Chapter 4: Page 42
In the (visual) words of Rathik as presented by frequent Western Deep guest artist and reader, Shay:
Not sure I could’ve put it any better myself!
We’ve hinted at full Rathik mode for many years, and seen glimpses of it here and there. Him being able to hoist Dakkan with one arm as if he were a bag of packing peanuts, smashing a wooden boat to smithereens in a blind rage, and most recently being able to withstand:
1.) A crossbow bolt to the chest.
2.) A crossbow bolt to the leg.
3.) A dagger to the ribs.
4.) The crippling shame of Ashtor being disappointed with his life choices.
When we updated the character bios in the “Cast” section of the website, we spent a fair bit of time trying to find the right words to introduce our characters, what mattered most to them, and basically give readers a snapshot of them at a glance, so they could be in the proper mindset if they were coming into the story later than others.
We made sure to focus initially on the things that Rathik believes make him better than every other ermehn: his size, his smarts, and his strength. And beyond that? His family name.
But at the end of the day, none of that really matters to Rathik. It’s almost incidental–a means to an end. All he wants is one thing, and it’s ironically the one thing that doesn’t get the ermehn any closer to their goal.
In the battle between a character’s wants and their needs, I guess you could say Rathik is finally able to try and satisfy his wants… but perhaps that wasn’t what he truly needed to become a valuable member of the Sratha-din–of the ermehn people as a whole? And of course he’s not really in a position to accomplish what he really wants anyway, which is to mow down scores and scores of canid soldiers… so what would you call that?
Well, characters are built on their wants and needs. There’s the thing they think they desire more than anything in the world, but it’s not really the thing that will bring them happiness.
In truth, there is something completely different, an unknown or unacknowledged need that they must discover and embrace to achieve their full potential.
In sweet endings, characters get their want and their need.
In semi-sweet endings, characters get what they need, but not what they want.
In bittersweet endings, characters get what they want but miss out on their need.
And in bitter endings? Characters don’t get what they want or what they need.
Rathik clearly has his work cut out for him.
I’ll say, if I had to guess Rathik’s ending to achieve his full potential, I think it would be somewhere in between a semi-sweet ending & a bittersweet ending. but I guess we’ll just have to wait for the next page to be finished & find out ourselves on how it’ll turn out in the end. ;)
’tis just a flesh wound!
I want to root for Rathik, but I just know that when I do, the writers are going to start exploring the backstories of those doomed canids and I’ll have my heart broken all over again.
Thats some really good looking metal.