Exclusive Interview
Sue Lynn Tan Returns to World of Celestial Kingdom in ‘Immortal’: Inside Her Forbidden Love Romance
Sue Lynn Tan isn’t one for slow starts. Just see the opening scene of Immortal, the standalone romantic fantasy in the same universe of the Celestial Kingdom duology that catapulted her into romantasy success. Within the first 25 pages, our protagonist Liyen watches her grandfather die at the hand of the immortal queen, accepts a stolen magical gift, and escapes the kingdom only to have to call on the seemingly apathetic God of War (who is also sort of hot, but we’ll get there) and has a “who hurt you” scene.
From there, Liyen is sent on a dangerous journey that takes her to the skies of the immortal and to the lands of the Wuxan enemy in hopes of carving out a new future for her people. And the God of War is on her trail and eventually by her side for every step of the way. Swooon spoke with Tan about coming back to the Celestial Kingdom world, crafting a tale of power versus perception, and crafting a forbidden love romance with an all-powerful god.
Why return to this universe? What new aspects or perspectives did you want to explore that you hadn’t explored in earlier installments?
Sue Lynn Tan: I really love the world that was built up in the Celestial Kingdom duology, and I just felt that there were a lot of places that were also unexplored in the previous one. For myself, I felt the character stories kind of ended where they should at the end of Heart of the Sun Warrior. And I was very excited to explore new characters and new stories, and I felt that it would work well in the same world. But I also expanded the world, so we would see different elements. I brought in a larger part of the mortal realm, so we would see different perspectives on how they would view the immortals as well. I found that very inspiring and very exciting. So it’s working with things that feel a little familiar, and yet I felt they were very new as well. I wanted this to be a standalone. There are no spoilers here. You can read in either order. You can read the books in either order. That was an interesting challenge in a way, because when I started writing it, I wasn’t quite sure in the beginning. Would this be a duology again? Would this be a standalone? As the story progressed, I felt very strongly that this would be a standalone.
What made you want to write about a relationship between an immortal and mortal? What about that relationship called out to you?
Tan: The relationship is actually one of my favorite and most challenging parts of the whole story for me. With one of the main characters having the title of the God of War, even though he may not have the necessary personality that he is supposed to have [for the role]. I imagined a relationship that is very tumultuous, chaotic, and conflicted. I wanted to build this romance and this relationship from a place of hate, in a place of great distrust, of great resentment, and try to see how two people who you cannot imagine are more different, coming together slowly in a way that felt natural and organic. On the surface, he might be an immortal and she’s mortal, but what was very important to me as well was that they were seen as equals in their own eyes and to each other. It may not be from the surface, but in terms of the things that really mattered, I think he always saw her as equal, and she likewise, always saw herself as his equal. They were both strong, they were both resilient. I really loved how we could put these two characters together, and you’re not sure who’s going to come out on top.
View this post on Instagram
What trope would you say best describes Liyen and Zhangwei’s relationship?
Tan: This is a tricky one. There are many layers to it. There is definitely an enemies to lovers context to it, but that is more right in the beginning. But there is also a forbidden love scenario. And it’s not necessarily someone from above saying you can’t marry this person or you can’t like this person. It’s themselves. They know this person is, on the surface, not good for them, and they know that they shouldn’t be attracted to this person, so they’re trying to hold themselves back from it, but…things happen.
Power plays an important role for Liyen, who is new to the throne and struggling to be taken seriously; and the God of War who has been seen as a domineering figure for a long time, but hiding a secret. I’m curious about that dynamic, being seen as powerful versus how powerful they each genuinely feel.
Tan: A lot of this book is what you see on the surface isn’t really how it appears. That there’s so much more to it. And it’s so true that for the God of War, when everyone looks at this figure you imagine him as being so strong. You imagine that he is probably the most powerful person. He’s got no troubles. And then when you look a little behind that, then you see all the different things that he has to do and his vulnerabilities as well. Liyen is completely in the same position, but with a different perspective on it. I felt it actually makes them stronger, because it is not just having the power that they’re born with, but having to deal with a challenge and still having to project an image for everyone else. I think that that is so much more complex and challenging. What I also really liked about that dynamic was that both had a very strong sense of devotion and loyalty and beauty, and it should pull them apart in a way, and yet, somehow, there is also something that keeps them not wanting to go completely away from each other.
