Ashram from Record of Lodoss Wars

Some days I’m a little disappointed that the Gods and Goddesses of Windemere don’t get enough attention.  Not just from readers, but from me.  With the Law of Influence preventing them from getting physically involved, I can only use them in brief scenes where they give cryptic messages or discuss events.  Still, their fate is tied into the overall story as it progresses, so I should give the main ones some love.

Gabriel is the most powerful of the Gods and he weaves the destiny of mortals.  He also took over Hell and the Chaos Void before he fully ascended to Godhood, but that’s kind of a side job for him.  Now, the destiny weaving isn’t as black and white as people think as you will see in one of his themes.

Creator of Heroes and Villains

When people hear that someone is destined in fantasy, we jump to the conclusion that this is only for heroes.  This tends to be the focus of the story, so one would never notice that Gabriel is also responsible for the villains.  He openly admits it even though he is preferring to side with the good guys.  As he explains, Gabriel is playing an eternal chess match with himself and he can never win.  Part of the reason is because there is a flaw in Windemere’s destiny system, which is that too much structure crumbles and not enough structure falls flat.  This causes Gabriel to create destinies that are general ideas, but have flexibility for freewill.  For example, Nyx is destined to face the coming darkness, but there is no certainty that she will be the victor or what condition she’ll be in when it happens.  It is because of this balancing act that Gabriel can get frustrated and even slip every now and again.

Not Letting Go

Gabriel is proud of once being mortal and believes that ascended Gods are better than those who were born into the role.  It is this mentality that prevents him from letting go of a few flaws.  His arrogance, egotism, and ability to hold a grudge are incredibly mortal, which will cause issues for him.  A core part of Legends of Windemere revolves around Gabriel not letting go of his past.  This is a very spoiler heavy plot, which unfolds as the series progresses.  As the God who shows up in nearly every big series that I have planned, Gabriel gets the really long game.