No matter the antagonist’s intelligence, drive or competence, hubris defeats the master strategist.
In the second book of my series, the unshakeable antagonist is the Emperor’s trusted commander, Gessed Straka.
“He’s quiet, calm. Straka doesn’t make a move he hasn’t thought through in minute detail. He was Atalan’s strategist through all the Emperor’s campaigns. Straka commanded the three companies of Vipers and the entire army for the war against the Southern Cants. The Emperor didn’t win that war, Straka did.”
This is the man who cemented the Emperor’s military victories, the man who hunts down his enemies.
There is nothing of his background on the page. Straka exists in the now. Highly intelligent, emotionally aloof, ruthless, Straka served as the Emperor’s chief strategist in all his campaigns. Straka led the Imperial forces in the brutal civil war, while the Emperor remained in the capital.
The iceman cometh
In The Seer and the Vipers, Straka leads the hunt for Jo and Varla in person. This is how important the task is. The Emperor trusts no one else. The rebels are an existential threat. A challenge Straka cannot refuse.
In the opening chapters, we see how ruthless, how competent, how driven he is.
So who is Gessed Straka?
The game, not the throne
The game of politics doesn’t interest him. It’s why he’s content to hand Atalan the throne. Rank gives him the authority to wage war. Straka needs to prove his worth by his achievements. He’s a problem-solver. Every campaign, every battle, every skirmish is a puzzle to solve by his own mind and blade. There is no one smarter, including the Emperor. Straka could have taken the throne for himself. He doesn’t want it. What would he do with it?
Out of Balance
I worked out early on that Straka is a sociopath. He has associates, not friends. He views people as resources. Does he have a wife? Family? We don’t know, but with decades of military service, it’s unlikely. While Atalan built his reign, Straka spent another eight years on the battlefield, grinding down the rebel forces.
Straka succeeds through constant study, constant analysis, constant learning, to the exclusion of all else. It extends to single combat, where his sword skills make him untouchable. How do you beat a man who calculates every play ten moves ahead? Straka can play chess with tens of thousands of lives at once, or just two; his opponent’s and his own.
Cometh the fall
Straka’s entire existence is driven by ego. He has unshakeable self confidence. He’s never tasted defeat. He’s crushed every enemy, sometimes by the deliberate sacrifice of troops and positions.
His tracker infiltrated and breached every defense. The armored Vipers power through enemy lines, unstoppable. His fire-mage serves as a weapon of mass destruction.
He has the force-multipliers that overwhelm superior odds. His detailed strategies neutralize every variable. He is relentless and will not divert from the task.
And that is his weakness. He cannot imagine anyone outsmarting him.
It’s why he fails to recognize a trap. It’s why he dismisses a minor player he already wrote off in his strategy. This is why, at the end, hubris defeats the master strategist.
The Escarri series is available on Amazon.