Tag Archives: Character profile

Meet the Cast: Mirelle Pathara

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Mother to Katira, the main character in Stonebearer’s Betrayal, and companion to Jarand, Mirelle is both a nurturer and councilor. In sticky situations, she is the one most likely to stay rational and calm and keep the other characters from making rash decisions. This works well because both Katira and Jarand both tend to let their emotions guide their actions.

“Healing Silverstars” By AnthonyFoti

From her youth, Mirelle has been passionate about the healers art. It came as no surprise that when her powers manifested, her strength and talent aligned with this passion leading her to join the Order of Healers. She is unique among healers with the power, as she also has gathered a wealth of information regarding medicinal herbs. This knowledge is put to good use in the small town of Namragan, where she lives with Jarand and Katira and works as the town’s healer.

Among her peers, Mirelle is considered one of the best Stonebearer healers, second to Master Firen the head of the healing arts at Amul Dun, the mountain fortress of the Stonebearers.

Katira grew up watching her mother work healing the sick, tending to the wounded, and preparing salves, tinctures, and other medicines, all with an expert hand. Katira admired her mother so much in this ability to make people feel better that she begged to learn the healing art as well. As soon as she could lift the heavy mortar and pestle she pulled up a chair and worked alongside her mother. When Katira was old enough to announce her trade as a young teen, she proudly declared she would follow in her mother’s footsteps.


Photo by Katherine Hanlon on Unsplash

Want to learn more about the cast of Stonebearer’s Betrayal? Check out these posts:

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Discussion

Do you have a favorite mother character in fiction? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

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Don’t miss it, Stonebearer’s Betrayal received another wonderful review this week from book review blog “Why not? Because I Said So!”

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Meet the Stonebearer Cast: Jarand Pathara

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A few weeks ago we discussed the main character of Stonebearer’s Betrayal, Katira. That discussion can’t be complete without also learning about her father, Jarand Pathara.

Jarand wants nothing more than to live a peaceful life as a father, husband, and blacksmith, hidden away in the remote village of Namragan. He wants to raise his daughter and teach her the wisdom he’s gathered over the long years of his life. He knows it can’t last, there are forces at work that will put an end to this peace, but at the start of Stonebearer’s Betrayal he refuses to dwell on the changes that will come.

He chose Namragan for one reason alone, it is the least likely place his enemies would look for him and the best possible place to keep Katira safe. Jarand’s history stretches back further than a mortal man, he wasn’t always a simple blacksmith.  If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll know immortals play key roles in this story. Jarand is one of them.

Jarand is an oath-bound Stonebearer of the Khandashii. While his immediate concerns are to protect his family, his larger duty is to protect the people of the world against dark creatures escaping from the mirror realm. If you’d like to learn more about what it means to wear the stone, there’s a blog post about that too.

Amidst the Stonebearer society, there are five orders that stem from the five distinct types of magic. Jarand is a guardian and well-trained in warfare. He survived the great wars when the world turned against those who could use the power.

I mentioned in the blog post about Katira that in the early days of writing Stonebearer’s Betrayal, Jarand used to be the main character. I loved writing about him because I loved what his character represented. In the end, it wasn’t his story to tell.

His creation is a result of my own wish fulfillment. I took the best traits of all my favorite characters and allowed him to grow from them. In Jarand, we find the wisdom and fierce protectiveness also found in Doctor Who. We also see how time has worn him down. He is a world-weary tired warrior, much like Geralt of Rivia. He holds his oaths dearly and for that there is a feeling of nobleness to him, much like Ned Stark. I promise, I’ll let Jarand keep his head.

mattsmith

The 11th Doctor

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Geralt of Rivia

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Ned Stark

The big question is – do I see Jarand as the perfect man? My answer is no, simply because there is no such thing as a universally ‘perfect’ man. He is a good man and something all men can strive towards. He is caring, selfless, and hard-working. He’s also had hundreds of years to learn from his mistakes and discover what brings him the most fulfillment, which for him is the safety and happiness of his family.

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Join the conversation! Who is your favorite “noble man” character? Brownie points for sharing why they are important to you.

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Meet the Stonebearer Cast: Katira Pathara

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It turns out that it’s unexpectedly hard to create a post about the main character of Stonebearer’s Betrayal without giving away some of the disastrous things that happen to her in the story.

I’ll do my best.

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“A Strong Girl” by schattenlos 

Katira Pathara is the daughter of Jarand and Mirelle, two respected members of the small mountain guarded community of Namragan. Mirelle is an herbalist and medicine woman, while Jarand works the village forge and sits on the town council. Katira has been studying medicine and healing under her mother’s tutelage since she was old enough to lift the heavy mortar and pestle. As the story begins, she is on the cusp of entering her formal apprenticeship when she turns eighteen.

Katira is levelheaded and willing to try things that are difficult. What I love most about her is in this book is she grows to overcome fears that are holding her back. She learns she can be fearless when it really counts.

In the beginning of the journey to create this world and this story, Katira wasn’t the main character. That role I assigned to her father, Jarand. Of all the characters in Stonebearer’s Betrayal, he is the only one to fall onto the page fully formed and demanding I share his story. Most authors have one character archetype that they adore to use and I’m no different. I love strong silent fighters who are world-weary, caring, and once you’ve earned their respect, willing to sacrifice. In the end, this wasn’t his story to tell which was something that took me years to figure out. We’ll talk all about Jarand in another post.

Katira, like many teen girls, made me fight and work to understand her and even now, I’m not sure of what she’s going to do next. She’s uncertain of her place, and desperate to be accepted and respected in the same way she sees the people of her community treat her mother – although she’ll never admit it.

I know what you are thinking, Katira is secretly me. Yes, and no. She’s tiny parts of me. But, on that note so are all of my characters. You can’t create a fictional character without drawing from your own experience. Katira loves the science behind how things work. She genuinely wants to help people. She’s logical. So am I.

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Arya Stark from Game of Thrones

Confession time, I was watching lots of Game of Thrones during the refining editing passes where the finer story points of Stonebearer’s Betrayal and its characters took shape. Arya Stark is such a cool character that I wanted to capture some of her struggle and spark in Katira. Katira shares her dark eyes and dark hair and both grow into something that when the story starts they would never have expected. Does Katira go off assassinating the enemies who betrayed her family? No. But she is willing to do what it takes to ensure her survival in what looks like a hopeless situation.

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Let’s talk! Share your favorite “strong girl” main character in the comments. Bonus points if you share how that character has influenced you in your life.

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Love staying in touch? So do I! Let’s connect. I’ll follow back. Pick your favorite platform, either here on WordPress, or you can also find me on  Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.