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Elspeth (princess)

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This article is for the Herald-Mage. For other uses, see Elspeth (disambiguation).

Elspeth is the daughter of Queen Selenay of Valdemar and Prince Karathanelan of Rethwellan.

Early Life[]

Her father died shortly after her birth when he attempted to murder Queen Selenay and gain the throne for himself. After her father's death, a woman claiming to be his old nurse maid showed up from Rethwellan to care for the young princess. Under Hulda's influence, Elspeth grew into a spoiled, arrogant, and self-righteous Brat. The Heralds and her mother despaired of her ever being Chosen, so Queen's Own Talamir planned to have Elspeth fostered with a minor noble family to see if they could change her. However, before anything was finalized, he was poisoned.

The Taming of the Brat[]

The new Queen's Own, Talia, took on the task of taming the Brat. When she couldn't get close to Elspeth, she enlisted the aid of her friend and fellow trainee Skif to spy on the royal nursery. He soon discovered that Hulda was drugging the chief nurse, Melidy, and effectively isolating Elspeth from all others, all the while being paid by some mysterious lord. When Talia and Skif took their revelations to Herald Jadus, Hulda fled Valdemar before she could be caught and questioned. Talia then befriended Elspeth to undo all of the manipulation that Hulda had done, and taught her how to be the kind of person that could be Chosen. Talia taught her to respect her servants and her possessions, and to understand the responsibility and meaning of friendship. In addition, Talia cured Elspeth's fear of Companions which Hulda had instilled into her with horrifying stories. With Talia now guiding her, Elspeth was soon well-behaved enough to attend classes and Council meetings with Talia. Then, one night while on Companion watch, after helping Talia deliver a Companion foal, Elspeth was the Brat no more.

Chosen[]

Elspeth was Chosen when she was thirteen-and-a-half by the Grove-Born Companion Gwena, just before Talia left on her internship.

Trainee[]

While Talia was gone, a marriage proposal was offered by Hardorn for Elspeth to wed Prince Ancar. When Talia returned, she and Selenay overruled the council with the decision to table the motion until Elspeth was older. Elspeth told Talia that she had been corresponding with her Uncle, King Faramentha of Rethwellan. She had also learned that the real nurse Hulda vanished on her way to Valdemar, and the woman who claimed the name and the nurse job was a fraud.

While traveling with her mother and the court to Hardorn for a royal visit, the Valdemarans discovered that Talia had been taken prisoner in Hardorn. Distraught over Talia's suffering, Elspeth used her gift of FarSight in conjunction with Herald Dirk's Fetching Gift and the strength of the Companions to retrieve Talia from the dungeons. After Talia delivered her news of Ancar's betrayal, Selenay needed to stay with the army, so she made Elspeth temporary regent over everyday affairs in Valdemar. Elspeth caught the traitor and executed him, and cleaned out Selenay's Council as well.

During the second war with Ancar, Elspeth was the liason between Selenay and the mercenary captain Kerowyn. Elspeth's fluent use of Rethwellan, learned from her uncle, impressed Kerowyn, who quickly learned that Elspeth was not a royal brat.

The First (new) Herald-Mage[]

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Elspeth - Winds Japanese version

After Ancar sends an assassin to attack Elspeth with the aid of magic, she determines that Valdemar needs to find mages who are powerful enough to fight Ancar. Backed by Skif, Kerowyn, and the Companions, she forces the Council to let her go, arguing that only she would know exactly what to agree to with other mages and that she's not indispensable because her twin siblings are perfectly good heirs. Before she leaves, Kerowyn gives her the sword Need.

Elspeth's first stop is Bolthaven, where mages from Kerowyn's former mercenary troop have set up a school. Although the mage Quenten has no one he can send to help, he does inform Skif and Elspeth that she has a very powerful Mage-Gift. He warns her that she must get training and that she will be very attractive to any blood-mage that encounters her.

When Elspeth realizes that she is being "guided" by Gwena and the Companions, she revolts and decides to learn magic a different way. They head to Kata'shin'a'in to find Kerowyn's Shin'a'in cousins, Clan Tale'sedrin (the Stooping Hawk Clan). While there, the sword Need wakes up and begins communicating with Elspeth through Mindspeech. The Tale'sedrin are uncooperative, but a Leshya'e Kal'enedral gives Elspeth a token and a map directing her across the Dhorisha Plains to the Tayledras Clan K'Sheyna. On the way, they are attacked by creatures that are attracted to magic. In an attempt to destroy them, Elspeth allows Need to guide her in the use of magic. This draws the attention of Darkwind k'Sheyna and his gryphon friends Treyvan and Hydona.

Elspeth and Skif stay in k'Sheyna over the winter. Elspeth's previous training in Mind Magic has already given her the basic discipline to learn to use her Mage-Gift, and sge progresses quickly. She helps fight off the blood Adept, Mornelithe Falconsbane. Falconsbane returns, and wants to break Elspeth and use her Gift for his own evil purposes, but she helps defeat him. She falls in love with Darkwind. In addition, Elspeth is shocked to discover from the Healing Adept Firesong k'Treva that they are both descended from the famous last Herald-Mage Vanyel. As Elspeth, Skif, Darkwind, and Firesong, as well as their Companions and bondbirds, step through a Gate to go to Firesong's home vale, k'Treva, they are whisked away to the Forest of Sorrows in Valdemar. There they meet the spirits of Herald-Mage Vanyel, his Companion Yfandes, and his lifebonded the Bard Stefen. Vanyel explains to Elspeth why she is to be the first Herald-Mage since his time: he has to bring down the mage protections he put in place before too much damage is done. In addition he lets slip the secret that Gwena is a Grove-born Companion. He sends them through another Gate to Ashkevron Manor.

