Captivating Medieval Arts: Dive into Alia Hewitt's Fictional World

Step into a captivating medieval world of Betrayers Game and immerse yourself in the enchanting stories crafted by Alia Hewitt.

When I first set out to write Betrayers Game, I wasn’t just drawn to the medieval era for its grand castles and noble titles. The more I researched, the more I found myself fascinated by the very things that made the period so rich— fickle allyships where the most charismatic could be on a new side every year, the establishment of traditions that would become the elaborate pageantry of the High Middle Ages, and the unchecked words in court could condemn an Archbishop to death.

The story of Robin Hood has always been one of outlaws and justice, but I wanted to explore the fine line between being adversarial and rebellious. Robin Peveril goes by a number of names throughout the novel. He is his own man; not yet that a merry archer in the woods. A nobleman standing in the shadows of lost brothers; torn between self-doubt, ambition, and his own desire for legacy and power.

The Peverils were an actual historical family on the decline in the 1100s. They ruled a fiefdom called the Honor of Peveril. I found very little actual information about many of them other than their names, so I found them to be the perfect window from which to approach my story. It's not the same for Prince John, of course. History remembers a lot about John Lackland; Henry's favorite baby boy and later the king who signed the Magna Carta. I could make a whole post about why he peeked my interest… so I will another time.

But beyond politics, there’s also the culture of the time— its poetry, its sharp-edged wit, and romantic ideals often forgotten in the restrictive eras that followed. This is the court that codified the myths of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, after all. I also learned about the early medieval penchant for Roman style through researching fashion, more on that to come too. It was a revival of sorts.

And it’s why, despite the centuries that separate us, I felt drawn to this era in medieval history. Why they still feel so compelling—because at their heart, they are about people fighting for their place in a world that is as treacherous as it is intoxicating.

-ADH