Meet the Characters

In my opinion, the very best characters out there are the ones that don't make you feel just one thing. They have their flaws but there's plenty to like about them, too. They make honest mistakes, and yet they just as honestly learn from those mistakes and strive to do better. You could write an essay, a book, or a whole series about them.

While I may not be the world's most devoted fan of Harry Potter (I have an entirely different post shedding a bit more light on that), I admire the ample essay fodder it provides, along with Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Batman, and even Star Wars; I find Darth Vader particularly intriguing.

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I read a few books in high school and college that I most likely wouldn't read for entertainment's sake, yet I had quite a ball writing essays for them. One professor who was known to (very) seldom dish out praise called my essays for The Great Gatsby and Anna Karenina, in front of the whole class, among the best he'd ever read; I still get giddy thinking about it. Essay fodder also puts the "love" in my love-hate relationship with William Shakespeare.

So, of course, I take a leaf out of these guys' books and do my best to make my own characters as complex as possible while keeping them mostly sympathetic. One of my dear friends (who's also one of my best critics) told me I do a great job at creating characters "you want to hug one minute and smack upside the head the next."

One of my most complex, sympathetic, and gratifying characters of all is Tallis Reagan Lactantius from The Crossing of Horns, the many-times-great-grandson of Terence Lactantius and the father of Reid, both of whom I already talked about in previous posts.

As weird as it may sound, I'm sort of in love with my own characters...literally. I find them quite attractive, and I always have a ball putting them on paper, whether it be drawing or writing.

Tallis is particularly fun. He has all kinds of interesting quirks, and his growth in this story is phenomenal. He also hits you pretty hard "in the feels," as they say.

He starts off as an innocent, precocious boy who goes through a surprising amount of trauma at a young age. He's the middle son of Trent and Angela Lactantius, little brother to Romulus (by six years) and big brother to Marena (by three years).

When Tallis was only seven, he lost his mother and his sister in one fell swoop. I won't say how but you can imagine how tragic it was, and not just for him. Everyone knew Queen Angela and loved her dearly, and Princess Marena was the most adorable little thing you ever saw. While it was a slight comfort that mother and daughter got to go to heaven at the same time, their deaths left a truly serious impact on those left behind.

As TV Tropes calls it, Angela and Marena were both "The Lost Lenore," where "their death has significant ongoing impact, consequences, and relevance for the remainder of the story."

Many years later, neither Tallis nor Romulus have quite recovered. Tallis continues to bitterly protest the unfairness of their loss; in a way, he blames God and he's a self-proclaimed atheist, though that's not the only reason why, whereas Romulus has been a faithful Christian all his life and finds great comfort and strength through God. As you can well imagine, religion is quite a touchy subject between the two brothers.

If that wasn't sad enough, Tallis grew up with an abysmal relationship with his father. He loved his brother dearly but he and his dad never saw eye to eye, to say the least.

Trent, more shattered about his wife and only daughter than he let on, and absolutely hell-bent on not letting anyone else see, ruled his sons and his kingdom for the next decade with an iron fist. Of course, he wasn't a monster by any means; he simply believed a king wasn't supposed to be "vulnerable," which makes sense. In a way, he really couldn't afford to fall apart.

Unfortunately, he kept all of his tender emotions under perpetual lock and key and forced both his boys to do the same. He was like the male, slightly meaner version of Elsa from Frozen: "Conceal, don't feel."

Trent never hugged his boys or let them talk to him or even cry in front of him. For that matter, no one was allowed to so much as mention Angela or Marena in his presence, including the servants. He got irrationally furious at the mere suggestion that he wasn't as "okay" as he pretended to be.

In a nutshell, the smiling, jovial, easygoing father and king was gone forever.

So, Romulus was left to explain the concept of death to poor Tallis, as well as cuddle the younger boy and soothe him. But poor Romulus, being only thirteen, needed someone to talk to and comfort him as well. His servants and friends were either too scared of Trent or too ignorant altogether, since Romulus did a pretty good job at bottling up his own emotions. Not even Tallis knew everything his brother was going through.

This is where Kyla came in, the girl who would become Romulus's wife and Tallis's second sister. I'll explain more about her another time, but she was absolutely instrumental in helping the royal family heal. While she could never replace Marena, of course, Tallis was so happy to have a sister once again, even if she was a peasant girl and a lot of people held her humble background against her like an unforgivable crime. Tallis never understood why that should be such a big deal; to him, Kyla was smart, strong, funny, clever, kind...pretty much everything you could want in a person, and more. Of course, her looks didn't hurt, either.

