A Few Musings On Celeise

[Content Warning: Medium to high spoilers content within]

For the past couple weeks, I've been doing posts on a particular character for character interviewing. This, of course, is completely normal - just their bio and then their interview. But somehow, this one, Princess Celeise, is different. Maybe it's just because I don't think about her as much as other characters. Maybe it's because of all this posting on her. Maybe it's because my lovely audience has finally awaken me to several factors about her. But, whatever the reason, Celeise has been catching my thoughts lately. Maybe it's conceited to write a whole post just off of one of my own ink-and-paper people. But, I don't intend this post as a boast - just as a mere sharing of my thoughts as of late. Hopefully it won't bore anyone. :)  A few factors in particular I keep thinking about in accordance with Celeise.

How much she was unwittingly like me... A lot of her factors are. Her father, King Edarian, is her best friend, and she can't imagine anybody better - she even dreams that her future spouse will be like her father. Maybe it's because of my own love of my father - I truly cannot think of any better man, even in my wildest dreams. If I could just manage to fall in love with someone half as good as my dad, I'll be happy forever. Maybe it's a bit cleche to say that I can't imagine life without him, but it's true. And really, even though - unlike Celeise - I do have very close friends besides him, my dad has always been one of my first best friends, and still is one of my foremost. Maybe that's why I always liked King Edarian so much too - while he wasn't very much like my father, I could see through Celeise's eyes the same admiration for him; wanting more than anything to be like him, to measure up to him, never wanting to disappoint. The thought of any reader ever misunderstanding Edarian and disliking him always made me mad, perhaps also for this reason. I wanted everyone to love him as much as Celeise and I did - writing Edarian almost was a way for me to make the world love my dad too, I think. But in Celeise, I hoped to communicate that aridity of spirit, a sheer depression and loneliness - it could make someone fall into despair, but if they strove on, they could overcome it. I still have problems with it a lot. Celeise struggled with it without even knowing it existed before Percy came, but then afterwards she knew it and fought it - and she was better. Maybe Celeise's struggle and eventual victory over it was my way of giving all with that state hope.

*super spoilers* Another thing that I always seem to come back is the fact of Celeise's betrothal, and the contrast between the two sides of the said arrangement. Prince Lothaire - when his brother, king Lucellus, arranged it - was resentful of it. He even grew to despise his brother for it. How could a choice like that - a choice for his life - be made by someone else, even whole kingdoms? And he hated the idea, and vowed he would avenge himself -make himself superior somehow to his brother, who had thought himself powerful enough to direct Lothaire's life. Little did he know, though, that his bride faced the same fate. And what did Celeise do? She didn't resent her father for it. She didn't even resent the arrangement. She humbly submitted herself to it - even when her own heart raged against it, she chose to say, "No - not my will be done, but thine." This perhaps is the difference between Lothaire and Celeise - between the villain and the heroine. One chose to fight, the other chose to give in. And anyone who reads the story can see very well where each separate one ends up. The flip-side of the coin was all Lothaire needed to look at - maybe it would have changed him. And in their sheer contrast, perhaps this is why one ends with his resentment still nursed as well as if he were Achilles, and the other - in her plain humility - has forgiven everything done to her.  How they treat their fellow also makes them so different. Celeise loves her father more than anyone else in the world, and Lothaire never so much as said "I love you" to his brother, even before he resented him. *super spoilers end*

Maybe with all Celeise's grandeur, one might think her vain. But maybe I - like Percy - always saw through that, even from the beginning. When I described her as being beautiful, I never intended just to give all good traits to her, nor to bow to the flooding obsession with beauty. I never meant for her to have mile-long lashes and perfect bow-shaped lips that are always smeared with paint. I only meant for true beauty in her. One might note that I also describe Mina as beautiful. Perhaps a reader might think that it is too much for both heroine so be acclaimed as lovely. But, to my own mind, I think all women should be beautiful. Not in the sense I noted above - not in the flawless made-up look that is little short of a clown - but in a true sense. Women just are beautiful. Men are not beautiful by definition - there are a few that maybe women would call such, but no man would ever agree. Women are just meant to be beautiful, and even other women say so.
Perhaps I just overthink some things. But, whatever it is, somehow Celeise has caught my mind. I hope she catches yours too. :)
What do you think? Have you any characters who you ponder often? Have you anything to add? Tell me your thoughts, if you will. :)