Dark. Mysterious. Quiet. Disenchanted yet Devoted.
Meet Iomhar!
Iomhar is technically the first character I ever imagined for the world of my story, though I didn’t know it at the time. I simply wrote a short story about a ranger in stormy mountain pass (check that out here) and one day, years later, I remembered that ranger as I was beginning to brainstorm for my book.
A quiet and dangerous man, Iomhar has skills not unsimilar to a medieval-fantasy version of Liam Neeson in Taken. Life as a ranger is long behind him though.
For years and years now, he has been on a mission. A mission he continues long after the one who laid it upon him is gone; a mission the failure or success of which will echo across the world. Or so he was told.
By the time we meet the former ranger in our story, gray has begun to streak his glossy black hair. His once finely maintained beard has turned scruffy and wrinkles edge his deep, knowing brown eyes.
Jaded, unravelling, and faced with a task he doesn’t know how to complete, Iomhar spends as much time living in the past as he does the present. Picture a down-on-his-luck Aragorn.
The man I picture in my mind’s eye when I think of this character is the kind of man you’d like to have a beer with, he’s seen things and seems to have this knowledge and presence about him, like he’s lived many a life. I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with him either.
Iomhar has always captivated my imagination and one day I hope he’ll be able to capture yours too.