Journal Entry: Characters

The main characters in my story are Vali, Bragi, The Witch Queen, Felieg, and Adisla. I liked all of them, I could believe that there are people out there really like them, perhaps they were the author’s inspiration for them even, (minus the supernatural features of one or two characters). Although some more than others. Vali was ultimately my favourite, although it wasn’t until things got interesting for him in the plot that I took an interest in his character.

There were many changes throughout the story, especially for Vali. During the story Vali was slowly but surely being woven into a prophecy that is as old as the gods. He starts to acquire animal traits, consisting of far eyesight, highly acute hearing, tracking by scent, and later an insatiable thirst for blood during the story. All of this ultimately leading to him becoming the Fenrisulfr, otherwise known as the Fenris Wolf, the child of Loki destined to kill Odin on Ragnarok.

Feileg is Vali’s brother, although I do not believe either of them ever finds out during the novel, although the quickly find out after meeting that their lives had been tightly woven together. Feileg was a barbarian of sorts, but is now known as a Wolf-man. Taken from his mother shortly after birth by the witches, he was given over to the barbarian tribes in the north to be raised until a proper age when they had something bigger planned for him. Around age 7, his father, also the clan chief, led him on a journey far away from home, out into the wilderness during mid-winter. His father left him there all alone. Within a short time however, Felieg was found by a pack of wolves. Feileg was ready to fight for his life when the pack leader walked up to him, although he was no wolf, it was a man with the fur and hide of a wolf across his body with the head of it fitting perfectly as a mask on his face. Feileg was brought up for the rest of his child-hood and teen years in the pack, becoming ever stronger and ever more like a wolf himself. Until one day he becomes like the first Wolf-man he met that day, donning his own wolf pelt and forgetting most of what was the human side of him. He continued as such throughout the story until he met his unknown brother Vali and a girl Adisla with whom he fell in love with. He started to remember his family with the barbarians and started to act like a human, although he never truly became one again in the novel.

My opinion of all these characters varies from one to the other. I think they are all sadly unlucky in the end, and if you read this novel you will find out why. The Witch Queen on the other hand, I respect her in the sense that she is a good leader, and underwent many hard trials including fasting for months, being submerged up to her neck in cold water for a week, or being left in the tundra for days on end, to become as powerful as she is. She is terribly cruel at that though, but I can’t entirely blame her.