Each month this blog will feature
a character from one of the SFF productions. We’ll start with one of the most popular characters in all
of the SFF repertoire – Esteban from the Destiny Trilogy/Mini-Series.
Esteban is a straight-forward, yet complex character. I’ve been working on the novel version
of the Destiny Trilogy for over ten years now, so it’s a little hard for me to
separate the character as he was written in the movies/series from how he is
now. So I won’t. In
this character profile you will find out some things about Esteban you might
not have known before.
Overall, Esteban is a good guy in
the classic sense of always doing what’s right, sort of. Mostly. Geez, he’s complicated. You can’t make a blanket statement about him because there’s
always at least one instance where he does the opposite. I guess the way to sum him up is to say
that he would do anything for his friends. He’ll do whatever is in their best interest even if they
don’t agree with it.
If I could sum him up in one word
it would be loyal. He’s extremely
loyal.
History
Esteban
is like his mother, Estelle, who was an exceptionally intelligent woman who was
kind and considerate, but who understood how the world worked and knew her
place in it. She died giving birth
to Esteban. His insane father,
Lord Geoffrey, decided that Esteban wasn’t really his son (that his wife had an
affair, which she didn’t) since he didn’t look anything like him. He actually tried to have Esteban
killed as an infant, but a devoted servant stole him away and raised him in
secret until he was old enough to be presented to his grandfather. His grandfather adored him and tried to
disown Esteban’s father, but died before he could. In his will he made Lord Geoffrey’s inheritance dependant on
Esteban’s continued good health, which is the only reason Esteban survived to
adulthood.
Lord Geoffrey couldn’t hurt him without financial
consequences, so he brought his bastard son Jeffrey to live with them and
stirred up trouble between the two half-brothers. Jeffrey was rewarded for hurting Esteban which made a happy
relationship between the two very much not possible. I’m not going to go into
all the horrible, mind-scarring years that followed and resulted in both
brothers needed serious therapy they would never actually get.
Although Esteban was a lord and the heir to a dukedom, he
was rarely at court and when he went there he had no fun, mostly because he was
shy and always had his head in a book.
However he was rumored to be one of the most intelligent men in the
kingdom, a fact that King Ferdinand reminds Lord Geoffrey of when LG declares
his intention to disown Esteban and make Jeffrey his heir.
His whole life changed at the Baptismal Ball for the infant
prince, Ketlan. In a passive
aggressive display of anger against Jeffrey stealing away any girl Esteban
worked up the courage to talk to, Esteban broke a glass with his bare
hand. When he started to pick up
the mess a woman offered to help him.
She turned out to be the queen, Lavinia, and she told him she had seen
what really happened. 
Queen Lavinia invites Esteban to stroll with her in the
gardens where she would listen to his woes. The fact that someone – anyone, let alone a Queen – would
take an interest in what he was thinking about or how he was being treated,
made him extremely grateful and loyal to her for the rest of his life.
Unfortunately, Lord Geoffrey and his cohorts – the bastard
Jeffrey and Prince Gergio, the king’s brother – tried to dishonor the queen by
saying she was having an affair with Esteban. The plan backfired so dramatically that in the end Lord
Geoffrey and his entire family – including Esteban – were banished from the
kingdom forever.
That night Lord Geoffrey committed suicide (not soon enough!
Can you tell I hate that a**hole?) and Jeffrey (who later shows up as
Balthazar) somehow is convinced that Esteban murdered their father and Esteban
runs for his life. Luckily, Queen
Lavinia intercedes with the King to pardon Esteban – who had nothing to do with
the plot – and make him the royal tutor to Prince Ketlan.
For the next eight years Esteban is Ketlan’s tutor and he
becomes a personal friend of both King Ferdinand and Queen Lavinia. He adores the royal family and would do
anything for them. He also, not
surprisingly, develops a crush on Lavinia but he hides it well and never lets
anyone know.
One night Lavinia tells Esteban that both she and the king
are going to be murdered that night and begs him to not try to save them but
instead to take Prince Ketlan and spirit him away to the kingdom of Liliya and
raise him as a peasent until he is old enough to avenge his parent’s
death. Esteban doesn’t understand
but his loyality is so firm that he basically gives up the rest of his life to
protecting Ketlan and helping Ketlan take back his throne and become a great
king.
And this is a really long summary – suffice to say Esteban
arranges a marriage between Princess Elaina of Liliya and Prince Ketlan in
order to have an army to help Ketlan take back his throne. Ketlan falls in love with Melantha, one
of Elaina’s friends and Esteban arranges to have her banished from the kingdom
in order to force Ketlan to marry Elaina.
