Dawn of Darkness - A HeroScape Fan Fiction

[TheAverageFan]

Chapter 13-16

Spoiler Alert!

Ch13: Why make up a new execution device just for it to get exploded right away? Might as well just have it be a guillotine or noose at that point. Also we finally meet Jandar. How he is portrayed and resolved is sure to be interesting

Ch14: I like having Utgar finally act. I was worried he'd hesitate too long until it was too late, but he's been pushed to intervene before innocent blood got spilled.

Utgar had heard that many kyrie in the far north of Valhalla had such skin, but the wrongness of it still unsettled him. At least the brown skin of the kyrie here in the south was similar to the red Utgar was used to. But the northern kyrie, with their bluish skin and white or silver wings… it just seemed wrong.

Also Einar appears as well? This city is only missing one original Valkyrie General. Speaking of which, I wonder where Vydar went. He's kind of vanished from the story. I'd assumed he'd be up to no good with all this tension mounting.

Jandar shook his head. “I share your concerns, Utgar,” he said, but I cannot act on them. “If I let Leran go, these people will see only that the Empire can be defeated. They will be emboldened. I will be practically handing Helsng to the rebels. That is something I cannot do.”

The quotation mark needs to be moved from If I let Leran go up to but I cannot act.

Ch15: I expected the rebels' presence in the city to cause more trouble, but Einar's plan is actually fairly sound. He seems to be here to stoke the flames, but not just dump gasoline on them.

Ch16: I'm actually impressed with myself for managing to keep all the characters' names straight thus far without needing to consult previous chapters or the index. I even remembered Marenn, the merchant.

The thing with the healing silks Fera was selling in Ch.13 might've been some kind of setup, but if they were she must've gotten rid of them already before G'shar was injured maybe they'll pop up again later I can't think of any other reason to establish them at all.

G'shar and Taelord just never seem to tire of asking Rehs to consider not joining the rebellion. At what point do you just beat some sense into your son? Spar with him for five seconds or however long it takes for him to realize he's not old enough to fight.

Also despite what I said about Einar's plan being sound in the previous chapter this one does raise a good point that his "if you're not with us you're against us" mentality might put G'shar's family in far more danger than the Imperials ever could. There's plenty of historical precedent for newly-established rebel governments to punish any members of their population who didn't march to their extremist tune when called—and we all know Einar is a big fan of history

Halfway through the narrative. I'm realizing as usual that my own expectations were skewered from the start, complaining that we'd been in one location for as long as we have when the entire narrative will likely take place there. I forgor to check the maps

~TAF

[TGRF]

Spoiler Alert!

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

Also Einar appears as well? This city is only missing one original Valkyrie General. Speaking of which, I wonder where Vydar went. He's kind of vanished from the story. I'd assumed he'd be up to no good with all this tension mounting.

I wanted to get them all in there if I could, minus Ullar, who I couldn't fit in. They were there in the narrative I had in my head anyway, and if I didn't include them, I knew certain people would ask when they cropped up.

~TGRF.

[TheAverageFan]

Ch. 17-20

Spoiler Alert!

Ch17: I was wondering if Geren was going to return.

“You are the kind of ground-lover who caused this problem,” he snarled, stopping before Rehs.

Ground-lover is a fantastic gamer word for Kyrie to use

Ch18: The first paragraph of this one bothers me:

The next morning, Taelord convinced G’shar to go to Utgar. Healing was one of the abilities granted by Wellspring water, and though G’shar’s injury wasn’t deep, he had lost a lot of blood. G’shar was hesitant; he didn’t want to put Utgar in the position of healing someone the Empire had attacked – sanctioned or not. However, Syafa fixed him with a flat stare, and he relented.

There's so many G'shars. There has to be some alternate term to identify him by to avoid situations like these—"and though the Freeman's injury wasn't deep, he'd lost a lot of blood"? Idunno

I like the conversation between Taelord and Runa. Not only are they and their dilemma compelling, but you've got a good way of making what they're doing interesting and varied. Phrases like "She gave the ghost of a smile" and "a small laugh escaped her" are much better than "she smiled" and "she laughed". Y'know, stuff I'd do.

Ch19: The wellspring water going missing is an interesting development, both because it means the wellspring at Helsng will have to be opened now and because there's good cause to suspect literally all of the factions of having stolen it. Also this might be our only Runa PoV chapter

Ch20. War now seems pretty inevitable, and the fact that there's still twelve chapters left to go indicates quite the rollercoaster ahead.

