Arithon

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Arithon s'Ffalenn, also known as "Master of Shadow" or the Shadow Master, is the prince of Rathain and one of the two half-brothers who came to Athera from Dascen Elur via the Worldsend Gate. He is the son of Avar s'Ffalenn, and the 1,504th Teir s'Ffalenn since the founder of the line, Torbrand s'Ffalenn. After the death of his mother, he was raised and trained by the mages of Rauven. Five years before the beginning of the story, he was called by Avar s'Ffalenn to become an heir to Karthan. He left Rauven two years later.

He has the gift of controlling elemental shadow, which enables him to cast shadows and darkness, shape illusion, and in extreme cases, cause the temperature within the area of influence to plummet.

He carries the gifts of two royal lines: from his father, compassion, and from his s'Ahelas mother, foresight.

Contents 1 History 2 Character 3 Role in the Story 3.1 Curse of the Mistwraith 3.2 Ships of Merior 3.3 Warhost of Vastmark 4 Facts and Trivia 5 References

[edit] History

Spoiler warning: Contains plot elements from Curse of the Mistwraith.

When Arithon shares confidence with Asandir at Caith-al-Caen, he reveals the following:

. . . a lonely boy, raised in the company of elderly mages who had all loved him at a distance. He had grown without a mother's affection, but hereditary compassion had turned him from resentment. He readily forgave what he did not understand, and defined his joy through his competence. Praise for his achievements kept him from discovering the depts of his isolation, the cost of that misapprehension still yet to be paid.1

[edit] Character

TBD: This section is a placeholder. May want to mention facts from the Koriani character scan, CotM 462

[edit] Role in the Story

Spoiler warning: Contains plot elements from multiple books of the series.

