Continuing the fun of making moodboards, I thought I’d go ahead and make a couple for my FMC and MMC from The Name and the Key trilogy.

My FMC (female main character) is Lily Bellamy. She’s eighteen years old and the oldest daughter of Kale, a merchant who likes to sail with his ships on trade missions. When Kale is gone, Lily runs their shop Bellamy Mercantile in the busy port city of Mariner. She’s kind, creative (she likes to make her own soaps), and a sometimes pushy but loving older sister. Her childhood friend, Andresh, has been someone she’s loved for a very long time, although she isn’t always sure about her own feelings…or his, for that matter.

Starting at the upper left corner we have a bouquet of lilies, her namesake, then moving to the right we have a photograph showing what Lily would be wearing during the time of the trilogy. The small picture of soaps shows Lily’s hobby. The mirror, which has a black background, is Lily’s source of terrible hauntings. The close up portrait of a young woman is an inspiration for Lily’s appearance: Lily has reddish brown hair (although hers is stick-straight in the book), freckles, and brown eyes (although in the book hers is more honey-brown). Out of all the searching I did, this model was the closest one to how I picture her in the books, and this is a huge departure from her original appearance when The Name and the Key was my thesis. This is a new book, after all, so time for a new lead! The last image, on the lower right, is of a statue at a cemetery, but to me this looks like a ghost and makes me think of Lily’s mother for some reason, even though it’s not quite like how she is in the book.

Andresh Zatavier is the MMC (male main character) of The Name and the Key trilogy. He is incredibly handsome and has a lot of charm to him. Though he can flirt with anyone and rely on his appearance to get what he wants from people, that’s not his regular cup of tea. He is incredibly devoted to Lily and has shown his affection to her ever since they were children, but he has never come right out and said “I love you.” In the trilogy, Andresh is nineteen and has just returned from university in Sindalia, sailing across the seas to return to Lily and her family in Mariner. But he has his own dark purposes for being there, and it involves forbidden magic.

In the upper lefthand corner, we have the inspiration for Andresh. He was so hard to find. Part of this is because Andresh usually wears his long hair in a braid, but also, Andresh is really, really pale–a trait of the Sindalian people. I searched Unsplash and depositphotos to find the right source, and only Pinterest had the answer. Unfortunately, hundreds of people added this to their boards without crediting who the model is, so I don’t have a name for this beautiful man. But he is definitely Andresh. Next, to the immediate right, is a scorpion, which is a symbol in the book that will pop up later. Next to that is the picture of a grimoire and ancient texts. In the lower lefthand corner, we have blue flame. This is Andresh’s Fire, and the color is unique to him. In The Name and the Key, Fire is the energy that permeates all living things…and demons love to eat it. Speaking of which, the image to the right of the fire is a vampire, but she looks a lot like how demons appear in the book. The skin color is all wrong, but every demon’s eyes in the book are solid black like this. Lastly, the image on the lower righthand corner is of an alchemist’s workshop. Andresh’s magical rite is called the Magnum Opus, and once you start it…you can’t stop.

These two characters are the driving force behind the trilogy that would qualify it as a romantasy. They are the be-all, end-all of relationships in this book and they are deeply in love with each other. They explore the hardships and trials of true love and devotion, and they save each other. They’ve been my favorite couple to write, and although their appearances have changed drastically, their personalities have not, and I fondly remember readers of my thesis enjoying them. It’s my hope you enjoy them too, and that you liked this little sneak peek into who they are.