Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Villains Can be Beautiful Too

I know I just answered some questions for Sarah and Hasón, my Phoenix Trilogy protagonists. But what about the antagonist? A tale can fall just as flat if the villain isn’t believable as it can when the hero isn’t. So for April’s edition of Beautiful People, posted last Sunday, I’m picking on General Jackobus Wholawski.

"Come into my fortress," said the General to the innocent lass.

Tim Curry– Read his Trade Mark.
He’s the perfect choice for playing Wholawski.
WARNING:
Wholawski's name was derived from Jack A. Hole, only he’s turned into a sadistic psychopath, which is reflected in his answers. Read them at your own risk!
  1. What is their favorite type of shoes?
    Fur lined, leather, knee high boots, no questions about that. It gets cold up in the mountains of Azure and Wholawski likes to stay warm. Not to mention they are good armor on the practice field. Woe to anyone who manages to slice them; there’s a fine line between showing your skill and ending up on the rack when you spar the General.
  2. Do they journal?
  3. Even if he could write fluently, he wouldn’t. A journal would only give his enemies fuel to their fire and he would have been ousted sooner. No, for Whoalwski it is better to read theirs than to keep one of his own.
  4. What’s their favorite animal?
  5. A well seasoned and cooked one; particularly Vervellean steer. The man keeps no pets; hates cats and hunting dogs. The only reason he has a horse is because the beast is useful.
  6. What does their average day look like?
    A typical day at his strong hold starts with Wholawski rising at the crack of dawn to practice sword play. After that, he eats breakfast and then spends some time in the dungeons. Usually, at least one new recruit from that morning practice will require racking. Then from late morning to late afternoon he pulls together all the information he’s gleaned from the past day to continue his quest for domination of Videra. When the sun starts setting, he goes back out for more sparring before picking one of the servant girls. If the girl is lucky, she’ll get to dine with him in the Great Hall, otherwise she’ll be a prisoner in his bedroom. If he’s had a really bad day, she may end up in the torture chamber.
    Wholwaski’s routine when traveling is much the same only the practice sessions are shorter and he does a lot of thinking while moving. He also forgoes the woman, unless they happen to be in town and one suits his purpose. Wenching is a reward for good performance on the road. Bad performance results in flogging; or worse.
  7. Night owl or morning person? (Optional: What time do they usually wake up? Go to bed?)
    Up by dawn and in bed (but not asleep) by dark is his way of life. Then again, when your only other source of light is through candles and the rare oil lamp, it’s not hard to see why. Plus, Whoalwski is not a lazy man; he has a continent to conquer.
  8. Do they have a sweet tooth?
    Yes, he does, though probably not as sweet as what we think of as sweet. Sugar and honey are high commodity items. Still, Wholwaski has developed a refined palette and likes savory food.
  9. What colors are their bedroom?
    The anteroom is predominately the grey of stone, with yellowed parchment maps hung upon the walls. Separating this room from the bedroom is a red curtain. Made of woven wool, blood stains seem to disappear in it. In the bedroom the walls are hung with threadbare tapestries keeping the grey at bay. More red wool curtains hang over the windows and around the bed. All the better to hide his violent tendencies.
  10. Can they cook?
    By the Gods’ Graces No! His mother did that for him and after he killed her, his sister took over the job. Now his sister just runs the kitchen whose wenches try to satisfy Wholawski’s many appetites.
  11. What is their favorite household chore?
    Torturing ‘guests’ for information and slicing up sparring partners, if you want to count those. He’s rather fond of being mean to a fellow human beings and causing them to cower in fear. In his youth his favorite chose was chopping wood. While his ax sliced through the logs, he imagined they were someone’s body part.
  12. Favorite kind of tea?
    Whoalwski doesn’t drink tea – not if he can help it – but if he has to present a facade to some Nobel or upper classman, he prefers Checkerberry (think wintergreen).
So what do you think? Is he a diabolical villain? I hope so, since that’s what he’s wants to be. There will be no redemption for him, though the Gods have their use for his ghost. Just as I have a use for BeautifulPeople. I think it shall become a regular monthly occurrence.

