Aelarion

Aelarion is the rival of Natali and Baudouin: the polished heir of an ancient elven house, the King’s favoured candidate for his daughter’s hand and the student who expects the world, and the Heart Tree, to agree with him. From his first appearance in Part 2, when he greets Natali as his “future bride” in front of the whole Academy, he behaves as if her future already belongs to him. The story of Parts 2–21 is, for him, the slow and painful discovery that it does not.

Appearance

Aelarion’s beauty is cold and flawless, almost like marble. He has long, straight platinum-blond hair, a clean-shaven face and pale grey eyes that rarely warm. A thin, subtle silver cuff sits on the tip of one of his long pointed ears. He dresses in icy-blue silk with fine silver embroidery and polished silver pauldrons, and carries a sword at his left hip. On his finger he wears the silver signet ring of his house, which becomes one of the most important objects of his story: from Part 14 on, it is cracked straight across the family crest.

Personality

At court and among the nobility Aelarion is charming, confident and impeccably mannered. With commoners he is openly contemptuous. He laughs at a student on his knees, sends him “to the stables”, and later calls him “a stable boy” even though Baudouin is a forester’s son: for Aelarion, anyone without a noble name belongs in the same place.

His confidence is real, but so is the wound beneath it. He is used to winning, and when he loses, whether in the duelling circle or in Natali’s eyes, he does not shout. He goes quiet, clenches his fist and watches from the shadows. In Part 3 he looks at Natali’s overwhelming power with hungry, calculating interest rather than admiration, which says a great deal about how he sees her. His most frightening moments are his softest: in Part 14 he makes his vow to his own reflection in a gentle, almost tender voice.

Aelarion also understands power and law. He knows that in Sylvael the Heart Tree chooses every pair, and that not even the King can overrule it. Much of his story is an attempt to get around that one rule: by asking for the princess’s hand before the ritual, by gaining the King’s open support and by trying to keep his rival away from the Tree.

Story so far

In Part 2 Aelarion kisses Natali’s hand at the Academy gates and calls her his future bride, only for Lyrelle to ask whether the Tree told him that. In Part 3 his flower lifts a little under his magic, and he looks very pleased with himself until Natali’s power makes the whole hall bloom. In Part 4 he humiliates Baudouin in the courtyard and is rebuked by Natali in front of everyone.

Part 5 is his first defeat. He chooses Baudouin as his opponent in a practice duel, mocks what “the stables” taught him, and loses his sword to the commoner. Pale with anger, he promises that it is not over, then watches from the shadow of an arch as Natali heals his rival. In Part 6 he silently unclenches his fist and walks away. In Part 11 he follows Natali’s gaze across the library straight to Baudouin, and his jaw tightens.

In Part 12 he decides not to wait for the Tree. Before the whole court he kneels and asks the King for Natali’s hand. The King is delighted but reminds him that the Tree decides, and Aelarion answers with complete confidence that the Tree will agree. In Part 13 he watches from behind the trees as Natali and Baudouin intertwine their fingers by the Glowing Lake.

Part 14 is his episode. From a gallery he watches the couple laugh together, then goes alone to the empty throne hall and, before a mirrored silver shield, vows that Natali will be his at any cost. He crushes his signet ring until it cracks. In Part 15 he overhears Master Eldrin tell Baudouin that the Tree may listen to his heart. In Part 17 he waits in a dark archway while the King tries to bend Eldrin, and receives a new task: make sure the boy does not come.

In Part 18 he blocks Baudouin’s way in a torchlit corridor with advice “from the King” and a cruel reminder that a commoner has nothing to give. Baudouin walks past him. At the ritual in Part 20 Aelarion smiles with total certainty, and in Part 21 a glowing root reaches his boots, passes him by and runs on to Baudouin. His smile freezes.

Relationships

• Natali is the princess he has claimed as his bride since the first day of the Academy. She has never returned his interest and has openly taken Baudouin’s side.
• Baudouin is the commoner who beat him with a sword, won Natali’s heart and was finally chosen by the Tree. Aelarion’s contempt for him has turned into something much darker.
• The Elf King welcomes his proposal and, in secret, makes him an ally against Baudouin.
• Master Eldrin is his teacher, whose faith in the Tree and in Baudouin threatens everything Aelarion wants.
• Lyrelle is the one student who mocks him openly and gets away with it.

See how he fits into the whole cast in the characters guide.