Cover Art by Jason Pedersen
Back to the temples in Tribe of the Snow Tiger. This is the 10th volume of Legends of Windemere and started feeling like the homestretch. At least, as far as the writing side goes. Probably felt more like Act 4 of the overall story. So, what can I say about this one?
I had hinted at Timoran Wrath having a secret for a while, but the guy was so low key that I don’t think the fact stuck for very long. Going with barbarians being warrior philosophers who can control their incredible rage meant that he was mild tempered until triggered. So, Timoran was the wise one of the group who did his best to not get pulled into the antics of the more impulsive heroes. Hence, it was a shock to some when it was revealed that he was an outcast of his tribe. There was more to it than that, but it created a fun backdrop.
Events of the previous volume meant the heroes were divided to make up for lost time, so Delvin, Sari, and Fizzle were absent. This left Nyx, Timoran, Luke, and Dariana to handle the trial that I had planned. I learned really quickly that I lacked the mind and patience to write a lengthy trial storyline. The courtroom scenes were fun at first, but I realized that I was going to get bored fast. Maybe I sensed this, which is why I sent two of the more trouble-attracting champions on this adventure. Luke and Nyx made sure that things moved along quickly and with plenty of explosions. Not that the chaos they caused was always on purpose.
From the title of Tribe of the Snow Tiger, you can tell that this deals with barbarian tribes. I had actually put some thought into this and had a file where various tribes were noted as well as their animal sign and associated deity. That didn’t really come into play much being giving me a jumping point to explain more about barbarians. Timoran was a good example of them too. They are warriors who live in cities found in some of the harsher, more isolated environments. Not uneducated berserkers who are always looking for a fight. I figured every group has people like that, so why would an entire culture be based around it? So, I thought taking the ‘warrior philosopher’ idea and having it be done by these large, powerful, rage-controlling people would be a nice twist. Never regretted that and it opened the door for more.
There’s another event of Tribe of the Snow Tiger that I was looking forward to writing for years. I kept having trouble rationalizing having two characters fight each other and not making it their final battle. So, I kept throwing in interruptions and other obstacles to have their previous conflicts end without a clear winner. Their first encounter is probably the only one that had one since it kicked off the feud. This meant that I kept putting ideas for this event on a list that I had to indulge in. Probably my favorite fight/battle/slugfest in the entire series. I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to end it as well because my delaying it resulted in both characters being favorites. Needed to appease everyone, including myself, and am proud about how it ended.
Would I change anything in this story? The only thing I probably should have done is researched more on how to write court scenes. It was supposed to be a bigger thing than I made it because I didn’t feel confident. Not sure if that would have made the book better or worse, but I do feel like I didn’t step up to a potential challenge. I’ve got other stories where characters are put on trial, so maybe I’ll make up for it.
Questions for fun:
- How would you help a friend who is in legal trouble?
- Is there any time where rage can be useful?
- What is your favorite final battle between rivals in fiction?
Legends of Windemere 
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I never got a rival feel from Aang and Ozai. More bitter enemies. Korra became giant at one point?
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Oh sorry. I misreaad. Scratch Aang and Ozai and the other fights.
And sorry about the mini Korra spoiler. This happens in season 2.
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Don’t worry. Think everyone overlooked the rival aspect and went right to favorite battles.
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!. Recommend a good lawyer.
2. Rage can be useful when nothing else works (within limits, of course). I did have on moment of rage, but it was white rage – dark, determined, staring and clearly just under control. Of course this was after 36 hours without sleep!
3. Hands down, the battle at the end of LOTR.
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Never heard of white rage. How did it get its name?
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Not sure but I see it as lightening.
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1) How would you help a friend who is in legal trouble? I would try to be a listening ear and help out with things like chores so they could focus on their legal issues.
2) Is there any time where rage can be useful? Anger can keep you moving when circumstances seem to indicate you should just give up.
3) What is your favorite final battle between rivals in fiction? In the Murderbot book Network Effect, there’s an alien virus that takes people over and has most of Murderbot’s and ART’s human friends captive, Seeing that thing go down was very satisfying.
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#3 sounds like an interesting battle. Hard to beat up a virus.
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Well, Murderbot itself is partly an electronic entity, and it was an electronic virus rather than a germ. And in the end Murderbot basically called in an air strike on the virus.
If you haven’t read those books, you should. There’s a ton of action and humor you might enjoy.
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I’ll try to give them a shot when I get some time. Thanks.
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If a friend had legal troubles, I would be a sounding board and offer limited advice. I know a lot of lawyers and would probably recommend one of them. Rage could be a useful emotion in a fight or flight situation. Favorite final battle between rivals? Most of my thought come from comics, but those are never really final. Can’t kill off the Joker, not really.
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True. Villains in comics tend to come back in some form.
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