How Brandon Tanev invaded a brewing portal fantasy series

Brandon Tanev is one of the more memorable players in the NHL. While his play is solid, his head shots are beyond memorable.

Portal fantasy may be the reason you’re here, so I probably need to spend a minute sharing with you who Brandon Tanev is and what he has to do with what, at the time of this writing, is a WIP – Awakening Across Worlds. 

Anyway, Tanev shares his birthday with none other than Lord Voldemort, which only adds to the lore of the iconic head shot he’d taken with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2021. In the headshot, Tanev looked stunned, or surprised at something. Or, as he attributed it, “Seeing a ghost.” Not sure if I’m quoting or paraphrasing there. 

While he’s a solid NHL winger, those head shots have forever etched him in NHL lore. So, when you see photos of pro athletes wearing stunned expressions, they likely derived that inspiration from Tanev. Still, though, what does this have to do with Awakening Across Worlds?

AI has been a godsend in character generation

So many writers and authors tend to be frightened of AI’s potential, but it never really bothered me. When I first heard of Chat GPT, for example, I immediately wanted to see what the fuss was about and was both impressed and unimpressed. 

Yet, it kept me interested enough to revert to it every now and again. When 2025 rolled around, it advanced enough to where it concocted characters consistent enough to resemble one another in different images, and with different poses. At least that was the case for me. 

That said, it’d become my go-to for image generation, plus story/series outlines, which explains why so many works in the “Expansion Six” series like Awakening Across Worlds are getting attention. So, when it came time to create the two main characters – Drake Ridgeback and Eirwyn Starweaver, I turned to Chatty to see what it’d come up with. 

I was looking for a character that kind of resembled me, especially since Drake’s a hockey writer by trade. But after I generated the character, the surprised look on his face and olive skin tone had me thinking of none other than Brandon Tanev. After showing a couple of gym friends, they also agreed. 

That said, Eirwyn turned out the way I expected – a complete badass of an eighteen-year-old witch whose opponents I’d almost feel bad for. 

Brandon Tanev the new “character model” for Drake Ridgeback?

I was telling my narrator for Cursed Mage that I thought of Jason Isaacs when I created Samuli Kinnunen, who plays a significant role in the book’s second and third acts. Still, when I picture Kinnunen, Isaacs’ voice is about the only thing that runs through my head, and his looks don’t match up. 

Odds are, I won’t be picturing Tanev so much, but will give Drake Ridgeback the same description I gave him when I prompted Chatty. And you can guess that he wasn’t supposed to have a Tanev-like expression. 

Still, as far as character generation goes, I prefer for Chatty to keep their looks more consistent, so, chances are, you’re going to see Drake boast a rather surprised expression every time I bring up Awakening Across Worlds. As for Eirwyn, she’ll keep looking like a force to be reckoned with.