My Ilia

Good morning, Medleretz! Today I wish to explain a bit about the name of Princess Ilia in Oblivion's Gate. So get ready, all you fans out there. Here comes a bit of trivia knowledge.

If you will take a look at the pronunciation guide at the end of Mimgardr, you will see that Princess Ilia's name is not pronounced the same way as it is in common Medlerene usage (something akin to "Eel-yah" or "Ill-yah). You will find it pronounced "Ahy-lee-uh." This is because Ilia's name in Oblivion's Gate comes from the realms of her elfin bloodline, not Medleretz.

Here in Medleretz, the world you and I occupy, the name Ilia can be spelled a host of different ways, including Ilia, Ilya, Illya, Illia, Illija Ilja, etc. All of these forms are transliterated and transcribed compositions descending from one of three roots. The most dominant of these roots is the Russian-ized version of the Hebrew name Eliyyahu, or as we know it better in English Elijah, meaning "My God is Yahweh (Jehovah)". The second root is a Kurdish name meaning "Great and Glorious." No matter which route you take, both of these are normally reserved as masculine names. The third root, however, is the feminine one and the only one pronounced with three syllables (ill-ee-uh). It comes from the Latin Ilia, which is a secondary name for Rhea Silvia, the mythical mother of Romulus and Remus. All three roots are great and any person named with them should be proud, but they are not my Ilia.

If you will reread the first few pages in Mimgardr, chapter 39, "Blood Blossoms," you will find yourself enlightened by the words of Ilia's mother as to the meaning of Ilia's name. Did you find it? In one line she calls her daughter "my little star," and a few lines later calls her "my Ilia." Coincidence? Could be. But it isn't. Ilia's name is Elvish, and in Elvish Ilia means "Little Star", which is more important than you might think. Ilia has a huge role to play in this trilogy, despite what became of her in the Battle of Mimgardr. But that's all I'm going to say about that for now, because I'd hate to spoil the surprise for you and I've explained what I wanted to explain. So to summarize in two sentences: Ilia is an Elvish name in Oblivion's Gate. It is pronounced "Ahy-lee-uh" and means "Little Star".

I hope I've wet your taste buds and instilled a craving for more background details. I promise there are loads of little coded secrets tucked away in the pages of my books, and I'm excited to see how many of them you can find. I did put them there for you after all. :-)

Have a great day today, and please take a minute to leave a comment below.

Help a Reader: The Heart Render and the Nova Core

I was questioned recently about the quests for the Heart Render and the Nova Core, two artifacts of immense power, that take place in Mimgardr. I was going to answer them myself, but I think I'll turn the inquiries over to you readers and see what you think.

Here's a little review to start:

The Heart Render is a dagger-shaped shard of White Blood that was magically enhanced until it became a type of scalpel for operations on the human soul. Conversely, the Nova Core remains a mystery; we aren't specifically told what it does, only that it resembles a cut diamond mounted in the heart of a golden sun. Both artifacts are so powerful and potentially devastating that they were hidden in specially designed places. But when Dan Barker's life comes into serious jeopardy Morgan reveals that these two artifacts are the only things that will allow him to save the apprentice. So with the dominant vote of the King of Hearts Dan himself, Oolong and Ilia are sent to retrieve the Heart Render from the Master of Elvarheim while the Master of Hearts and Aaron, his apprentice, journey into the Kemem Desert to retrieve the Nova Core.

The quest for the Heart Render is only partially described in Mimgardr but results in successful recovery of the artifact. The adjoining quest, however, is anything but a success, turning instead from a journey of retrieval to a battle of wills, and before they can reach it the Nova Core is lost to the enemy.

With the loss of the Core both quests are reduced to folly and Morgan's plan is overthrown, so the Heart Render passes into the hands of King Michael and disappears for the rest of the book. The Nova Core, however, reappears at the Battle of Mimgardr when Dan is struck down and Hades, Lord of the Fallen, uses his powers to join the Core into the Oblivion, and there it stays until the end of the book.

Now, here are the questions: What was the point? Why would [I] write a journey into the story that does nothing but go in a circle? Or does it go in a circle? Do the Heart Render and Nova Core even matter? What do you think?

