Earlier posts acquainted you with the main heroes of my novel-in-progress, The Whitemaiden — namely the healer sisters Catirna and Alruna and the sage Axel. Now I think it’s time to present one of the villains!
Meet Galyek Basilekel*, the dreaded captain of the guard at the Thornwood Citadel.
WAIT. HOLD UP.
That’s not Galyek. That’s Josef.
Just as the main heroes grew out of older characters, it seems Galyek is actually the evil, unartistic twin of Count Josef von Eschensee, the main character of my dark fantasy Swan Stones. (Speaking of which, I really need to clean up that novel and post it somewhere!)
Like his predecessor, Galyek is stern, serious, and strict about order and decorum. He is also tall, blond, and blue-eyed, which in Galyek’s case always puts me in mind of a Nazi poster boy.
Captain Galyek, however, is not a Nazi. Thank God. As a high-ranking officer in the Mireki army (Mirek being the center of power in the world of Havalká), he earned the trust of the high king and was sent to the small country of Myelna to help quell an uprising and stabilize the insane monarch. (An aim which he achieved most efficiently.)
At the time of the story, he is still serving as Captain of the Royal Guard in the citadel of Myelna, though now under a new king.
So what? Why is he a villain?
To be fair, I don’t consider Galyek a villain. He’s not nice, but he’s not exactly an eebil dark lord, either.
Galyek’s power comes half from his own natural military capability, and half from a supernatural talent known as beastmastery. Unlike Axel, who is also a beastmaster, his talent has been augmented by enchanted havafruit, which means he can actually see through the eyes of his bonded animals (usually hawks). This is great for intelligence, and even those who are unaware of the extent of his power know to be wary of his hawks.
Throughout The Whitemaiden, his mission is to weed out spies and quell yet another orthodox Tirrite uprising, this one led by the mad king’s runaway son (Alruna‘s brother, who has been disinherited). Unfortunately, our heroes end up forced to get involved in this very uprising.
What makes Galyek a villain, then, is his antagonistic position toward our heroes. (But also his ruthless tactics and sheer scariness.)
If he’s not eebil, what are his good points?
He’s a capable leader and has earned the respect of his men. (Dark lords and minions would say “Respect? Reschmect, I rule by FEAR!”) He’s also deeply loyal to the high king, whom he sees as his true superior (as opposed to the current king of Myelna, with whom he is frequently at cross-purposes).
Although he comes off as cold and aloof, even sometimes inhuman, he does have a heart. He loved his wife Akipya and still loves her, even after an experiment gone awry in the temples of Mirek has left her only half-human. The memory of that betrayal makes him suspicious of sannáleki (the Valekite sorceror-priests) and further complicates his relationship to the King of Myelna, who IS a sannálek.
To be honest, when I first started writing Galyek, he wasn’t a very developed character. He was kind of on the eebil side. Over the course of writing the manuscript, however, I learned more about his personality and backstory and began to appreciate him.
He even has a theme song:
- Okean Elzy – Стріляй (ignore the lyrics plz)
If you’re interested in getting to know Galyek Basilekel a little better, beta readers will meet him at the end of July!
*How to pronounce his name: Gahl-YEK Ba-SEEL-ek-el.
Seems to me, eebil Galyek is a hawk-whisperer extraordinaire!
In a word, yes!
Beastmasters usually specialize. There are two others in the story, one who focuses on birds and mice, and one who favors large animals like dogs.