That’s the most underhanded, backstabbing thing he ever does, but
Esteban firmly believes that he’s doing to right thing and the only thing that
will help Ketlan take back his throne.
Oh so complicated.
Ketlan takes back his throne with Esteban’s help, marries Melantha, and
becomes a great king. Esteban
eventually becomes the royal tutor of Ketlan’s children. Esteban gives his life helping Ketlan
rescue his children from the evil clutches of Balthazar (Esteban’s half-brother
Jeffrey), and dies in a final confrontation with his nemesis. 
His spirit is released after having fulfilled his pledge to
his best friends – King Ferdinand and Queen Lavinia – to raise Ketlan and make
him a great king and a good man.
In death, Esteban is reunited with his friends, and is finally able to
find a peace and tranquility that eluded him in life. Although, let’s be honest – the main reason Esteban dies is
because Tanino Minneci really wanted to do a death scene.
Appearance
In
the novel, Esteban is described as a plain man of medium height and medium
build, with dark brown hair and serious brown eyes, half-hidden behind round,
wire-rimmed spectacles. Obviously
the description was heavily influenced by the actor who portrayed him in the
movies – the amazingly talented Tanino Minneci. In the movies/series, his younger self doesn’t wear
spectacles but in the book he starts wearing spectacles when he’s seventeen.
Personality
Esteban is quite shy socially, which makes him terrible at
picking up chicks. Jeffrey/Balthazar
loves to swoop in and charm away any woman that Esteban shows interest in, so
Esteban just sort of stops trying to flirt and gives up on the whole dating
scene. 
One of the things that “Evil Esteban” (aka Balthazar in
disguise) does that makes him suspicious to others, or at the very least seems
very out of character for him, is that he suddenly becomes a ladies man. He is surrounded by the ladies of the
court and appears to be genuinely enjoying their flirting and attention. Yeah, that’s the opposite of how
Esteban usually is a public function.
He doesn’t really like royal parties and such but always attends them
for the required period of time because he follows the laws of courtly etiquette
as best he can.
He’s very serious and practical; he rarely laughs. Erion, Molly, and May make it their
personal mission to make him laugh whenever they can. He can be kind and considerate and he has a good heart, but
his general aura is serious and stern.
His manners are impeccable, having been raised as a lord and living at
court for a large part of his life.
He knows his place and views himself more as a servant of the royal
family, though he is truly their friend, which creates a big of a distance
between them.
Esteban is very
guarded emotionally. The closest
relationship he has is with Prince Ketlan since he pretended to be his father when
they were in hiding, and raised him for ten years. He will do anything for Ketlan, even dress in drag in order
to sneak on board and all-female pirate ship.
Abilities
Esteban’s primary ability is his intelligence. He’s exceptionally smart and very
knowledgeable about pretty much everything, having spent most of his life
reading every book he could find (and he’s a speed reader). He is also a writer, keeping a memoir
of the events of the royal family and his own life (which is why he is the
narrator of the movies/series), and he plays the flute. 
He is also a very skilled fighter, which is at odds with his
calm, bookworm demeanor. His
father was one of the best fighters in the kingdom and Esteban learned to fight
by defending himself against first his father and later Jeffrey/Balthazar who
was taught how to fight by their father.
Esteban later teaches Ketlan how to fight but it’s made pretty clear
that Esteban will always be the superior fighter, who bests his half-brother
most of the time.
There is a moment in Destiny II (aka Episode 5) where he is
teaching Prince Ketlan and is interrupted by Queen Lavinia. The Queen tells him about how she is
going to be murdered by his half-brother and Esteban carefully moves his books
and stacks his papers neatly to the side, then opens a secret compartment in
his podium and pulls out a sword.
He is the essence of a warrior scholar.
Relationships - Allies
& Enemies
Allies
Prince Ketlan is the closest thing Esteban has to a son. He raised from the age of eight and
would do anything for him. When
Ketlan decides to turn down the alliance with Liliya by not marrying Princess
Elaina, and instead goes after Melantha – determined to marry her, Esteban goes
with him. Esteban isn’t happy
about it because he would rather fulfill his duty to the royal family by
putting Ketlan back on the throne, but goes along with it. In the end, he does everything he can
to help find Melantha and reunite them because Ketlan’s happiness is more
important to him than anything else.
They have a difficult relationship however, because once he
told Ketlan that Ketlan was a prince, however, he worked hard to distance
himself emotionally again and return to the role of servant rather then father,
which no doubt caused some confusion and hurt for Ketlan. However, even after he is the king,
Ketlan still looks to Esteban for guidance. When he wants to know about his parents, he turns to
Esteban. When his children are
kidnapped, he turns to Esteban.
