Dien Character Development Spotlight
Dien’s character development, er, well, being is sort of covered by The Corruption of Dark’s afterword already. So I’m not going to rehash that. Instead, I’m going to be all over the place with some thoughts on where Dien is going—not where she has been or was. Well, actually, yes, as those two things are inextricably linked, really.
This post doesn’t have any great spoilers for Volume 1/Book 11 (things that are alluded to are declared like in the first relevant chapter), but can be seen as a sort of companion musings. It’s more framing her mindset, my mindset on her, and what’s next for her rather than anything more…retrospective.
Moving On…to Where?
So Dien moved on from Hequera, moved on from trauma, pain, whatever, and staked out her identity apart from it…despite it being written into her and still of her. It’s a sort of emotional identity distancing. She transcended herself and accessed all.
But…where do you go from there? Where does she go from there, from that ‘here’? It’s basically the heart of the idea of my Volume 1 afterword: going forward after a major thing, upheaval, and like…cementing yourself in a new reality which isn’t…necessarily about or of you as those trauma bits are.
That’s Dien’s issue now. What are her personal wants, goals, likes, desires? She’s teasing into it, but has been allowed to sort of ignore that for a while due to dealing with Ara’quera’s stuff. Now that’s essentially over so…now what?
Home, Relationships
Dien has to figure out, like, what she must concern herself with. And what that means. The pieces are all there and known, but what do they mean to her and what does she mean to them? What is her relation to everything else and everyone else? What is home and what is home filled with? Who is it filled with?
Unlike the other groups of characters, Dien really only has one being, Ra’uw’la, as a steady companion. This makes sense for her, but as she grows, so too must her close associations…new friends and allies. Kenquaxe, ironically, is already a candidate for her. Yes, she has the Trinity and the One, but she isn’t a member of either Balon or the core group, but operates in a separate set.
Expanding her social circle is like expanding her new sense of identity.
Rebuilding Identity
Dien-eiw-Hequera has always been dealing with remaking and rebuilding her own identity. Now she’s doing it again, but regarding more mundane yet fundamental aspects. The big things have been handled, but…who are you outside of it? Who is Dien, really?
I mean in the sense of hobbies, likes, dislikes, interacting with random attractions… How does she relax? Does she have a little side hobby to play with? What does she do to enjoy herself?
That’s her journey now…dealing with the relatively small stuff, which is also really big and important to actually describing and incarnating Dien as a real, complete being.
Anyway
Dien’s getting familiar with herself…relaxed and reformed into a functioning individual, comfortable in her own skin and how it relates to the Empire. It may sound like a broken record issue at this point, but it’s like…different angles with one’s identity. Different contexts of identity. She’s discovering herself in all aspects.
And I’m discovering her too.
So, anyway, that’s what’s coming up for Dien, and I hope you join us for the ride!
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