Cover Art by Jason Pedersen
(Delvin Cunningham had a similar path as Timoran Wrath. After a cameo, he officially debuted in Family of the Tri-Rune. He showed up rather close to the end of that book, but proved himself going forward. This would result in him getting a book that focused primarily on him, which would be The Mercenary Prince. Did this change up his path? Maybe. Definitely have to add to the older post here.)
Delvin Cunningham is a scourge to my spellchecker because Word refuses to believe it’s a name. This really cements a part of this character where people don’t always pay attention to him. When teamed up with acrobatic Luke, fire-hurling Nyx, seductive Sari, and powerful Timoran, the ‘standard’ warrior gets overshadowed in terms of combat potential. Too bad that’s a wrong move with him.
Delvin is the protege of Selenia Hamilton and demonstrates some amazing physical resilience, but his strength is that he’s a thinker. While Luke is spontaneous, Delvin is a tactician and a quick-witted one at that. This is why the two of them will typically fight to a draw. Yet, the sword and shield is rather common, which is why people see Delvin as uninteresting. This goes for characters and readers. His laid back nature doesn’t help even though that gets cracked a few times in the tenser situations. Especially when Nyx is involved, which neither confirms nor denies what you’re thinking.
Now, Delvin was played by a friend in the D&D game that the series is based on. The player dove into the role and was a solid part of the group within one session. Not much resistance since he was a warrior looking for adventure. Sadly, we never got to explore much of his background, but the origin of ‘Book Delvin’ is very similar to that of ‘Game Delvin’. Abandoned on a chunk of ice as a child, miraculously stayed alive, and eventually became Selenia’s prized pupil. The mercenary thing came when I needed to play around with his origin to give him experience and some characterization meat. Again, I was never told what the original plan was.
The biggest change between game and book is his personality. Delvin and Luke were very similar in that they were noble and loyal heroes. In the game, I couldn’t play Luke with stunts because die rolls aren’t controllable. So, he was a lot more strategic like Delvin, but I left that trait more with the latter when I wrote the book. This has turned him into a cautious fighter, so his actions scenes are a lot more block and counter heavy. He is very precise in most of what he does and has adopted a high sense of responsibility. Yet, he rarely lets his more intense emotions out, which is different than most of the others. Timoran does have him beat, but Delvin is quick to find a rational explanation. In fact, I’ve come to find that he can figure out several scenarios in the time it takes others to think of one. Most of the character conversations with him, you can get the feeling that he lets everyone else contribute even though he could plan it all himself. This is why I see him as more of a leader than the others. He wants everyone to feel like they’re part of a team and tries his best to foster friendships.
A final note with Delvin is that he spent a lot of time as a main/side character. I never investigated his origins, which led to him being the only hero without a past. Every other character has something interesting that they face or that built them up. Delvin had nothing aside from a tale of abandonment, which is what sparked the idea for Book 9 of Legends of Windemere. I felt bad that he had moments to shine, but was the one hero to never get his own book to shine. So I get to really explore his mentality, evolution, and past in the next book. Personally, I can’t wait because it will also reveal the true power behind him.
2023 Update– Delvin definitely mellowed out and become more reactive as the series progressed. He was still the tactician and thinker of the group, but he adopted a little more of Luke’s impulsiveness than I expected. Not enough to make them the same type of character, but it loosened Delvin up. Of course, the big thing for him was the romance with Nyx, which was never hidden. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t make it a mystery. I think this helped with making Delvin a fairly open and honest person because he simply didn’t bother keeping things a secret. He was an open book for the most part, which was a change of pace. It also helped make him the leader of the champions even though he didn’t claim the title or act like he was in charge. Overall, I like how Delvin’s path came about and ended.
