Another major piece of the series fell into place when I decided to drop Nyphron’s point of view and focus on Persephone and Raithe. In this version, Nyphron had his group of warriors, Persephone had her misfits, and Raithe was a loner. But a funny thing happened. In building the Galantians, I realized they were unforgivably dull. A bunch of variously skilled warriors was not only boring, but they were also clichéd. No matter how much I tried to breathe life into their characters, they remained flat. On the other hand, Persephone’s group exploded onto the page. They had depth, emotion, and humor. I found myself drawn more and more to them. As a result, the Galantians faded into the background. At the same time, Suri, Moya, Roan, Gifford, Padera, and Brin started to take center stage.

  I was halfway through what would become Age of Myth (altered when Del Rey didn’t care for the use of so many invented terms for book titles), that I realized I didn’t want to write a story about Nyphron and his Galantians at all. I desired a different kind of story, a better one. Suddenly, the series stopped being something I wanted to quickly breeze through, and it became important to me.

  THE MESSAGE

  One of the things I was looking to accomplish in this series has to do with Albert Schatz, or to be more precise, people like him. Albert discovered the second antibiotic after penicillin, the one that cured tuberculosis and many other horrific bacteria-based illnesses. Unfortunately, Albert was a subordinate. His supervisor, Selman Waksman, took credit by carefully erasing Albert’s name from documents and keeping him away from meetings where he might gain recognition. Waksman won the Noble Prize, and Albert Schatz has been mostly forgotten. Likewise, the astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt suffered a similar lack of recognition because she was a woman in a male-dominated field. And then there is Albert Einstein’s wife, Mileva Marić. She was a genius in her own right, but other than fellow Serbians, most don’t know anything about her.

  The list of individuals who improved the world, but due to the prevalent culture or minority status, have been nearly lost to our collective memory is staggering. This made me wonder: How many in the history of Elan have been forever forgotten. This notion became a driving factor in the Legends series as I aimed to reveal the truth regarding historical facts that would later be usurped by those in power.

  In Riyria, unlikely heroes meant skilled and strong men who weren’t particularly virtuous and, therefore, unlikely to do good deeds. In Legends, I sought to present truly unlikely heroes, the sort that had no hope of being great and no chance of changing the world. I realized this was what had made Tolkien’s work so profound to me as a boy.

  Hobbits are unlikely heroes because no halfling could ever be expected to take on the might of Sauron, but they were also not children. They did not grow up and become heroes; they always were; they just didn’t know it. To me, that was the genius of Tolkien’s works. Through his hobbits, the reader follows innocent, seemingly powerless characters sent into unfathomable horror. I was riveted while wondering how they could possibly survive, much less succeed. This is one of the ideas I wanted to convey through my series both as a means to captivate readers but also as a message of hope that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary accomplishments. I wanted to remind us that the disadvantaged can win, and they’ve done so many times. I know such things are possible because I am just such a hobbit who once dreamed of being an author.

  THE BIG MISTAKE

  Armed with this new plan, the series’ focus shifted in the middle of Age of Myth and blossomed in Age of Swords. This second book steered away from the tired hero-warrior destined to save the world and moved toward the band of broken misfits who team up to win. And that is one of the reasons why it became my favorite book of the series.

  I finished my planned trilogy with Age of War, which concluded many of my story arcs. But Robin was quick to point out there was still much to do. “What about that damn door? And what’s up with Trilos and Malcolm?” I also had been operating under a mistaken assumption: That people reading Legends would have first read Riyria, and as such, they knew who won the war.

  I was left facing a series of repetitious battles, which did not excite me in the slightest. But there was also the ability to explain some of the background information that was known only to myself. For instance, in Riyria, it is the elves rather than humans who have gilarabrywns. So how did that come about?

  Frustrated by my own shortsightedness, and without clear direction, I began writing one more book to finish out the war. It was going to be bad; I knew that before I started. I was just going through the motions of completing previously referred to events, hoping to find my way as I went. And then . . .

  THE JOKE THAT WASN’T

  So my new book began with Suri being captured and taken to Estramnadon, leaving the others to rescue her. They held a meeting to discuss how to do that. All the characters pitched ideas as they struggled to find a way to cross the impassable Nidwalden. Brin suggested there were legends of secret crimbal doorways where you entered in one place but came out somewhere else. Upon hearing this, Tekchin made a joke. “There is a door right in the center of Estramnadon. If we come out there, we can easily get to Suri. The only problem is it leads to the afterlife, so we’d all need to die to use it.”

  I assumed this was nothing more than a clever bit of humor for about ten seconds. Then I thought . . . what if . . .no that’s stupid . . . but it could work on SO many levels . . . no, it’d be too hard, there is too much heavy lifting. In that instant, a cosmos of ideas rushed in. I could make exploring the bowels of Phyre into a whole new world that would be worthy of a novel. I could draw on Dante’s Divine Comedy and the Trials of Hercules. Both works fit the era of myths that I was aiming at all along. Doing so could fully explain the Door, Trilos, Malcolm, and so much more. I could do what I did at the end of Riyria, where I pulled in all the previously met characters for a big finale. But this time I could include historical people as well. I would be able to reveal the full truth about the gods. From there, I saw the chance to not only tell the origin story of the empire but of the whole world. That did it. I wanted to write this story. I needed to write it.

