Behind the Character: Esmour

Originally Esmour was a very minor character in Cursed With Power.  And by minor I mean he was mentioned perhaps once in the first draft of the book.  Obviously before it was published Esmour's true character shined through, and the readers were only able to learn as much as Celestria.  Still the point has been clear... there's a story to Esmour we haven't heard yet.  When will we hear it, though?
At this point it's no secret that Leal will be answering some of our questions about Esmour in the upcoming sequel, Punished With Destiny.  I will not be revealing any spoilers -never do and never will-but I'll be talking about the "birth" of his character as well as some other material that isn't something you might simply know from reading the books.
Meaning of the name: Initiating action, pioneering, leading, independent, attaining, individual
Most of the time the actual meaning behind the name has nothing to do with my process in choosing a name for a character, though I'll admit in this case Esmour does have qualities that fit the personality attached to his name.  If one thing was ever certain about him from the beginning, it was that he would be the antagonist.  For the longest time it was difficult to decide just what exactly made Esmour the feared man magicians knew him as.  That's what is fun about the job, though; you can decide the story behind the characters, whether you use it or not.
Esmour has a significant role as the leader of Destin, an organization he created with who he believed were some of the best and talented Dark magicians.  As we learn early on in CWP, Alaire and Leal were part of this organization.  We won't actually understand the full details until the sequel releases, but I promise you Leal has quite the story to tell.
What you won't find out from the books is that Esmour has a lot of promise as a narrator.  The Magicians series is meant to be a five book series, but if it were to go over well I'd consider writing a prequel in which Esmour would tell his story.  This would include his life before Destin, how he became such a powerful leader, and more depth into the secretive life he led.  There are plenty of journals and notes in my room that could help with building the story line for the book, but this is simply a consideration and perhaps something I'll decide on entirely once we're closer to book 5 in the series.

Until the sequel, the questions are still yours for the asking.  What do you think: Is Esmour the true villain or a hero?
Lindsey R. Sablowski