:} Cathryn

14 comments:

  1. *Spook dives into a bunker* FIRE!
    *a volley of rotten veggies and exploding bags of dragaunt slobber are lobbed in the direction of the fortress. Under cover of the volley, Vidal and Sephirax are sent in to find the general and make his life as uncomfortable as possible*

    You know what I think of Darling Jackie-boy. *snarls and starts sporking the much-abused voodoo doll with vehemence*

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    1. (Somewhere inside the fortress, covered in rotting vegetables and being snickered at behind his back, general Wholawski controts in pain, writhing and squirming to get away from some unseen attacker.)

      Well now there's a reason to like Seph... *grins* Glad to see Wholawski is still sending chills down your spine.

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    2. That and more. Hence why I now have Sephy on speed dial. When in doubt, fight a nasty with an even bigger and nastier nasty! xD

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    3. Heh... The only reason Seph wins against our good General is because he can get into the man's brain and make him twitch, which is pretty hilarious It annoys junipers out of Wholawski since, after all, he is a control freak. :}

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  2. anti-room? Is that like anti-Christ? You mean anteroom, I believe :) Also, sparring, not sparing. Ha ha ha, that's something I noticed a lot in PT. Sparing with him. Hmm.... ;D

    Let us convert him to drinking tea. A caffeine addiction would render him vulnerable and we could exploit that.

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    1. And that is why you and Charely get to look over my manuscripts befroe they go out to anyone *scambles off and fixes the offending typos* Or if you get to busy I'll have to pay someone else.

      (I guarentee - Wholawski states - that I have no intention of sparing anyone, as much as my author might like me to.)
      Yeah - maybe that is a wishful thinking typo...lol.

      (And Miss - he continues - the only caffine I need is the pain I inflict upon my sparring partners in the morning.)
      *shudders* Don't worry we exploit his love of good food - go Sarah the cook! *grins*

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  3. Diabolical indeed! He sounds like a perfectly horrid person, and therefore a perfectly perfect villain. ;) I totally agree that villains deserve just as much development as protagonists, too - what's the good of any character if they don't feel like a real(ish) person, after all?

    That said, I'm quite glad Wholawski is NOT real, because he seems rather despicable and I'd rather not have to meet him. ;)

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    1. (Wholawski steps forward to take a bow, with his devilish smile and glint in his eyes, but Elo stuffs him back down before he can say anything.)

      Thank you. I'm glad he's not real as well. it's bad enough having him in my head, and the times when I wrote from his point of view *shudders* He's an evil diabolical man, and my first villain.... I might have over done it. :}

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    2. I don't know, I think most villains are meant to be a bit overdone. I mean, you could probably even accuse J.K. Rowling of overdoing Voldemort! If you're going to have anything like an epic battle of good against evil, you've got to have a very evil villain. ;)

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    3. *giggles* true that! I never thought of comparing Wholwaski to Voldemort (though I have compared him to Hitler), but you've got a point.

      Doens't mean I don't shudder at what's come out of my own brain. Sometimes I wonder about myself. :}

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    4. Hehe, well, you're not the only one. Almost every single novel/la I've ever written has contained some sort of tragedy. I find myself inexplicably fascinated with historical tragedies, and I wrote novellas about the Titanic, the Holocaust AND Hiroshima. I haven't created any diabolical villains (yet), but I don't seem to have any problem using shocking tragedy! ;)

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    5. I have a tendency to put the tragedies in the back-story. Then that becomes either a strength or weakness for the character as they face something new.

      Wholawski pretty much grew himself, I had no plans at the time, just needed a name for the General whose camp Sarah 'infiltrated'. I was just going with the waking dream thinking it was merely a romance story... Who knew I'd get an epic trilogy out of it *shrug* I'm liking it though. :}

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    6. Wow! Unexpected, but I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. Good luck with that epic trilogy! :)

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    7. Thanks. It's at least written an gone through one editing pass. Now I need to do an overhaul (I think the plot's stabalized enough to do that) and then on to polishing.

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