“We have weapons for any who want them. Take them, use them. Drive the Imperials from your city, from your streets. They think this is their city; we will make it unsafe for them. Continue to operate at night – the Empire has strength of numbers, but they cannot fight you if they cannot find you.”

He paused for a moment, looking at the kyrie about him. The faces held doubt and uncertainty. He frowned. “I can see,” he said, “that you have fear. Fear that you will fail. Fear that if you act, you will be alone, insignificant, and that the Empire will destroy you.” He considered them for a moment. “Know this then: you are not alone. All across Valhalla, people are rising up, fighting against the Empire. The Emperor has suppressed this news, but I know the truth, and tell it to you now.

I don't know if this is a rule, but does there need to be something separating Einar's back-to-back dialog here from two to three paragraphs? Otherwise it reads strangely, like someone else is talking. Perhaps not, but that's typically how I format it.

It was true. Taelord did need to think. What did he do? He had no intention of picking a side and joining the rebellion, not if he could help it. But could he help it?

Wouldn't "what would/should/could he do?" work better here? "What do I do?" reads okay, but in third-person past-tense, I don't know.

Things are really shaking up now with this development.

~TAF

[TGRF]

Spoiler Alert!

Ch18: The first paragraph of this one bothers me:

There's so many G'shars. There has to be some alternate term to identify him by to avoid situations like these—"and though the Freeman's injury wasn't deep, he'd lost a lot of blood"? Idunno

Honestly I'd find referring to G'shar as 'freeman' to be way more jarring than simply using his name. I agree swapping at least one of those out for something else could be good... it's a battle I've found myself having more than once while writing these last few stories. I need more ways to refer to people without it seeming out of place.

I don't know if this is a rule, but does there need to be something separating Einar's back-to-back dialog here from two to three paragraphs? Otherwise it reads strangely, like someone else is talking. Perhaps not, but that's typically how I format it.

I assume you mean starting a new paragraph with 'He considered them...'? No rule that I know of, though I'm sure someone somewhere has written the comprehensive guide on where and when to start a new paragraph. It could go either way. Honestly unless someone new is speaking, I generally just break up paragraphs by size.

Wouldn't "what would/should/could he do?" work better here? "What do I do?" reads okay, but in third-person past-tense, I don't know.

Another one of those things I don't really notice as jarring, but I can see how it might be. I don't know about 'should he do' when there's two 'could's in close proximity, though.

~TGRF.

[TheAverageFan]

Spoiler Alert!

Originally Posted by TGRF

I assume you mean starting a new paragraph with 'He considered them...'? No rule that I know of, though I'm sure someone somewhere has written the comprehensive guide on where and when to start a new paragraph. It could go either way. Honestly unless someone new is speaking, I generally just break up paragraphs by size.

No, I'd break it at the "The faces held doubt and uncertainty". Because the reader might be led to think someone else will be talking in this new paragraph

“We have weapons for any who want them. Take them, use them. Drive the Imperials from your city, from your streets. They think this is their city; we will make it unsafe for them. Continue to operate at night – the Empire has strength of numbers, but they cannot fight you if they cannot find you.” <- Einar is talking

He paused for a moment, looking at the kyrie about him. The faces held doubt and uncertainty. He frowned. <- I wouldn't have Einar talk again until a new paragraph started after this one

“I can see,” he said, “that you have fear. Fear that you will fail. Fear that if you act, you will be alone, insignificant, and that the Empire will destroy you.” He considered them for a moment. “Know this then: you are not alone. All across Valhalla, people are rising up, fighting against the Empire. The Emperor has suppressed this news, but I know the truth, and tell it to you now. <- Einar is talking again

I can only assume this is just nonsense-grammar my monkey brain has conjured up. You're well-aware that my grammar rules are often chosen by dartboard so Idunno.

~TAF

[TGRF]

Spoiler Alert!

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

Spoiler Alert!

No, I'd break it at the "The faces held doubt and uncertainty". Because the reader might be led to think someone else will be talking in this new paragraph

I can only assume this is just nonsense-grammar my monkey brain has conjured up. You're well-aware that my grammar rules are often chosen by dartboard so Idunno.

~TAF

No actually that makes sense. I'd put the 'He frowned' on the third paragraph (because it's him acting again), but otherwise technically you're probably right. While no one is actually acting or speaking, the line in the middle is about the crowd, not Einar, so there is cause to split it up like that.

Either way, now that we've thoroughly out-grammared the entire thing, on with the story...