While it took a little time to warm up to her, Tallis liked Kyla enough to where it became his idea to have Romulus marry her. He wasn't pushy about it, but he was a lot more keen on the idea than Romulus was, at first.

When Romulus finally agreed, Tallis was all but over the moon, and now he never bothers with the "in-law" bit. Kyla is his sister, pure and simple.

This makes Tallis and Kyla a heartwarming foil to Romulus and Ann, who can never seem to get along at all. It helps that Tallis has always been an enormous respecter of women (that's at least one useful lesson his father taught him) and he's not quite as mouthy, whereas Kyla is super-patient; she frankly acknowledges Tallis's side of the situation, and she almost never raises her voice.

For that matter, Romulus is quite even-tempered, too. Whenever he (or Kyla) gets mad, you know it's bad.

Even Trent started to lighten up when Kyla came along. After Kyla lost her grandmother, the last surviving member of her family, Trent was gracious enough to take the poor girl in and semi-adopt her.

At first, Tallis resented Kyla because she was allowed to talk about her loss when he and Romulus were never allowed to talk about theirs, but then Kyla came to him and offered her own heartfelt support, making it impossible to hate her or even get mad. To be fair, Trent knew this and realized how unfair he had been; this time, death softened him.

All might have turned out well if Trent himself didn't suddenly die just two years later. Tallis never got to make amends with him, and losing him hit the boy so much harder than he would have believed possible.

On top of that, the crown was immediately forced onto Tallis even though Romulus was the rightful successor. To make a long story short, the royal council found a little paper that appointed Tallis as the next heir, with Trent's name on it and everything. It was just something Trent put together while trying to think of a way to make up for his poor relationship with Tallis, and needless to say, Trent wasn't there to confirm or deny anything, so the council took this document into their own hands.

Tallis, while not bad, did become a bit of a rebel when he reached his teenage years. Since he and Romulus were almost always getting their heads bitten clean off, he figured he might as well "earn" Trent's chastisement, so he began to make trouble on purpose. As a result, his counselors made him the new king both as a way of getting his act together and getting back at Trent; no one can say whether Trent was worse as a father or a leader.

I compare Tallis to a wild, unbroken colt that's cornered and saddled by brute force, quite similar to Spirit in Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. You can almost hear "Get Off My Back" playing as they lay the crown upon Tallis's brow.

(Screencaps courtesy of Animation Screencaps.)

Anger, jealousy, and sheer hurt would have burned Romulus up like a piece of paper...had he not known for himself that Tallis had nothing to do with this and didn't like it any more than he did. After taking some time to weep in front of Kyla (who, besides Beowulf, was the only one to see just how upset he was about the whole business), Romulus found Tallis bawling his own eyes out in a dark, secluded room. Compassion got the better of Romulus, so he sat down on the floor and simply held tight to his brother, the only family he had left in the world, promising to be there for him in any way possible.

This is one of those scenes I absolutely swear is going to make me cry.

By now, you feel pretty bad for Tallis, don't you? Well, there's a whole lot more to his story, and you can only pity the guy to a certain extent.

Despite his reluctance to become king, he did discover all the perks of the job soon enough, and he milked those perks bone-dry. He built his entire identity around the throne; if he's not a king, what else is he good for?

Anyone could see Romulus would make a far superior king. Tallis was the first of the whole lot to admit it. Although Tallis tried to make it up to Romulus by making him his number one advisor (his "right hand man," if you will), he got just a little too dependent on his brother. As the years went by, Romulus was left to handle the less pleasant work while Tallis spent a lot more time partying, primping, and drinking (he became quite the alcoholic) than actually leading their people. Tallis focused much more on what made his people happy than what they really needed in the long run; many times, Romulus was forced to stop him or clean up his messes, or simply palm his own face.

Moreover, Tallis made the mistake of falling in love with a woman who was the furthest thing from a queen Romulus or Kyla could ever imagine. Ann, an attractive and charming but woefully sheltered uptown girl, didn't know a thing about ruling a country and only saw the glamor of royalty. For a time, she cared a lot more about the perks of being Tallis's wife than about him, though Tallis had no way of knowing that. Even after learning being queen wasn't all fun and games, her place as "the most important woman in Daire" nevertheless sent her ego into orbit.

Trent wouldn't have liked Ann at all. Romulus knows for an absolute fact Trent would have booted Ann out the door before the thought of marrying her ever crossed Tallis's mind, and neither Romulus nor Kyla could deny their own misgivings about her, despite their happiness at seeing Tallis so happy for a change.

