Miles is both the next Jakob Damond and in another sense a young Jakob Damond.
He takes on most or all of the traits of Jakob Damond, including a battle-of-the-wits war between him and James.
All this time I’ve envisioned Miles gradually turning into a villain and betraying his friends, but I’ve never cared for that storyline. I like the idea of him being a villain, but the story arc only ever felt obligatory.
Then it struck me tonight: what I if I skipped all of that and just started him off as a villain? But maybe not everyone knows he is, but James does. Instead of building up to James and Miles having a Tralvorkemen and Damond relationship, and instead leading with it?
That is far more compelling.
<aside> 💡 Part of this idea hit me as I was thinking about James’ periodically interacting with a villain (such as in the Asylum) where I can have some of that surreal enemies discussing without physically fighting, and that epic sense of James being aware of a larger game of doom that others are oblivious to.
</aside>
Or another option (yet still in a similar vein) is to have Miles be a Gray hero.
I think that would actually contrast better with James. Miles would be more sympathetic, and would cast doubt on James’ stance. James would look passive and apathetic compared to Miles’ “doing whatever it takes” attitude.
“You’re not going to break the rules? You clearly don’t care enough.”
“We don’t stand a chance unless we harness the darkness.”
Jakob Damond was the great tempter, and Miles follows that pattern.
This may also be a better contrast with Nivana. So far I’ve just seen Miles as someone to manipulate and betray Nivana, while at the same time if she has a saving arc, I want a foil to show what she is rejecting. I’ve always figured the character would need to be another woman to embody feminism, but maybe Miles would work well enough. Instead of simply abusing Nivana, he could be a tempter, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Jakob Damond.
Along those lines, there was always something slightly hollow and one-sided about that character being a woman. Nivana’s beef is with men. The tension is with men. Nivana tends to dismiss and ignore women. I think that’s partially why I never seriously pursued that story direction.
(For context, one idea I had was for Adelle to be granted power by a goddess of women.)