Saphiel is a hard one to pin down, in terms of her emotional role in the story. She is the main protagonist, for certain. White Currents deals with her travels and adventures in the big wide world of Sharidia. She's also definately one of my favorites characters to have come out of my little head, archtypical as she is.
She was really born from the fusion of several other female lead characters I've grown to love in other media (namely anime). There's a little bit of Kino from Kino's Journey in her. It's probably mainly the explorer bit in her. Saphiel is a traveller, much like Kino. But being a traveller, she's also an observer, not a participant. She really doesn't like to get involved in any incidents, unless it's pushed upon her. At times this can make Saphiel look uncaring or unemotional, which is all the same with her.
Then there's the aspect of Pacifica from Scrapped Princess in her. The disposed princess with a tragic past. I won't get into what, exactly, Saphiel's tragic past is (although you can probably figure out a detail to two...), but there was definately an incident which did profoundly change her life and comes back to haunt her in the future, almost perpetually. Like Pacifica, however, she has an optimistic outlook in life, despite the hardship she's suffered.
Finally theres an aspect of Nausicaa from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind in her as well. Another royalty figure who looks at life with optimism and hope, but also has empathy for everything else in the world. She's strong willed and determined, and won't let anything stand between her and what she believes is right.
Some of these characters do have conflicting personalities, I suppose. Kino, especially, in relation to the other two. Kino was the initial framework around which I developed Saphiel, actually, because the entire premise of the story was based around Kino's Journey. You can see this, also, in the incorporation of Saphiel's journeying partner, Solumn. He's a little brooch that is attached to Saphiel's cloak and talks to her as a companion, much like Kino's talking moterrad, Hermes. The idea is that Saphiel will be travelling by herself most of the time, and providing a contrasting character accompanying her will add some flavour to what's happening around her.
Originally this contrasting character was going to take on the form of Saphiel's flying mount, Eos. Eos was originally conceived as a dragon, although I did think about making him a personal flying vehicle at one point (and making the link between Hermes and Saphiel's companion more direct). In the end, though, I didn't think having her mount be her conversation partner seemed too appealing. It turned the world into too much of a fantasy, storybook world. Well, more so than it already was.
So the idea of the Ikon came to me while I was pondering this question of Saphiel's partner. At this point I was very much into playing Suikoden 5. In that game there are these central elements called True Runes. They are the defining aspects of the game world, not only in its mythology but in its story as well. The True Runes are also presented as being entities with wills of their own that shape the destiny of the people around it. I took that concept one step further, and decided on the idea of the Ikon, an amulet of sorts that is imbued with intelligence and mystical powers. It attaches itself to a person and forms a sort of symbiosis, giving the bearer of the Ikon certain supernatural abilities and a constant companion at the bearer's side.
Eventually I conceived of an entire backstory on the Ikons, and now it's a big part of the world of Sharidia, and a big part of Saphiel's story as well.
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