I managed to finish Urgill’s Chapter 5 of TTWC3 and in so doing, finished her section. That just leaves Mab and Akasame. I have five chapters to write for each of them, but I have more partial work on Mab’s chapters, maybe enough that I can get through her section this week. Stay tuned.

I made far less progress than what I was hoping to make. I wrote a little bit on Chapter 4 of CeleKing1 and did a little work in the peripheral materials, but that’s well short of the mark. I really need to dedicate more time to brainstorm my way forward and things should come together more. I was having some Internet issues last night as well, but that’s only a small part of the problem. It’s time to switch back to TTWC3. Hopefully I can actually start making progress there and get it finished up in the next couple cycles. I just have one chapter of Urgill’s section to finish, then I have to do Mab and Akasame’s sections and I’ll be done. If I can make decent headway, two cycles should be enough. We’ll see. Stay tuned.

After going the whole week without making any progress, I started in on the new version of Urgill’s Chapter 5 of TTWC3 and rewrote the start of her epilogue to match the changes. I really need to buckle down if I’m going to finish the dang book. Well, I’ll be moving on to JJ, but I may try to spend a little time on TTWC3 as well. I’m going to try to make more of an active effort to dedicate a specific time for writing to ensure I can at least maintain the minimum progress. Stay tuned.

We’ve wrapped things up with our first lead of TTWC3 and now it’s time to take a deeper look. While Rowland is placed in the “king” role opposite to Solon and the Monarch Lich, he actually has greater affinity to the “knight” characters Ionathas and Caligo. Whereas Solon is the idealistic wise old king and the Monarch Lich is an archetypical evil overlord, Rowland is a very different sort of leader, bold and brash yet not without a good share of cunning. He takes a force of a few hundred and and manages to defeat one of the greatest strategists of that time backed by a military superpower. Now, admittedly, if the full strength of either the Zephyrian army or the Army of Light had been brought to bear against him, he probably would’ve been defeated. Similarly, he wouldn’t have been able to emerge victorious if the Dominion dispatched the sort of forces the Zephyrians contended with in the Darklands. However, success is as much a matter of skill as it is luck.

Rowland was a more interesting character to write than either Solon or the Monarch Lich because he was morally grey. Both Solon and the Monarch Lich have complexity to them, but they’re situated close to poles of the white-black spectrum. Rowland, however, is listed as a chaotic neutral in that he does whatever he pleases to benefit himself (and to the degree that he thinks outside of himself, his cause). You might be forgiven for doubting his sincerity when he speaks of working for Notos’ benefit. I do believe he’s a patriot, but not to the point that he’d serve the motherland to his own disadvantage. He refused the crown, but he still rules as a king in all but name. That being said, he didn’t go for hereditary rule because he cares enough about the country to not entrust it to anything so unreliable as his own progeny. If this all sounds somewhat contradictory, this blend of the selfish and the selfless, it’s because Rowland himself is riddled by such contradictions. It might be a problem for him if he stopped to fret about it rather than just charging on ahead.

I’ll save a discussion of his relationship with Simona for her section. I will say, though, that he uses people so cynically that he has little notion of true affection for anyone else. You could blame losing his mother at a young age, having a father obsessed with the cause above all else, and being raised primarily by a fanatically loyal and deeply infatuated servant. That’s not to say he lacks any redeeming qualities in his interpersonal relationships. He generally gives as much loyalty as he gets and while he may have his share of unsavory deeds, he’s far removed from the list of my greatest monsters.

Loss is a common theme throughout the Trident War series. Victory comes at a price and that’s for the lucky ones. However, of the entire cast, Rowland is perhaps the lead who gains the most and loses the least. That might make him something of a Karma Houdini in the eyes of some, but it’s something interesting to note.

Well, that should do it for Rowland for now. We’ll be back in seven weeks to discuss Simona. Stay tuned.

I pretty well finished Urgill’s epilogue of TTWC3. That just leaves her Chapter 5, but I’m thinking of changing my original plan for it, so that may require a little extra time. It’s business for next cycle at any rate. Now it’s time to return to JJ. Stay tuned.

I finished Urgill’s Chapter 4 of TTWC3 and made some more progress on her epilogue. I should be able to at least finish the epilogue before the switch, maybe even finish her Chapter 5 as well if I really focus on it. We’ll see. Stay tuned.

I wrote a little on Urgill’s Chapters 4 and 5 as well as her epilogue of TTWC3. Finishing her section this cycle seems feasible, but we’ll see. Stay tuned.

I finished Urgill’s Chapter 3 of TTWC3 and got started on her Chapter 4. I may come up shy of finishing her section this week, but I think I can at least finish two more chapters. Stay tuned.

I made a little progress on Urgill’s Chapter 3 of TTWC3. I spent more of my writing time working down my backlog of reviews. It was topping 20 movies, so I really needed to whittle down the pile. I should be able to redirect a little more attention to the story now, though. Stay tuned.

I managed to finish Urgill’s Chapter 2 of TTWC3. If I didn’t have other stuff vying for my time this weekend, I possibly could barrel my way through the entire section, but we’ll set the more realistic goal of trying to get at least one more chapter done before I switch over. Stay tuned.