~TGRF.

[TheAverageFan]

Chapter 21-End

Spoiler Alert!

I'll elect to go fairly loosely until my conclusion:

Ch. 21-23: Take a shot every time someone tries and fails to convince Rehs not to join the rebels, but only if you're not okay with waking up again

Ch. 24:

“Do not strike her!” Utgar’s voice commanded, and the guards lowered their fists. They kept her pinned to the ground, and Fera saw another Volcarren round her, and approach Utgar.

“Thank you, Kirav,” Utgar said, still watching her.

Kirav being the MVP two stories in a row

Ch. 25: For a lighter drinking game take a shot every time it is stated that Utgar doesn't trust Taelord. We're told this many times but we never really see it despite Utgar being the second-most-common PoV. We don't really see Utgar and Taelord converse or interact much ever in this, which is too bad because it'd likely be interesting to witness.

Rehs and G’shar returned after the sun had set, tired and hungry. Syafa cooked some fish they had brought, and for a time, there was silence as they all ate. Their number was done to five.

Down to five.

Taelord stepped closer. “Rehs,” he said, lowering her voice, “you have a family who loves you.

His voice.

Ch.26: The attack on G'shar's home by the rebels felt less dire than I was expecting. It would've been a good time to kill or seriously injure G'shar or one of his family members, but they mostly come in then get scared off by Taelord. I suppose anything worse would've likely put some sense into Rehs and got him off his path. Also only this far in is Taelord mentioned to be thirteen, which is consistent with Valkyrie, but it had kind of slipped my mind that so little time had passed since then—I was kinda picturing muscle-man Heroscape Taelord up till now

The thought sickened him. That was the sort of thing Ahnvad would say. Taelord had always responded with resistance to Ahnvad’s words, insisting that things could get better. Even after he was proven wrong, he had still continued to say so, just to annoy his father. What had happened to that person? What had happened to the boy who had looked on Helsng, and hoped?

Was he dead? Replaced by a shadow, a shadow of Ahnvad?

Curse you.

How is Ahnvad a better villain in this than in the story where he's the actual living main antagonist? In Valkyrie he was just kind of some bad guy. This is making a lot of content-of-interest out of relatively little which is certainly efficient.


Ch27: Runa getting got twice in two days or however long.

I like the mention that the kyrie house has an opening permitting flight between the levels. It's something that would occur organically for a race like the kyrie.

Geren kind of shows up to chat for a bit and then dies shortly thereafter. I'd have thought Runa helping him earlier might've had more payoff but you can't win them all I assume.

I similarly like the thought put into flight in regards to the battle which occurs: with the soldiers unable to fly with Runa because they can't remain tightly packed against the rebels, and the use of the spears and the crossbows in the battle for ground and flying Kyrie respectively. I don't know how Taelord hadn't seen crossbows before though: surely some of Anvahd's troops had them in the Volcarren...?

Ch.29: Somehow you managed to perfectly capture what I always imagine a wellspring chamber to look like in your description. The descriptions in general of the lighting in the last few chapters were really memorable: like I could feel the waning colors making everything seem more foreboding as doom looms over the town.

Ch. 30: I was surprised to learn that Jandar really did take the wellspring water, when I had assumed that Vydar or Einar would've been the ones to do it in some effort to contrive the circumstances to become Valkyries themselves

Somehow you've managed to make me feel happy at the death of a child character. I suppose Rehs was just too far along on the F*** Around path, until the natural Find Out at last snapped back. He just rejected warning after warning, even aftrer Rebels threatened his own family.

Ch. 31: I probably wouldn't have killed off Rehs and G'shar both: either have Rehs die so the horrors of losing your only son in war can be seen through G'shar, or have G'shar die to finally make Rehs realize what he's done. But then done your way gives us this:

One had wanted peace, one war. Both had lost.

Very poignant, kind of sums up the entire narrative in one harrowing line

The story kind of comes to a quick collapsing close here. It really reads a lot like the ending of Dilmir 3, except for that we had the assurances of a sequel already whereas this might be the last we see of this world. Because of that it doesn't quite land as well to me, with the characters mostly shrugging and saying "Well we should have hope, even if there seems to be no reason to have any right now, 'cause why not you always gotta have hope."