Thanatos, Son of Darkness

After discussing the dullahan yesterday, I decided to do a follow-up and talk about the legend behind the leader of the fallen Grim, Thanatos.

Leighton, Frederic (1830-1896), "Hercules Wrestling Death (detail)"

In Mimgardr Thanatos was once an elf of large proportion, standing nearly nine feet tall. He was a student of Merlin the Great, and apparently he wielded quite an influence over his classmates. At the time of Zuren's fall, he followed Zuren into the darkness. In order to become part of Zuren's special league, it was required that he sign a magically-binding contract and carve out his own heart as a mark of loyalty. When he had did so, the contract engendered several changes in him. His once noble elfin appearance was demented and consumed, his true name was wiped from every memory, and his name became Thanatos from there on. Over the years of his fall Thanatos became cruel and malicious, continually wielding dominion over the remaining Grim and sinking further into the darkness. Once in Oblivion he was assigned the duty to keep watch over Oblivion's Gate, and later joined Master Morgan in an attempt to free the duo as well as the rest of the Grim from the Fallon Ones' control.

But as we talked about yesterday, Zuren chose the names for his minions based upon his love of death. So, where did Thanatos' name come from?

The "real" Thanatos of ancient myth rises from the Greeks as a god of death. Born the Son of Erebos, who was the personification of Darkness, and Nyx, the personification of Night, Thanatos was the twin of Hypnos, the personification of Sleep. Thus the twin children of Darkness and Night were Sleep and Death. Other negatively deemed children included Moros (Doom), Eris (Strife), Geras (Old Age), Oizys (Suffering), Apate (Deception), Momus (Blame), Nemesis (Retribution), and finally Charon the Ferryman.

According to Theogony, written by Hesiod the Poet, Thanatos and Hypnos were never allowed to behold the light of the sun. And while Hypnos was benevolent and kindly, Thanatos is described as having "a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze: whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful even to the deathless gods." Thanatos was seen as cruel, merciless and indiscriminate, only able to be cheated or tricked on rare occasion and beaten back only once, by Herakles. He hated--and was hated by--both mortals and the gods. The use of his sword was the dedication of a soul to the life and gods of the Underworld.

Later on however, when the people of Greece found death more desirable than life, their depictions of Thanatos changed. They began depicting the heartless wraith as a winged child, much more like Cupid, who wore a sheathed sword on his belt and carried an inverted torch. Thanatos became the overseer of peaceful passing and lost his role as the hated reaper. Which I personally believe tells us more about the condition of Greece than it does about the ancient Greek mythologies. When a tyrannical god of death becomes a welcome guest at your parties there must be something terribly wrong in the world. It wasn't until later that the true nature of Thanatos returned.

Thus is the history of Thanatos. I hope this gives you more insight into what Zuren might have hoped his new-found slave would become. I also hope it gives you some ideas as to what the rest of the Grim might be named. Got any good guesses? Want to know more? Please comment below.

Legend of the Dullahan

Quidor, John, "Headless Horseman Pursing Ichabod Crane", 1858, paint.

The Headless Horseman we are familiar with in our day draws its influence from either the Celtic
Dullahan, the horseman of the Brothers Grimm, or a mash-up of both. This includes the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow created by Washington Irving.

In Mimgardr, we learn that when Zuren began his fall he dragged down all save four of his classmates. (One of the four was Michael Maccini, and the other three have not been identified yet.) Ever consumed by an obsession with death, Zuren assigned each of his followers a coded name taken from a legendary psychopomp or death angel. Then he bestowed upon them a contract, a cloak, a scythe, and magically-incurred mutilation. One of those followers earned his new name on the day in which Zuren beheaded him for attempted betrayal. That would be the one known in the story as Dullahan.

The actual dullahan (or dulachán, meaning "dark man") is also called Gan Ceann, meaning "without a head". It is an old Celtic myth with variations between its Irish and Scottish roots. On the Irish side dullahans are known as a type of fairy, on the Scottish side the dullahan comes as the haunting spirit of a man name Ewen who was decapitated in a clan battle at Glen Cainnir.

