Meet the Characters - Reid

Three's a charm, and this is a story that takes place well after The First King and The Unicorn's Crown. I don't have a precise timeline but this happens at least one thousand years after Terence's time. I call this series The Crossing of Horns.

Terence and Rhiella have many descendants, and fun fact that's also ginormous spoiler: Terence is a direct descendant of Silvan while Rhiella is a direct descendant of Varian. So, we've got quite a family tree here. 

The Crossing of Horns focuses on Romulus and Tallis Lactantius, Terence's I-never-bothered-to-count-how-many-times-great-grandsons. Let's keep it nice and simple and just say they have Terence's blood.

Tallis is the current king of Daire (another fun fact: "Daire" is Irish for "fertile" or "prosperous") with his big brother Romulus serving as his most trusted advisor. Interestingly enough, Romulus might as well be the one sitting on the throne, since he's doing most of the work (and all the less glamorous work at that) and anyone can see he's far more fit to be king anyway. 

It's a long story, and I'll tell you more in other posts. 

But I'd say the true protagonist of The Crossing of Horns is Reid Darryl Lactantius, Tallis's son and Romulus's nephew. 

As you can see, Reid is a total spitting image of Terence. While there's some family resemblance in every generation, Reid might as well be a reincarnation, albeit a shorter, skinnier one with glasses and without that bright moon mark on his face. 

As irony would have it, that makes Reid a target of absolute ridicule in his kingdom. In this age, people practically worship Terence; some tales are taller than others, but Terence did accomplish many great things, and to be part of his family, whether through blood or marriage, pretty much makes you deity. So, people have quite a hard time believing such a scrawny, bookish, socially awkward dork could be the offspring of someone so noble.

These days, people have the mindset of "eat, drink, and be merry." Tallis, along with his wife Ann, isn't Daire's worst ruler but he still falls short of the bill. As I said, Romulus is the one doing all the hard work, so Tallis takes advantage of his brother's assistance, while his wife, who's not-so-secretly jealous of her brother-in-law for a host of reasons, never misses an opportunity for an argument. 

Both Tallis and Ann have most definitely let their high positions go to their heads; they're not cruel, they can be rather nice when they want to be, but they're hilariously arrogant and almost criminally clueless about what's happening right under their lofty noses.

Reid, on the contrary, is very sweet and down-to-earth. He's not a wet blanket but he knows when it's time to party and when it's time to get down to business. Both his parents love him but they don't quite see eye-to-eye, to say the least. So, they leave him alone a lot, but Uncle Romulus is there to pick up the slack. 

Romulus is the polar opposite of those "evil uncles" you see in a lot of stories. He not only loves Reid; he considers Reid one of his own children. As much as Reid yearns for a better relationship with his real dad, there's no lack of love or admiration for his dear uncle. More than once, he wishes (out loud) that Romulus could be his dad instead. 

Besides his uncle and aunt, along with his three cousins, Reid has a handful of friends who genuinely care about him and stand by him despite the bullies and the naysayers. 

But, as you may have guessed, there are still a lot of bullies and naysayers out there, and Reid gets picked on pretty badly, inside and outside the royal household. 

Who's the antagonist of this story? None other than Reid's own brother, Tyrell. 

Tyrell is essentially Terence's "dark twin." He's plenty handsome and charming with (almost) everybody bowing at his feet, but he is an absolute spoiled brat and a mean-spirited bully. I got the idea for him from Joffrey Baratheon, and while I (mostly) avoid Game of Thrones, I thought, "What would Joffrey be like if he were a bit more humane?"

Same goes for Queen Ann, Tyrell and Reid's mother; I thought of her when I tried to picture a more likable, less beastly version of Joffrey's mother, Queen Cersei.

Tyrell is the star of his family as well as his kingdom...and yet, he's not happy. 

Behind all the worldly glamor and self-imposed haughtiness, Tyrell is quite miserable, lonely and insecure. He feels like his entire life is an endless party, like everybody's love for him is a mere illusion. He may be his parents' pride and joy, especially his mother's, but even he can see how silly and shallow they are, and he fears their love is an act like all the rest. 

Out of all of Reid's bullies, Tyrell is the ringleader; it's a safe bet that people wouldn't pick on Reid quite so much if Tyrell didn't have such a huge hand in it. A few of Reid's tormentors, like his other brother Shea, aren't proud of themselves but they're too scared of Tyrell (and the rest of the crowd) to do anything about it. They do what they do to keep from getting hurt, but this just means they shift the pain onto someone else...or part of that pain, anyway. 

