My series villains includes one seemingly simple brute: the savage antagonist. A man of rage and violence, born out of childhood trauma.
Urs Radek commands the Emperor’s feared Second Company of Vipers, a heavily armored elite unit capable of breaking any enemy line. The ideal leader of this unit, Radek’s malice and violence know no end.
Radek carries out the dirtiest, bloodiest jobs in the Emperor’s wars, without question, often exceeding his orders. Let off the leash to terrorize the enemy, he will violate, kill and burn a path across the land.
But what makes such a man?
By any means
His surface motivation is to prove his worth as a soldier. Victory at all costs. War is ugly, and the uglier he makes it, he reasons, the sooner the enemy surrenders. His competence is never in question. Radek built his body and mind to be stronger than anyone else. The Emperor who promoted him may be the visionary, but not half the soldier that is Urs Radek.
He demands respect from everyone around him. His entire sense of self-worth is built on his status, not by birth, but by his competence and his achievements. Nothing sends him into a fit of rage like disrespect. It’s a pathological weakness, born of childhood trauma. In those moments where he meets defiance, his weakness is obvious to all.
A lost boy
It goes to the heart of his rage and his trauma. This child of the gutter grew up abused, exploited, neglected. His trauma runs so deep, he is at war with the world. At his core, Radek is a lost boy. He has comrades but not friends. It’s doubtful he’s ever had a romantic relationship in his life.
He has no empathy, no sympathy for the suffering of others. He returns his trauma on the world ten-fold. Radek is a child so damaged, he burns the world for spite. There is no soothing the savage beast.
His answer to any obstacle is to double-down with violence. No retreat, no surrender, no compromise; rage drives him on, blinding him to any possibility of defeat. That is the flaw that ultimately brings his downfall. Surely no half-blood Roamer child or filthy rebel scum can stand against him?
The Escarri series is available on Amazon.