Sunday, November 25, 2018

Introducing...The Characters that Fill My Brain, Part 4: King Lehye'ahl

Ah, now, here we go...after much procrastinating, here is the fourth part of my "character introduction" blog series! Today I shall introduce you to a man--well, elf-man--by the name of Lehye'ahl (pronounced lee-HI-all). Oh, forgive me, it's KING Lehye'ahl. And don't you forget it. But anyway, let us begin! 


Age: 

Hahahaha, very old. He has been around for literally over a hundred years--his father (who I will talk about in the next post) was the elf who was the first real king on their new continent. But enough history lessons. Suffice it to say that Lehye'ahl is very old during the trilogy, although in the prequels that focus on him and his father, he was much younger, even shown as a child. 

Appearance/"Casting": 

Okay, so, quite a while ago, my cousin and I were talking about writing and she said, "Hey, you know that guy in War Horse who dies? Captain Nichols? He looks like the elf-king in your book." At that point, I stared at her in amazement, for she was right! I had no idea who the guy was at that point, but he absolutely looked like Lehye'ahl. So, now I actually know who he is...as you can probably tell from my collages, the *real* person who I think looks most like Lehye'ahl is the actor Tom Hiddleston. (*disclaimer #1*: This is not because, as my brothers might have teased back then, I think he's "hot"...come on, I'm ENGAGED for goodness' sake! It's literally because of that time my cousin pointed it out to me--he looks like Lehye'ahl and might be able to portray him very well. I can appreciate an actor's talents and be shocked that they resemble one of the characters that I made up, before even knowing about them, without being obsessed by them thank you very much *disclaimer #2*: I had not seen any Marvel movies when I realized the uncanny resemblance, and I had written all of Lehye'ahl's story already, so in no ways am I copying Loki--I had all this made up before I even knew Loki existed.)

He certainly hadn’t expected Lehye'ahl to seem so—well, so young. The elf’s silver hair was smooth and long, held back by a silver circlet.  His face held few signs of age, and the several lines and creases upon it seemed to have been carved in stone.  The icy blue eyes were pure and clear, radiating enigmatic intelligence.  Even the man’s posture and expression were intimidating as he sat at his grand desk, fingertips pressed together, elbows leaning on the desk with his posture formidably correct.  He watched them approach without a word, his mouth set in a tight, small frown, though it was hard to tell if he was frowning purposely or not.  Oh, King Lehye’ahl knew very well that he outranked them, and he wasn’t afraid to show it. 

Family:

Lemme just say I have a thing for tragic backstories, okay? This is an important part of Lehye'ahl's character, though. Without what happened with his family years ago, he would not be the person he is in the trilogy. He had a father, mother, brother, wife, and two children, but by the time of the second book in the trilogy, these have all died of mostly tragic causes. (*maniacal laughter*) He has two remaining grandchildren, however, who are good friends with AllynRhondin, and Dehmatthir. Lehye'ahl is very protective of his family, protective to the point of being controlling and demanding. He also blatantly plays favorites with his two grandsons, Esril and Daeor, and likes to make them feel guilty whenever they come short of his idea of perfection. 

“Call him sir,” said Esril.  “Even his grandchildren call him sir.”
            “You haven’t even told us his name yet,” protested Allyn.  
            “His name,” Esril replied, “is Lehye’ahl.  And no, I can’t spell it for you.  But be sure to stick ‘king’ before it if you ever use the actual name.  You know, he actually isn’t such a bad guy usually.”
            “What with being overbearing and all,” said Allyn, raising an eyebrow. 
            “No, really, he can be reasonable when he wants to, he is very smart, and all in all, he’s a good person.  He’s just very critical of outsiders.  A little bit of a racist, I suppose.  
He’s had a rather tragic life in the past, so that explains his grim behavior.”

Friends:  

When he was younger, his wife's brother was Lehye'ahl's good friend. Unfortunately, there was an accident, and after that they sort of stopped talking. His old friend is still alive, but he is confined to his room, which Lehye'ahl doesn't like to think about (sadly, interacting with disabled people makes him uncomfortable), so they never see each other or talk any more. However, his friend's son is Lehye'ahl's office assistant, taking over his father's place. They are not nearly as close as the first two were, though. 

Skills (or Un-Skills): 

Lehye'ahl has a way with words and knows how to use them to his advantage. He is an amazing swordsman, in his own style, and is also good at hand-to-hand combat; he likes to punch things (and people, when he gets the excuse to). He is good at controlling people, but he is a decent king and, for the most part, is good to his people and his country. He was an avid reader in his youth and is very intelligent as well. He can't cook to save his life, however, and as far as practical manual labor goes, he is somewhat inexperienced.

The dwarf-king’s mouth twitched.  
“Those who do not admit to tricking their enemies are the ones who most often do,” he said.
          “Those who do admit to tricking their enemies have no qualms about it and will certainly do it again without hesitation,” said Lehye’ahl. 
            
Fears:

Not much. He isn't really "scared" of anything. (Or if he is, he doesn't let anyone, ANYONE, know that he is.) I guess I could include his weaknesses here, instead of "fears." He can be very cruel and mean at times, but underneath it all he is very lonely and he misses his family; all the people that he has lost. He doesn't allow anyone under that tough skin, which could be a part of his grieving process or whatever, but is certainly not good for his emotional/mental state. He HATES dwarves, absolutely hates them, after a really unfortunate misunderstanding between him and a previous king of the dwarves back when he was younger. That led to him cursing their entire race, and...well, suffice it to say that ever since they caused him such pain and personal trouble, he has grown to despise anyone who thinks differently than him and has the courage to speak up about it. 

“I hate you.  I hate you and all your offspring, and every dwarf who has sat here listening to you and letting me die.  I will never come to terms with you, and so help me I will wipe your race from the land forever."

Loves (or Likes, I suppose): 

To have his own way. Obedience. Having the last word in an argument. Perfect new quill pens and unwrinkled paper. His family, in his own weird and awful way. Himself and his ego.

Five words/phrases that describe this character's personality 
(to prevent me from rambling any more):

Stern. Controlling. Over-protective. Refined. Selfish. 

Songs that remind me of this character 
(for any reason, this does not mean that I necessarily support or agree with the musical group, and nor does it mean that the song is EXACTLY like my character, it may have several lines that are "right" or could just have the right "feel."): 





(I apologize cause this is a really odd and quirky video, but the song fits)

And Lastly...a collage!




2 comments:

  1. Ah, Lehye'ahl sounds so cool!!! I love the songs you picked for him. :-D

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    Replies
    1. He is pretty cool! Writing him is lots of fun. Great! I'm glad you liked them! :)

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