Posted by Adam Quinan on May 26, 2012 at 17:59:52 user Adam.
I continue in a separate thread with my second category.
Imaginary enemies (PD and ML)
Black Jake and his crew, the Chinese Taicoons and the Councillor
Black Jake is a pretty conventional story tale “bad guy”, swarthy bearded and with an earring to boot, and his crew are no better. There is no real development in their characters, they start bad and if anything get worse. In this, they are just another plot device like the storm or landslides on Crab Island. They are another source of dramatic tension and a difficulty to be overcome.
Taicoons Chang and Wu and the Councillor are more interesting villains. They are less stereotypical bad guys than Black Jake, while still cruel pirates and inclined to chop off heads, they are more fleshed out characters with motives and attributes of their own. Taicoon Chang has a love of song birds which enables Titty to befriend him, for example. Taicoon Wu who is a respected leader on his own island, has served in a menial position on a European or American ship despite his obvious leadership qualities. The Councillor just wants to ensure Missee Lee preserves the Three Islands’ unity and avoids the risk of discovery and attack and if that involves a bit of head chopping, so be it.