Cover Art by Jason Pedersen
Where to even begin with Trinity? Over the course of Legends of Windemere, she has worn the mask of a villain, hero, savior, tormentor, victim, friend, rival, and a few others. I think she’s the most diverse one of the whole cast because I had to move her from one spot to another. It wasn’t really supposed to be this way either.
Trinity is the ruler of a species called ‘Chaos Elves’. These are a species of elf that maintain some of the demon taint that was thrown into the mix of the original model, which nearly destroyed Windemere. They live on the shadowy continent of Shayd and are known for being deadly assassins. Although, they used to be known as annoying pranksters before the Great Cataclysm happened. Very few people know that Baron Kernaghan’s prison cracked enough that he managed to enslave the chaos elves and turn them into his personal army. He’s gone through many puppet rulers to keep them under his thumb, but now he has Trinity. This might not be a positive for him.
Originally, Trinity was a deal-loving caster who debuted in Prodigy of Rainbow Tower to counter the power of Nyx. She was actually stronger at first because she had more experience. While Nyx trained for most of her life in Rainbow Tower, Trinity took the throne and became an agent of the Baron at a very young age. By the time she appears in the books, she’s had a lot of kills and misery under her belt. Plenty of suffering too because she’s done what no other ruler has done before. She accepts the punishments of her people, which has kept many of them alive because the Baron would never dare to kill her. This upbringing always made me think of Trinity as a mirror image of Nyx and that either one could have become the other under different circumstances. In fact, this is a plot point for one of the books when Trinity confronts Nyx . . . This is also where I began having problems.
I always expected Trinity and Nyx to be bitter rivals who would push each other to the highest levels of skill. Then, they’d settle their feud once and for all with all of the hatred coming out at once. Unfortunately, I could never maintain their hate because I would see how they’d respect each other. Nyx wouldn’t hate Trinity who does evil to protect her people. Trinity wouldn’t hate Nyx for following her destiny. This would result in them being forced to team-up at times, especially since both of them despised Stephen Kernaghan. I did manage to create a few scenarios where I could have them really throw down with each other, including their final encounter. Yet, it never had the emotions that I wanted. Instead, there was an odd amount of pain and anguish that they felt when doing battle. It came alongside a sense of pleasure and excitement since nobody else could challenge them in the same fashion. So, my bitter rivalry became a friendly one that made me change a lot of stuff later on in the books.
For those that made it far into the series, you probably know more about the Trinity/Stephen stuff. This is probably the darkest I got and it’s a big reason I hated the guy. I was never sure if I should be overt with the fact that he had raped her and probably threatened to kill her people if she said no. Before anyone freaks out, I’ve made it clear many times that Stephen is the irredeemable monster of the series and I had to take a shower whenever I wrote a scene where he wasn’t getting his ass kicked. I think Trinity helped to flush out the horror that he was and it strengthened her a bit because she got to fight back at times. There’s a big scene that touches on this and Nyx is involved too, but it’s kind of a spoiler. I didn’t let this part of Trinity’s history define her either. It was another scar for her to have among so many others, but this is the one I think about the most.
2023 Addition– You know, I don’t really know what to say about Trinity. Like Kira, she evolved rapidly and without much concentration. She went from the sole female flunkie of Baron Kernaghan and Nyx’s rival to an eventual anti-hero. Part of it might have been that I slowly realized that I didn’t want the chaos elves to remain on the side of evil since they weren’t monsters. They were clearly being manipulated and having them abruptly revealed as such near the end didn’t feel right. Trinity gave me a way to demonstrate that her and her people weren’t just villains. There was situational nuance to them, which enhanced her purpose and symbolism. She became a savior and martyr for her people even though she was standing with Baron Kernaghan. I think the way she changed also led to me altering how evil he was too. That’s why Stephen Kernaghan really stands out as the only ‘evil for the sake of being evil’ type.