Esteban is Ketlan’s rock – the one true constant in his life – and
Esteban loves Ketlan as both the child of his best friends, and as his adopted
son. 
Queen Lavinia is the secret love of Esteban’s life. Her intervention in his fate and her
willingness to listen to his problems when no one else cared about him endeared
her to him. Obviously it wasn’t long before he fell in love with her. But he never told her, or anyone, and
worshipped her from afar, so to speak.
She was one of the only women that Esteban never had trouble talking to
(the others being Erion and the OOPS) and he always felt easy and comfortable
around her, despite their difference in status. He would do anything for her, even give his own life. Although she warned him not to save
her, he couldn’t help trying to.
His greatest regret in life is that he couldn’t – no, didn’t – save her.
King Ferdinand is one of Esteban’s best friends, despite their
difference in status. The king
turns to Esteban for support and guidance, and includes Esteban as part of the
royal court even though as a simple tutor he shouldn’t be. His faith and confidence in Esteban is
unshakable and Esteban returns that trust with unwavering loyalty. Ferdinand and Lavinia are the first
people in his life to really believe in him, and Esteban sees Ferdinand as the
best example of good man and a great king.
Erion is Lavina’s fairy guardian who mostly appeared around
Esteban in the form of Lavinia’s personal companion and royal lady-in-waiting.
However, Lavinia saw a loneliness in Esteban because he never felt that he
could bridge the distance in status between his royal friends and himself. Lavinia worried about him and so she
sent Erion to watch over him and befriend him in disguise.
In their last conversation, Lavinia tells Esteban that Ned
is really a fairy named Erion.
Although he meets Erion again as one of the OOPS, he doesn’t recognize
her. When Ned shows up again
suddenly in Esteban’s room twenty-two years after they parted ways, he
immediately understands that Ned is Erion and Erion is a magical fairy. He doesn’t even blink, he just accepts
it (of course he has a killer hangover at the time). The trust and friendship formed between Esteban and Ned
remains between them even though Ned never truly existed. Erion is one of the very few women that
Esteban is comfortable around, because of Ned, and he looks to her for guidance
and support in helping rescue Ketlan’s children from Balthazar.
Ali-Jinjil is Esteban’s best friend of all.
Ali views Melantha as a daughter in the
same way that Esteban views Ketlan as a son, which gives them something in
common right there. Both men have
suffered tragedy and loss, and overall both men are intelligent and serious,
although Ali becomes less serious over time. They get along very well and Ali is the only man that
Esteban views as a true equal because they are both wise men of equal status. He is of noble birth like Esteban but
is no longer a ruler in his own right, and he spends him time helping to set
slaves free. They have
similar personalities (although Ali is more light-hearted in the end) and a lot
in common.
This is made
very clear when they are reunited at the beginning of Destiny III (aka Episode
6). Esteban goes into the library
for some quiet reading time and finds Ali already there, reading a book. Ali
didn’t arrive with the fanfare that Elaina does, and just heads for the library. Their greeting is one of old friends
reunited and when Esteban is in trouble after Balthazar knocks him out and
boozes him up, Ali is the one to help him back to his room and takes care of
him. 
The scene that really gets me towards the end (the only that
really makes me tear up) is when Esteban says farewell to Ali and tells him to
take Prince Rowan to safety and protect him while Esteban stays to deal with
Balthazar. There is a sense in the
scene that it is their final parting (even though Ali is there for his death in
the end) and is just a really poignant scene. After Esteban dies, Ali finishes his memoir for him and
takes over as the narrator. Ali is
a warrior first and a scholar second while Esteban is a scholar first and a
warrior second.
On set there were a lot of comments made about Ali and
Esteban both being gay and possibly having a relationship. For the record, their relationship was
completely platonic and Esteban is not gay, he’s just shy around women. Ali-Jinjil, however, is gay.
Melantha is like a daughter-in-law to him, however he doesn’t
seem to interact with her much due to his shyness around women and their
difference in status. However,
when Ketlan is being a jackass and orders Esteban to lock Melantha in her room
to prevent her from going after the children on her own after they are
kidnapped, he refuses. He politely
tells Ketlan that Ketlan is being a jerk, and says that he will do anything for
Ketlan, anything except that. He
refuses to lock up the Queen, his pseudo daughter in law and comes to her
defense. 
Princess Elaina and Esteban don’t really have much of a relationship. They’re polite to each other but Esteban’s shyness around women and their difference in status prevents Esteban from trying to become friends with her. He has a great respect for her and admires her, but they don’t really talk much. 
