In several fantasy books, the main hero often sustains injuries in their quest to save their respective worlds.
In The Lord of the Rings, the protagonist Frodo Baggins sustained a number of physical and spiritual injuries throughout his quest to destroy the One Ring. On Weathertop, he was stabbed by the Nazgul with a Morghul blade. Even though the blade’s poison was healed, the injury itself will never fully heal and Frodo would carry it for the rest of his life. At Mount Doom, Frodo had one of his fingers bitten off by Gollum, earning him the nickname Frodo of the Nine Fingers. Finally, Frodo’s mind and spirit was deeply scarred after carrying the One Ring for so long during his quest.
During his final fight with the Shade Durza, Eragon sustained a cursed wound on his back that hindered his progress as a Dragon Rider. Even though the wound was healed and the curse lifted, it still played a significant role in Eragon’s development.
In addition to having his face scarred by a Wildling’s eagle, Jon Snow endured a traumatic experience after being betrayed and murdered by his own men. Not only did he sustain mental and spiritual scars due to experiencing the pain of death and the rapture of rebirth, but the stab wounds he sustained would never fully heal.
Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, from the Wheel of Time lost his left hand after having a mystical fireball thrown at it.
Overall, the injuries and pain that fantasy heroes play a significant role in their character development and serve as permanent memento of their adventures. I am planning to be in keeping with this tradition and have the main character in my Dark Ice Winter series injuries during his war with the Bauk horde.
I watched the first season of the Star Wars show Andor and Luther Rael’s speech about sacrifice made me think of Deku’s character development in My Hero Academia. Check it out:
“Calm.”
“Kindness. Kinship.”
“Love.”
“I’ve given up all chance at inner peace. I’ve made my mind a sunless space.”
“I share my dreams with ghosts.”
“I wake up every day to an equation I wrote 15 years ago from which there’s only one conclusion, I’m damned for what I do.”
“My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to yield, my eagerness to fight, they’ve set me on a path from which there is no escape.”
“I yearned to be a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost and by the time I looked down there was no longer any ground beneath my feet.”
“I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them.”
“I burn my decency for someone else’s future.”
“I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see.”
“And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude.”
I realized that Tomura Shigaraki’s character development seems closely tied to the dialogue of the “Sacrifice” cinematic trailer of Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire. Check it out:
“A man can have anything, if he is willing to sacrifice.”
“With your birth comes a solemn vow: you will have nothing. Your privilege is the dirt.”
“In the darkness, only ambition will guide you.”
“The oath you swear, the promises you make, they are yours alone.”
“Your freedom will be the wars you wage.”
“Your birthright, the losses you suffer.”
“Your entitlement, the pain you endure.”
“And when darkness finds you, you will face it alone.”
“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.“
The Lord of the Rings
There is one scenario I always thought about regarding the Nazgul from The Lord of the Rings. When the Rings of Power were forged, there were a total of twenty rings made. Three were given to the Elves, seven to the Dwarves, nine to Men, and one to the Dark Lord Sauron himself. The purpose of the Rings of Power was to allow Sauron to exert his will to dominate all life on all races in Middle-Earth. He succeeded in exerting his will upon the nine rings that were given to Men, which resulted in the creation of the nine Nazgul. However, the other ten rings failed to effect the Elves and Dwarves the way Sauron wanted. On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if the rest of the Rings of Power effected the Elves and Dwarves. My guess would be that the other ten rings may have turned their wearers into Nazgul just like the nine rings to Men. We all know what kind of damage nine Nazgul could cause. Can you imagine how much more damage nineteen Nazgul would cause? That is a terrifying thought to consider.
“You cannot win, Darth. Strike me down and I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars
The following contains spoilers from recent chapters of My Hero Academia. You have been warned.
Deku is finally complete, his full potential achieved! As Deku commences his final duel with Tomura Shigaraki/All For One, we get to see the true extent of Deku’s mastery of One For All. It began when Deku unlocked the second OFA user’s quirk, “Transmission”. Because this was the first quirk to be assimilated by One For All, it had the most time to be augmented by One For All out of all the other quirks in its arsenal. As such, the vestige of the second user warned Deku to only use it as a last resort. To use the enhanced Transmission quirk, Deku had to put one hand on his other hand, which makes it the type of quirk that activates when in physical contact with its intended target. Once the intended target is touched, Deku can control the speed the target moves. In this case, Deku made himself the intended target, which enables him to explosively augment his own speed, velocity, and the power of his strikes’ impact. Like Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece, Deku controls Transmission through the use of “gears.” The First Gear is the base speed upon activating Transmission followed by Second Gear and Third Gear while finishing with Top Gear, which is the final and top speed of Transmission. Deku can wield Transmission’s full power through a technique called “Overdrive”, which has enough speed and strength to match 120% of One For All. In fact, the speed and power is so great that Deku could launch five 120% Smash blows in an instant, creating a massive crater! This power enabled Deku to completely overwhelm Tomura Shigaraki/All For One to the point in which the supervillain could not counter. Sadly, because it should be used as a last resort, Transmission can only be used for five minutes. After that, Deku’s stamina will be spent and he will be out of the fight.
