Soultaming the Serpent [Meet the characters]
Magical hoarders, twice-widowed lovers, mysterious naked men, sages, dragons, and more!
You’re probably already familiar with the main three characters from Soultaming the Serpent, but here is some info about them, along with a few other characters in the book. Because yes… there seem to be very few of them in total 😅
Jun Weaver
Jun is actually looking forward to her 60th birthday even if that means another year of being ridiculed for being single and having no family. All her life, Jun has wanted to do something but never had the motivation, so she spends her time weaving and increasing her collection of useless knick-knacks from merchants.
Original concept for Jun was a young woman wanting to escape her village to go on a quest to prove to herself that she could do it. That changed drastically as I decided I wanted the fantasy equivalent of “crazy-cat-lady” as an older main character instead. And then I decided, why not go all out and make her a hermit afraid of adventure?
Aurel
The suspected Chosen One, Aurel has the appearance of the famed northerners with pale silver hair, unnaturally purple eyes, and even paler skin that burns too quickly. He is easily offended and even more easily won over, with a petulant personality that leaves a lot to be desired. If only he wasn't so pretty.
For those of you who have read my other work, you’ll probably find some familiarity between this character and our favourite silent lover Thar. There is something about the silent, cold, mysterious characters that always draws me in. Aurel, however, ended up changing to a little snot with the first draft, and then to where he is now by the final.
Casey Brewer
Casey is the village brewer and owner of the only tavern, making him the richest one in the village. If only that meant something. He is known to fall in love easily and is a romantic at heart. Sadly, he is already twice widowed with four children and has had his eyes on Jun for the past decade or so with no reward.
Casey’s original concept was a love rival and somebody who fought Aurel for Jun’s affections. He was supposed to be the jealous and obsessive character to get in their way, but as the story progressed not only did I fall in love with him, but so did others! He turned from a boring love rival to a best friend and then something more.
(ps. quick note about Casey’s art - it has changed! There is another version floating about, but I wasn’t completely in love with it, so I gave AI another try and I absolutely *love* this version… if only he had a wooden leg!)
And now! The best part about these three and something that made me smile so wide my cheeks were hurting. I got my first ever FANART - courtesy of Greg Yates, author of Not Your Mountain. Thank you so much for this!
And here is another friendly face, patiently waiting for her companions!
The next three
And now, we have our other three characters that make repeat appearances.
Sophar
For those of you who haven’t read the story, all I’m going to tell you about Sophar is that he is charming, beautiful, has golden eyes, and is loved by many people. I don’t want to spoil his main role but considering the three above, you could probably guess.
The Sage
Clearly, I hadn’t come up with a name for this character and there are actually two of them with the title in the story. We have the sage of the past that is mentioned and seen briefly as someone who helped out, and then we have the sage of the future, the one that helps out our main characters now.
The Dragon
Here, I am referring to the dragon that is mentioned in the first line of the story. Yes, the one that died. He was mentioned a few times later on in the story as he had a very strong connection and important role to play in everybody’s past and future - and I’m not just referring to the fact that he made it rain.
Wait! There are three more!
Flay Rainborn
Flay Rainborn is only introduced in the last chapter as her own POV, someone to give you hope and make you bawl your eyes out. I kid you not, that is literally her purpose. Anything else is a major spoiler!
Markus
Although only briefly mentioned, he did get a name! This is the travelling merchant that sold most of Jun’s knick-knacks to her and he is also a past lover of hers, someone that helped inspire Casey’s jealous streak.
The dragon that started the cycle
She has no name yet, but she was mentioned in the story and she had a huge impact on the entire world. In fact, I’m thinking about writing a short story about her and how everything in Soultaming started. There is something about experiencing it ourselves instead of as a story within a story, right?
And this is it!
Outside of the characters mentioned above we also have Casey’s sons (only one of which has a name), the Empress, the villagers, and the Chosen One’s followers. But yeah… very small cast for this story that I didn’t even realize how small it was until I started writing this!
If you want to get to know all these characters better, don’t forget to grab your own copy of Soultaming the Serpent, available in all major retailers.