Soulmender from Magic the Gathering
In the pages of Legends of Windemere, the priests of Durag are heroic and help our heroes in their quest against evil. You have Aedyn Karwyn who is noble and loyal to the very end. It is clear why the sun god has such a widespread system of followers and is involved in so many battles for Windemere. The temples are home to healers who will jump into action immediately when the heroes are in need.
Within the pages of War of Nytefall, the priests of Durag are a zealous force of mortals armed with holy magic. They are a constant threat to the vampires, especially during the 50 years that Clyde was buried. It was a devastating war that the Duragians nearly won before the Dawn Fangs emerged. Even after that war, they continue to be a danger and Eradication brings them back into the spotlight. With the Fist of Durag on the battlefield, they are poised to wipe out the vampires who are the heroes of this story.
Interesting how the Duragians can work as hero and villain depending on who they are facing. Some may say that they are still heroes since they are facing ‘monsters’, but the Dawn Fangs aren’t really threatening anyone. They tend to stay in hiding and give the Duragians no reason to be hunted, but they have to defend themselves. It is getting really nasty now since the Fist of Durag can depower and kill them. A reader may be hard pressed to defend the assault and murder of people who aren’t doing anything wrong. It is only that they are seen as evil, which is totally biased and hateful when it comes to the Dawn Fang. That doesn’t work in the Duragian’s favor.
Strangest thing is that I didn’t find it difficult to make them the bad guys after spending 5 years with them on the hero side of a story. Part of it is because this is in the past and the Duragians haven’t really figured out that Dawn Fangs aren’t threats. You’ll see in Eradication that there is mention of them starting to question the existence of such vampires, which is causing a schism. One group even believes that Clyde and his people are favored by the Sun God. This wasn’t hard to write either because we’re looking at religion here. I’ve found that people take such things in different degrees, so why wouldn’t there be the same thing in Windemere? You have your zealots that refuse to see things beyond ‘vampires evil’, those in the middle, and those who think there is something different about the Dawn Fangs.
You can say that this book will be a big evolution for the Duragian order. This is when they reclaim the infamy that they had in Loyalty even if it isn’t across the board. Leo Kandrel is . . . Well, I’m going to need to give him Wednesday’s post.
Legends of Windemere 
That is fascinating. Everyone believes they are the hero in their own stories. Of course, there have been people who have done horrific things while still believing they were the good guys.
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Exactly. Think I’d be more scared of those than people who know they’re villains. Feels like the first group is capable of worse.
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That’s great writing as well as it’s realistic from a moral standpoint. I certainly feel the same way. I’d rather be around honest villains than fake heroes.
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Same here. Not sure what that says about me though.
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That is something to think about. For me, it’s more like I don’t like it when a fake hero of sorts never owns up to their misdeeds. That aggravates me so much.
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What if a hero doesn’t realize what they’re doing is wrong?
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Good question. Could one argue that said hero is obliviously evil or at least obliviously doing evil things? Maybe this is just me, but if I were to write a character like that, I would have another hero call them out on it or if I really want to twist the knife from a story telling stand point, I’d have either the villain call them out or even applaud them on their misdeeds to really drive that point home.
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For them to remain a hero, they’ll need to realize it at some point. This allows them to change their methods. Only time I can see it not really working is if you’re using an anti-hero. Those are supposed to do bad things for the ‘greater good’ or however they see it.
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Of course. That’s good writing and character development. I could see that with being an anti-hero depending on the character.
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It all comes down to perspective, doesn’t it? It’s great that these characters are seen as heroes and villains. Very complex!
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Thanks. They’re really hard to write too. The urge to have them recognize their own evil is very tempting.
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It is amazing to me that villains don’t necessarily see themselves as villains. They consider others as the enemy but seldom step up to recognize villainous deeds as just that..
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It can be surprising. Then again, it’s very realistic too. How many serial killers said they were saving souls?
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Good point.
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Such a cool and challenging idea to write both sides in different series.
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That would be cool. For some reason, I think I’ve seen it done before.
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It’s all in the POV, my friend.
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Very true.
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This reminds me of the Flip the Premise method of coming up with story ideas. You take a story you are already familiar with and essentially “flip it”. Make the protagonist the antagonist and vice-versa. All of a sudden you’re provided with dozens and dozens of new ideas as to how to approach villains and heroes.
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That is a good way to get more out of a story. I tend to see it done a lot with classics these days.
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