Character Interview: Ina from Heir of Svartan
Welcome Ina from Heir of Svartan. Let's get to know you.
Character Interview: Ina from Heir of Svartan by L.L. Nelson
17-year-old Ina Svanunge uses video games to escape the reality of her abusive mother and miserable existence. Especially her favorite game series: the Lohikärran Chronicles. In the games, she can be powerful, strong, and confident. Everything she’s not in real life.
But when a freak accident transports her and her best friend, Mattie, to the real Lohikärra, it’s no longer a game. Once there, Ina finds out her long-absent (and now dead) father was a powerful thegn — and she’s his rightful heir.
Unfortunately, she isn’t the only one claiming his title. There are others, and they are more than willing to kill her for it. On a journey across Svartån, Ina must become the character she’s always wanted to be, and fight for her birthright. If she fails? She risks losing everything, including a place in the world of Lohikärra.
Will Ina be able to claim her rightful title with help from Mattie and their handsome new friend, Haldrek? Or will she end up dying in a foreign, unforgiving land?
Let's get to know Ina - welcome to this interview.
Can you start by telling me a little bit about yourself?
Hi! I'm Ina Svanunge. There's not much to me. At least not exciting stuff. I was born and raised in Fargo, North Dakota. My life consisted of school, chores, work, and hanging out with my BFF Mattie Gunvald. We lived with my mother (who was counting down the days until I turned 18 and she could kick me out) and her boyfriend (who was always super creepy to me and Mattie). Mattie and I loved playing the video games that her dad created. They were a fun escape from reality. Until they became our reality. And not like we ended up in the game. Like we were transported to a real world that the games were based on. With dragons, magic, and everything else. Now we're in Lohikärra and my dad (who left home when I was 5) was apparently a super important ruler there. He was the Thegn of SvartÃ¥n and I'm his heir. So that's where I'm at now. I'm a former nobody who now has to learn how to rule, fight, and survive in a world completely different from the one I grew up in.Â
What bad habits do you struggle to overcome?
I feel like I have a lot of bad habits. But mainly, I have a hard time believing in myself. Like who am I to be a big powerful thegn? I was a nobody back home. I literally have no leadership skills. At least that I know of. I also hate confrontation, which is something that I have to get over, because yeah, as then I have to deal with confrontation...
Why does your story matter to your author?
Apparently, we have a lot in common, including moms with similar personalities. She was also a mostly timid, awkward teenager who hated confrontation, but who loved to escape into fantasy worlds. As she's grown up, she's realized there are a lot of other kids who are like that, and so my adventures can be their adventures too.Â
What smell or scent makes you feel safe?
There are two distinct scents that I love. The first is the smell of chocolate and cinnamon. My friend Henry's mom used to make the BEST cookies in the world. They were basically snickerdoodles with chocolate chunks in them. She'd make them every time I hung out with Henry when we were younger and I always felt safe at her house.
The other smell is that of honey and woodsmoke - like a campfire's smell. That's the smell I associate with Haldrek. He's the first person I met in Lohikärra and he's saved my life a few times. I also really like him. Like I hope we can be more than friends in the future. Either way, I always feel safe around him.
Anything you'd like to say to your author?
Um... Please don't break me or destroy the world that I love. Lohikärra has always been my happy place and if something happened where I couldn't enjoy it anymore or if I had bad memories, I don't know what I'd do. Even if Fargo has stuff like heating, advanced medicine, and indoor plumbing, that's about all that's going for it. I'm not going back. I have too many bad memories to ever want to go back and I don't know if I'd fit in anywhere else. So, yeah, I know I'm supposed to have struggles and trials and all that character development stuff, but can I have some good stuff too?
I can’t promise that L.L. won’t have you destroy the world I’m going to leave this on that high note. Make sure you check out Heir of Svartån!
About the author: L. L. Nelson is a full-time librarian, history buff, and a word nerd with a passion for poetry, fantasy, historical fiction, and just a little bit of romance. She’s been creating worlds and figuring out the ‘what ifs’ in her stories since before she was old enough to read.
When not creating or diving into fantastical new worlds, L L Nelson is a mom, inventive cook, wannabe linguist, and dreams of being not only a ‘word traveler’ but a world traveler.Â