It feels like an attempt to have a happy ending, but it doesn't quite work. This got a lot bloodier than I was expecting and we all know it only gets worse once the war of the valkyrie starts proper—I don't quite see the hope they're going on about. Ilrin had her own little arc leaving her with cause to hope in Dilmir 3; Runa and Taelord can't say the same here


Epilogue:

Soon after the destruction of the keep, Taelord sought out his mother. She had survived, her prison mostly untouched. She seemed unconcerned over her fate, whatever that might be. For now, she was fed and sheltered, and seemed content. Taelord had frowned, but left her to her simple pleasures. He would purge Ahnvad from her one day. When he knew how.

That's the end of that plot line I guess

Despite the death and destruction, those who remained in Helsng welcomed Utgar as a conquering hero. Einar and Vydar pledged to serve him, offering their men as soldiers, and their knowledge as commanders.

I'm surprised Utgar didn't give wellspring water to Vydar and Einar to help counteract the coming war against the Empire's valkyrie.

Another summed-up meeting between Utgar and Taelord I would've liked to see rather than be told about.

This Epilogue is a satisfying conclusion for showing the end result of what the disaster of war (and the poor decisions that led to it) would ultimately bring to Valhalla, but it's like an entire third entry waiting to be that you're summarizing here. I'd read this in spread out book form: it's just another step in getting us from Valkyrie Utgar to Heroscape Utgar and it sounds interesting. This Epilogue could be a third entry with relative ease.

Rating

Spoiler Alert!

I'm going to give this one a 9, perhaps closer to an 8.5—not nearly so good as Dilmir 3's 9 but better than the first story's 8. It took me a long time to get used to the slower pace compared to its predecessor, and yet the ending seemed to come rushing in all at once (perhaps fitting for the explosive nature of the feared war once the spark hit the powder keg, though the conclusion of Ch.31 still felt rushed nonetheless). That detracted somewhat, but I still enjoyed most of the story. I could see some readers calling it boring due to the slower pace and singular setting, but I liked it a lot.

Taelord was a great protagonist, better than Utgar and Runa in the first. You note in your Author's Note that he contributes basically nothing to the overall plot, but I actually think that's okay since he's just the ground-level view watching haplessly as everything unfolds against his will. A big part of this story is how war negatively affects the common folk, and Taelord is our window into seeing that firsthand. Utgar's perspective was also interesting: being unable to avert the war in a similar vein though it differs somewhat from how Taelord is able to see it. He's stuck watching it happen from a leader's view. Him realizing that his efforts to strive for peace only helped cause everything to occur is a great stepping stone for him to go down a more evil path. Next time he'll just take when the chance is given to him.

Runa is basically a non-entity in this, which is unfortunate. I can't say I understood your notes on her arc when she's in it so terribly little. Her optimism fails her but then Taelord tells her at the end not to worry about it so that's that I suppose. It's really not her story though so it's a moot point. "This truly has been a dawn of darkness" ~Runa

The main thing I disliked in this was that it was a lot of back-and-forth talking about the characters going to war or not. Which is fine, interesting even since it's not a black-and-white issue. Moral dilemmas with no clear choice really catch my interest as a reader. However, none of the debates the characters had really ever reached the other, and as such were mostly just reiterating their own perspectives after awhile. Both sides have valid points, but when none ever convince the other voicing the points starts to become moot. I think Geren was the only one to really change his perspective at all, off the top of my head.

The biggest offender of this is Rehs. There's like nine conversations between him and Taelord/G'shar about this topic—why they think he shouldn't fight and why he thinks he should—and they all end the same way, with him adamantly refusing to heed their advice. After awhile my eyes kind of glaze over whenever anyone talks to Rehs because I already know what he's gonna say. There's not even like a little fakeout arc where he decides not to but then later changes his mind again or something. I'd be genuinely curious to know how much of this story percent-wise is just Taelord or G'shar talking to him about not joining the Rebels. It's mostly the characters wasting their breath in vain, and is probably the reason why I wasn't too upset when he got killed in the end.

I'd mentioned the lighting details earlier but I'd also like to mention it again, because the language got really good at painting the pictures toward the end of the story. Stuff like

The light was red. Usually at this hour, the light was golden, striking the side of the house and making the wood look young. Today it was red, and the home looked… sharp, somehow. Too sharp, like the wrong colors were brighter, and the shadows flatter.

and

When the sun – which was little more than a vague extra brightness in the sky

really stuck with me and helped set the scene. Little details painted the setting very strongly in what would ordinarily be just another day at this village, so I wouldn't want to miss out on praising it. Excellent atmospheric descriptions.

