A major inspiration for The Last Ranger -- Horzion: Zero Dawn

Jul 14, 2022 4:56 pm

Hey there, Kickstarter crowd! Hope your summer is swell so far!

For The Last Ranger Kickstarter, things are still continuing apace. We're just about at Stretch Goal #3, which will yield a brand-new, Kickstarter exclusive story set in the world of Ranger of the Titan Wilds. I'm excited to explore more of Unera, so I hope we get there!

Now, as promised, today I’m going into one major influence for The Last Ranger, and for Leiyn as a character: the video game Horizon: Zero Dawn, one of my all-time favorites.

If you don’t know anything about the Horizon series, it's set in a post-apocalyptic world where Earth has been remade, and deadly machines now walk its surface. What remains of humanity has splintered into tribal societies that have uneasy relations between each other at best.

The game’s protagonist, Aloy, is a hard-bitten young woman, yet extremely likable for her wit, empathy, supreme talent, and indefatigable determination. The way she feels both real and heroic is a triumph in storytelling in any medium, at least in my opinion.

As I wrote The Last Ranger, I found that Leiyn shared many core qualities with Aloy, both her strengths and her flaws. It also helped that Aloy uses various ranged weapons in the game, and feels much like a post-apocalyptic ranger!

There are, of course, major deviations between the two. Still, it was helpful to have the inspiration as I created the book, and having Aloy as a guidepost kept my vision for Leiyn on track.

Hope you found that interesting! If you haven't backed yet and want to, you can reach The Last Ranger Kickstarter by clicking this link.

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