Weekly Update - 75 (Patreon)

Happy Monday everyone!  And happy... um... 3rd anniversary of God Slayers?!!!

Gods!  That's right, I nearly forgot all about it.  Yesterday marked the third anniversary.  I started posting comics on August 8th, 2018 (8-8-18).  See, because 8 is my lucky number, thus by doing so I absolutely guaranteed the success of the series.  8 is also a good number to bet on in Craps, by the way.

Granted, it doesn't feel right to celebrate anniversaries more than actual page milestones.  I technically started working on this project in 2017, and I took an 8-month (there's that number again!) long hiatus in the latter half of 2019 before Chapter 3.  Time is subjective.  But some day I'll look at it and be like, "wow, I've really stuck with this for 10 years" and I'll feel proud of myself for doing so.

Comic this week?  Yes!

Character Page: Done!  Next character will be added once we get a few more Patrons.

Max Poster: Why is this so hard.  >.<

Drawing: Page 112

Playing: Rimworld

Rambling:

Just be warned that one of these days I WILL start repeating myself because I just cannot keep track of what I've written and when and my thoughts are often an unpredictable mess of trains that are all tied in knots.

Each of my characters has derailed my plot from that original, terrible first draft where none of them were likable (except Max - Max was always likable).  It's a good thing, and I'm glad they did.  I'm also glad my husband pointed out just how terrible that first draft was, so I could redo it with some fresh eyes.

But I keep talking about villains and I keep having more to say about them and in all my discussions about villains, I keep mentioning how I think Kiera could be a strong contender for being the villain of THIS particular story, and I don't know that I've ever gone into great detail why I think that is.

I'm not saying this because I want us all to turn on her.  Obviously she's not a traditional villain.  Kiera is not twirling her curly mustache and plotting to do evil for the sake of doing evil.  She is not meant to be hated by the readers, nor is she guilty on-screen of intentionally sowing harm or mischief.  She has her goals, and her methods, and they are largely hidden from our eyes.  In many cases, in many ways, I feel like she serves as a catalyst in the story, to inspire the other characters to react to her actions.  As any good villain should.

Not every story has to have a villain, but every good story needs a conflict, and a villain often has the responsibility of creating conflicts.  Causing problems for the other characters to solve, on a consistent basis.  The other reason I think she falls into the role of villain is because there isn't another character that's as well suited for it.  It's less that I am intentionally writing her as the villain, and moreso that the role falls to her in absence of a more suitable villain.

We can rule out a lot of other characters for various reasons.

Donno is closer to what I would think of as a traditional villain.  He's dangerous, he's threatening, he has dubious morals and he doesn't really care who he hurts to achieve his goals.  However, part of why he doesn't seem like the villain to me is largely because he doesn't care about much of anything at all.  He's thick-skinned.  Nothing really gets to him at all.  He's very passive.  He's unlikely to inspire people to action as he is to react (slowly) only if and when something finally slights him.

Reese isn't a villain.  He's a non-entity so far, mentioned in name only.  Aside from being the leader of the Redtails and allegedly putting a bounty on Kiera, he hasn't even been introduced in the story yet and isn't likely to make a true appearance before we reach Part 2.

Gilly is also a non-entity so far, though when we meet him (somewhat soon), you are likely all going to hate him.  Even so, he is largely just doing his own thing.  He is somewhat disconnected from Kiva's main story and his path.  Gilly isn't standing in the way, he's not doing anything that will inspire people to action.  He's a big part of Max's personal story... as we will soon see, but as far as being a villain goes, he's not a great contender for being a major catalyst of the story.

There are other characters that I've yet to introduce that will have a far stronger claim of the villainy throne, but we are still a ways off from meeting them.  In the meantime, I will maintain that Kiera sits upon that very throne... for now.