He, of course, believes it is the right choice, but that belief doesn’t absolve him of guilt, especially once he starts to enact Lucius Cassius’s plans to conquer the lands across the Endless Seas. Inspiration for how that might manifest came when I stumbled upon Jacqueline Carey’s lesser-known The Sundering duology, which is loose retelling of Lord of the Rings but from the perspective of the characters Satoris and Tanaros Blacksword, who parallel Sauron and his right hand, the Witch-king of Angmar. In this series I found what the young fantasy reader in me had always wanted – a chance to step behind the curtain and understand the other half of the story – the villain’s story. In the synopsis of the first novel, Banewreacker, it ends with the question: If all that is considered good considers you evil, are you? It was question that stuck in my mind, and it is a question that haunts Marcus: whether he is evil for the things that he’s done.
“Evil. Evil. There was something about the word and its meaning. Not just doing foul deeds, but delighting in their doing.” ~ Dark Shores
Marcus isn’t the true villain – that’s the power-hungry Lucius Cassius – but in the way of Tanaros Blacksword in The Sundering and the Witch-king in Lord of the Rings, he is the tool that Cassius uses to accomplish his evil ends, as are all the young men in Marcus’s legion. Marcus and the Thirty-Seventh Legion are part of the antagonistic force – what they intend to do is in no way good – but seeing the story from their side explains the why behind their actions. If I’ve done my job as writer, readers will find themselves rooting for the survival of Marcus and the Thirty-Seventh, while uncomfortably aware that said survival might ensure the villain’s victory.
“The Celendor Empire had already hurt her and hers in its pursuit of conquest, and it was set on dominating all of Reath. The Cel called the West the Dark Shores, but they were the black tide intent on washing the gods from this world. And Marcus and his men were the weapon they’d use to do it.
She wanted the Empire to fail, to fall. Yet she did not want these men to lose, because losing meant dying.” ~ Dark Shores