  CHALLENGES

  I faced a lot of problems right from the get-go. The biggest was if everyone was already dead, where was the threat? And if there is no threat, where is the tension? Without that, the story would be dull and boring. Also, what were the mechanics? How would they die? How could they come back? Would they be spirits or keep their bodies in the afterlife ala Greek myth? The biggest dilemma was if my party had to die to enter the afterlife, then Suri would have to as well. Clearly, I had issues. I ended up solving most of these problems easily enough. But I was faced with one insurmountable obstacle: This new tale was much larger than a single book. If I was honest with myself, it was on the same scale as everything I had written in this series up to that point, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

  My attempt to condense everything into one novel resulted in a Cliff Notes version of a story. Upon reading the results, my wife let me know I had failed. “Too rushed. Too many missed opportunities for high drama. Not enough emotional impact. It reads more like a textbook than a novel.”

  Fine. I went back and grudgingly expanded the tale. This was difficult because I didn’t have a good place to divide the story. Unlike my other books where everything neatly ties up, these characters were engaged in an ongoing quest that would require being suspended mid-story. It wasn’t unlike how Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings had been released, and I felt the similarity was a bit eerie, but in a good way. I hated not being able to provide a wrapped up ending for readers, but I was pleased with how the story was shaping up.

  In this second version, the fourth book divided as they entered Nifrel. I knew it was better, but not great. Robin agreed that I still had too much in too little space. A sixth book would be required. And so I rolled back to the end of Age of War and started rewriting the end of the Great War for the third time. Even with the expanded page count, I still was forced to cut large sections and topics I didn’t have time to address. Some examples include additional background on Gath, Melen, Bran, Atella, Havar, Sile Longhammer, and many others. Of course, now I had to divide the story twice, and interestingly new breakpoints were starting to reveal themselves.

  My newly expanded tale had two exhilarating climaxes. Both of which occurred at places that evenly divided the single long story into three normal-sized novels. Rather than shy away from the problem, I embraced it. Instead of artificially creating quiet moments, I cut the books at these times of high drama—cliff-hangers. I’m sure everyone is familiar with this technique. Television series’ season finales often end with cliff-hangers. And the entire concept goes back to western serials, which were designed to keep magazine subscriptions high. I felt if I had to incorporate the technique, I wanted to make the best cliff-hanger I could. I knew I’d get pushback from readers. However, I suspected then—and still believe now—that once all the books are available, the irritation of having to wait will fade to the land of when I was young, oh the troubles we had to face.

  I’m sure some are wondering why I didn’t just create a single massive volume? Well, it isn’t because I was trying to maximize income. Nor was it (as some have accused), a ploy by my publisher, which, by the way, is me.

  There are several reasons. First, the book would be hugely inconsistent with the other installments, and I like the symmetry we now have with two closely-related trilogies. Second, it would have added years to the release date of the follow-up to Age of War. And lastly, the cost of production for the hardcover would be far higher than three separate novels. Why? Because we’d have to switch to Smyth-sewn bindings, which is usually reserved for textbooks and volumes in law libraries.

  FUN FACTS

  Some readers have accused me of killing the main character, meaning Raithe. When I heard this, I was shocked. Except in very early conceptualizations, he was never expected to be a primary character. In retrospect, I realize that part of the reason people elevated his importance was that the opening scene of the first book appears to start with him. The reality is, it doesn’t. The first character mentioned in the series is Brin, and she has been my “main” all along. The fact that you don’t discover this until the very end is something that provides me a great deal of amusement. Aside from her, the other primary protagonists were Persephone, Suri, and Malcolm. These four people carry the story. It is their actions that move the plot forward, and the rest provide them with support.

  There are a fair number of homages in this series. The White Brick Road of Rel, the Wicked Queen Ferrol, and Roan extinguishing her with water are but a few of the references to The Wizard of Oz. The chapter Astray in a Gloomy Wood is in deference to the start of Dante’s Inferno, as is the name of the Belgriclungreian seer, Beatrice. Also inspired by Dante, are guides to the various realms of the underworld. Originally, Arion was the guide in Rel, and she did quite a bit of explaining as to how things worked in the land of the dead. Through the various edits, we now have the characters make many of the discoveries. Yet I still have Fenelyus as the guide in Nifrel and Raithe in Alysin.

  Oh, and here is a fun fact for Riyria Chronicle readers. In case you haven’t figured it out. I’ll reveal the identity in a secret-coded non-spoiler message to those who are well-versed in my world: Yes, it was Makareta.

  THEMES & TRIBUTES

  Redemption and forgiveness are central points of focus in both Riyria and Legends (although in both cases, you don’t discover this until you’re very near their ends). Legends place a greater emphasis on finding the courage to forgive oneself—something that everyone can probably relate to. Selflessness and the ability of people to rise to the occasion when times are dire is also shared between the two series. A noble sentiment that we are seeing played out daily at this particular time in our own history.