Anyway, TLDR I liked the direction this story went. It was a pretty dark affair once it was all said and done, but hey this is the story of Utgar so what do you expect? You did a great job taking what was a fairly underdeveloped one-sided conflict from the first story and really making it a messy affair that none of the characters—nor I as a reader—could really crack successfully. Was it possible for Utgar to have gotten the peace he wanted, had he done things differently? I'm honestly not sure myself, and that's a powerful idea.

Make more

~TAF

[TGRF]

Spoiler Alert!

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

How is Ahnvad a better villain in this than in the story where he's the actual living main antagonist? In Valkyrie he was just kind of some bad guy. This is making a lot of content-of-interest out of relatively little which is certainly efficient.

It's probably because he's connected to the protagonist on a personal level, and actually feels far more dangerous because he's literally still winning from the grave. Neither of which happened in the prequel - he was indeed just some random bad guy. At least as far as the story revealed.

Geren kind of shows up to chat for a bit and then dies shortly thereafter. I'd have thought Runa helping him earlier might've had more payoff but you can't win them all I assume.

My initial instinct with Geren was that he would change and come over to Runa's side completely, at least in terms of thinking if not actions. But I've noticed that people in my stories (at least the unimportant side characters) seem to make decisions or change their minds too quickly, changing shape to fit the needs of the story. I tried to make Geren more realistic - perhaps understanding Runa and feeling sorry for her, but not changing his mind after he's been hunting people literally his entire life.

I don't know how Taelord hadn't seen crossbows before though: surely some of Anvahd's troops had them in the Volcarren...?

Ehh... yeah fair point. That's an oversight. Especially given that he was at Srung so frequently, and definitely spent some of that time in the armory...

Ch. 30: I was surprised to learn that Jandar really did take the wellspring water, when I had assumed that Vydar or Einar would've been the ones to do it in some effort to contrive the circumstances to become Valkyries themselves

Going into this, I knew that Jandar would have to end up a Valkyrie, because only a Valkyrie can open a Wellspring. If the Empire never had a Valkyrie, Utgar would just destroy them. Exactly how it all played out did take some while to wrangle into shape, and at one point I considered Einar playing a part with some elaborate deception involving stealing Wellspring water. Eventually the only thing that made sense for all parties involved was the way it ultimately turned out.

The story kind of comes to a quick collapsing close here. It really reads a lot like the ending of Dilmir 3, except for that we had the assurances of a sequel already whereas this might be the last we see of this world. Because of that it doesn't quite land as well to me, with the characters mostly shrugging and saying "Well we should have hope, even if there seems to be no reason to have any right now, 'cause why not you always gotta have hope."

It feels like an attempt to have a happy ending, but it doesn't quite work. This got a lot bloodier than I was expecting and we all know it only gets worse once the war of the valkyrie starts proper—I don't quite see the hope they're going on about. Ilrin had her own little arc leaving her with cause to hope in Dilmir 3; Runa and Taelord can't say the same here

Well that's kind of the point: there is no reason to hope. Taelord chose to hope anyway, realizing that without it, there really is nothing. Just a 'Dawn of Darkness' like Runa said. You might as well be like Fera, and live every day like it could be your last.

The entire story is built (loosely, I'll admit) around getting Taelord to stop relying on evidence for hope. So that at the end, when there truly is no reason for hope, he can keep going anyway. Because without it, there's just... nothing.

I'm surprised Utgar didn't give wellspring water to Vydar and Einar to help counteract the coming war against the Empire's valkyrie.

I'm actually surprised you would say this. Hasn't Utgar demonstrated enough just how little he trusts people? He already has Jandar on his hands; in his eyes, more Valkyrie would create more potential enemies, not allies.

This Epilogue is a satisfying conclusion for showing the end result of what the disaster of war (and the poor decisions that led to it) would ultimately bring to Valhalla, but it's like an entire third entry waiting to be that you're summarizing here. I'd read this in spread out book form: it's just another step in getting us from Valkyrie Utgar to Heroscape Utgar and it sounds interesting. This Epilogue could be a third entry with relative ease.

That third entry was originally the second half of the story. It got cut for two reasons: Firstly, it didn't serve the story. It was 'history', my idea of how the opening of the war went, and not actually relevant to the story. Not a lot happened during that part in terms of character or even plot. It was just people going from place to place, fighting battles, Utgar steadily going downhill and Taelord kind of just shaking his head at it all.

