So of course a story is no good without villains and of course Kalwa faces many. While a small number of the villains have at least existed in some way prior to the official launch of the series, most of them are brand new who were made just for the story.

When writing villains, particularly in the early parts of Kalwa, I actually try to write them to fit the general arch we are writing. As a movie buff (particularly of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) I want each and every story to feel important, not just a waste of time. This is my general perception of movies and sequels, I’ve already paid for the last part, so why should I pay for this part? What value would I get from this as opposed to the part I already own? That is always the question I have on my mind when I write a story.

That in turn plays into the villains and what role they will play. Each villain I try to bring something new to the table, in that they will either challenge Kalwa in a way that will step up her game (similar to a shonen villain) or will tie into something big, such as David who was introduced in the pirate arch. While he did manage to best Kalwa in combat, his main purpose was to lay the groundwork and entry for A-Tech who would ultimately rise to becoming the main antagonist group of the story.

Other villains as mentioned earlier act as stepping stones challenging Kalwa in new and different ways. Orestes of course was the first villain she faced, and he was nothing more than a thief with a knife. He was a fairly appropriate villain for her during her first adventure, especially as it showed just how tough and independent she could be. The Desert Vixens from the western arch were the first opponents that could actually fight back, and had weapons, thus challenging Kalwa’s fighting skills as a whole. Orestes himself would later return and face Kalwa a new way, by attacking her brother thus attacking her heart and emotions, something that actually did more damage than previous villains ever could.

Of course there are a share of villains that are simply written for other purposes such as Gerald Butler from the Whitechapel arch. This particular character never actually met Kalwa herself, rather he was meant to simply represent the obvious racism theme that played a central role in the Whitechapel story arch. His violent mood swings and use of a knife was also made to make him a false suspect for Jack the Ripper. The raptors from chapter 11 likewise didn’t essentially challenge Kalwa to much of anything new, they were merely for a fun stand alone chapter. Course one shouldn’t really consider the raptors as “villains,” after all they are simply doing what nature intended. I do suppose they did challenge Kalwa to a group fight, even though they were easily beatable.

Of course this is only a small group of villains in the overall story, I’ll be doing more entry on Kalwa as she encounters more, and the next group will be even more dangerous than the ones described here.