Maleneth Witchblade returns from the dead in the thrilling new novel Shade of Khaine, setting out on her first full-length solo adventure. We spoke to author Evan Dicken about the tale and its artful aelven heroine.
Warhammer Community: What was it like taking a sidekick character and spinning them out into their own full-length novel?
Evan: Daunting, to say the least. We have followed Maleneth through a bunch of novels and short stories, so there’s not only a lot of history to contend with, but the fact that readers (myself included) have a big investment in the character. I wanted to put my own spin on everyone’s favorite Khainite assassin; but I also wanted Maleneth to be recognizable to fans of the Slayer novels.
It’s also difficult because Maleneth has seen so much growth over the course of her travels – developing from a murderous instrument of the Order of Azyr into a nuanced character with goals and desires all her own. Her relationship with Gotrek was integral to her development, and I wanted to be respectful of that. The Slayer figures prominently in her makeup, for good and ill; but ultimately I didn’t think anyone would want to read a novel that revolved around Maleneth just rehashing her time with Gotrek.
Honestly, it’s a testament to all the fine work of the authors before me that Maleneth is such a fully realized character. Everything great about Shade of Khaine was rooted in the work of David Guymer, Darius Hinks, Robbie MacNiven and Gary Kloster. Very big shoes to fill indeed. Hopefully I did them proud.
WarCom: What makes Maleneth a unique character compared to other aelves, such as Elarin from your previous novel Children of Teclis?
Evan: That’s an interesting comparison given how their character arcs are diametrically opposite. Loreseeker Elarin was a fundamentally good person, forced to make bad choices for all the right reasons. Whereas Maleneth was a fundamentally bad person (at least at first), forced to make good choices for all the wrong reasons. She may have started murdering stray cats (and later Khainite Matriarchs); but by the end of her tenure with Gotrek Gurnisson I think we can all agree Maleneth has developed a moral compass.
I think it’s this friction that makes her an interesting character. Maleneth is a killer, a cultist dedicated to a god who desires nothing but blood and murder. She can be cold, calculating and even cruel, but she has also cultivated an ingrained sense of loyalty and fairness. So much of Maleneth has been defined by her relationships – with her mistress, with the Order of Azyr, with Gotrek – so it was interesting to cut her loose and see how she developed on her own. This isn’t to say I’m ignoring Maleneth’s past, far from it, but the Maleneth who sacrificed herself for Gotrek at the end of Soulslayer is a very different person than the one who fantasised about poisoning him in Realmslayer.
It was a lot of fun to take this new Maleneth and send her back to a city where everyone only remembers the old one. Not only did this provide for some interesting encounters with characters she has betrayed (or tried to kill) in the past, it also gave me the opportunity to highlight how much Maleneth has grown as a Character.
WarCom: How did you go about fleshing out the city of Nightcliff, and what makes it unique among the settlements of the Mortal Realms?
Evan: I always try to start with the Realm itself. The Mortal Realms are such fascinating and singular places, I also wanted to incorporate themes related to Maleneth herself – stealth, secrecy, unquiet memories, and, of course, murder.
The Realm of Shadows has a rich history, so there was a lot to draw on when I was fleshing out Nightcliff. I knew I wanted to create a city with uncertain geography – a place where buildings, streets, and even entire blocks could shift or fade. Building on that, I also thought it would be cool if the missing architecture was not actually gone, but merely lost. Like windblown dunes, Nightcliff might swallow one place only to reveal another. This grew into the idea that the Daughters of Khaine are only the most recent inhabitants of Nightcliff, and that there are other bits of far more ancient civilizations hidden deep within the murk.
Obviously this would be a terrible place to live, which made me wonder why anyone would decide to build a city there. There had to be some means of preserving the important bits – you can’t have the Matriarch’s Palace or the central docks simply vanish overnight. I hit upon the idea of attention being a stabilising factor. Cities are living things, districts growing and thriving, only to fade over time as citizens come and go.
As stealthy as she is, even Maleneth cannot vanish from plain sight. With that in mind, I liked the idea of a city that is always trying to slip away from its inhabitants. And since one of the themes of the novel is Maleneth reconnecting with her past, I thought it would be fun to have her literally pick through the detritus of half-faded districts to unearth her past.
WarCom: What can you tell us about the companions Maleneth picks up in the course of the story, and how do they compare to her previous compatriots?
Evan: Despite spending so much time with Gotrek and the soul of her mistress, I’ve always felt like Maleneth was a loner at heart. That made for some fun interpersonal friction, especially as she has come to recognize the value of dependable allies; but also doesn’t really enjoy being around people.
With this in mind, I tried to come up with a rogue’s gallery of companions that were as morally ambiguous as Maleneth herself. I liked the idea of a bunch of bad people coming together to stop someone even worse. To varying degrees the societies of the Mortal Realms all possess shades of good and evil, so it was fun to poke at that a bit and see what fell out.
Like Gotrek and Trachos, Maleneth’s new companions are outcasts (some by choice, others not). As an outsider herself, it made sense Maleneth would gravitate toward people on the fringes of society. I also wanted to pay homage to William King’s novels and the TTRPGs of my youth by working in shades of a good, old-fashioned adventuring party – although perhaps not one any of us would want to be part of.
WarCom: Without treading into too much spoiler territory, was there a part you particularly had fun writing?
Evan: It would be a bit of a dodge to say I enjoyed the whole novel. After writing a number of main characters who were ostensibly moral, it was a dark delight to have the opportunity to deal with someone more ethically dubious.
If I had to pick my favorite part, it would be having the chance to flesh out Maleneth’s backstory. Although we’ve had a lot of fiction from her point of view, the details of Maleneth’s time before Gotrek are surprisingly vague. It was fun to pick out actions and character beats from the previous novels and reverse engineer Maleneth’s backstory to support those moments. Not to mention the opportunity to add my own twist to familiar encounters, like Maleneth murdering, sacrificing, and binding the soul of her previous mistress into a locket.
It was also interesting to deal with a smaller scope. Although Maleneth’s travels take her from Chamon to Ulgu, the majority of the action takes place within Nightcliff itself. After several novels about large armies waging big, set-piece battles it was refreshing to focus on more subtle conflicts. This isn’t to say there aren’t big, set-piece battles, only that a Khailebron assassin hits differently than say, a Sigmarite First Marshal or Lumineth Loreseeker.
Thanks Evan! Shade of Khaine is up for pre-order this Saturday with an awesome Special Edition, as well as a brand new miniature of Maleneth Witchblade herself.
