The Rise and Fall of Argus Skadelig

by Berseman

The world had scarcely known a man as cruel or as evil as Argus Skadelig. Renowned for his cruelty, violence and tyranny, he sowed discourse and destruction in his goal of securing The Southern Isle's future. After his actions catch up to him and he is betrayed by those he considered allies, he is forced to face a foe he cannot best in combat, or intimidate. Himself.

1. Introduction

Hello, and thank you for taking the time out of your day to have a look at my story. Before you start reading it, I'd like a moment of your time to explain a few things. This isn't necessary reading, and if you would rather jump straight into things that's totally fine, however I humbly ask that you stick around for a moment.

The story of Argus Skadelig came into my head almost a decade ago, when I first saw the movie. I had just started High school at the time, and I had heard about Frozen. Who hadn't? I dismissed it, being an edgy teenager, but when I eventually got around to watching it, I was blown away by the quality of the animation, acting, music, and plot. It was unlike anything I had seen at the time, and I immediately wanted to immerse myself in this world and continue experiencing it.

So, naturally, I got the idea to write a story about it. I can't speak for everyone, but if you're reading this, you probably understand exactly what I mean, and you have probably done this yourself at some point. The original draft of this story was an incredibly edgy, absolutely miserable self insert. It was garbage, basically. At the time I thought it was a masterpiece, naturally, and kept working on it for a few months, on a family member's old HP laptop. I hope they didn't check their documents too thoroughly.

Because I exclusively write for myself, I wrote a few pages and then forgot about it. The next year, I thought of the story again and decided to re-do it. It was still monumentally awful, but the first basic idea of the version you are (hopefully) about to read was born, all the way back in 2014. The story of Argus Skadelig. This idea has marinated in my head since then, going through various forms and iterations until I recently, at the time of writing this little introduction, finally felt like I could truly work on it.

So, why am I wasting your time with this? Because I feel as if I should equip you with some pieces of information about this story before going in.

First, and perhaps most importantly, I am not a professional writer. This is going to be my first published work, I have been writing since I was 9, but everything I wrote before has just been for my own viewing. This lack of experience means that I am absolutely going to make mistakes, as I don't have constructive criticism or experience to draw from. This is why I request that you post reviews, if you read. I'd rather hear about everything that is bad than whatever is good, that is the only way I'd get better. Of course I'd love to hear if my story has affected you, or been enjoyable, but I am really trying to harp on the fact that I need criticism, I need people like you, who have been reading for a while, to show me where I can improve and make my story better.

I can't guarantee that I will implement everything that is brought up in reviews, but I can guarantee that I will read every single one I get, or at least as many as humanly possible.

Secondly, please take into account that this story follows its own canon. The only piece of Frozen media that it draws from is the first film. That means Frozen 2, Frozen 3 whenever that inevitably happens, and any other future or side materials will not be considered in the writing of this story. This means that there will assuredly be bits of world building or lore that will contradict things that have been established outside of the first film. I understand if this is something that bothers or irritates you, but this was a deliberate choice I made incredibly early on in the conceptualisation stages. If you write a review and complain that I have missed or changed something from anything outside of the first film, I'll need to refer you to this part of the intro. If I make a mistake with something that was established in the first film, do notify me of that, however. Consider the first film gospel.

The story of Argus Skadelig plans to be a very long one, to say the least. I have all of "Part 1" planned out, so I should be able to comfortably finish it within 2023, I have most of Part 2 defined, but it's a little more hazy, and Part 3 is the least finished of them all. I bring this up to say that if you enjoy this story, which I hope you do, there will be more coming. I request your patience as I get through it. If you read this far, thank you for your time, and I shall have the Prologue up soon. I will edit this as time goes on, to reflect what stage the writing is in. Enjoy.