Sanso

Sanso is Eluin's younger brother and is the psychotic psychic of the Hope/Despair series.

Family
Sanso is the youngest of three children, having a brother and a sister. While he was still growing up, his sister, Eboni, left the village. His parents, in turn, took care of the two brothers, Sanso and Eluin.

Early Years
Sanso was about four years old when Eboni left the Elementals village. He never knew her all that well and he never understood why she left. After she was gone, his parents seemed to fight more and more though at his young age he had trouble understanding what exactly they were fighting about. However, they always seemed to be careful to try and stay peaceful around his older brother Eluin. It was as if they didn't think Sanso would understand or be affected by the arguing. Eluin spent a lot of time out doors or with friends, always playing and never really being serious. He never really had time for Sanso and the two never really felt all that close. Strangers started coming to the house and talking to his parents in private, never telling Eluin and never explaining what was going on. When Sanso was about nine years old, one of the strangers came into the house while Eluin was gone. There was a big fight and Sanso watched, understanding that it was partially about him and not knowing why. Eventually, the argument got so heated, it came to blows, the stranger attacking the parents and vice versa. Somewhere in the middle, his parents attacked him as well, attempting to kill him.

The stranger was trying to help him and not especially succeeding. Sanso tried to reason with them, but he was young and ended up struggling to escape. His powers (ability over oxygen) wasn't perfectly controlled yet and it blew out sort of with a mind of its own. It reacted to the other elemental abilities in the room, fusing all four together and locking them into a very strange experience. Essentially, it ended with his parents and the stranger dead, only Sanso alive. The odd mixture of elements and magic combined to allow him to see an extensive vision of the future. It infused a sense of purpose and duty into him, essentially permanently altering his mind and magic. He knows most future events and works towards a specific goal and destiny based on what he saw. He left home that day and never returned.

Character
Due to his unfortunate childhood circumstances, Sanso's true personality has long been dormant. From the time of his parents' death, his personality went through a huge change, leaving him only with a sense of duty and a very plain, emotionless exterior. He seems to have no personality at all. In many ways, he gives off the same impression as Agrinja, being dead inside.

Author Speaks
The creation of Sanso began, like many of my characters, with a doodle. I was sitting in class at college, doodling in my sketchbook (it helps me concentrate) and a large pair of eyes resulted. The image continued in an oddly flowing, yet still contorted body position that was essentially naked. I stared at if for a while and decided that he needed to be missing his heart. So I inked and colored the picture and Sanso was born. He developed a personality according to the dead look in his eyes. I associated it with his future vision, his element being oxygen and being Eluin's brother almost immediately. The details developed later (and are still developing actually) but most of it did happen right away. It was my first time using the marker I bought to use as blood, so I was fairly excited.

Books
Sanso first appears in the first potentially as early as Blue but possibly not until Book Three. From that point on, he features as a character until the end of the series.

Theme Song
Unknown Soldier by Breaking Benjamin

Back to Characters.