The Citadel of Lies - all about the antagonists

Every good epic fantasy story needs some memorable bad guys. 

The challenge with fantasy is to create antagonists without entering into cliche and stereotype. My favourite 'villains' in stories are those who surprise me - and the most chilling bad guys (and girls) are the ones who appear like the rest of us - but are capable of unspeakable acts.

In The Citadel of Lies (due out this month on Amazon Kindle and in paperback), I really enjoyed creating my villains. In my stories I like to create different types of antagonists - those that are arch-villains, and others that are subtler, less obviously evil, but dangerous nonetheless. Here are the chief antagonists in the first two books of the Palâdnith Chronicles. To make it more fun I've pasted in a few images (courtesy of Google Images) to give an idea of what these characters look like.

Riadamor

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Queen of the Esquill - banished to the underground prison of Moden, but desperately looking for a way out.

Defining characteristics: strong, cold, calculating and powerful.
Motivation: Riadamor is fueled by revenge and the thirst for power. She has two goals: the first is to kill the three sons of her arch-nemesis - Belythna; and the second is to return to the world she was banished from, and rule.
Weakness: Riadamor's quest for revenge at times colours her judgement.

Captain Roth Tobin

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Captain of the Tarrancrest Guard, works for Realmlord Kaur.

Appearance: Bullish, bald and heavy-featured, ill-mannered, bully
Motivation: Tobin serves the Realmlord of Farindell - Lord Kaur - like a faithful dog. He has been charged with accompanying the Realmlord's disgraced daughter across the mountains to her new husband, and retrieving a precious talisman from the Citadel of Lies for his master.
Weakness: Tobin's blind loyalty to Lord Kaur means that he does not always see situations clearly.

The Moden Walkers

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Riadamor's servants - three Keepers of Moden that the witch sends abroad to track down Seth, Eni and Val Falkyn.

Appearance: Tall, long limbed, white-skinned with flat faces and formless features. They carry a lethal curved and serrated obsidian blades. They are much faster and stronger than men.
Motivation: They are bound to their mistress. They will not stop until the three men they have been sent to kill, are dead.
Weakness: The Moden Walkers have a fear of sunlight and fire.



If these bad guys sound interesting, try the first book of the series, Journey of Shadows (available on Amazon - Kindle and paperback edition) and get to know them! In this novel, we meet the three brothers: Seth, Eni and Val as they begin their adventure.