According to standing tradition, a dullahan is the herald of death. It is often depicted riding a dark horse or occasionally driving the coiste bodhar, "the silent coach", a black carriage drawn by six horses and adorned with symbols of death, human bones and human pelts. It carries two things with it: a whip made from the spine of a man, and its severed head. The head has small, black, darting eyes; skin like rotted cheese; and a smile that literally stretches from ear to ear. Often times the decaying head may glow with the radiance of decaying matter, giving the dullahan a light with which to see in the darkness of night. Though this is hardly needed, for the eyes of the dullahan can see for leagues across the countryside with almost telescopic capacity.

Traveling with frightening speed, there is no way to bar the road of the dullahan. No lock, no gate, no barrier can contain it. And if it is spotted by an onlooker while on its ride, it will either lash out the spotter's eyes with its whip or cast a quantity of blood upon them, often as a mark that they will be among death's next victims.

When the dullahan reaches its destination it stops its mount, whether horse or coach, and speaks the only thing it can utter: the name of its victim. In that moment the person's soul is drawn out of their body and dies. Then the dullahan rides on.

Supposedly the only chance you have to drive the dullahan away is to wield gold against it. The dullahan has an unjustified fear of the metal, and if used rightly it may just frighten the fairy away. Unfortunately, this is a disputed hope.

Though the origin of the dullahan myth is unknown, one thing is for certain: the dullahan certainly holds its own among the multitudinous death herald myths. It's a figure never to be trifled with, and certainly not a figure you would ever invite around.

What are some of your favorite myths? What about them makes them your favorite? Comment below.

Excellent Questions from a Pondering Mann

If you haven't been to either my Facebook fan page (here) or the Oblivion's Gate Facebook fan page (here) recently, then you may not have seen the essay that was posted to both yesterday morning by a fan and friend of mine, Mr Aaron Mann. The essay, which I learned from messaging the author is dubbed "My Pondry," is dedicated to Mr Mann's thoughts and questions regarding Mimgardr and its upcoming sequel. It is written for fans by a fan and includes some very good points that fans of the series might want to consider. BUT before you rush off to read it, I must warn you that there are a few Mimgardr spoilers in the essay. It is a response to the book after all.

I very much appreciated and enjoyed Mr Mann's essay, and I want to thank him for it. Knowing that he is asking the questions I want readers to be asking at the end of Mimgardr helps me to know that I have succeeded in my cause as a storyteller. And knowing that he isn't the only person to be asking to those questions only serves to confirm that success.

Mr Mann, if you see this blog, I want to say thank you for the time you took to jot down your impressions and share them with the world. I'm excited to see what else might come from your hands in days to come, and I'm even more excited to answer your questions with the release of the sequel in a few months.

For the rest of you reading this, here is a link to the posted essay: "The Pondry." If you would, please take a minute to read it and comment on it. I know that both Mr Mann and I would appreciate it.

Why the Title "Mimgardr"?

As you can imagine, I went through quite a host of titles before deciding to name the first book in the Oblivion's Gate trilogy Mimgardr. I had several pages worth of titles that I compiled over time, each focusing on a different piece or portion of the tale. It was an amazing array.

Over several weeks I carefully sorted through the lists and removed potential titles until I had a short list of ten. The short list was focused on one goal: titling not just the first book but all three books in the trilogy. It was formatted with four columns, including Series Title, Book 1 Title, Book 2 Title and Book 3 Title. And once the list was complete I took it to editors, beta readers and others to gather opinions from those who had read the book and knew more about the story. Their responses each added new light, and one by one sets of titles were knocked away from the list until I was left with only three.

One set I felt was too sappy and would undoubtedly make the book sound like a dirty romance novel to most readers, so that one I knocked of easily; but the other two, they gave me quite the fight. They were two I had felt especially good about all along but had not been willing to trust my gut about until after receiving the confirmation of others. Now the only issue was deciding which to pick. In the end, I chose the set titled Oblivion's Gate, which inherently dubbed book one Mimgardr.

Mimgardr, as a place, was Merlin's special training realm in the book. It hung on the brink of Nothing; it was the crossroads for all other realms of the Great Heart; and it was the setting for certain events that would shape the destinies for several key individuals and entire nations as well.

Mimgardr, as a title, reflected the importance of the place, both for the prologue and epilogue and for all the chapters in between. It was also an eye-catching title, one that makes you look twice and wonder what it could mean. It's a mysterious title with a strong, mythical power to it, and it emphasizes the type of story that the book contains, a foreboding mystery seeped in myth, fantasy and conspiracy. It was a wonderfully fitting, short title, and in the end it won the battle for supremacy.