After Elspeth arrives back in Haven, she gives up her position as heir to the throne in favor of her younger siblings Lyra and Kris. She begins to find the old magical rooms in the Palace and recruits mages from allied kingdoms while training any Heralds with Mage-Gift. It is then discovered that Mornelithe Falconsbane has survived the final battle and is now in Hardorn as one of Ancar's mages. Elspeth, Skif, Darkwind, Firesong, and Nyara travel to Hardorn disguised as performers in a trade caravan. When they reach the capital city, Need informs them that Falconsbane shares his body with a young man named An'desha, whom they agree to save. In the end, Falconsbane, Ancar, and Hulda are all killed, and the group of heroes Gate back to Haven before the capital can be destroyed by mage storms. After their return, Elspeth took up a new title: 'Herald to the Outlanders'.

Elspeth's next challenge is to deal with dual problems: the Mage Storms and the Eastern Empire. She and Darkwind become the envoys to Grand Duke Tremane of the Eastern Empire in Hardorn. They are instrumental in making him the new king of Hardorn and finding a way to shield magical nodes from the final wave of the mage storms, thereby saving Valdemar, Hardorn, and their allies from total destruction.

Companion[]

Gwena, a Grove-Born Companion

Gifts[]

Elspeth's Gifts include FarSight and the Gift of true magic (Mage-Gift).

Internship[]

Like her mother before her, Elspeth served in Haven's law courts.

Family[]

Chronology[]

Assigning dates to events in "modern-day" Valdemar ends up pivoting on just one person whose date of birth we know: Elspeth.

1376 Summer. Her grandfather King Sendar dies and her mother Selenay is crowned. (Valdemar Official Timeline in the books.)
1377 Midsummer. After a year of mourning, Prince Karathanelan courts Selenay and they marry within a month. Soon after, Selenay gets pregnant. (Exile's Valor)
1378 Spring. Elspeth is two months old when her father dies while attempting to assassinate her mother. (Exile's Valor)
1386 Midsummer. Elspeth is eight years old. Thirteen-year-old Talia arrives. (She thinks Elspeth "looks" about seven years old.
(Arrows of the Queen) However, in Arrow's Flight and Arrow's Fall they are five years apart, and Talia was 13 when they met, so Elspeth is actually eight. This pinpoints the year of Talia's arrival as 1386.)
1387 Spring. Talia disciplines Elspeth and teaches her to be a respectful and likeable person.
1391 Summer/Fall. Elspeth is explicitly thirteen years old when she is Chosen by Gwena.
1393 Spring. Elspeth is fifteen when Talia returns from her eighteen-month internship and goes to Hardorn. (Arrow's Fall.)
1395 Spring. Elspeth is seventeen years old. This is probably the year Kerowyn arrives for the War with Hardorn. However, Elspeth is already in Whites and doing her internship at the City Courts.
1404 AF Spring. Elspeth leaves Valdemar to recruit mages and mage trainers to fight Hardorn now that the magic barrier is starting to weaken.
- Elspeth and Skif arrive in Bolthaven; former Skybolts mage Quenten directs them to Kerowyn's uncle, Mage-Adept Jendar, for training.
- Gwena's smug humming reveals that the Companions conspired for her to go to Jendar. Elspeth revolts, going to Kata'shin'a'in to find Kerowyn's clan, the Tale'sedrin.
- a Leshy'a Kal'enedral gives Elspeth a token and a map of the Dhorisha Plains, with a marked destination on the western rim.

High Summer. Elspeth and Skif cross the Plains.
Late summer/early Fall. Elspeth meets Darkwind and the gryphons. She helps them fight off Falconsbane.
- Elspeth and Skif are sworn into Clan k'Sheyna as Wingsister and Wingbrother. Darkwind begins training Elspeth, but they soon clash. Hydona and Treven take over as her instructors.
Winter. Elspeth patrols k'Sheyna's borders and learns to fight various monsters and evil humans. Mage-Adept Firesong arrives and takes over training Darkwind and Elspeth. The team kills Falconsbane. The theft of k'Sheyna's Heartstone magic causes a massive headache to all Heralds (and some Companions as well).
1405 AF Spring. The spirit of Vanyel kidnaps the party to warn them of coming changes. Elspeth renounces her claim to the throne in favor of her younger half-siblings, so she can devote herself to being Valdemar's first Herald-Mage in centuries. When spies report that Falconsbane is somehow with Ancar, they form a strike team to assassinate him. Elspeth manages to kill Hulda, but her custom dagger strikes a man from the Eastern Empire just as he escapes through a gate.

(STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. See Reign of Selenay (1396 - ))

Music[]

In the series[]

Elspeth appears in the following works:


See also[]

Talk: Elspeth (princess) - examines the question of Elspeth's age in the Mage Winds series

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