[edit] Curse of the Mistwraith

• Arithon is first introduced after the sea battle on Dascen Elur, when the sailors of Amroth pull him unconscious out of the water.
• After several failed escape attempts, he is drugged and delivered to Lysaer at South Isle. Arithon tries to provoke his own death but fails, and is ordered drugged for the journey to Amroth.
• Following recuperation from drug addiction, Arithon tries to provoke his death yet again before the King of Amroth but is saved by a sending of Lady Talera.
• Arithon and Lysaer are banished through the Worldsend gate. The half-brothers then cross the Red Desert and drink from the Five Centuries Fountain before traveling through the Worldsend gate at Mearth. Afflicted by the Curse of Mearth, he is healed by Asandir.
• With Lysaer, he enters the town of West End after a rendez-vous with Dakar runs late. After turning the heads of many townsfolk, he leaves with Asandir, Dakar, and Lysaer.
• The party travels to Erdane by way of the Tornir Peaks where they meet Felirin the Scarlet and battle a Khadrim using Arithon's sword, Alithiel. In Erdane they stay with Enithen Tuer, and meet Elaira when she visits.
• Seeking to break Asandir's geas, Arithon enters the Four Ravens, and barely escapes with his life after aid is given by Elaira and Felirin.
• In the Thaldein Mountains, Arithon baits Grithen into a ransom situation, forcing Asandir to reveal the royal heritage of the half-brothers. Taken to west outpost, Arithon is asked to perform for the clansmen. He discovers one of Elshian's lyranthes in the storeroom, and Lady Maenalle gives it to him as a gift.
• The party travels to the focus at Isaer, and lane transfer to Althain Tower. Arithon offers his aid with the meth-snakes and spends the next days sleeping to recover. He is still unconscious when the party uses the power focus at Althain Tower to lane transfer to Caith-al-Caen.
• During the trip across Daon Ramon Barrens, Asandir teaches Arithon how to see the ghosts of the Paravians. He is overjoyed at first, but is affected by the whispers at a site where a centaur was murdered.
• When the party reaches Ithamon, Arithon selects Kieling as the tower they will stay in. The half-brothers battle the Mistwraith from Kieling Tower for three weeks and when the Koriani spy upon them behind the cover of Elaira's love, he plots to discharge his powers against the scrying.
• After another confrontation with Asandir, Arithon leaves Kieling to brood in the ruins. When Lysaer arrives and questions him about the haunted surroundings, the two are attacked by the Mistwraith. They are rescued by Asandir. In the aftermath, Arithon observes Asandir's scrying which finds no trace of the Mistwraith.
• Arithon assists with the final battle against the Mistwraith, where its remnants are contained in a warded stone flask inside Kieling Tower. A couple days after the battle, he is with Lysaer in the ruins of Ithamon when Dakar reveals the forced gifts of their family lines.
• After Ithamon, Arithon travels to Etarra for the ceremony to affirm his right of succession. Asandir performs the ceremony, tying Arithon to the High Kingdom of Rathain through the element of earth. Arithon then reviews Etarran records with Sethvir and Asandir, holed up in the Lord Governor Supreme's mansion.
• The next day, he posts several decrees which win him the praise of the lower classes, a laundry list of laws not in accordance with the Royal Charter. After a reading of this charter, he attends a feast where he does his best to evade the barbs and ripostes of the Etarrans.
• Absent from council on the following day, he is discovered by Lysaer in the poor quarter, where he builds ships out of shadows for the amusement of the beggar children.
• On the day of the coronation, Arithon is shaken by Dakar's Etarran Prophecy and goes to the council hall in search of Asandir. Traithe loans him Raven to escort him to Sethvir instead.
• Arithon is following Raven to Sethvir when Lysaer locates him and attacks with a bolt of light, transferring the curse of the Mistwraith into him. He locks Etarra down under the cover of shadows, frees the clan children from the poor quarter, and flees out the north gate across the Plain of Araithe.
• After three days of travel, he is intercepted by the clan scouts of Deshir and taken to their camp. He swears a guest oath before Lord Steiven before collapsing in his saddle from exhaustion.
• Arithon wakes up the following day surrounded by Steiven's daughters. As the women and children prepare to move the camp to Tal Quorin, he pretends to be frail and overbred in hopes of freeing himself from the responsibilities of the crown.
• On the trail, he makes puzzles for the infants, creates whistles for the boys, and plays games with the girls. When his mage-sight is disturbed by a felled tree, Halliron] catches him offguard and notices that he is not as frail as expected.
• He accepts the oath of fealty from the clans of Deshir. Immediately after the ceremony, he disappears into the forest, intent on fasting for a scrying.
• Using a stolen tin of Sethvir's tienelle, he forecasts the coming battle of Strakewood and discovers that, without his magical aid, the clans will be exterminated. His recovery is interrupted by Jieret, whose banter triggers a vision of Deshir's women dead and raped.
• He returns to camp with Jieret and plays Halliron's lyranthe for Lady Dania. When Halliron returns to chastise him, he leaves to find Steiven.
• He tries to convince Steiven to remove the women and children from the battle plan. After Steiven leaves to take care of Jieret, he collapses from tienelle poisoning. His willed recovery forces the clans to realize that he is not the overbred dandy he pretends to be.
• He swears a blood oath of friendship to Jieret.
• During the Battle of Strakewood, Arithon supports the clansmen by creating mazes of Shadow and sorcery in the valleys by the Tal Quorin. He mazes the townsmen, pressing them through the maze in manageable numbers to be picked off by clan arrows. When Jieret has a Sighted vision of Teynie leading the headhunters to the grotto where the clan women and children are hiding, Arithon is roused from his work through the shared blood oath. He tries to effect a scrying which goes awry when he sees Lysaer in the vision. Only a cut from Alithiel returns him to a proper state of mind. He realizes that they are too far from the grotto to make a difference, but chooses to press on anyhow.
• The small band is ambushed by headhunters near the grotto. Because Jieret is with him, Arithon is forced to twist his magecraft to protect the young heir. He fashions a ward of Unbinding on a crossbow bolt, and then causes attackers to succumb to a sleep spell around a tree. Before he can make a clean escape, he spots Lysaer across the battlefield, triggering the Curse.
• The half-brother's attempts to destroy each other is interrupted by a blood-bonded Jieret. Snapped back to sanity, Arithon spins Shadow to protect Jieret but realizes that Lysaer is doomed to repeat his actions in the future. Arithon keeps the forest blanketed in Shadow until the clans of Deshir can make their escape, and finally loses consciousness.
• When Arithon awakens after the Battle, he immediately returns to the grotto and the battlefield to redeem the death, similar to the actions of the Princess in the Ballad of Falmuir.
• After discovering that Madreigh is still alive as the result of his sleep snare, he loses consciousness again.
• Before the ceremony to remember the dead clansmen, Arithon consoles Jieret and accepts as a gift the hunting knife they used for their blood oath of friendship. Afterwards, he explains his reasons for leaving to Caolle, and offers his blessing (if not his approval) for Caolle's plan to raise the clansmen of Rathain.
• At this point, Arithon's mage-sight and spell mastery have completely faded. His self-discipline and Shadow mastery are still there, but he can no longer access any of his other gifts. This shift in his Pattern seems to affect Koriani scrying, since the Fifth Lane initiates lose track of him.
• Arithon leaves before the ceremony finishes, but is tracked down later in the day by Halliron, who offers him the position of apprentice Masterbard. Arithon accepts, mentioning his former promise to Felirin the Scarlet.

