By Kayla Matt

Aedyn began like Fritz and Nimby as another player’s character in the game.  There was a big difference between him and them.  The guy playing Aedyn was more into the mechanics of the game than the character.  So, Aedyn wasn’t much of a personality or factor.  He was the half-elven priest who healed us when we were in trouble.  His name was also Aiden Quinn, which is also the name of an actor.  Obviously that had to change because I didn’t want to anger the actor or run into any problems.  It’s rather symbolic too because Aedyn had the biggest overhaul of any character.  If he was a car, I’d have to gut him and build him back up from scratch.  After all, he joined the group in a way that doesn’t work with a book.  Nimby debuted by stealing Luke’s dagger in a crowded cafeteria and  Fritz debuted by creating an illusionary sheep in the cafeteria.  Aedyn just happened to sit next to Luke and grunt a hello, but that was it.  It began a series of events where Aedyn just happened to be there when we were doing something.  By the third game session, Nimby got fed up and flat out recruited him, which the player took in stride.  Still, it meant that I had a character who didn’t do much beyond magic and combat.  Fine for a game, but a headache for a writer.

This is what led to the current incarnation of Aedyn Karwyn, which ran to a depth that I didn’t see coming.  He became the calm within the storm of Fritz’s womanizing, Nimby’s thief antics, and Luke’s overall recklessness.  The stoic straight man that was the voice of reason, which was typically ignored.  Truthfully, Aedyn wasn’t supposed to grow beyond this role because (as I’ve said far too many times) he left the game at the same time as Nimby and Fritz.  I had no idea what to do with him, but he had an idea of what to do with himself.  He influenced a change in the other characters, which tempered there more volatile natures.  At the same time, he was becoming more open and friendly until he was joking and drinking with Luke in a tavern.  It was rather fascinating to see him grow on the page into a person that I would love to spend time with.  The oddest thing was that while Luke and Nimby were becoming best friends, Aedyn and Fritz started to bond in a similar fashion.  They became a Laurel & Hardy type of pairing, but they really helped to influence each others’ growth.

It was also through Aedyn that the religions and pantheon of Windemere came to be.  He was the first priest of the books, so he set the tone.  I had to answer so many questions through him.  How do priests get their powers?  How influential are the gods?  Why do they need mortal champions?  How do the pantheons work?  I developed the system of having a less knowing character ask these questions, so that Aedyn could answer them.  This trait would be adopted by Fritz who was better at it because Aedyn was very concise with his explanations.  Though, the answers changed a little when the priest changed because a follower of the sun would think differently than a follower of destruction.  Still, some of the nuanced rivalries between followers came out from Aedyn along with the foci of each religion.  Maybe this is why Aedyn and Fritz connected so well.  Both of them became the archetypes for two of the biggest groups in Windemere.

2023 Thoughts– Not sure what else I can add here.  Aedyn did go for a longer distance and evolve more than I expected.  To this day, I’m not sure how I came up with his path.  It really was that he would die, but I came up with something better.  Took a few editing runs of Beginning of a Hero to get him right too.  Would I change anything?  I probably would like to give him a stronger personality on some level.  Not sure if that would work though because Luke, Nimby, and Fritz had really big ones.  Aedyn being the mellow and calm member worked and opened the door for Timoran Wrath taking on that role in later books.