I found Vathek in an Eighteenth Century Romance of the same name, which begins thusly: “Vathek, ninth caliph of the race of the Abassides, was the son of Motassem, and the grandson of Haroun al Raschid.” A description follows of his table which was “continually covered with the most exquisite dainties,” his garden of rarities, a hall of music, and a “Palace of Perfumes.”
Basically he’s a guy that has it all until a mysterious stranger shows up who has the most magical merchandise, like knives that cut by themselves, slippers with spontaneous springs, and a certain sabre with gems arranged in something akin to letters. It is this item that Vathek desires, and, of course, it all goes downhill from there and Vathek comes to a bad end.
After which I thought, who better to be cursed into an imp than this guy? Here's an excerpt (Arlen has just spoken the words to Summon Vathek):
A wet, popping
sound made her snap her head around and a second later a creature appeared; a
small black thing the size of a teapot with a long, smooth barbed tail. It had
no hair whatsoever and bright amber eyes.
Arlen threw herself back in her chair, fingers curling tight around the arms, eyes wide .
The thing looked at her, blinking, then
slowly turned its head, bright eyes taking in the room first, then the witchlight
hanging above the desk, and finally back to Arlen, who had
scooted her chair back against the wall. Its mouth curved into a small smile
and she could see tiny pointy teeth, sharp as knives.
Who's one of your favorite unusual characters? Care to share a little excerpt?
6 comments:
I found a reference to an ancient Viking broadsword that had runes written along the blade. "Gudrid carries me" it said.
I used it in my first mss, Of Oak and Dragons.
The MC is touring a museum of artifacts. Along with the sword described above, she sees another with runes.
“Look there’s another one and it says…”
I stopped. Involuntarily, my eyes flicked to Ruen. Black eyes came up to mine and we stared at one another across the display.
“Oh, yes,” the curator said. “Very unusual, that one. It says ‘the Dragon carries me always’. It isn’t so much the wording but seems to indicate the owner would return someday to retrieve it. Very odd.”
I like Skelley, my villain's mini-skeleton henchman. He beats his skull with his tiny fists in frustration quite often.
Intriguing!
I love a good henchman!
Very interesting. All my own characters seem unique and unusual to me :) I've read some unusual characters in fantasy novels that tickled my funny bone as interesting characters though.
......dhole
I once wrote a pair of intergalactic bounty hunting types who just happened to consist of a little girl and her teddy bear. I imagine that qualifies.
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