I really enjoy creating character profiles for my main characters and as part of a series of posts up until the release of my novel Demon’s Life, I’m going to be posting some profiles I created for my four main characters. This afternoon I’m posting Part One which features Taku and Thane. These profiles contain basic information as well as spoiler-free details specific to Demon’s Life.

Demon’s Life is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com!

Character Profiles: Part One

Taku Kokawa

Species: Vampire
Birthday: 7th March 1789
Birthplace: Edo (Tokyo)
Height: 175cm
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Brown with gold flecks
Mother: Suzume Kokawa
Father: Etsuji Kokawa
Other Relatives: Koji Takata
Relationship Status: Long-term relationship with Thane Bremen
Habits: Smokes
Characteristics: Confident, generous, arrogant, short-tempered, materialistic
Random Fact: Taku’s full birth name is Takumi but Koji is the only person to ever call him by it.

Character Creation: I originally created Taku in 2005 as the main antagonist/alternative love interest for another character. In his early incarnation he was primarily a villain who became a vampire for self-serving reasons. The reoccurring theme was Taku’s inability to form a meaningful connection with his love interest, instead choosing to manipulate him and then turn against him when he was ultimately rejected. However as his character developed I began to write him with a more sympathetic edge and he became somewhat a grey-area protagonist. This version of Taku is the version that you see predominately in Demon’s Blood, however in Demon’s Life his character is more like his earlier incarnation due to Kurai’s influence over him.

Name: I named him Taku because I wanted something that was short, but at the same time could be an abbreviation of a longer Japanese name. His surname Kokawa was a random name I chose that went well with his first name.

Relationship: When drafting Demon’s Blood I decided to pair Taku up with my character Thane who was originally a main character in a separate story that I had written years earlier. Thane is kindhearted, somewhat naïve, but unafraid to challenge Taku. He brings out Taku’s more positive qualities and I found by writing the two of them together they complemented each other’s different personality traits.

Character Development in Demon’s Life: In Demon’s Life, Taku is very much reverting to the character he was in those early years of me writing him. He kills for enjoyment and his sole focus is eradicating all vampires aside from those whom he decides can live. He ranges from being detached to out of control, and the only part of his old self that is recognisable are his feelings for Thane. These feelings torment him and this makes Taku even more dangerous as he struggles with the demon’s grip on him and who he used to be.

Thane Albert Bremen

Species: Vampire
Birthday: 11th February 1870
Birthplace: Norfield, England
Height: 184cm
Hair Colour: Sandy brown
Eye Colour: Emerald green
Mother: Charlotte Bremen
Father: Albert Bremen
Other Relatives: George Bremen
Relationship Status: Long-term relationship with Taku Kokawa
Habits: Smokes
Characteristics: Shy, naïve, sensitive, loyal, sense of humour
Random Fact: Before he became a vampire, Thane used to work as a chef in a restaurant in Nagasaki.

Character Creation: Thane originally appeared as the main protagonist for an unfinished vampire novel I wrote in 2007. His character was more in line with Koji’s back then. He kept to himself, brooded a lot over being a vampire and led a modest lifestyle. Despite his attempts at self-isolation, his compassionate nature meant that he eventually found himself drawn into human conflicts that he should have remained detached from. When I re-developed his character for Demon’s Blood, I ended up keeping his compassion and made him more of an introvert. I didn’t like the brooding part of his personality as I didn’t feel it fit entirely so I ended up changing that. He was always a little naïve, however I made this a more predominate trait for Demon’s Blood. Thane was always British, however he was originally born in modern times rather than the Victorian era. He had no family and avoided relationships due to being a vampire.

Name: When I was naming him, I wanted something that sounded unique and contrasted with a generally common surname. In his first incarnation he was Thane Morgan (which is why I used Morgan as his alias’ surname in Demon’s Blood). The first name Thane has Scottish origins and so I decided that on his mother’s side, Thane has some Scottish ancestry. I decided to change his surname as I preferred to have something more unique and fitting with his first name. Bremen is a German surname and I had already named his father Albert, so I decided that his father’s family would be from Germany originally. I gave him his father’s first name as his middle name as I felt it was something that Albert Bremen would have insisted on. Even though Thane rarely uses his middle name, when he first meets Taku he introduces himself as Thane Albert Bremen and this sticks in my mind when I’m writing his full name!

Relationship: I made the decision to have Thane in Demon’s Blood when I first started drafting it. I wanted Taku to have a positive romantic relationship and felt that Thane’s re-worked character was the best fit for him. Thane rarely embraces his vampire instincts and so his more human nature keeps Taku balanced and from perhaps becoming a darker character. When he was human, Thane was initially very much cowed by his father who was all too focused on who Thane was not. Taku falls for Thane’s quieter personality and due to this, Thane finds acceptance for himself and comes to understand that there is nothing wrong with being more introverted. When he is more settled in himself he does become more outspoken but is still the gentler personality of the two of them.

Character Development in Demon’s Life: Thane struggles very much with his own perceived weakness being the cause of Kurai’s possession of Taku. His determination to save Taku is unwavering, yet he questions his own lack of strength. He is still suffering from nightmares however these now focus on what happened to Taku and what might happen should Thane fail. Throughout his journey Thane has little regard for his own life as he does not wish to continue living if he cannot be reunited with Taku. To some extent, Thane is very much broken by events of Demon’s Blood but throughout the story he slowly begins to understand the strength in his human qualities and embraces that which makes him different from the rest of his kind. Of all the characters Thane’s journey is probably the most personal as he is forced to question himself, his relationship with Taku and just how far he is prepared to go to protect them.