I am very pleased with Mimgardr, its title and story, and hope you will share it with you friends so that many more readers will have the opportunity to fall in love with it. Unfortunately, however, what happened in Mimgardr will not stay in Mimgardr, so my question for you is: What do you think book two will be titled?

If You Give a Book a Soundtrack

The range of reader comfort zones spans quite the spectrum. On one end we find people who require absolute silence and zero movement around them whilst they read, and on the opposing end we find those people who can read in any sort of circumstance, no matter how loud or busy the world is around them. As for me, I prefer a bit of light music to accompany me.

Music, when utilized properly, has a powerful way to stimulate every facet of the mind. It increases
activity all around, especially in regards to memory, imagination, emotion and heart rate. (That heart rate one was kind of a joke, but tell me you don't respond physically to music.) I do grant, however, that music will become a distraction if it is too loud, the wrong genre or too wordsy. Why else do you think movie composers spend so much time creating the perfect soundtracks?

As an author and movie score/soundtrack collector, I love to build playlists that focus on certain emotions or characters. I have lists for romance and suspense, villainous tunes, epic travel music, heroic themes and many more. (If you know some good soundtracks for that, comment below or email me. I am always looking to expand.) Then I use those playlists to help me brainstorm ideas for my stories or to beef up my reading experience. I turn words on pages into movies in my mind, and by so doing I remember, decipher, imagine and enjoy the words even better than usual. The careful addition of music makes almost any book, great or not, into a quotable, memorable experience. You should really give it a try. If I get it finished soon enough, maybe I'll share a promo soundtrack for Mimgardr with you.

Have you tried it already? Does it work for you or not? If you're trying it for the first time, what do you think? Comment below. I'd love to hear your opinions!

Nicolas Flamel: The Posthumous Legend

In his native French he was known as Nee-koh-lah, but you probably know him by the English form Nik-eh-lehs. He lived his life as a successful scribe, but after his death the world would know him as one of the most famous and successful alchemists ever. Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the posthumous legend, Nicolas Flamel!

Monsieur Flamel was born in the 1330s. During his lifetime he ran two shops as a professional scribe. He was also a married man, having wedded his wife Perenelle in 1368. Monsieur Flamel lived into his 80s, designed his own tombstone in 1410, and died eight years later in 1418. He was buried in Paris at the Musée de Cluny.

If you'll notice, there was no mention of alchemy, immortality or magic involvement in the afore paragraph. There wasn't a single mention of the fable Philosopher's Stone or the Elixir of Life. There weren't even any notes about scientific fancy. How could that be? Well, it's because no evidence of such entanglement between the subjects and our good monsieur exists. In fact Monsieur Flamel's name was not linked to those subjects until the 17th century, 190 years after his death and burial. It all began with a book.

Paris, 1612. Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques is published and hits the shelves. Who is the book attributed to? Monsieur Flamel himself. Twelve years later, in 1624, Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques is translated into English and hits the London shelves as Exposition of the Hieroglyphical Figures. In the publisher's introduction Flamel's entanglement with alchemy is first discussed. The story, which focuses on Monsieur Flamel's search for the Philosopher's Stone, goes as follows: At some point in his life Monsieur Flamel purchased a strange, 21-page book. This book gradually becomes an obsession of sorts, and he dedicates much of his time to the decryption of it. In 1378 he even takes a trip to Spain, hoping to get some help with the translation. During his return journey, it is reported, Monsieur Flamel encounters a sagely stranger, who identifies the book as a copy of the Book of Abramelin the Mage before allowing Monsieur Flamel to continue on his way. After he arrives home Monsieur and Madame Flamel successfully decode enough of the book to reproduce the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's Stone, which they then use to create silver and gold.

Not until 140 years after Exposition of the Hieroglyphical Figures' publication, in 1761, is the book's proposed history officially challenged as a myth by Étienne Villain. Villain puts forth the opinion that the source of Nicolas Flamel's alchemical fame is nothing more than the invention of the publisher. In response, other writers defend the book's claim, adding to and embellishing the legend of Nicolas Flamel by publishing accounts of sitings and encounters postdating Monsieur Flamel's death. As the years tick on, the life of a great scribe is overshadowed by the posthumous revelation of his "most secret" achievements. Today, we know of many books, poems, documents, comics, shows and songs that make note of his alchemical successes, whether taken as a serious point or a legendary one.

