NOVEL NEXT Character Profile: Zalthia Belouis
CHARACTER THOUGHTS
When creating the Belouis sisters, I wanted them all to have completely different personalities. Azhane is very kind & nurturing, Carmen is curious & reckless, Tiaran is quiet & calm, Nyanza is a loud jokester, and Zalthia is stern & dutiful. They all have aspects that are totally opposite, but in a lot of ways compliment each other.
As the 2nd eldest, I wanted Zalthia to be Azhane's voice of reason, especially with Azhane being so new to the role of ruling a nation. Zalthia's no nonsense attitude and "I'll do it myself" mentality helps keep Azhane grounded, allowing her to focus on more pressing matters while Zalthia takes care of the dirty work. Even though Zalthia can be a bit condescending and direct with her tone, Azhane never finds it rude and instead values her sisters thoughts. I found this dynamic to be quite interesting to work with.
Zalthia didn't always used to be like this though. We will explore the why's and how's throughout the rest of the trilogy, including the reason behind why she never likes using her Manifest. It goes a lot deeper than just "it's very dangerous." Maybe when the entire Manifest War series is complete, I'll do a spin off series with Zalthia as the MC. That would be a lot of fun to write!
Thanks for reading!