Both Liyen and Zhangwei get the opportunity to see the other in their element. Liyen sees how powerful he is in battle, and Zhangwei sees how much the Tianxian people respect her leadership. What do they learn about each other when they visit each other’s homes?
Tan: That is the way they actually unpeel the layers because you can see different parts of the person that they show to you. I think that actually affects part of the subconscious that this person may not be who they appear on the surface, and also a slight understanding of the responsibilities the other has. Previously it was like, okay, you’re immortal, you’re against me. But when you see how the person interacts and the pressures they deal with, or the confines and constraints that are imposed on them – for example, when the queen comes to visit — then I think there is a greater appreciation of each other and the different facets of the relationship. That was a turning point for me.
When we meet the God of War from Liyen’s perspective, his power as an immortal makes her dislike him. What is the challenge in writing a character who is bestowed with so much power but is also appealing to Liyen and the audience?
Tan: I think it comes about in the small things. It’s in the conversations that he has. It’s not so much when you look at him in the armor, and when he has to go and kill these creatures that are trying to kill them, and to protect his kingdom and everything. That part is very visible, very obvious. Where it really comes out is the conversations with her. Like making sure she’s okay the first time they fly up to the immortal realm and how he talks to his other soldiers, and attendants, and the respect he has for his queen. It’s seeing how he is in everyday life, which is why it’s important that she goes and she stays with him for a little bit. She sees these different sides of him, and they have the opportunity to actually interact. Of course, there is the part when she sees how he was protecting her, when she did something that she shouldn’t have done. That was also a big turning point in a way too, that he’s not just all about himself, or all about his queen. He has other sides as well.
One of the troubles in Liyen and Zhangwei’s relationship is the power dynamic with wanting someone versus needing something from them. How does that affect their relationship earlier on in the book? How do they eventually move past it?
Tan: That part was actually quite complex in my mind because the needing something was the thing that also created the suspicion and the lack of trust. It was very clear what they both needed from each other, and it conflicted with both their goals and they had to come to a compromise. They were not going to get only what they wanted from each other. It was you needed to get to a place of trust. Whereas, the wanting I think came from a different place, and it came in spite of all the mistrust and suspicion and the need, except they both felt it. There are all these different elements that feed into it, but I think they both actually came from quite different places. The attraction was in spite of everything, that was pulling them together, and the need was just a way for them to actually be forced to work together. It was bringing them together in the physical sense, but it was pushing them away in the emotional sense. I think there’s a line in the book that says that what she wants to do and what she means are going further apart, and she doesn’t know if they’re going to come together again. I think that actually captures the dynamic, especially in the early part of the relationship.
It’s really interesting Liyen’s development as a queen. What did you want to showcase throughout her arc as a leader?
Tan: She’s coming into [queendom] at quite a young age, and because she hasn’t had the level of preparation that ideally she would have had before taking on the role, she had to learn so many things in the beginning. The court politics, where she’s dealing with the infighting within the court, might have clouded things a little bit, but then slowly you see there are all these problems in the kingdom as well. There’s suffering that she wants to help. There are also all these people. And she has always had a deep love for her kingdom. But part of it also is thinking about what is best for your people, not just now, but in the future as well. It was important that she had an open mind, because she starts out having very strong opinions about people, about certain things, and the more she discovers, she finds new facets about them. And not just people, but about different places that she was not sure about, and all these different things that she’s been taught. I felt that it was very important for it to actually impact her perspective and her actions.
What scene do you think established the true essence of Liyen and Zhangwei’s relationship? What was your favorite scene to write?
Tan: A scene that I really quite enjoyed writing is the library scene when they’re both sitting in the library and they’re playing the [strategy] game. I thought that was really quite fun because it was the first time when they pulled back a little bit the curtain of their mind. Even though it’s fairly early, and it was just them seeing each other in a different light from the surface and sitting down and speaking to each other, to me, it was like a challenge with the minds because she’s like, what is he trying to do? Does he have another agenda? Is he trying to get me to say something, to reveal my loyalties or things that I shouldn’t be thinking about? Whereas he, on the other hand, is trying to understand her thoughts and what she thinks. It was just like, oh, okay, this is interesting. What do I do with this? That’s the starting point where she says, maybe he could be of use to her. Maybe there’s something more behind what appears on the surface.