  There are more connections and references to other works, other subtle themes as well. I will leave these discoveries to those who enjoy such things.

  A WORD ABOUT HEROES

  Finally, I must say a few words in recognition of the one person who, if you enjoyed this series, you are most indebted to—my wife Robin. She has been your secret advocate for many, many years. As my alpha reader, she provides my first and most trusted feedback and helps shape my novels more than anyone. These last three books were in an abnormally poor condition when she first received the tales. This was mainly due to them being constructed outside of my usual process. Instead of a well-defined structure, I was working in the ad hoc chaos of trial and error. If not for her, the result might have been terrible.

  At times, I was throwing ideas at her to see what stuck. We fought many an epic battle over details, both large and small. Luckily, Robin—has a strong personality and was able to stand up to me and make her opinions known, revealing some uncomfortable truths. Not an easy task. Tears have been shed. But the story is far better because of her courage and tireless efforts to make this the best story possible.

  I offered to put her name on the cover because she deserves it, but she refused. I offered to dedicate this series to her as I did with the final Riyria volume. Again she opposed the idea. Instead, she provided the Tolkien quote to reflect the difficult time in which this novel was written. Rather than take credit, she chose to offer hope to our readers.

  The stories I write might be fantasy, but the depiction of the feelings people share for each other is real. The unlikely heroes, some who we never see or hear about, are as well. They are out among us right now, risking their lives and those of their loved ones. They are sacrificing all they have to help save the world. If you take anything away from this story beyond distracting entertainment, consider remembering this Book of Brin quote: I had always worshiped heroes in stories. I had no idea I was surrounded by them.

  Robin’s Afterword

  Hey all, Robin here. I’m back! Thanks again for all the complimentary things you’ve been saying about my afterwords. It’s one of the reasons I keep doing them.

  Well, we are done! It’s been a very long time coming. How long? I’m not 100% sure, but I do remember seeing a very early version of Chapter One of the first book in April of 2013. So that’s six books in seven years, which doesn’t sound all that impressive. But during that time, we also released Hollow World (Michael’s sci-fi thriller) and all four of The Riyria Chronicles. So that makes eleven books in six years—a feat I’m pretty proud to be a part of. Since Michael started publishing books in 2008, he’s released one or two books every year. Here’s a breakdown.

  1 book years: 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019

  2 book years: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2020

  Putting out three books in ten months was more than grueling. And the books of the “second half” of the series had to go through rushed beta and gamma programs. For the audiobook recordings (the date of which is set well in advance), I was doing copyedits in a “just in time” fashion. This meant I was emailing Tim chapters at 2:00 AM for a 10:00 AM recording. Now, it turns out that it all worked out well, but I was more than exhausted by the process.

  Is all this a preamble to something? Yes. For the next series (of which Michael has two books finished, neither of which I’ve read), they will be coming out once a year, so I can slow down a bit. The good news is there are no cliff-hangers!

  I know there are more than a few people who wait until all books in a series are released before they start with the first one, so binge away! I’m looking forward to a full-series reread, myself. It’ll be a great deal of fun to just sit back and enjoy the tale, rather than looking for plot holes, consistency errors, or typos. I can’t wait!

  For those that might be curious about such things, I did a series tally. If you take out the non-story elements (Table of Contents, Author’s Notes, Afterwords, Glossaries, and the like) the entire series weighs in with the following statistics:

  181 Chapters

  2,763 pages (8 1/2” x 11” with 12 point font)

  766,699 words

  Okay, let’s dig into my impressions of this book and the series as a whole. Well, first and foremost, it’s clear that this is “Brin’s Book” (not to be confused with The Book of Brin). Brin is certainly center stage, and now we get to see just how important her masterwork is. The fact that it disappears makes a great deal of sense because the mythology of the Gods in the Riyria books is quite different, and I suspect that’s due to Brin’s book being snatched up by Trilos.

  Will it show up again? I have no idea. As I said, I’ve not read any of the books in the next series, but I do recall at least a passing mention of a scholar of ancient texts in Riyria with the name Farilane. And, we know that the second book of the new series is also called that. So, I suspect if nothing else, she’ll be searching for the full Book of Brin.

  Okay, now for something that might sound odd. I loved that Brin died! From a story standpoint, it prevents her from re-creating what Trilos stole, but, more importantly, I think her returning to Phyre is the only chance that Tesh and Tressa have. In their last scene, it was evident (at least to me) that they had no possibility of getting out by themselves. Still, I’m 100% sure that Brin will be able to rescue them.

  With enough persuasion, she may be able to convince them to climb out on her own, but if that doesn’t work, I’m sure she can make a sling and carry each one out strapped to her back. After all, we’ve seen it’s possible to use eshim in the Abyss, even if it’s not easy to do. After all, both Iver and Gifford managed it. Iver was able to create the figurine of Roan’s mother, and Gifford made a sword appear when his anger against Iver was at a peak.