And why does Tyrell go so far out of his way to give Reid grief? 

Because he wants what Reid has: real friendship, real love. 

If they were toys, Tyrell would be that pristine one-of-a-kind doll that's always kept in a shimmering glass case, whereas Reid would be that simpler toy that actually gets played with.

Reid may not have many friends, but he has a good seven or eight friends he can name right off the bat; Tyrell can't recall having even a single friend of his own. 

Most of all, Tyrell envies the close bond between Reid and Uncle Romulus. Anyone can see how much Romulus cares about Reid, and not just because he paid more attention to the boy than either parent ever did; the warmth between them is quite tangible. With the exception of his brother and his own children, there's nobody in the world Romulus cares for more.

Moreover, anything Romulus cares about must be worth something, which means Tyrell must be worthless. 

To add to the mountain of sad irony, Romulus has always loved Tyrell in spite of the boy's deplorable behavior. The problem was Tyrell's hopeless inability to admit any wrongdoing (he all but flipped his lid at the mere suggestion that anything was his fault) and Reid was loads easier to love by default; it was quite natural for Romulus to believe Reid would behave himself and Tyrell wouldn't.

I prefer sympathetic villains, and if you'll pardon me tooting my own horn, Tyrell is about as sympathetic as they come. He may be a brat, he may do a lot of horrible things throughout the story...but it's crystal-clear from start to finish that love and respect is all he truly asks, that he could have turned out loads better with better guidance. 

Furthermore, it's my firm belief that no one becomes a villain entirely on their own. Villains, along with heroes, need somebody to keep nudging them along the path. That's not to let Tyrell off the hook, of course; it's still his own fault for choosing a bad path, but on the other hand, it's not as though he got there without a great deal of help, both intentional and unintentional. 

As sorry as you feel for Tyrell, it's Reid who deserves the most pity by far. All Reid ever does is his best to be a decent son, prince, and person on the whole, and he goes through a host of things that would make grown men cower. 

Ultimately, Reid's moral compass is put to the test when he discovers Tyrell making horrible, treasonous plans. Tyrell always believed he was "untouchable" because he's a prince as well as Terence's glorious offspring, and unfortunately for him, his parents did the worst job at disciplining him. His mother, in particular, was making excuses right and left for the bits of unsavory behavior she did see, while his father gave him nothing worse than an occasional feather-light slap on the wrist. This was but one of the many reasons for their clashes with Romulus, and possibly the most intense.

And, as it is with pretty much every villain, Tyrell sincerely believes he's in the right. He's trying to come up with a way to improve Daire, but what he's got in mind is so twisted and terrifying that Reid can't, in good conscience, keep it quiet or pretend he never heard it. 

So, Reid blows the whistle on his own brother. 

Tyrell's plans are nipped in the bud, but there's still a heavy price to pay. Not even his doting parents can help him this time; what makes Tyrell officially snap is when they say and do nothing in his defense, even if there was anything they could do or say. Romulus, with a heavy heart, administers the mildest punishment possible: banishment. For something of this magnitude, it's either exile, incarceration, or execution.

Reid gets it just as bad in his own way, if not worse. In the heat of the moment, his parents blame him for costing them their beloved son and ruining their family's golden reputation, and neither of them will have anything to do with him for the next year or so. 

While Reid knew all along his parents would be crushed, it's no less devastating to suffer punishment for doing the right thing. This is a classic example of a sadistic choice, where neither outcome is ideal. Reid is truly sorry for hurting his parents, and losing Tyrell hurts more than he would have believed possible, yet there's no small amount of resentment for his parents' unwarranted reactions, to say nothing of the resentment toward Tyrell for putting him in this position in the beginning. 

Suffice it to say, all of Daire is rocked to the core at the news. Everyone realizes the prince whose praises they sang all these years didn't deserve his high title after all, while the prince they mocked was so much better than they gave him credit for. Even Romulus, for all his bravery and cleverness and loyalty, very much doubts he would have had the courage to do something like this. 

At least some good comes out of this. Despite Reid's parents giving him the cold shoulder, Reid's subjects gain a world of respect for him. Nobody can pick on him anymore, and his former bullies feel nothing short of awful. 