[edit] Ships of Merior

• Arithon spends the next five years disguised as Medlir travelling across Rathain, performing and apprenticing with Halliron. By late autumn, Third Age 5463, he reaches a backwater tavern in the Skyshiels, along the coast between Highscarp and Jaelot where he encounters Dakar, who agrees to travel with them to Innish.
• When stopped at a posthouse on the way south, he encounters a mercenary captain and discusses the recent deeding of Avenor to Lysaer. Arithon points out the illegality of the charter, but no one takes umbrage.
• Next, Arithon travels south to Jaelot with Halliron and Dakar. After Dakar is arrested, Arithon accompanies Halliron to the Jaelot City Court, and then decides to stay on until midsummer solstice. After the trial, Arithon lets down his disguise as Medlir in the privacy of the inn for the first time. He hints that the powers he lost after the unbinding in Deshir can occasionally be felt while playing his lyranthe.
• The next morning, Arithon sends a request to Sethvir via the earth link. The contents of this request are not revealed until later in the story.
• Three months later, in mid-spring, Arithon (as Medlir) is refining his archery skills against the Jaelot guardsmen. He learns that Dakar has been released from his stint of hard labor and sent to stay with Halliron at their inn.
• In the months leading up to the solstice, Dakar is tasked by Halliron to gather gossip in town which the Masterbard uses to compose a satire of Jaelot's society.
• On solstice, Arithon escorts the Masterbard to the Mayor's palace. After Halliron is struck following the satire, Arithon is forced to perform in exchange for a healer. His bardic intuition inadvertently raises the Paravian mysteries, bringing destruction to the town of Jaelot. In the aftermath, he frees Dakar and the pair escapes from Jaelot with Halliron in a wagon.
• During the flight from Jaelot, Halliron passes the position of Masterbard onto him. After evading several packs of guards from Jaelot, the group is intercepted by Asandir who leads them to a safe cave. Asandir addresses his guilt about the Battle of Strakewood and passes on Sethvir's parcel containing the navigational equipment and the letter from Maenalle.
• Arithon awakens to discover that Asandir has departed, leaving behind his black stud and a gold coin riddled with wards. Dakar states that the wards will keep the black stud protected, well-fed, and wherever she is needed next. The two part ways, but Arithon rediscovers Dakar left in a ditch. Once Dakar strikes out on his own again, Arithon travels towards Shipsport.
• After learning from a soothsayer that Halliron has passed away, Arithon travels to a shring to Ath Creator outside the city. Dakar meets him here, and the pair travel to the Kittiwake Inn in Shipsport.
• Arithon attempts to bargain with Captain Dhirken for her ship's service, in spite of Dakar's sabotaging antics. In the end, he enspells the patrons of the tavern in a Masterbard's sleep spell, and he returns the sleeping Dhirken to her ship.
• When Dhirken awakens, her ship is in the middle of the bay, and Arithon bargains for her service. In exchange for steering her ship to Farsee by using the lost arts of navigation, he bids for her ship's service for an unspecified time to sail to an unspecified destination, with the added contract that his judgement overrules Dhirken's in unfamiliar waters².
• After successfully reaching Farsee, Arithon travels overland with Dakar to Alestron to assist with Fellowship business regarding black powder research. He leaves Leinthal Anithael's dividers and cross-staff as a gift to Dhirken.
• Arithon has Dakar disguise himself as a gem merchant to gain entry to the s'Brydion keep, secretly aware that the spellbinder might attempt to double cross him. It is Dakar's predictable double cross that allows Arithon to enter the armory and take an inventory for the Fellowship. Afterwards, Arithon starts a fire as a diversion, and frees Dakar from s'Brydion custody before escaping (although Dakar is soon recaptured).
• Dakar rejoins Arithon in an oak grove outside of Alestron, and the pair flees to Kalesh.
• The pair travels to Merior where Arithon intends to found a temporary shipyard to build a pleasure sloop and sail to Innish. He recruits ship builders from farther south and befriends two twin children, Fiark and Feylind. When their mother, Jinesse, comes calling, Arithon gives her a formal promise of protection for the twins, backed by the gift of his royal signet.
• Later, Elaira moves into Merior. Arithon is unbalanced by her arrival, but does not ask her to leave.
• When the Talliarthe is complete, Arithon takes Jinesse and the twins on a trip to Innish, easing her fears of the ocean in exchange for companionship when he confronts Halliron's family. He stops in Southshire, to arrange for shipyard supplies and fresh provisions. He arrives in Innish just after winter solstice in Third Age 5645.
• In Innish, Arithon performs Halliron's last bequest for Dame Deartha and Hettia, his abandoned family. Halliron's widow asks that Arithon perform in Innish until the end of the season, and he agrees.
• On the Spring Equinox in Third Age 5645, Dhirken's men locate Arithon in the taverns and return him to the Black Drake. Onboard, he gives an oath of fealty to Jieret, and then meets in the chart room with Dhirken and Jieret to discuss strategy. Arithon requires two years to build ships in Merior and disappear. He provides Jieret with strategic ideas to harass Lysaer's army in Rathain, based on his travels as the Masterbard's apprentice, and hires the Black Drake to run messages and haul timber for his shipyard. He takes the tribute treasure offered by Maenalle and uses it to fund his shipyard by selling it in Innish.
• After returning to Merior with skilled labor to run his shipyard. Once the shipyard's master has learned how to handle affairs, Arithon visits Elaira and asks for training in herbals and remedies. "Hounded by a curse that might demand bloodshed on a field of unbridled violence, straight principle would drive him to seek a surgeon's knowledge to bind wounds and set bones and heal".³ Through his meetings with Elaira, she discovers his preknowledge concerning the events around the Battle of Strakewood.
• As the season passes, Arithon spends less time with Elaira and more managing his shipwrights. Towards the end of the summer, he performs at the wedding of a cobbler's daughter and the youngest son of an abalone cutter.
• After an accident involving the son, Elaira inadvertently forces Arithon to reveal his blinded magesight. The pair heal the fisherman through a combination of Koriani arts and Arithon's Masterbard gifts, resulting in a lingering empathic link between them. Arithon discovers that Elaira's love is real, but leaves with the belief that he might lead her to break her vows of obedience.
• When word comes from Rathain that city garrisons are mustering in Etarra, Arithon requests a meeting with Lord Erlien s'Taleyn in Selkwood. He sails there on the Talliarthe with Dakar around the autumn equinox.
• Arithon is baited into combat to first blood by Erlien s'Taleyn. It quickly becomes apparent that the fight offers no quarter, but Arithon eventually disarms him and learns that the fight had two purposes: a test to see if Arithon would use his powers to save himself, and a response to the s'Brydion call for justice, related to their armory explosion. After satisfying [{Erlien]], he is granted the right to speak with the clan elders. Despite his explanation of the Curse and his attempts to shoo them into hiding, the clans of Shand decide to join the conflict, specializing in cattle raids.
• From Selkwood, Arithon travels north to Werpoint, joining up with Jieret and a crew of common criminals. They overpower the brig, the Savrid, and use it as a staging area for their attack. By casting shadow across the harbor and crafting shadowy ships, Arithon baits Lysaer into burning the Werpoint fleet with his powers of Light. Arithon is lost to the curse and does not regain his sanity until Jieret slices his shoulder with Alithiel. Jieret then forces Arithon to complete his strategy at knifepoint -- the few ships that survive are picked off by clan fire arrows from the Savrid's crosstrees. The group then abandons the Savrid off of Crescent Isle. Afterwards, he resolves not to endanger Jieret to the curse again, and orders him to marry and get an heir.

