Hey all! Today I wanted to talk about another prominent character in the Sovereign Soul series: Sir John Guildford!
Guildford marks a point in the story where the readers finally begin to connect with Ryoku’s life in the other world. Guildford was one of his school teachers, and now the Timeless One has procured him to train him in the new art of magic & combat.
Guildford’s tale isn’t simple and features many layers. In the real world, he was a normal teacher of primarily English and History. He’d recently been married to Emma Flannery, a middle school teacher who shared his passion in teaching English. While not teaching, he acted as an auxiliary police officer aside officers Brody and Darrold – respectively, the late fathers of Dawn and Roxanne, of whom he was quite close to while he was alive. He shared close relationships with Ryoku and Dawn later on in respect to them.
As part of his police-teacher gig, he kept a close eye on two students: Varis and Dagger, both sons of prominent drug lords in Brooks, both of whom were suppliers in the school. Dagger eventually turned over a new leaf, but Varis rose to the point of bringing a gun to school. In doing so, Guildford recognized the signs and attempted to talk Varis down, and was shot in his classroom. This became one of the biggest events in awakening Advocatos within Ryoku, who gathered his friends in a vengeance-driven assault on Varis and his cronies the day of Guildford’s funeral – later called the Day of Black.
Upon reaching the spirit realm, Guildford landed in the care of the Timeless One as his acclaimed ‘lost souls.’ Guildford came to learn quite a lot of combat, prophecy, and other studies under his care, and became good friends with Relus Ashbane. Through his studies, he became aware that Ryoku would be coming to the spirit realm soon, and decided to pledge his newfound skills to aiding his former student once more.
Guildford is delighted to be reunited with his former student, and more as Ryoku’s other Defender friends quickly flock to his aid. Guildford becomes fast friends with Loki, Lamont, and Ragekku, among others.
But once they began to travel together, Guildford began to see corners of the spirit realm he’d not imagined during his stay in Lysvid, and his lust for adventure awoke. Ryoku saw this, and promised his teacher these freedoms.
And so Guildford grew even further, training with Lamont as a dragon rider and later as one of Syaoto’s esteemed Knights of the King’s Own. His character development spiked, and he became fast friends with many high-ranking officials, finally beginning to live his afterlife to the fullest – but he still extends his aid to Ryoku and his other former students whenever possible.
Guildford has received more character development than I initially planned him to experience. Thanks to the different time flow of worlds in the spirit realm, he’s able to experience quite a bit while Ryoku’s adventure is still only beginning – and in Book Two: Serpentine Empire, Guildford will surely rise even higher.
Be sure to check out my new Linktree account with all my socials, places to read content and where to buy Book One: Akin Minds! As always, stay tuned for more character posts & writing tips!
Sovereign Soul 