By Kayla Matt

The Lich is an interesting character because he evolved more than I expected.  A lot of the villains did, but he pulled the biggest trick.  He was never meant to be the main villain and it’s revealed that he has a master at the end of Beginning of a Hero.  In fact, he was going to be the first tier bad guy and fade away.  Then, he grew into something else and adopted a few themes that rounded him out.

Loyalty

Believe it or not, the Lich might be one of the most loyal characters in the series.  Sure, his loyalty is to an ancient evil that wishes to conquer Windemere.  That doesn’t make much of a difference here.  Some of the other villains are loyal, but the Lich grew into having the highest level.  He swears by his dark master and will put himself in danger for this person, which I can respect.  It makes him more human, which I think makes him a much more solid villain.  In fact, it can lead the readers to wonder what he’s really up to at times.

Impatience and Self-Destruction

The Lich is very cunning, but he still fails.  It is pointed out in one book that he used to be more patient, but multiple loses to Selenia Hamilton and now Luke Callindor have made him a bit crazed.  He struggles to regain his self-respect and forethought as his role evolves in the series.  For the Lich, it shouldn’t be about getting physically involved, but manipulating others to do his bidding.  He’s almost the reverse of Luke whose impatience tends to pay off.  Part of this is because the Lich gets impatient and his mind fumbles while Luke becomes sharper.  In this way, I think they really compliment each other as enemies.

Not Born Evil

A friend of mine is always complaining that the Lich’s real name (Tyler) is terrible for a villain.  Part of this is ribbing.  Yet, it does bring up an aspect of fantasy where many villains have sinister names.  The truth behind the Lich is that he wasn’t born evil, so he has a normal name.  He wasn’t even a necrocaster in life, so he’s an oddity among Liches who were typically casters when they were alive.  It’s only recently that I designed the true reason he fell into the dark arts, which can be a little understandable.  The Lich really epitomizes the idea that most villains are more than evil beings.  By keeping his birth name in the story, I believe this drives that home some more.

Persistence

Say what you want about the Lich, but he never gives up.  Destroy his body, scatter his soul, and ruin his plans, he will come back.  Among the Legends of Windemere villains, the Lich has the most amount of failures.  One has to respect that he keeps going forward and trying to prove himself.  This ideal is typically admired in heroes, but villains have this too and that’s where we getting recurring enemies from.  I love this aspect of the Lich because it means I can have him bounce back from utter defeat quicker than any other character in the series.  Heroes have to mope and come to terms with their failures.  The Lich simply takes the loss and pushes to prove he’s still a force to be feared.