In truth there is no evidence one way or the other as to whether or not Nicolas Flamel really was involved in alchemy to any degree. Maybe a moment of curiosity opened the door to centuries of legendary gossip, or maybe he really was the great fabled alchemist he is claimed to be. Who knows? But no matter which side you take on the battle between fact and fiction, one thing is certain: Nicolas Flamel's legacy will continue to play into the fantasies of fiction for years to come.

Pictures used:
1 (Top-right) - Villain, Étienne François, from Histoire Critique de Nicolas Flamel, 1761.
2 (Bottom-Left) - GrandPré, Mary, illus. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. By J. K. Rowling. New York: Scholastic Press, 1999. Print.

Black Blood's Counsel

Thanks for writing in the great questions, everyone! You know what you want, and I'm excited to give it to you. Today I'm going to address a rather popular question about Oblivion's Gate:

Where did you get the inspiration for each of the Fallen?

In truth, this is an incredibly tough question to answer because the inspiration didn't come with a picture of the final product, nor with a mold left behind by another character. I didn't know the Fallen as "the Fallen" when I first created them. I came to know them over time as I studied out their lives, temperaments and tendencies.

Several of your letters have asked if I based the Fallen on other existing characters or persons (I got a kick out of some of your proposed allusions), but other than Hades, Anubis and Loki (who are mythic gods) none of the Fallen were based on any particular character or set of them. A few of the Fallen do have a fabled character to which they have linked themselves (like Tangaroa's choice to become the embodiment of the Flying Dutchman, or Zuren's Grim who were forced into a certain appearance by a curse, for example), but it was each Fallen's individual history that actually effected their personality, appearance and obsessions. The Fallen arose from scratch.

In fact, there is only one character in all of Oblivion's Gate that was designed to pay homage to another, but until the series is complete and that homage is officially revealed I will keep that character's identity a secret. All other characters in Oblivion's Gate are drawn from myth, legend and 98% scratch.

In the original sketches for Oblivion's Gate, the Fallen Ones were a syndicate of very stereotypical villains who had joined together in hopes of breaking free from the humdrum lives they had found themselves in. I never cared for the idea and only used it to fill in the blanks. It wasn't very original, it didn't mesh well with the body of the story, and it was rather childish and boring. So I actually scrapped the Fallen altogether and moved on, hoping that a wholly different idea would inspire me when the time was right.

I finished developing the complete world of Oblivion's Gate (the realms, the races, the dialects, the complexities, etc.) by lacing together the real, modern world and the worlds of ancient myth. Then I rounded out the protagonists and scenery. When I finished, everything was ready but the villain. My ideas for a villain just didn't want to come together. Then as I was reading through my notes on the Life Bloods one day, I had a new idea. It stemmed from the effects of Black Blood and inspired me to breathe new life into the forgotten concept of the Fallen Ones.

Black Blood does more than just change appearances and blend things together; it tampers with everything. And when living things are exposed to it, it has terrible effects on the mind. Certain characteristics of the Exposed are amplified and/or given new dominance, all based on the circumstances surrounding the moment of exposure. Sometimes the effects and new found obsessions are so emphatic that it seems the original entity has been entirely lost.

Considering these effects, I pulled together a host of regular, everyday characters, perfectly synonymous with their home realms, kingdoms and circumstances. Once I had each of their personalities, appearances and histories down, I took a great deal of time to consider how, when and why they might be exposed to Black Blood. (Was it on purpose or accident? Were they prepared or not? Questions like those.) And after discovering how the characters would behave, it became obvious how the exposure would affect each one. And that is when the Council of the Fallen became the force we encounter in Mimgardr.

The Fallen in final form are incredibly complex, and I'm almost sad that you readers don't get to know them very well during the first book. But, as the trilogy goes on you'll learn more about the days prior to their demise and you'll learn what made them into who and what they are.

Did that answer your question? Please comment below with follow-up questions and personal thoughts? And don't forget to email me questions about new topics HERE.