The War, Ceristen Series #4

Questions Answered!

I was waiting for more questions, but then they never came, and I forgot, and remembered every few months for like eighteen months...

Anyways. There were ultimately only four questions, or three depending on how you count it, one from Night and the rest from Dante. They're good questions, and deserve their long-overdue answers, so... XD Ready, aim, fire!

From Dante_Greywolf:

"Which death was saddest for you?"

Bardrick's. I knew I had to kill one of the characters in that situation, but I didn't want to kill any of them, and I couldn't bring myself to decide for a while -- almost up until the death scene itself. In the end, Bardrick was the logical choice (Mordred was not stable enough to handle Fenris' death in any way whatsoever; Therelane had already suffered an amputation and I didn't think it fair to the story or his arc to kill him after that).

And Bardrick seemed like the easiest choice as well, a character I didn't know quite as well as the others. ... Until I remembered all the little quirks I'd carefully built into him over the course of the series, and his beautiful, harmonious relationship with his siblings, and everything that made him Bardrick that was all in one dreadful blow snatched from the world. It's only once I realized I had to remove him that I realized how much I loved him. T_T

"Did you ever consider killing off Mordred or Fred? And if so, what made you stop?"

Yes. Not Mordred, ever; he was too integral to the story. But when I removed modern medicine from Legea, and faced Fred's staggering injuries after the dragon battle, I was tempted on more than one occasion (for the sake of realism) to let him die. It was a mighty internal struggle that lasted days, waging as I wrote scenes with Fiona at his bedside. In the end, I did not, nor do I regret that choice. Sometimes lesser characters need to die for the sake of realism, but Fred's role, though lesser in The War, had not faded enough to justify that. And darn it, nobody wants Fred to die. Not even evil little me.

I could've chosen to mitigate the severity of his injuries, but I don't care for that idea either. While his recovery might test someone's suspension of disbelief, it's not outside possibility. And I like that he heals with impairment (his sight, his range of motion, amnesia) and it's left kind of open-ended whether he'll ever fully return to his old strength. He doesn't get a free pass on a concussion and major blood loss. Now that would be unrealistic.

What I like about all that is that you see him contented despite all that. You get to see him, along with the rest of Ceristen, starting over and rebuilding with a wonderful grit and sorrow and joy out of the brokenness that follows the War.

That's the best part of the book, to me.

From nightwraith17

"I have a question for Jeddy: Do you want a hug?"

Jeddy: What. Is. This. Woman's. Goal.

To torture you, obviously. *scoots Jeddy off to the unknown since we're obviously not going to get a straight answer out of him*

No, Jeddy does not want a hug. He's not a touchy-feely guy ever. Closest he gets is shoulder pats in moments of strong emotion or desire to encourage. Theoretically, he understands why and how hugs work, but another part of him just views it as, "... why. Why would you ever do that."

However, if it occurred to him that someone he loved needed a hug (this is a big if), our Jeddy would probably (with his wonderful interpersonal emotional skills) clear his throat, hem around awkwardly for a while, and inquire, "Do you... want a... a hug, or something?" And proceed on affirmative to deliver the most clumsy, awkward hug in the history of hugs.

And that's why we love him :')