Apart from unlocking the Transmission quirk, Deku also learned to combine quirks like All For One does. One example of combining his quirks was when he fused “Fa Jin” with “Blackwhip”, resulting in the creation of a technique called “Black Chain”, which is a chain-like form of Blackwhip that is further strengthened by Fa Jin. Blackwhip is a form of energy whip generation while Fa Jin is a way to store up and use kinetic energy. By combining these two powers, Deku was able to create an even more powerful and sturdy energy whip that can grapple strong opponents. Another example is when he combines Transmission with Fa Jin, which enabled him to increase his strength and speed with both Transmission and the built up kinetic energy of Fa Jin. This essentially doubles Deku’s physical capabilities to nearly god-like levels.
Not only does Deku unlock his final quirk and learn to combine his various quirks, but he also learns to skillfully switch in between his quirks with extreme speed and dexterity. This was demonstrated when Tomura Shigaraki/All For One was catching on to Deku’s fight pattern and tried to counterattack. However, despite moving at extreme speed, Deku was able to outmaneuver his foe. First, Deku detected Tomura Shigaraki/All For One’s counterattack by using “Danger Sense”. Then he triggered “Smokescreen” to obscure Tomura Shigaraki/All For One’s vision and conceal his movements. Using Smokescreen for cover, Deku used “Float” to fly above out of his opponent’s reach before grappling his adversary with “Blackwhip” and slamming him into the ground. After this quick switch between quirks, Deku resumed his onslaught on Tomura Shigaraki/All For One until he blasted a hole in the villain’s torso.
Overall, Deku truly has become the world’s greatest superhero at this point in the story. He has reached a level of power that not even All Might could match. In fact, it has been said that his power has become so great that it can distort the laws of physics. The new Symbol of Peace is truly born and Deku is finally ready to lift the mantle from All Might’s shoulders. Now we see two overpowered titans clash as Deku and Tomura Shigaraki/All For One decide the fate of the world.
During the Hussite Wars in the early 15th century, there was a vehicle that was essentially a medieval precursor of the tank. This vehicle was referred to as the “war wagon”. These wagons would be reinforced with metal plating and thick wood to shield against archers as well as melee strikes from infantry. A war wagon would be occupied by archers and crossbowmen who would fire arrows and bolts from the safety of their wagon’s defenses. If cavalry or infantry got too close to the wagon, the archers and crossbowmen would be defended by spearmen, who would use their polearms to beat back any attacker that got too close to the wagon. When placed in strategically defensible positions, these wagons prove to be quite effective against heavy cavalry. The concept of the war wagon was pioneered by the Bohemian knight Jan Zizka, who used these wagons to crippling effect against Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund’s forces. In fact, Jan Zizka’s usage of such tactics was so effective that he never lost a battle. I am thinking of including war wagons in future battles in my fantasy books.
For the main villain of the Dark Ice Winter series, I will be drawing inspiration from Arthas the Lich King from World of Warcraft. Like Arthas, my villain will be driven by revenge and seeks power through the use of cursed objects. Also, my villain’s backstory will be as tragic as that of Arthas.
One tactic that was used in sea battles throughout history was the usage of “fire ships”. The idea behind fire ships is that one fleet would coat some of their ships in oil and gunpowder, set them on fire, and steer them toward their enemy’s fleet. Not only would fire ships inflict massive casualties on an enemy fleet, but it would cause enough chaos and panic to make the enemy fleet break formation, which would make them easier targets to attack. This tactic was used during the destruction of the Spanish Armada during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. I will definitely include the use of fire ships in the epic sea battle in the Dark Ice Winter series.
I thought of a weapon that would make a good pirate weapon for my fantasy series: the khopesh. The khopesh was a type of sword that was used in ancient Egypt. Because of the aesthetic of the blade, I thought it would make an ideal weapon for a pirate.
The medium-sized ships in my fantasy world are longships, which resemble and function the same way as Viking longships. Unlike my fantasy world’s version of galleys, which are propelled by wind and sails, longships are propelled by both sails and the usage of oars. When not used for war, longships are used as cargo vessels for merchants and traders.
Grady P Brown - Author 