The Goblin's Crown

Goblin Inspiration

For his human disguise or the Man in Gray, I tend to imagine Mr. Gold from Once upon a Time. His usual self is a freakier version of Rumple. Elongated limbs, longer claws, sharper teeth...all around un-swoon worthy. Matilda's a strange duck.

He probably went through the most changes since his conception. I restarted this book three times! Once, he wasn't even a main character. He wasn't goblin king. Ib was. In this version, Knut was the king's spy master and went by a different name, now lost to time and my non-existent memory. There was another version where the goblin king was barely three feet tall and chubby. After becoming goblin queen, Matilda kills him early on. I loved Knut's character so much, he just sort of demanded to take Ib's place as goblin king. And now we have him as he is today. Thank The Hollow.

Setting:

The Goblin's Crown begins in the year 1563 during the Elizabethan era which stretched between 1558 and 1603. Matilda would have been born in 1546, perhaps suitably during the last year of King Henry VIII's life. Henry VIII is best remembered for executing a number of his wives. Let's hope Knut doesn't follow in his footsteps. Matilda's father died in the year 1553 during the reign of Mary I aka Bloody Mary, who earned her nickname from her persecution of protestants. Though Matilda isn't religious at all before she marries, I suppose she would claim to be Catholic if pressed.

The plague that Matilda and Knut spread as revenge on all of London for her almost being hanged was based on a very true epidemic. In 1563, the bubonic plague swept through London and wiped out over a quarter of the city's population. Scientists say it was spread by fleas carried by rats, but who's to say it wasn't goblins? My money's on goblins.

Matilda:

Matilda (pronounced MAH-teel-dah) means "strength in battle" in German. She shares the name with a number of prolific queens, including the wife of William the Conquerer and Empress Matilda, who's first husband was the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. She later conquered England and eventually her son, Henry II, would rule as king.

I wanted to tell a story from a villain's perspective so with Matilda, I needed my main character to be...the polar opposite of what main characters usually are. She isn't this noble warrior who puts the needs of others before her own. Nor is she an innocent maiden. She is selfish and greedy and even cruel at times. She gets along with Knut because he's just as horrible as she is. Although Mab is painted as the antagonist in the story, she isn't the only one. Matilda is not a hero. She doesn't want to create a better world but rule it. If she beats Mab, the only thing that'll change is who is sitting on the Unseelie throne. Really, there is no hero to this story, just two bad guys going at each other's throats.

Matilda's character was pretty much set in stone from the very beginning. The only thing about her that has changed is her name. In my very first scribblings, her name was Madeline, then it changed to Mathilda, with the h, but I forgot the h half the time, so I just dropped it and gave it the more modern spelling.