I really want to know what your inspiration for creating Khleo was 👀 where did they come from in your brain?
Ohhh. Where to begin??? (Lol thank you for asking this. It gives me a chance to nerd out and talk about my creative process!)
I would say that at her core, Khleo is the closest I could get to a literal interpretation of the Strength Tarot card. Khleo navigates her emotions and the trials that life puts before her just as the woman in the card navigates the balance between herself and the lion.
Khleo is one piece to my little OC trinity. You may have seen Ozy use the term “mind, body, and heart” in the fics from his point of view. Here he’s subconsciously referring to himself, Khleo, and Kip. Khleo makes up the Body. My interpretation of the “body” refers to our visceral desires and behaviors. Instinct. Anger/Wrath. Sexual Appetite. These are the primary forces that dominate Khleo’s character and govern her decision-making process.
Khleo isn’t new in terms of their design. I’ve written characters like them before because I’ve always been drawn to the lone ranger/wandering samurai types, typically hardened by life to the point where they are perpetually jaded, bitter, or cynical. But deep down they are compelled to trust and to surrender. When I started to think about how a character like that could be shaped by the Arcana universe, Khleo was born!
Fun fact: Khleo came to me around the same time as Kipling, but they took longer for me to get right. It wasn’t until I started diving into the Strength Tarot that the defining pieces of Khleo’s character and backstory really fell into place.