Welcome to the third stop in the #exploreleira blog tour where we’re celebrating the (almost) one year book birthday for Songkeeper! It is the second book in the Songkeeper Chronicles, which tells the story of a girl who can hear the song that created the world.
If this is your first encounter with the blog tour, we are continuing a series of alphabet posts looking at the world and characters and magical creatures of the Songkeeper Chronicles.
Today, we’re looking at the letter C for … Carhartan!
C is for Carhartan …
Carhartan serves the Takhran as the Second Marshal of the Khelari and plays the role of the antagonist in Orphan’s Song. I’ll admit to having a bit of a soft spot in my heart for Carhartan. But it wasn’t always that way. When he first appeared on the page, I despised him and did everything I could to make him completely unlikeable. And it was great.
He was so wicked and villainous …
Only, he wasn’t very human.
So, I went back to the drawing board. I figured out his backstory, started peppering the novel with hints, and even threw in a scene with the Takhran to garner a little sympathy. And it worked. At first. Only I still didn’t like him … and it bled through into every scene, into every word that he said, every action, every little mannerism or characteristic, so that once again, he was a villain …
And he wasn’t human.
So I went back to the drawing board again, and this time, I threw out all my preconceived notions about Carhartan the villain … and started thinking about how to make Carhartan a hero instead. If you follow my blog or Facebook page, it’s no secret that I practically grew up on the Lord of the Rings books and always adored Aragorn. And in the movie, Ranger Aragorn (as opposed to King Aragorn) was the height of coolness.
So … in order to get over my dislike of Carhartan, I decided to make him like Ranger Aragorn. (Crazy, right? Isn’t he supposed to be the villain? Why pattern any part of him after a hero?) I’m glad you asked. I realized that in order to create an antagonist who would come across as human, rather than as a cardboard cutout of an evil villain, I had to give him some redeeming quality. Something that would make me as the author like him.
It started with giving Carhartan a pipe … and yes, the scene in which we first see Carhartan’s pipe is reminiscent of the hobbits’ first glimpse of Ranger Aragorn at the Prancing Pony inn. Call it a nod, if you will, to Ranger Aragorn.
She followed Madame’s directing arm into the common room, her bare feet thudding against the cold, stone floor. The long trestle table gleamed in the firelight. Its lone occupant sat at the far end like a lurking shadow. A pipe in his mouth, meal untouched, studying Birdie with his strange dark eyes. Carhartan.
It seems so trivial, doesn’t it? Transforming a character with a pipe. But as soon as I put that pipe in Carhartan’s hand, I stopped looking at him as a villain, and instead started thinking about him as a character. From there, I made a few more changes, giving Carhartan and his character things that I liked, instead of things that I despised.
The stranger’s voice halted any further movement. “Drop your weapon.” His horse—a massive armored creature with an odd reddish-black mane and tail—danced in place, but he scarcely seemed to notice, moving with the horse like a tree swaying in the wind.
I made him a good horseman and gave him spurs. I made his horse gray, since heroes typically ride “white” steeds. And lo and behold, that subtle change in my thinking seeped into Carhartan’s scenes and his true character began to emerge on the page. He became much less of a cardboard cutout of a villain and much more interesting to me.
All of a sudden, I found myself not only liking Carhartan but feeling a tinge of pity for him. After all, he was fated to be a villain. An author can’t help feeling sorry for that.
“Time to move out.” Carhartan tapped his pipe against the sole of his boot and stood, nodding toward Birdie and Ky. “Bring them.”
Who are some of your favorite antagonists and what things made them seem more “human” and less “evil villain?”
Want to find out more about Carhartan? Check out the links below to purchase the books:
Amazon: Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper, Song of Leira
Barnes and Nobles: Orphan’s Song, Songkeeper, Song of Leira
I love this post! I did end up feeling sorry for Carhartan at times. He’s such an interesting character, I kept hoping he’d get a redemption somewhere in there. You did an amazing job writing him. Those are some great tips! I think they will help me a lot with my own villains :)
By the end, I felt a little sorry for him too. His backstory is still floating around in my head somewhere. I think it would make a fun short story at some point, if only to get the words on a page.
Wow, Gillian, I am really inspired by this post! I like seeing that you fought with the different impressions you were creating until you found one that was really a true character. When I’m trying to make villains more human, I try to give them human characteristics. They don’t even have to be likeable characteristics, but if they are realistic and fit what we see of humans, then I feel I’ve done better at creating a real character choosing the wrong side.
Yes, it can be a struggle, but it’s always worth it in the end! Very true – those characteristics don’t have to be likable, or they can be likable characteristics taken to the extreme – but as long as they are believable and human, they help ground our antagonists.
Whoa that is actually really cool. (I want to try that with all my villains now) Such a brilliant idea and it worked out so well.
Yeah, it definitely helped me! I won’t say it’s a fix to every problem, but it definitely helped me change my view of Carhartan, which really helped with fleshing out his character. :)
Hm, I would never have thought of modeling a villain after a well-loved hero. The idea is fascinating!
Carhartan is definitely an awesome villain, and I think the biggest thing for me that made him seem that way is that he and Amos have a history that’s more than just them trying to kill each other. Anyway. I find it interesting that you based him off Aragorn; now I almost feel the need to reread the book to see if I can pick up other similarities.
I do like the creepy, cruel, inhuman villains if they’re done write- villains like the Dragon from Goldstone Wood or Keeper from Entwined. But the almost-sympathetic villains are cool too . . . like the Dragonwitch in the book of that same name.
Lovely post!!!! About Cade Peregen (I know that this post you weren’t talking bout her [it is a her, right?!] but I did have a comment about Cade), I was going to name my MC Cade. But I switched it to Jave at the last minute. ;)
PS I entered your giveaway! I have never heard of your books, and I’d like to read them!!! Also, the mug is stunningly beautiful!!!
LOVED THIS!!! Keep up the great work, Gillian!
It’s been too long since I read the first book (gah), but I’m pretty sure this was the guy I was starting to crush on…..which is bad….I normally don’t crush on villains…….but I picked up on that redemptive quality you gave and was really starting to pin hopes on it…….
He sounds like the type of man who would be… If not likeable, at least honorable and worthy of some respect. The type of man who would have made the best kind of hero.
After reading how Carhartan has “evolved”, I can’t wait to read this series. :)