17. are there any important symbols in your book? explain.
Everything comes in fours. 4 is a recurring arc number of mine, and it’s tied to literally everything, but most significantly Feilan’s four gods and four magical elements. Storm, Illusion, Darkness, and Light. The magic system has its own symbolic language but I’m gonna talk about 4 first.
4 is a perfect number. 4 is the number of balance and equilibrium, because 4 is the number of transformation and the cycle of existence. You have four seasons, four times of day, four phases of the moon, four deities, four elements, four stages of life, four Heralds, and four great Feian tribes (before the Irkatzi became part of Feilan, that’s its own complicated thing).
If you look carefully at my story, most things come in sets of 4. Groups of 3 are almost ALWAYS a sign that Something Is Wrong. There are 3 Ravenhart sisters. Each one of them is associated with something that should be part of a set of 4, and Something Is Wrong. They’re missing something. Book 1 features 3 magic necklace users. Those are tied to the magical elements, and there should be 4, and Something Is Wrong. The protagonists aren’t seeing the full picture. If you’re REALLY on top of the reading-Taz’s-symbolism game you can even predict future events based on which places and things and characters seem to represent the missing piece. Sometimes I’m really obvious about these, too.
I’m also really big on color symbolism (usually via the magical elements). The colors don’t really represent specific things per se, but most characters have an associated color that represents their presence in the plot. These are actually a lowkey in-universe thing, nicknamed totem colors, people are aware of them. When something is red, it’s affiliated with Kyrina. When something is blue, it’s associated with Sayara. When something is green or white, it’s probably evil. There are obviously exceptions, but I use color very deliberately most of the time. My main characters also have associated symbols, but those rarely make it into the text, because well.. it’s hard to do that in a text medium. But when I draw them you’ll almost always see their symbols worked in somehow!
For the record, since I haven’t talked about my sequels much yet, Melalina is a character who’s introduced in book 2. She’s part of the main protagonist team in book 2, and she’s also fairly important in book 3, and she’s the only happy character in this series and I love her for it.
29. are there any minor characters you want to talk about? what is their role?
Yes! I have a lot of minor/secondary characters, actually, although most of them don’t show up until later on… I’ve been trying to trim the cast lists in the series just because there are SO MANY main characters, it’s a lot for a reader to keep track of. In book 2 (titled The Queen of Feilan) there are 10 primary characters (the ones in the picture above), PLUS an assortment of secondary characters and villains, and it’s a lot. Book 1’s more focused on Sayara and her family, and after the end of book 2 there are a few individuals who are sidelined for one reason or another… I’m sorry Mel but you’re a mersprite and you can’t be in land battles… but it’s still a lot. Some of them might get cut.
Right now I kinda wanna talk about Indigo and Arum Ravenhart, just because they’re fun characters. Indy is a goofy flirt, Arum is an emo little shit, and they’re some of the only teenage male characters in the entire series right now. Indy and Arum are twins, and members of the Jaratran Ravenhart family, which is… an ENTIRELY different family than the regular Ravenhart family in the story. Lemme tangent about that for a minute b/c it’s important and I don’t want people getting the wrong impression.
So, the Ravenhart name is one of the oldest and most famous royal surnames in history, and their family is one of the oldest established families on the planet. Over the centuries, they’ve split into three separate branches—the Karatza Ravenharts, the Jaratran Ravenharts, and the Amarad Ravenharts. Violet and Lavender are Karatza Ravenharts, who are the “true” Ravenhart lineage with the most direct link back to their founding ancestor. Indy and Arum are Jaratran Ravenharts. Although they share Vi and Lavender’s surname, they actually aren’t closely related AT ALL—the last link between their families was several hundred years ago, and Violet’s more closely related to Kyrina than she is to Indy and Arum. (She has a great-great-something-aunt who married into the del Aphirs about 200-some years ago. Still not that closely related, especially considering that they’re royalty and royals are way more willing to inbreed than most.)
With that in mind, it’s a lot less awkward to introduce Indy and Arum as Violet’s lowkey love interests. Vi and her sisters are quite close with Indy and Arum and the other Jaratran Ravenharts, because Lilac thought it was a good idea to encourage positive relationships, and either of those boys would be a good marriage option for the gals once they’re old enough. Indy has a thing for Violet, but she finds him annoying and mocks him constantly. She in turn has a thing for Arum, because he plays the lyre and she thinks that’s hot, but Arum has a thing for Lavender, who is gay and has a crush on Arum’s cute cousin Dahlia, who has a thing for Violet, and… yeah you get the idea there’s like a love DODECAHEDRON of stupidity going on here. Aelia thinks it’s hilarious.
Indigo’s a huge flirt, who hits on everything that moves because he thinks that’s how you bond with people (and also he’s a horny teenage boy). But like also, he’s a surprisingly deep character once you get past the flirting. He’s annoying in book 2 because he’s comic relief, but he features in a spinoff side story I’ve planned as a really serious character. Being a man, he’s unable to inherit a royal title according to Irkatzi custom, but he serves as regent for his younger sister while she grows up and he’s quite good at it. He cares very deeply about others. He also stops being a pest when he gets an actual boyfriend and no longer feels compelled to flirt with everyone all the time.
Arum’s a little less thoroughly developed, mostly because he doesn’t actually appear on the page in The Queen of Feilan, he’s just referenced by other characters. He’s nice, though! He becomes a traveling bard as an adult and disappoints his entire family.
Thanks for asking!!! and double thanks if you actually read this entire giant infodump!! :D