Character introduction — Anar, king of Anagrad
Welcome to my Character introduction article series. I don’t know how many of them I’ll share, but right now I have three in plan. In these articles I’ll introduce some of the characters from Royal wars series to you. Those are the characters who show up and have some of the major roles in the novel Invasion that should be released this fall. This way I want to give you the piece of what you can expect from the book and the story. Of course, I won’t reveal too much and ruin your experience of reading the book, but with these information, you’ll be ready to dive into the adventure. So let’s start this first article with king Anar.
Anagrad is the kingdom at the eastern side of Great continent, but I won’t talk much about politics and geography because I don’t want to burden you with information that you’ll probably quickly forget without a context that only reading a book can give you. So let’s stick just to its ruler.
Anar is the guy in his thirties whom many of you would probably see as an honorable king. Honor and fairness are some of his foremost traits, but he didn’t earn them at the court. As a matter of fact, he spent his teenage years far away from the court, away from his father’s influence and safety of royal reputation. Who would do that? — you might ask. Or why? Although the answer is simple, it doesn’t mean that it easily pops up in the mind of every young noble. Anar became aware of his position, his reputation, the superiority of his name and title, he noticed a huge gap between him and common people. They lived different lives and then he wondered whether the same situation is in the rest of the world, the world which is bigger than his castle.
After realizing that the world outside of the caste is different, he soon realized that the world outside of the city walls was also a lot more different. And he wanted to feel it. Young boy like him, he was around fifteen when the thought came to his mind, couldn’t understand where that idea came from. He didn’t know why it came and should he listen to it or not. But the feeling inside his heart was strong, it was pulling him towards the portal to new worlds, new possibilities and more dynamic life which he’s been visiting almost every night before sleep. That portal was hiding behind his closed eyes.
He delayed the moment of leaving the city for almost five years. When he was nineteen he decided to go. Two options lied before him. Leave without a word or openly express his thoughts and feeling before his father (his mother died few years before). He chose something in between. He left the letter to his father and gave it to his best friend, a friend he’ll never see again. Then he left.
In a completely new and unknown world of wilderness, uncertainty, hostility and guilt, he felt like he made a wrong decision. However, something made him persevere and soon he accepted the new life, a life where each day was adventure and a challenge for itself. He never knew whether he’ll meet a friendly man who will give him food or offer a short job or he’ll encounter a pack of wolves that will tear him apart. When the things were well, he would feel the excitement and embraced the adventure, but when he was wet from rain, shivering in a cave only waiting for a group of bandits to kill and rob him, he wondered where did he ventured. What did he want to do? He had no plan. He was just wandering around, trying to feel the life in the wilderness, a life under the open sky, a life where he had to put a lot of effort to get some food, water and shelter. Things that he was previously taking for granted.
His blind adventure almost ended for a couple of times during his lonely journey. A day he’ll remember until his death was the day when he struggled with exhaustion and dehydration. He was dead tired and he walked the dry dusty road, regretting his decision to leave the city. He didn’t want to go back. What he would look like? Like a fool who thought he was… He didn’t even know what he wanted to be. He collapsed on the road and lost the consciousness.
Many people in Bestania (name of world) believe in gods who created the world and run it from the invisible spectrum. Anar too believes in them and he’ll always be grateful that they brought Ciandra in his life. I’ll talk more about Ciandra in another article, but here I have to say that she changed his life completely. She was on a similar journey of exploring the world, living in the nature and helping others in order to get food and coins.
When she and her mentor, a skillful archer, found Anar lying down in the dirt, they helped him and almost from the first moment, Ciandra and the prince formed a strong relationship. From that moment on, they traveled together. Many of you might think that they developed a romantic relationship, but I’ll leave that to you to decide what type of relationship is that. They both call it a true friendship, but some people consider it to be a little bit more. Either way, they went through many things together. She was extremely skillful in the nature while he proved to be a good strategist and leader.
This article is longer than I wanted it to be, so I’ll shorten the rest of their journey. What’s important to know is that they took a part in three heroic expeditions, two were official and known to the whole continent while the third one was more of a personal matter where they were called to help a friend. Two times world was in danger and many brave souls were called to risk their lives for a greater good. They agreed on that and came out as winners. In those expeditions their names echoed throughout the world and when Anar decided to go back and see his father and his people, he was greeted with sad news. The king died when he heard the news about his son contributing to one of the biggest victory the continent had fought against its enemies.
Despite his escape from the city and his people and despite getting away from the title of prince, people wanted him to be on the throne. Although he thought he wasn’t ready to take that position, he didn’t have much choice and the time of peace and prosperity went on his hand. It wasn’t that hard to rule, but when another major threat showed up, things were shaken in roots.
Invasion talks about those events. The first major challenge Anar is facing as a king. On his previous journeys he had to worry only about himself and his friends, but this time his people and, it will soon turn out, the whole world lie on his back. The book will tell you all about it.
Here I’ll finish this article. It was longer than I expected, but the inspiration was there if you’re a writer you know what I’m talking about. However, tell me if you like this type of articles. There are other important characters that will reveal some of the most important details about the backstory of the whole novel. I want you to feel a little bit of the atmosphere of Royal wars fantasy universe. I hope you enjoyed this story. Stay tuned for more. Invasion is coming.