To be fair, Ann's parents didn't raise her right. Both her mother and father (if you can call them that) are an indisputable disgrace, while her two sisters (one criminally spoiled, the other criminally mistreated) give you all the evidence you need of how messed up this family is. Suffice it to say, it was a good thing Ann was a social butterfly and never home for long. Heaven alone knows how much worse she would be otherwise.

What made Tallis fall in love with Ann was the fact that she didn't try so hard to get him to notice her. As crazy about him as she was, she didn't resort to some of the crazy antics of other girls. Some lovely ladies treated both him and Romulus like playthings instead of people; they wanted them at any cost, whether it be for their fabulous wealth, their fabulous appearance, their fabulous family tree, or all of the above. As you can see, Ann's little sister, Farrah, was plenty entitled in her own way. The kid really did believe the whole kingdom should have been put on hold for the next four or five years, and she almost gave herself an aneurysm when Tallis chose her sister instead.

Farrah's not even the worst offender. Princess Adela went to some rather scary measures to win Romulus over, and then she tried to go after Tallis when Romulus refused. Let's just say Romulus, as much as he dislikes Ann, will take her company over Adela's company in a heartbeat. For all the respect Tallis has for women in general, Adela Buchanan Wiles makes him all but sick to his stomach.

And just for the record, Trent once told Romulus flat-out that he would never speak to him or Tallis again if either of them married Adela; Trent wouldn't have blessed a marriage between Adela and Romulus/Tallis "if she was the last woman alive."

If you think a man stalking a woman is creepy, it's every bit as creepy the other way around, if not more so. I don't believe in that stupid double standard, where it's "okay" for a woman to do things to a man that a man shouldn't do to a woman. Stalking is stalking, abuse is abuse, and people are not pieces of property.

So, Ann won Tallis over by having a little more respect for him as well as herself, letting him come to her of his own accord. While she didn't really help him with his problems, the way Kyla helped Romulus, she made him feel plenty good, which Romulus and Kyla find both touching and disturbing. Even Ann's own son, Reid, wonders how it's possible that she got to be in charge, what his dad sees in her.

Despite Ann's glaring incompetence, the way Tallis treats her is worth mentioning. Tallis is a perfect gentleman, making his wife feel every bit as good as she makes him feel. Neither of them once consider adultery, and he will not stand for anyone else disrespecting her, family included.

Of course, he knows all too well the numerous fights she wages with his brother. While he lets most of these quarrels slide, he lets his wife and brother know in no uncertain terms when he's had enough.

But the true conflict of this story stems from Tallis's three sons, Tyrell, Shea, and Reid. As you can imagine, Tallis swore to be the complete opposite of Trent, as father and king.

He was different from Trent, all right. Without realizing it, without meaning to, he became worse.

Alas for noble intentions, we see clear as crystal what kind of parents Tallis and Ann are when Reid, the one Romulus and Kyla ended up caring for more, is the only one to grow up properly. Reid's the only one to turn out honest, kind, sweet, and selfless, while his big brothers turn out selfish, spoiled, spineless, and downright mean.

As it is, Tyrell is the main villain, with Shea as the unwitting sidekick.

I won't drag you down (or further spoil my story) with more details, but I'll just assure you that Tallis, whether he liked it or not, was forced to see the consequences of his actions for himself.

As much as he fought it in the beginning, he ended up conceding how badly he'd failed everybody. He's a terrible brother, a terrible son, a terrible father, a terrible king, a terrible person on the whole, with a ginormous mess to clean up and without a single clue on how he can make anything right, even if he could.

It's the ultimate "Break the Haughty" moment, in the words of TV Tropes.

Although all is not lost, there's still a long way to go and Tallis knows it.

He learns his lesson, but man, does he learn it the hard way.

All he can do now is place one foot in front of the other, work little by little to earn everyone's forgiveness, trust, and love back.

For all that, this makes him appeal to me all the more. He's a truly three-dimensional character that we can understand and relate to, even at his lowest point. Despite his poor choices, we find ourselves thinking twice before casting stones at him. Most importantly, his good traits vastly outnumber his not-so-good traits, and next to Tyrell and a couple of others, his character growth is by far the most dramatic.

I've got the perfect song for him, too: Hoobastank's "The Reason." That's pretty much the anthem of the entire story.

I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so, I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you

I'm sorry that I hurt you
It's something I must live with every day
And all the pain I put you through
I wish that I could take it all away
And be the one who catches all your tears
That's why I need you to hear

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you

And the reason is you
And the reason is you
And the reason is you

I'm not a perfect person
I never meant to do those things to you
And so, I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you

I've found a reason to show
A side of me you didn't know
A reason for all that I do
And the reason is you...