In all action and adventure books and novels, there is always at least one antagonist, or bad guy. Without these characters, there would be no content in the story and no protagonists, or, heroes, for us to admire.
Recently, I have started a new series, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. In the first book of this excellent science fantasy, The Alchemyst, the antagonist is a small, gray-faced man named John Dee. This sinister man was a real figure in history as a mathematician, navigator, astronomer, philosopher, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. But in the series, the author gives him magical powers, and makes him an alchemist, a magician, a sorcerer, and a necromancer. Earlier in his life, Dee was also Court Magician and a spy for Queen Elizabeth I in England. Born in 1527, Dee is an immortal, and is nearly five hundred years old when the story happens in the early 21st century.
The main way Dr. John Dee opposes the protagonist, an immortal called Nicholas Flamel, who is some seven hundred years old, is by trying to gain The Book of Abraham The Mage, or the Codex, which is a very powerful book that contains the recipe to become an immortal. The Codex also has instructions for making stones, metals, and coal into jewelry, gold, and diamonds. Most importantly, the Codex contains spells that could allow the Elder Race, magical people who at one time were worshipped as gods in the ancient civilizations and were the first generations of living things on Earth, to rule the planet. There are also spells to keep the Elders at bay in their own realms. Dee wants the Book because he works for a group of Elders called the Dark Elders, who want the Elder Race to rule the Earth once more. But Nicholas Flamel wants to prevent that, because he knows if that happens the human race, or humani, as the author calls it, will either become slaves or food.
There are three ways in which I can tell that Dee is the antagonist. One of them is his gray, skin, and his slight build. I knew this person was up to no good because his small build was sinister, and he wrapped himself in heavy coats, gloves and, boots. Usually, heroes show their faces proudly and never try to be anonymous for no reason. The story tells that John Dee has a very unhealthy-looking, pale, gray skin. Mostly likely, this type of appearance and figure belongs to the antagonist, not the protagonist.
Dr. John Dee is a very convincing antagonist because his aura, which is a magical energy around a person that has a specific color and smell, has the sulfuric odor of rotten eggs. The sulfur smells super bad and is very repulsive. It is negative, and the sulfuric yellow is the exact color of an antagonist. Most certainly, heroes will not want their auras to smell like rotten eggs. And that is true, because the main characters’ auras smell like mint, vanilla ice cream, and oranges.
The third and last reason I know that Dee is the antagonist is because he always likes to experiment with many dark magical creatures and animals under his control. He is a necromancer, so he raises an army of mummy and skeleton people and animals to destroy the protagonists. He has a very magically powerful creature, the sphinx, to guard over his prisoners at an island fort. He creates men made of clay and mud called Golems and even faceless guards made of a smooth stone. I know he is a bad guy because he tortures innocent animals, like rats and birds, to be his spies and keep an eye out for him.
Overall, I dislike Dr. John Dee greatly because of all the evil deeds he has done throughout his long life and his thought that humani is in a lower rank than the Elder Race and immortals. But, still, a side of me likes him for some reason. It is probably because of his extreme power and wit.
But, whether I like John Dee or not, I should thank him, because without him, the book The Alchemyst, and the series, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, would not have been the same.
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