Thread of Fate Character Spotlight: Vallen the Void Caster

Vallen is facing three legions of his father's soldiers.

The Only Void Caster in Fae History

Five years in absolute darkness would break most men. For Vallen, it forged something far more dangerous.

A prince who chose mercy over power. Who paid the price in blood, in torture, in darkness so complete it devoured even the concept of light. Most would have shattered. Vallen emerged, wielding shadows like a second skin and void magic that makes ancient beings pause mid-breath.

Now he's the founder of the Crimson Crow—a resistance born from the ashes of royal cruelty, operating from shadows with surgical precision. His targets? The kings who perpetuate prophecy's endless, bloody cycle. His weapon? Power forged in the very darkness meant to destroy him.

Meeting Vallen is an experience you don't forget.

First, the predatory grace. He moves like violence contained—deliberate, precise, purposeful. Every gesture calculated. Every glance is an assessment.

Then, those eyes. Cobalt depths that seem to swallow light itself, holding secrets darker than the void he commands. They evaluate. Catalog. Decide whether you're a threat, an asset, or beneath notice entirely.

Vallen and his shadow magic.

His magic? Shadow bends to his will as naturally as breathing. Darkness responds to him not as a tool but as an extension of his very being. The true extent of his power remains carefully leashed—a fact that should terrify you more than any display of force.

But beneath the danger lies something unexpected: charm. Court-trained charisma that can disarm you with a half-smile before you realize you've already been weighed, measured, and categorized. He speaks only when words serve a purpose, letting silence do the heavy lifting while others squirm and fill the void.

Cross him, and you'll face a prince who learned cruelty from masters.

Earn his loyalty, and you'll discover a protector who would burn the world down before letting you face darkness alone.

The Choice That Changed Everything

Born prince of the Vesper Court, Vallen grew up drowning in political intrigue and his father's ruthless expectations. Court politics. Calculated cruelty. The kind of power that demanded you sacrifice others to keep your own hands clean.

Then came a seven-year-old orphan girl, running from glyphs meant to bind her fate.

The smart choice? Turn her over. The safe choice? Let his father's guards handle it.

Vallen made neither.

He chose to protect Raven. To train her. To give her the tools to survive in a world designed to break people like her.

His father's response was swift and brutal: ten years of imprisonment. Five of those years spent in absolute darkness—a void so complete that light became a half-forgotten dream. The torture was methodical. The isolation, absolute. His father meant to break him, to teach him that mercy was weakness and compassion a fatal flaw.

Instead, the darkness became his ally.

In that lightless cell, void and shadow magic didn't just become companions—they became part of him. His will was the only thing keeping him alive, and he sharpened it to a razor's edge. When he finally emerged, he wasn't the prince his father tried to break.

He was something entirely new.

The scars carved into his skin tell the story of survival. The intricate ink covering his arms, shoulders, back, and chest transforms that pain into art—a deliberate reclamation of flesh marked by cruelty. Tall, muscular, with dark hair shaved close on both sides and those haunting cobalt eyes, Vallen moves through the world dressed in shadows both literal and figurative.

When Shadow Found Its Dragon

In the void where his father left him to die, Vallen found something impossible: kinship.

Ender. An ancient shadow dragon exiled from the void before the Shattering—the first of his kind to bond a rider in two thousand years. Twice the size of Athos, the largest of the six known dragon bloodlines, Ender moves between worlds as a living shadow: sometimes formless darkness with burning red eyes, sometimes a fully manifested dragon with void rolling off his scales like smoke.

Ender and Vallen, dragon and rider

Their bond was forged in absolute darkness, built on a will that even death hesitates to challenge.

Ender doesn't serve Vallen. They're partners in the truest sense—two beings who found purpose in each other when the world offered them nothing but isolation. Together, they represent something ancient and terrifying: shadow with direction, void with purpose, power tempered by choice rather than prophecy.

When Vallen rides, darkness follows. When Ender hunts, the space between worlds trembles.

The Prince Who Remains

Trust comes hard for Vallen. Betrayal carved those lessons deep. But for those rare few who earn their place in his circle? His loyalty is absolute, his protection unwavering.

He's ruthlessly pragmatic when necessary, comfortable operating in the moral gray areas that would paralyze others. Court politics taught him to read people like open books, to charm and disarm with a well-placed word or calculated silence. He wields those skills sparingly now—weapons kept sharp but sheathed unless needed.

His voice stays measured, controlled. In moments of genuine emotion, it doesn't rise—it drops to a quiet, gravelly intensity that makes you lean in despite yourself. With Raven, the edges soften. With enemies, it hardens into something that cuts.

Duty wars with desire in him constantly, though he rarely lets the conflict show. His dominant nature isn't loud—it's in the way he commands a room without raising his voice, the way shadows answer his unspoken call, the way he protects what's his with unshakeable resolve.

Years of survival taught him when mercy is strength and when it's suicide. He knows the difference. He chooses carefully.

Unfinished Business

The scars tell one story. The tattoos that transform them tell another.

But the shadows that cling to Vallen like a second skin? They whisper of a third story entirely—one still being written in Thread of Fate, a tale of blood, prophecy, and the quiet rebellion of a prince who refused to break.

The Crimson Crow rises. The kings should be afraid.

And Vallen? He's just getting started.

Learn about all the characters in the Thread of Fate series.