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I had a dual feeling about the amount of appearances of Lord Meldorath. On one hand the lack of his moments or the description of his actions in the story creates a certain myterious aura for him as the villain behind everything. On the other hand when there is a scene with him he seems to have an intriguing personality. I would have loved to see more of him (even though I know it's only the second book).
What do you think, what's better: hide the villain or show him off more and deepen its connections with the reader?

Moira15 wrote: ↑11 Mar 2021, 15:48 I had a dual feeling about the amount of appearances of Lord Meldorath. On one hand the lack of his moments or the description of his actions in the story creates a certain myterious aura for him as the villain behind everything. On the other hand when there is a scene with him he seems to have an intriguing personality. I would have loved to see more of him (even though I know it's only the second book).
What do you think, what's better: hide the villain or show him off more and deepen its connections with the reader?

Limiting our time with him and giving the reader little information about Meldorath's motives or objectives makes him a very intriguing character, which is why I like that the villain was hidden, it gives him way more depth as a character and the mystic along with tales about him leave the reader always guessing whether Meldorath truly is as powerful and frightful as portrayed by other characters.

I quite like that his character is hidden (especially in this part), as it makes him more mysterious, the kind of powerful person who moves all the pawns from behind the scene. But on the other hand, that makes me also wonder sometimes whether he is really a dark character in this story, or maybe he has some greater plan in mind and he won't turn out to be all bad in the end.

I honestly want to see more scenes of Meldorath, given his prowess in magic. I really think he would turn out to be someone that was used as a scapegoat by the king.

I would have loved to get more appearances by Meldorath. I love the character Meldorath because of his prowess as a mage. He made the book quite intriguing.

Moira15 wrote: ↑11 Mar 2021, 15:48 I had a dual feeling about the amount of appearances of Lord Meldorath. On one hand the lack of his moments or the description of his actions in the story creates a certain myterious aura for him as the villain behind everything. On the other hand when there is a scene with him he seems to have an intriguing personality. I would have loved to see more of him (even though I know it's only the second book).
What do you think, what's better: hide the villain or show him off more and deepen its connections with the reader?

I think it's too early to brand Meldorath as the villain of this series since it's only the second book. Although he doesn't help the oppressed people, neither does he exactly collaborate with wicked men to ruin people. However, I agree that he's such a fascinating character, and I also would love to see more of him. Whether he should be exposed more or not, I think the author gave him precise exposure since Meldorath just came out from being saturated with too many probabilities to determine his next move and from recollecting the past. So he had only just concluded that his next move would be to replace Eiodi Gadesh.

I agree that he is a fascinating character. I think the author is framing him in such a way so as to not fix his role too early in the series. I think there will be more opportunities in future books for the author to reveal more about Meldorath before we can really understand his intentions.

More presence. He is a powerful character and the fact that Matthew Tysz has limited his appearances and thought patterns makes me yearn for more. But isn't suspense what we all look for in such compelling books?

You definitely need to keep a sense of mystery, but I do agree that Meldoras wasn’t given enough chapters.

I like how his character is concealed (particularly in this scene), as it helps make him more inexplicable, the type of influential individual who moves all the chess pieces from behind the scenes. On the other hand, it raises the question if he is truly a dark protagonist in this story, or if he has a larger scheme in mind and won't turn out to be entirely evil in the end.