of Forging itself.

So, instead, I’ll talk about Incus himself here. I had already decided his Power and his position as the head of the Church and nothing much changed as I wrote the first book. However, as I started the second book, I realized I needed to integrate his Power into fighting. I also needed to determine what would happen with the Flow. These two ended up being intertwined as the Flow pretty much always is used for combat by the characters.

I don’t consider this a spoiler, but rather an awesome teaser. High-level Forgers can make their own body as the imbued item. Really, that’s all you need to know. If you think about that, I’m sure you’ll realize the consequences of it…

Stapes

Stapes is ‘the stirrup’. Of all the bones, this one actually does look like what it’s named after. There are probably some Powers I could have come up with that kinda fit with the stirrup, but there was no need. I had already determined she would be a Light Weaver. This decision was actually quite straight forward. With Hermit as a Shadow Spinner, at least one of the Twisted had to be the opposite. Malleus and Incus were already spoken for so that just left Stapes.

Not much needs to be said on her Power since I’ve covered Light with Shoku’s post. And the interplay against Hermit’s Power is pretty self-explanatory. Instead, I’ll focus on her role. As ‘the stirrup’, she lifts the other two up. Using her Light to give her an unholy charisma, she was able to exert absurd amounts of Influence on the world. This always led to her gaining massive political influence and wealth which she used to bolster Malleus. It’s also why the Church of Blood is the dominant religion. Incus by himself could gather a cult, but it was Stapes who elevated it into its current status.

Next up

There’s always more to talk about with the characters, but that’s what I wanted to share as far as their names and some of how I came up with them and their Powers!

Next post will be talking about the motivation of the characters against the Twisted.