That’s one of the biggest clues that the Esteban who shows up at the ball (Destiny III/Episode 7) is really Balthazar in disguise – he starts chatting with Elaina and actually tries to chat her up a bit. He suddenly seems very comfortable and confident around her. Elaina is confused by his actions and words and senses that something is off.
Prince Rowan & Princess Telana are Ketlan’s children, and
therefore are sort of like Esteban’s grandkids. However, because of their difference in status Esteban acts
like more of an uncle or chaperone around them. He is their royal tutor and is one of the few people who can
stop them from bickering. Of
course he is one of the people who rushes to their rescue after they are
kidnapped by Balthazar. 
Molly & May are an amusing duo that confuses Esteban while
still making him laugh. He doesn’t
really know Molly & May as a duo separate from the OOPS trio since they
split up shortly before Erion leaves with Esteban, Ketlan, and Ali to go rescue
the children. Molly & May
basically see their function around Esteban as comic relief and compete to see
who can make Esteban laugh more.
Queen Catherine is an ally that Esteban seeks out to make a
marriage of alliance between Prince Ketlan and her daughter Princess
Elaina. It’s not in the movies but
she was a friend and ally of Queen Lavinia and King Ferdinand which is one of
the reasons Esteban goes to her for help.
After Ketlan publically humiliates her daughter by choosing Melantha
instead, she gets a bit testy and presumably she doesn’t really have much to do
with Esteban after that in a personal sense.
Enemies
Jeffrey/Balthazar is Esteban’s half-brother and nemesis. They hate each other. They were raised to hate each
other. The only reason they ever
met and were forced to grow up together is because their father wanted them to
hate each other.
Balthazar is the opposite of Esteban in pretty much every
way – he’s handsome, charming, smart but not learned, selfish, vain, morally
confused if not defunct, and a total ladies man. But despite Balthazar’s far better social skills, Esteban
always seems to be more beloved and endeared by the king, queen, and
court. Probably because he’s a
genuinely nice guy and Balthazar is a murdering bastard. That could be the reason.
Esteban was smart enough to realize that his father was
using Jeffrey/Bal as a weapon against him and he didn’t really blame Jeffrey or
truly, deeply hate him. He
understand that Jeffrey was just a pawn in their father’s game. That’s one of the reasons why Esteban
couldn’t bring himself to kill Jeffrey, even if it meant saving Lavinia’s
life. He saw in Jeffrey a
reflection of what he could have turned into if he had let his father control
his life like Jeffrey had. Esteban
pitied his half-brother who he saw as not being as strong willed as he
was. He let Jeffrey live and
regretted it for the rest of his life.
After the King and Queen were murdered and Esteban took
Ketlan to safety, that’s when Esteban started to hate his brother. He hated Jeffrey for killing his
friends and hated himself for not being to kill Jeffrey when he had the
chance. He saw that as a weakness
and was determined to kill Jeffrey if he ever had the chance.
Of course I didn’t know the history between them when I
wrote the first movie, and in fact the scene where they struggle at the bottom
of the staircase was added later on after filming began. It’s a terrible scene that shows
Esteban being easily defeated and sending Ketlan to go kick Balthazar’s ass
while he nurses a glorified paper cut.
Boo. Not good, but I didn’t
know the back story then…because I hadn’t written it. Ah well.
Needless to say, I make up for that in Destiny III by having
the two of them fight whenever they meet.
Seriously, they fight a LOT.
And I tried to make it clear that they are
fairly evenly matched.
In a fair
fight, Esteban will always win, but Balthazar never fights fairly so in the end
Balthazar is victorious and kills Esteban.
Lord Geoffrey is Esteban’s father who loves to rape, pillage,
and murder and things that because he’s a Duke he can get away with it. In the end he pushes his luck one too
many times and screws up a half-brained plot to discredit the Queen in his ego-maniacal
bid for power and gets booted out of the kingdom. Not able to face the disgrace of banishment (or his debt
collectors) he kills himself. But
not before he harasses Esteban for well over a decade and bits his sons against
each other.
Esteban hates him.
They really don’t have a relationship. They barely have a truce. Lord Geoffrey is also a totally f-ing jerktastic
a**hole. Seriously dude, he’s the
number one worst character I have created and I hate him even more then I hate
Namtaru from the Cursiverse.
Prince Gergio is an interesting character, because he appears
to love his brother and get along well with his sister-in-law, but he is
secretly plotting to overthrow his brother and take the throne for
himself. He and Esteban are not
friends per se, but they know each other and Gergio tries to form a sort of
false friendship with him since he is so close with the King and Queen.
Wow. This was a
REALLY long post. Remind me not to
pick such a complicated character next time.
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