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I’ve talked about it enough on Notes (possibly) about how Obsidian & Flame was a shiny new idea that I couldn’t shake off and how it eventually took over my brain.
But what I have kept under wraps is the story seed.
It probably won’t shock you to learn it came from a KDrama. In particular, a moment in a scene late in a series.
The series? “Lovers of the Red Sky”, a historical fantasy which has the absolute worst first episode I’ve ever seen (somebody was playing with new CGI/AI tech of the time and had absolutely no restraint), a quite evocative and haunting soundtrack and … well, a magic system that didn’t measure up.
The villain of the piece is your typical “I will kill everyone in my way and even destroy the world in order to become the crown prince” villain. Until he wasn’t.
Selfish, at least a sociopath, ruthless, bloody-minded and played with admirable restraint by the actor Kwak Si-yang who could have easily chewed up the scenery, but held it all in for this one moment toward the end.
The prince has been arrested for treason, essentially, and is brought before the king, his father. He cries and begs his father to love him as a son and let him become the crown prince, to let him take the chaos demon into his body because that’s the only way he can live.
Yeah. Basically begging the king to look upon him as his son, to love him more than his kingdom or the world.
(You can watch this scene at episode 15, minute 18:53. It didn’t feel right using a still from the series.)
The villain begged for redemption. He had one good reason for bad choices: his need for a father’s love. But yes, being an ambitious sociopath also had a fair bit to do with it. His wanting to become the crown prince unleashed the chaos demon in the first place.
That character and his inner conflict eventually became Panawr. He’s not as ruthless as his inspiration and soon took on his own persona.
I tried to imagine a redeeming for him, a way he could succeed without continuing to lose his humanity. It’s something I often end up doing for villains who do all the wrong things for the right reasons. I also like to imagine happy endings for second male leads.
The idea of redeeming a bad guy would not let go. I’ve done it before. My first traditionally published book Dangerous to Know was all about redeeming the rake.
I didn’t want to write this as fanfic, so I kept what was important: the need to be loved by a parent, the spreading wound, the need to become king.
The bath scene (a reflective moment in episode 8 (minute 10)) became a series of hot springs/sauna scenes and I gave them a purpose. Ahem.
Ok, we are getting into spoiler territory here, so if you don’t want to get spoiled, stop reading here and head to the serial, if you haven’t read it already:
Start Here: "Obsidian and Flame"
A prequel to A Grail for Eidothea, I found this tome at the bottom of the trunk.
I obviously moved it into my dreigiau môr universe.
When I did the first round of plotting, his parent, the Esteemed, initially started out male but that did not survive the actual writing. I may have to write Eigr’s and Rhydderch’s love story at some point.
Panawr became reclusive and more morally gray than outright villain. The wound began on his shoulder and turned his skin into shiny obsidian and spread. It’s caused by a monster and infects other people.
He needed a foil, someone who would be on his side. She fell out of the pen in that first scene, and I discovered she had a gift she couldn’t use. I didn’t know what that meant but I plotted a fiery end for her.
Redemption survived the actual writing too but in two earlier drafts it also ended in tragedy. Like, both Panawr and Arddun die in a failed coup. I shared the original ending already, but to summarise Arddun blazed in revenge and took Cynwal with her. Panawr’s redeemed from being the bad guy but doing the right thing doesn’t always work out, especially when the consequences of past actions catch up to you.
I also became intrigued in what would happen if you were chosen to fulfil a role but you missed the boat? That you had to save someone but didn’t know who until it was too late? How far would a person go to save someone if it also meant losing everything?
Did you notice their marks? The shape of Panawr’s remaining infection mark that only Arddun can see. And hers being a round circle? Oh yeah, they’ve been marked for the Chosen Court, only they’ve never been recognised as such, because Panawr never made it to Maeve and has been so isolated since.
I know, right?
I built a playlist to reflect the darker tone. It has a lot of tracks from the “Lovers of the Red Sky” OST which is quite suitably brooding. You can check that out here:
When Panawr took me to task for the original ending (and the second ending) (see here where I talk about characters talking to me), on the third iteration, Arddun’s gift became bigger too. It is still there in her calling for justice and was always meant to heal Panawr. But what started out as a tool of vengeance became one of soul healing. She touches the souls of Eigr, Cynwal and Indeg, and breaks Morfudd at the end. It also enabled Panawr’s redemption: in saving the caer from the spread of disease, he almost gets burnt to a crisp.
“Worth it,” is all Panawr will say on that score.
There are a few KDrama tropes in Obsidian & Flame: the argumentative first interaction, the falling and being caught by him, getting drunk together and him cushioning her head when she passes out, and finally, their meeting as children, which occurred in the short story “Against Destiny” (more on that in a minute).
One KDrama trope that I broke was that they don’t kiss until … the beginning of the third part!!! Way after the usual halfway mark of KDramas.
It would have happened sooner, but the story kept growing.
Enter
’s prompt quest. My short story resulted in a whole new stack of dreigiau môr lore around the winter solstice involving making offerings to dead ancestor, Goddess cakes and the consequences of deliveries not made.The short story gave me the external conflict to make the story bigger than Panawr or Arddun and made Panawr look outside his own issues for once.
It also gave me wonderful winter solstice scenes in Obsidian & Flame, Panawr actually tasting Goddess cakes for the first time is possibly my favourite thing I’ve ever written.
The story also influenced A River Trembles and A Sword for Wellington, which now has a winter solstice scene. Yep, I went back and rewrote.
Thank You
I need to thank both
for that story prompt and for teaching me how a spear-fight could legitimately happen. I also couldn’t have finished this without you: those who encouraged me to follow the Shiny New Idea, as well as those of you who have liked, commented and shared an instalment of Obsidian & Flame.Future Story Seeds
Attending a symphony (Tchaikovsky’s 6th) resulted in a loose plot outline for another part (or two) of this series. They’re not banging down the door to have it told though, so even though they interrupted my writing of A Sword for Wellington, I think I can safely work on the final book in The Môrdreigiau Chronicles series before finding out what happened to Panawr and Arddun after they left the caer.
That is, if you want to read it.
Ok, is there anything about this story I didn’t cover? Let me know in the comments and I’ll either answer there or write another post about it!
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Love getting a glimpse behind the scenes! So cool that it was inspired by a KDrama.
I really enjoyed reading about your inspiration here (although I know nothing about KDramas). And, yes, we do want to read more!