The author commentary of The Gifts of Kali continues! This week, I’m talking about Urg and Ruiz. SPOILER WARNING is in effect!
Connections
One of the main themes in Greystone is connections. People NEED connections, they crave relationships. Our entire society is built around the idea of community, of people pooling together for a common goal.
Looking back at Soriya’s training years meant delving into this idea of connections. Mentor fights against them. He dislikes her need to be around others. Soriya, however, gravitates towards others. She feeds off their energy, their talent. That’s one of the main pulls of her relationship with Loren in the main series. She loves bouncing cases off him, their give and take in trying to right a wrong.
Hammer and Anvil gave readers Bethany Loren and Eddie Domingo. These were the characters Soriya connected with, who she saw the world through. They offered her perspective for the unique situation they found themselves in, and allowed Soriya to grow as a person over the course of their adventure.
For The Gifts of Kali, I considered bringing them both back. Beth, for sure. Eddie was a long shot, especially considering I thought he was in a good place.
Instead, I decided to dive back into the main series and see if there were other players that might bring a new perspective to the table.
Urg returns
A college professor of mine, and dear friend, wrote to me after reading Signs of Portents. He was upset at the death of Urg of all things. I thought it was funny, and was upset I never used him for Tales from Portents considering it was a prequel of sorts.
The Gifts of Kali allowed me to rectify that error. Urg is back in this one, but I didn’t want it to be without reason. The notion of connections is extremely relevant when it comes with Soriya’s interactions with Urg. He is a protector, someone hoping to look out for her and be there if she needs anything.
She also turns to him when in dire straits. With the Tengu. In the aftermath of the Caldwell Correctional fight. Urg is her rock, someone she can rely on to shield her without the lectures and the teaching that accompanies others like Mentor.
That was Urg’s original role here. The comedy of his scenes evolved over the draft. I loved being able to have those small moments in the narrative, especially considering the darkness throughout. Being able to utilize Urg to bring some light to the story was one of my favorite elements of this book.
Ruiz
Loren had a couple shout-outs in Hammer and Anvil. I thought it was a nice touchstone to the main series by inserting him in the narrative.
One main player didn’t make the cut the first time around: Ruiz.
When I look at Greystone, I break it down as Soriya and Loren’s story, but the truth is Ruiz is as much if not more critical to the equation. He’s the regular joe of the trio, the family man, and the guy willing to tough out the darker days in the hope that there will be a better tomorrow.
Ruiz was a must for Gifts. Weaving him through the narrative was a little trickier than Loren in the first book. Most of Ruiz’s arc comes from the birth of his third daughter – a moment I thought was necessary considering how much death is involved in the book thanks to Shiva’s machinations.
I also thought the timeline was perfect for Ruiz to appear. He hasn’t met Soriya at this point. This is their introduction, and the way it plays out, there is no surprise at the animosity that seems to grow over time.
How Ruiz connects…
Ruiz, however, was not meant to be a connection for Soriya in this book. No, his main foil is Mentor. Both are fathers. Both have daughters. But both see the world very differently, and it is in their encounter by the docks that I knew I had hit the nail on the head.
Mentor’s fears about Soriya, about the end to come, don’t have the impact they should without Ruiz’s argument in the middle of the book. Ruiz drives the point home about bringing Soriya into this world, about forcing her to face the enemy head on, instead of shielding her from harm as Ruiz does with his family.
These are two strong-willed individuals who both offer arguments on how to face danger. It’s one of my favorite scenes in the book, but then again, anything with Ruiz is pretty much guaranteed to make that list.
Next time:
The lore of the book.
Thanks for reading.
