The Villain of Once Upon a Rhyme
Posted on October 7, 2014 by Simon appleby
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about the main character of Once Upon a Rhyme. The post broke down into a heated debate between Will Pickett and Charming, and of course, an argument could be made that neither of them is the main character, but that it should be Liz instead. So the next question is: Who is the villain?
Not being rhetorical, it’s a difficult question. The dragon isn’t the villain of the piece. She dies in the prologue. Will and Liz Pickett, the peasants who own the field where she dies may turn the other way when Will gets praised as a dragon-slayer, but they are hardly villains.
What about Charming? He’s arrogant, prideful, pig-headed, utterly vain and determined to expose the Pickett siblings as frauds. Or at least that’s where he starts out. As his world continues to shatter, several readers (and at least two of who are authors in their own rights) have told me that they found themselves pulling for Charming. The series is named after him, after all.
Rescued Princess Gwendolyn has lots of issues. It’s easy to blame her for everything, but she was left imprisoned for a generation. Is it truly her fault when she realizes that everything she believed was a lie? When she asserts herself, is she being a villain or trying to find justice the only way she knows how?
If there’s someone besides Charming or Gwendolyn who should be considered the villain of Once Upon a Rhyme, please vote or comment below. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks! [polldaddy poll=8359135]
I say it’s the authors. Failing that, the setting. Or, if I can’t hedge, it’s Gwen. She is the one that ends up driving the story, and that’s the role of the villain.
Hmmm… I bet it is the authors.