Character introduction — Ciandra, a skillful archer
After Anar and Adrian, it’s time to write about a female character and one of my favorite characters overall. You have learned something about Ciandra from my previous articles, but this time I’ll focus on her with a little bit more details.
She grew up in a relatively rich family. Her father was a librarian and she loved to read, but soon she became more interested in some physical activity. She wanted to be outside, to listen to the birds, to feel the warmth of sunshine and gentle touches of the wind. She wanted to be in nature. In the small place where she lived, an archery tournament was organized each year and best archers would gather to challenge their skills. Although she knew about it from her earliest days of life, she never felt the spark of passion towards archery — until she was fifteen or so.
She wanted to try it out and when she did, with a small bow gifted by one of the contenders, there was no going back. The bow felt so good in her hands and the activity itself was mesmerizing. She wanted to practice every day. Her arms were sore, but she was persistent. Pleasure was stronger than pain.
At first her parents thought that was just a temporary distraction from books. They thought that winter will close their daughter in the library where she’ll continue on her father’s steps. But they underestimated Ciandra’s will. Not only did she practice when the weather became colder, she practiced through the rain and snow as well. That was just a new challenge, a new test and not a sign that she has to give up her new passion.
When it became apparent that Ciandra won’t exchange bow for books any time soon and she was coming of age, they decided to help her find some job. Archer who loves to be in nature. They thought she would be an excellent huntress. Not something they would be proud of, but unlike many parents, happiness of their daughter was their priority.
Ciandra accepted, for the first time feeling the support of the parents, but soon she realized that was not her path. When she killed the first animal, saw its pain and felt it inside of herself, she quickly decided she won’t do that again. She returned home and disappointed her parents, but quickly came with the idea to fix things. She wanted to make them proud and her new way of doing so was to win the archery tournament.
The day of competition came. She was the only girl to participate and the pressure from the crowd, their insults and taunts almost paralyzed her. She did manage to beat some opponents, but eventually failed to deal with the tension. Another defeat made her hopeless. Going back to her father’s steps and working in the library seemed like the only option. But then the light shone on her path. A man showed up and offered her archery lessons. He promised her a win next year, but only if she would do everything he tells her.
That man was known as a traveler, a person who spend most of his time alone in nature, showing up only from time to time in villages where he was giving advice on living a good life. What many people didn’t know was that he was a very good archer and he proved that by hitting the target five times. During the last three hits he wasn’t even looking at the place he needed to hit.
Ciandra’s parents were suspicious about the man, but his good reputation prevailed in the end. Ciandra was already a grown up and they respected her decision, even though that left them in worry. Ciandra traveled the surrounding area with the man, talking about life and learning how to live as nature’s best friend. It seemed that she won’t learn a thing about archery as the man was talking only about life. However, soon she realized that was just the preparation for a true lesson. She learned how to calm the mind, how to focus and use all her physical and mental energy. Her archery skills improved only by that, but when they actually started practicing with the bow and arrows, she was a completely different person.
A year passed and Ciandra learned a lot from her teacher. From time to time she was visiting her parents, soothing up their worry and ultimately destroying it. But when the day of tournament came, she wasn’t there. Nobody was surprised, as nobody expected her to return. She knew she could win, but that wasn’t her priority anymore. She became even calmer, more forgiving and, people would say, more of a good person who learned that she doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone. Her main goal was to help those in need and she met a lot of them on her travels. One of those people was Anar.
As you already know from the article about the king of Anagrad, she found him on the road, dehydrated and exhausted. If not for her and her teacher, Anar would be dead and many things in the world would be different. However, from that day they traveled together and Anar’s presence helped her a lot when her mentor died.
After that, she and Anar formed a strong relationship, they saved each other’s lives many times and when it seemed that the world was finally at peace, the invasion started and the chaos filled her heart as well. She had to leave the home and vineyard and take the bow in order to help in the defense of the continent. That’s where her story in the book Invasion starts.
Ciandra is one of the first female characters that I’ve created. I changed some details about her throughout the years, but the core remained the same. She’s still a good soul who respects nature and loves the people, but at the same time a deadly archer who won’t tremble before those who try to ruin that harmony.
Tell me what do you think about Ciandra? Who of these three you’re looking forward to meet in the book the most?