But nobody's seen the end of Tyrell. Unable to let this go, unwilling to admit this is his own fault, Tyrell pins the blame on Reid; he has the gall to call his brother a "traitor" despite betraying him first. He also blames his parents, virtually his whole family, and with some much-needed assistance on the side, he comes back to Daire to take the throne for himself by force. 

That's right, he seeks revenge on everyone with a full-blown war. 

He intends to murder his whole family in cold blood and make himself Daire's new king. 

At this point, Reid just about goes off the deep end, too. He becomes so fed up with his family and all the grief they've put him through that he makes up his own mind: if it's a fight to the death Tyrell wants, it's a fight to the death he'll get. 

This is where we see a new side of Reid; he's every bit as capable of terrible things, and it goes to show everyone's got some kind of limit. Sooner or later, they just can't take it anymore. 

If not for his own humanity, he could very well go "Carrie White" on everyone. He does come every bit as close to destroying Tyrell as Tyrell comes to destroying him; Tyrell himself can't help noting how well his loser brother can fight back. And yes, their parents see all of this happen with their own eyes. It's a parent's worst nightmare come true, and then some.

While Reid technically wins the fight, it's hardly a victory. No sooner does the adrenaline wear off and the poor boy regains his senses than he all but crashes to rock bottom. 

At long last, his parents realize what he's been through and admit this is their fault; they were the ones who betrayed him, as well as Tyrell. They let everybody down in the worst way imaginable. 

The story goes on (it is a series, after all) but I will say that, in good time, Reid makes up with his family and kingdom. Little by little, his parents earn his trust back, and his citizens give him his long-overdue respect. As dreadful as his situation was, no one can deny how brave he was in hindsight, so much braver than any of them would have been. 

This is but one of the many morals I strive to teach: if the right choice wasn't popular, even came at tremendous personal expense, would you still choose it?

I'll give you one more spoiler: Tyrell, who's still alive, comes crawling back to his family in the end. He finally admits his faults, something that was all but impossible for him to do before, and if that wasn't ironic enough, the people who sang his praises not only despise him now but downright vilify him to his face. It's bad enough to where Reid feels sorry for Tyrell, in spite of himself.

So, once again, Reid gets an opportunity to show the world what he's made of. He's got every reason on Earth to have nothing more to do with Tyrell...but...but...he actually wants Tyrell back. 

He's not forgetting or excusing what Tyrell did to him; quite the contrary, he gets furious when people assume such. 

Nevertheless, there remains a genuine desire for a brother, the kind of brother he never had before. 

Besides, there's been enough pain and misery already, more than enough. Reid doesn't want to add to a heavy load if he doesn't have to. 

Of course, forgiving Tyrell is loads easier said than done. The past still hurts something fierce, there's still a few inner demons to overcome, Reid fluctuates back and forth more than once, there's no true closure in just a few weeks, months, or even years, but we learn another powerful lesson from this: how far will you go for a person you can just as easily leave behind forever? If there's anything remotely salvageable about a certain relationship, would you salvage it? 

I call this story the flip side of The Prince of Egypt; Reid and Tyrell start out as bitter enemies, but work hard toward love and friendship. On that account, I borrowed from Joseph: King of Dreams in huge, heaping spoonfuls as well. 

That's all I'm going to say about The Crossing of Horns for the time being. But I'm quite proud of Reid, and my friends really like him and see a world of potential for him. 

He may be small in size, but he grows splendidly in more ways than one, and his heart is already gigantic. 

Despite being put through the wringer, he's still a fun character with interesting quirks. Don't let his stature fool you; he's a little man of solid iron, he can punch a centaur clean off his hooves, and there's no lack of personal exercise. He's a pro at horseback riding, archery, swordplay, running, boxing...and swimming. 

Reid's defining trait is most definitely his passion for swimming. He almost drowned once, but it didn't take long to conquer his fear; now he can't get enough of the water, indoors or outdoors. In this world, they have special shells that help you breathe underwater, and he invents a "water mask" for better eye protection, so it's like the fantasy version of scuba diving. Even without the shell, he can perform any kind of stroke flawlessly (he'd win nothing less than silver in the Olympics) and he can float like a cork, preferably with his face submerged. He's got a wonderful pool in his castle and an enormous lake in his backyard, so he can take a dip pretty much any time he likes, in any kind of weather.

While he doesn't do it all the time, of course, he takes "the big plunge" no less than once a week. Don't expect him to set foot on dry land anytime soon, and expect him to be soaked to the bone when he does.