Friday, October 28, 2011

And Now for Our Next Character...

Our introduction to the characters in "The Deilverers: Sharky and the Jewel" continues with the major female character. Her name is Kate Endria. She is the daughter of the Lord Mayor of Calendria, and she's obsessed with finding The Deliverers, the heroes of a legend that's been part of her village's folklore for over 300 years.

In the legend, the Deliverers--a mighty warrior and a talking eagle--appear to save the village of Calendria from the immortal pirate Sharky and his band of cutthroats. After having a dream about them, she spends all her time combing the jungle and the beaches around her village for some sign of them.

What she finds are a boy, Eric, and a talking owl, Stig--hardly heroes. Nevertheless, they've been sent to help deliver Calendria from Sharky, and save the entire world from a terrible danger.

Kate is one of my favorite characters, because she was so easy to write. Like Stig, she appeared almost fully formed when she came rushing out of the jungle when she first appears in the book. She is a spirited kid. Like Eric, she's lost a parent--her mother died when she was seven.

That hasn't stopped her, though. She has certain goals--finding the Deliverers, being accepted as her father's heir--that she's determined to fulfill. It doesn't matter that what she sets out to do seems impossible, or has never been done before, she is convinced that she will find a way to achieve it. She is also fanatically devoted to the memory of her ancestor, Calvin Endria, and is trying to answer the question of what happened to him after he mysteriously disappeared.

All these things that she's trying to do tie in to one overriding goal--delivering her village from the clutches of the immortal pirate captain Sharky and his crew. If not for her, Calenndria would never be free.

The Deliverers has a lot of great characters. That's one of its major strengths. Everyone will be able to relate to at least one of them. They each have some growing to do, and develop as the book goes along. It's strange, because it's  not something I set out to consciously do. All the characters and their stories just seemed to mesh naturally.

In our next character study, we'll get to know the shortest character--Hallo Tosis the dwarf.

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