The second reason was because as I fleshed out the first half, which was originally spent in Taeleron, everything started to escalate towards the coming war. And then at the middle, when that happened... all the tension was gone. The thing the story had been building up to happened, but then the story just kept going, and it felt flat as a result.

For these reasons, I cut the 'campaign'.

I'm going to give this one a 9, perhaps closer to an 8.5

I initially really liked the story when I realized I had to cut that second half, thinking that the first half would be way better for it, with lots of edge-of-the-seat reading as the tension mounted. That seemed to lessen somehow as I wrote it, and by the time I was finished, I was sure I was looking at a solid 7. So I'm very surprised - but pleased - by a 9.

I'd be genuinely curious to know how much of this story percent-wise is just Taelord or G'shar talking to him about not joining the Rebels. It's mostly the characters wasting their breath in vain, and is probably the reason why I wasn't too upset when he got killed in the end.

Just under 5% of the outline, counting every instance of Rehs supporting the rebellion and/or someone questioning it. Which kind of sounds like a lot, but actually only equates to about 7.4 pages out of a 147 page story.

As always, it's interesting to see what stuck out to you versus what stuck out to me. I focused more on individual words - like 'Laborers' and 'Workers' and 'Mother' and things I thought were there over and over, and which I subsequently worked on a lot. But what you actually noticed as repetitive seems to be elements which don't change as the story progresses, like attitudes and points of view.

As far as the question of 'more' goes... it remains up in the air. I wouldn't at this point say that this is the last you'll see of this particular iteration of Valhalla. There are short stories I could tell as sequels to this, plus others which could easily be connected because they would take place years later. Whether or not any will focus directly on Taelord or Utgar... that's more up for debate. Currently neither of those characters have any stories planned. I also might not write anything at all. At this point I can't say anything for certain. Time will tell.

I'll keep you updated though of any changes, so watch my blog.

~TGRF.

[TheAverageFan]

Spoiler Alert!

Originally Posted by TGRF

Well that's kind of the point: there is no reason to hope. Taelord chose to hope anyway, realizing that without it, there really is nothing. Just a 'Dawn of Darkness' like Runa said. You might as well be like Fera, and live every day like it could be your last.

The entire story is built (loosely, I'll admit) around getting Taelord to stop relying on evidence for hope. So that at the end, when there truly is no reason for hope, he can keep going anyway. Because without it, there's just... nothing.

I suppose that makes sense. I am perhaps as usual too focused on the what-will-be of all this, because like Utgar Taelord too eventually becomes a villain in the normal Heroscape canon. I could see him chosing to live with nothing: nothing but the moment, or vengeance

Originally Posted by TGRF

I'm actually surprised you would say this. Hasn't Utgar demonstrated enough just how little he trusts people? He already has Jandar on his hands; in his eyes, more Valkyrie would create more potential enemies, not allies.

That is eventually what happens At least in the spur of the moment, realizing that Jandar had drank the water he stole, my line of thinking was that Utgar would've wanted help dealing with the threat right then and there in the keep. But he kept a level head and Jandar chose to leave rather than fight.

That third entry was originally the second half of the story. It got cut for two reasons: Firstly, it didn't serve the story. It was 'history', my idea of how the opening of the war went, and not actually relevant to the story. Not a lot happened during that part in terms of character or even plot. It was just people going from place to place, fighting battles, Utgar steadily going downhill and Taelord kind of just shaking his head at it all.

I can see that. This is Taelord's story and he certainly would've had little to do while Utgar is campaigning. Utgar meanwhile would likely just redo his arc again in another form: this time being pressured and pressured to summon armies until he finally has no choice.

~TAF

[TGRF]

Spoiler Alert!

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

I suppose that makes sense. I am perhaps as usual too focused on the what-will-be of all this, because like Utgar Taelord too eventually becomes a villain in the normal Heroscape canon. I could see him chosing to live with nothing: nothing but the moment, or vengeance

Does he though? The HS canon paints the traditional 'bad guys' and 'good guys', but if I've learned anything from your reviews, it's that everyone sees themselves as the heroes of their own stories.

From Jandar's point of view, Utgar is a dangerous loose canon, bent on unsealing the Wellsprings all for surety of safety. Jandar is just defending his way of life, both for himself and others.

From Utgar's point of view, he has no recourse but to ensure safety for his daughter and his people, and the Empire would stand in the way of that, unable to be trusted. He must unseal the Wellsprings, and for that, there will be war.

No one is really 'bad' or 'good' here. Just people locked into paths by choices and previous deeds or viewpoints.

~TGRF.