Ireth
Myth Weaver
So I'm working on a fanfic at the moment and having trouble with a minor character. The story is of the modern-Earth-girl-falls-into-Middle-earth type, and the plot focuses on said girl arriving early in the First Age of Arda and being the first human the plot-relevant elves have ever heard of, much less met. The problem character is an elf named Ervellas, who is suspicious of the MC and her intentions from the start, believing her to be a spy for the Enemy and/or some improved less hideous version of an orc.
Ervellas is far from the only elf to treat the MC poorly (and on the flipside, just as many elves are perfectly kind and ready to help her), but he is the worst of the lot. My trouble lies in fleshing him out -- I don't want to set him up as the ultimate villain of the story, and I'm not sure about giving him a Heel-Face Turn yet. But he needs to be more than "that jerk who hates the MC beyond all reason". The story is largely told from the MC's POV, but there are several sections that show what the elves do/say/think when the MC is asleep or elsewhere. Ervellas is also not intended to be a large part of the story, falling out of relevance after the MC and a few of the friendly elves embark on a journey while Ervellas remains behind; he may or may not return at the end, depending how the plot turns out. How do I show that while he's mistrustful of one character because she's different, doesn't mean he's completely an awful person?
Ervellas is far from the only elf to treat the MC poorly (and on the flipside, just as many elves are perfectly kind and ready to help her), but he is the worst of the lot. My trouble lies in fleshing him out -- I don't want to set him up as the ultimate villain of the story, and I'm not sure about giving him a Heel-Face Turn yet. But he needs to be more than "that jerk who hates the MC beyond all reason". The story is largely told from the MC's POV, but there are several sections that show what the elves do/say/think when the MC is asleep or elsewhere. Ervellas is also not intended to be a large part of the story, falling out of relevance after the MC and a few of the friendly elves embark on a journey while Ervellas remains behind; he may or may not return at the end, depending how the plot turns out. How do I show that while he's mistrustful of one character because she's different, doesn't mean he's completely an awful person?