Related Characters

Ælkræleinnoire

Image: Kay - Click to enlarge

Kay wears The Sword of Deception, an emblem of office that flares blue fire in the presence of Ogres, green when near Trolls.
 

Jack

Image: Jack Barleycorn, The Guardian - Click to enlarge

Realising the power of the Sword of Deception, Jack asks for a similar sword to be made.

The Sword of Destiny is cast, which is gifted to Ræm. He also wears a ring with similar powers, gifted by the Shaman.
 

Dawn

Image: Dawn - Click to enlarge

She is instrumental in exposing Ogre clones of the Last, and becomes liaison with the FBI.
 

Jien Noi

Image: Empress and Gatekeeper Jien Noi - Click to enlarge

Sar Tan almost succeeded in having Jien Noi, the Empress Elect, executed. Sar Tan had poisoned her mother with nips of mercury, sending the Empress slowly insane.

Sar Tan ingratiated herself to become the Empress' trusted confident. The clone's exposure greatly hampered the Great Ogre's plans for subjugation of the Second.
 

Characters

Feature: The Second's Enemies
 

 

Enemies and Villains

 
 

Several named villains feature in the trilogy, the most malignant being the Great Ogre pictured right. However, the first enemy we meet in Book One is Theodosius Quinn of the Last.

The Great Ogre has his own dedicated page, which can be found here.

Enemies fall into two distinct groups, associated enemies who have sold themselves out for the promises of wealth offered by the Great Ogre. These are normal people, nearly all being of the Last, who are filled with avarice and wish for personal power.

The second group are composite enemies, people created by the Great Ogre to perform specific tasks, often years into the future. These sleeping agents have been cloned, and often their minds have been re-mapped to do the Great Ogres bidding without question. It is this group we will focus upon.
 

Theodosius Quinn
Theodosius is a clone, although he does not realise the fact He was taken when very young, and his mind was mapped to become a lieutenant of the Ogre Army. What sets him apart is that he developed a latent talent for telepathy, and in particular, being able to influence others minds. He was never able to control another person, but used subtle suggestion, making his target believe they had come up with an idea themselves.

He discovered the Great Ogre was susceptible at certain moments, especially when distracted by important and emerging matters, and improved his skills. The Great Ogre had a limited ability to read others thoughts, so Quinn developed extremely good mental protection, thus shielding his true thoughts from his master.

The Great Ogre had been alive for millennia, cloning himself and re-mapping his own mind as the original. The Ogres are masters of this specific technology. Only a very few trusted are allowed access to the Great Ogre during this time, Quinn being one. Regeneration usually takes several weeks, and a couple of months for the process to render the Great Ogre as an adult.

Quinn ingratiated himself into the trusted group, and extended the recovery process, thereby rendering the Great Ogre asleep, as in hibernation, for months. He had grown to detest the despotic control over all living things the Great Ogre exhibited, and believed himself superior, his name: Theodosius literally means, "Giver of God." He believed he was 'God'.

When the time was ripe, he took the Ring of The Warrior from the Great Ogre's finger, replacing it with his own, a powerful, but subservient ring.

He had been plotting for years, and used his human servant Magnus, and the clone Sar Tan, to do his bidding. They both helped create an anomaly in the defences of the Second, and when the time was right, he attacked. He sought the ultimate power, the Ring of Oma, the controller of all the rings.

His plans were thwarted when the Second fought back, and became undone when the Eleventh and Seventh came to the aid of Jien Noi. Being caught by the Guardian, he was imprisoned by the Ddwyrth, and interrogated by the best mind readers of the Eleventh. Eventually he broke, revealing his own, and the Great Ogre's invasion plans. He was executed by the Allied Tribes, although Magnus, not a clone, was allowed to live with the Second, but under strict supervision as a minor court official in Soi Long.

Sar Tan
Sar Tan is the first evil emissary we meet in the series. As a young girl, she was gifted with the arts of Seeing, and trained under Won Long for some time. One day she was sent on an errand, and was found days later wandering aimlessly, she appeared to have lost her Seeing abilities, and was taken into service within the Imperial household; she was a first cousin of Jien Noi's mother.

This occurred during the years there was no Guardian or Gatekeeper, Won Long covering all three positions, and training replacements for all three roles. It would be unfair to state that Won Long missed the deception, but had a Guardian, and a Gatekeeper been in place, the deception is highly unlikely to have succeeded.

When Book One begins, Sar Tan has become a confidant of Empress Zhao, and slowly poisons both the woman's mind, and her body using small drafts of mercury as a tonic. Like Theodosius Quinn, she is working against the interests of the Second. It is presumed; agents of the Great Ogre captured her, cloned her, and returned her to the island. In time, using Ogre technology, she instigated an anomaly that breached the island shield, the Core being effectively offline and unable to respond.

After her capture, Magnus revealed;

Jack, “Sar Tan, has she been here these last few years?”
Magnus, "Oh no, she has been at our base in the Himalayas for most of the time. Sometimes Theodosius sent her back here to affect the anomaly, and monitor what was happening on the island. She has been in this cave many times.”
“Just how did Sar Tan manage to get past our shield?”
“She used your buoyancy aid, and swam like the fish do, clean through the barrier. Once outside she set a signal beacon, and Theodosius transported her to us. She returned the same day, replacing your life jacket as a matter of urgency. But she returned with an underwater propulsion unit, and could come and go as she wished. I told you she was clever, didn't I, but not as clever as my master. He won’t find me, will he? I am dead if he does. Please!”

One interesting twist is that there were not one, but two Sar Tan clones, and although theoretically identical, they were not. Both were publicly executed, the people allowed to vent their enmity in full.

Minor Villains
Other Ogre clones feature in the trilogy, such as Dawn revealing; “Mr. Barranger has many friends in the City and government circles.” Another is Mr. Hunter, head of Envirotech.

These characters were largely deleted for flow and focus of story, but remain important as they provide a sense of real world connection with how the Great Ogre has undermined leading world governments and global conglomerates. Henry (FBI) identifies other mercenaries who attacked the Island, as being important to the U.S. security services; which themselves are shown to be badly compromised.
 

Information

The Great Ogre

Image: The Great Ogre - Click to enlarge

He came to power after his uncle, the previous dictator, was killed by Captain Obsidian. The year is never stated, but should be seen as circa first century Anno Domini.

To live so long, the Great Ogre clones himself, remapping his mind to its latest configuration; within a new body. Often both his mind and body are enhanced during the process. This is termed 'hibernation'.

All Ogres are vulnerable during such rimes of regeneration; this led to his predecessors downfall, and for him to lose the Ring of the Warrior to Quinn.
 

Weapons

The Great Ogre has access to the same weaponry the Islanders do, and knows more about some, and how best to use them, at first.

For instance, he deploys 'duplicity transporters' in one battle, and Peni comes up with the answer.
 

Sar Tan

Image: Sar Tan - Click to enlarge

Sar Tan was kidnapped by the Great Ogre when she was very young. It is presumed her body was harvested for DNA, and she died as a result.

The Minotaur

This creature of legend, half man, half bull, as in fact an elite Ogre general. He had been put in charge of monitoring the Great Ogre's experiments with the Last, and was one of the few Ogres who met the people he subjugated.

The Minotaur, his Ogre name, played games with the Last, often trapping them within a labyrinth, the only escape being death.

The Minotaur was executed by the previous Great Ogre. Sometimes historical reality proves stranger than science fantasy fiction.
 

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