Still, he treated me as a son–taking me with him on daily excursions and teaching me his trade. More properly, I should say trades, for he was involved in many–his fingertips stretched to fill every one of the city’s unholy crevices. Thievery, prostitution, murder-for-hire, gambling, bribery, extortion, coin-clipping; nothing worth damnation happened without Brogan’s touch, or so it seemed to me.

Excerpt from Tangled

What makes people do bad things? For Brogan, I like to imagine that he’s an inherently bad man. This makes it so much easier to hate his character. But could Quin, who’s one of my favorite characters, have become very much like Brogan under the right circumstances? He was, after all, being schooled by Brogan in his criminal undertakings. Ah…the ageless question of nature vs nurture. To be honest, I don’t know, but I’m certain that Quin would not have remained the same person if he spent too many seasons under Brogans watchful eye.

This is, in part, what I love about Tangled and Quin’s character in particular. He’s a very likable character but he’s not without his faults. Throughout the story, he has to walk a delicate line for the safety of himself and those he loves.

Although the Tales of Malstira series is a dark fantasy story, I try very hard to base it in real history as much as possible. And certainly criminality was as much of a concern in medieval England as it is today. The seeds of criminal behavior are highly variable, but I strongly feel that it’s largely rooted in poverty and a sense of desperation. People are willing to go to extremes when there’s little sense of hope.

If you’d like to know more, check out my post Prostitution in Medieval England.