I thought it would be neat to give people a few behind-the-scenes facts on The Agartes Epilogues…
- The original Jaeth’s Eye was titled The Lion’s Tracks–the title was an allusion to the mage Jaeth, and is something all mages involved with Raggnar rog-Bannal had. I dropped the titles for simplicity’s sake. It was finished at 150,000 words and contained all heroes, including Izo and Mahe, as well as events from all three books.
- Speaking of which, because The Agartes Epilogues involves the POV of minor characters, the plot happens completely in the background. The “fun” part is learning what this is over the course of all three books.
- The true heroes of the plotline include Oji, Rysaran, Izo, Mahe, Sapphire, and Moon. “Hero” by this context means characters with heroic traits–characters who are willing to go out of their way to risk their lives for others, or help someone without personal gain. In contrast, the three POVs in The Agartes Epilogues are sometimes selfish, short-sighted, and/or helpless–at least, at first. Instead of being “born” with heroic traits, you see them slowly grow and acquire these traits over the course of the trilogy.
- There are short stories on Wattpad, including the incomplete story on Arn, an anti-hero who appears in Book 2.
- The Agartes Epilogues started as an RPG game (designed on RPG Maker 2000) that you played from the POV of Mahe Amiren. The original title was Frozen Retribution. The opening scene can be found in the Prologue of Aina’s Breath, Book 2. Programming didn’t get much further than the second village, which was set between the border of Gaspar and Dageis (Bay-at-dan).
- Before the first novel was ever written, a manga version was attempted. This was scrapped at the very first page.
- The second iteration of Jaeth’s Eye was entitled The Lion’s Repast. It was a severely neutered version of the first one, with a completely new third act.
- The final version of Jaeth’s Eye was started in 2012 and completed within a year. Most scenes are new, with a few exceptions: Kefier and Camden’s flight from Vildar and through the Kag forest, as well as the kusyani village scenes, have been taken from the old manuscript. The Fuyyu scenes, where Kefier and Sume met, were re-written, but bear some resemblance to the original. However, the entire first act follows the original closely. The entire second act is completely new.
- A “super-sexy” version of Jaeth’s Eye leaked during the proofing process while being published under World Tree Publishing. This version contains a more detailed sex scene from Ylir’s point of view. Only a handful of people own this version in print.
- There’s a “roast peasant” joke going around. This was a typo from the first edition of Jaeth’s Eye. It has been removed in the latest edition.
- While the characters and plot details may have evolved, the core themes remain the same: grief, love, loss, and atonement, among others.
