* * * Our stories always want to make villains larger than life. They should be snarling or scarred, hunchbacked or otherwise marred in a way society doesn’t like. It makes them easier to demonize. But life is not nearly so simple, and if you were expecting a cruel Frankish sorcerer to be looming and freakish, with pale watery eyes and parchment-colored skin, I fear I will disappoint.
