Why Asura?

When I first started writing the Inked series, it was going to be about demons and angels, but as I started researching demons I stumbled across the name Asura.  It was a beautiful name that had a delicate flow to it that I loved.  So I dug deeper.

Asura are sometimes considered demons in modern Hinduism, which is why they came up in my search.  But, as I continued to dig, I discovered the term 'demon' wasn't quite right for this race.  Asura are, to the best of my ability to determine, divine beings that have great weaknesses in will.  They’re drawn to excess and power, which tends to lead to corruption and evil.  But corruption and evil aren't certainties.  Asura have free will, and some have been known for their piousness.  And that’s what I loved about them.

To have a good nature and do good is commendable, but nothing noteworthy.  You are living within your nature.  But to have a nature that draws you to the darker things in life, and yet still do good—that’s remarkable and something worth note. 

So, in my stories of the Asura, that’s what I focus on, the constant struggle over the darkness that pulls at them and their desire to rise above their nature.  As it turns out, I’m not writing about demons.  I'm writing about overcoming them.