Iestin Pedr
Iestin is the scholar and historian of Pentref Bach-a-Dibwys (or The Small and Insignificant Village). He is charged by the village Druid to both recruit and accompany a[n unwilling] hero on a quest to save Creiddylad, a princess held in a tower deep within Radnor Forest.
A stoic, logical man, Iestin professes to not believe in magic. He views his duties as straightforward: To write a Heroic Epic of Chivalry and Romance that bears no resemblance to the truth: A simple ride to a tower. He is none too pleased to discover that strange things soon begin to happen all around him…
The look for the main characters of Princess in the Tower were originally intended to echo [somewhat] Medieval illuminated manuscripts. At the very least, Iestin was supposed to. The earlier character designs show him with a very stylized nose and rather unfortunate hair, as you can see on the top right here:
While Rhobert retained his scruffy, dirty look [although it was suggested that he needed a shave], I couldn’t quite put down Iestin. He went through a period in which I wanted to saddle him with suitably scholarly Medieval headgear (and the name Johnson, before I decided on Welsh names):
Foreseeing how annoying that was going to become, he lost his hats. He did keep the cap. Next, I toyed with cutting his hair and giving him a neat little beard, as seen in the central doodle, where he’s gone rather Peter O’Toole:
That… didn’t last long. But I did hit on his signature expression: The haughty glance flung over the shoulder. I also decided I would not give the bloke the shoulder length hair most of my characters seem to wind up with. His hair was meant to stop just below his chin, as if he’d once worn a pageboy but had let it grow out–a characteristic that was meant to echo his abandonment of courtly life in favour of a small village.
Well. I tried.