[edit] Warhost of Vastmark

• While returning from Werpoint, Arithon is flagged down by Asandir at Athir and swears a blood oath to stay alive for the sake of the Mistwraith's latent threat on Marak. This scene is described in further detail later in the story.
• Arithon makes a quick stop in Perdith to arrange for the arming of his brigantines, and then returns to Merior to find that Tharrick has burned his shipyard. He sends his remaining craftsmen back to work, and moves the raving Tharrick to Jinesse's house for recovery. Arithon forgives Tharrick for his sabotage and assists with his recovery, not through magecraft, but through his healing knowledge and bardic skills. Once the Khetienn has launched, Tharrick is shocked to learn that Arithon would let him betray his plans to Duke Bransian in recompense for the wrongs done to him. Tharrick chooses not to because of his fair treatment in Arithon's hands. He hatches a plan to finish the second ship with the help of other shipyard workers, and Arithon and Dakar slip out to sea aboard the Talliarthe.
• After a stop in Innish, Arithon arrives in the Cascain Islands and leaves the Talliarthe, with plans to rejoin his shipyard workers at the sight in a month's time. He and Dakar travel up into the Kelhorn Mountains.
• The pair rescue a shepherd boy, Ghedair, and his sister, Jilieth, from attacking wyverns. In an attempt to save Jilieth, Dakar uses his longevity training to create the spell seals for healing while the mageblind Arithon links them to Jilieth through music. Because their works are in alignment with the Law of the Major Balance, they can do nothing when Jilieth chooses not to unmake the decisions that led to her death. During the healing, Arithon attempts to wrest back control of his magesight, but fails, and Dakar is left with a complete impression of Arithon's consciousness.
• Arithon and Dakar return Ghedair to his home with Dalwyn. Arithon performs the song of Jilieth's passing for the family, and then leaves the tent to distance himself from the grief. He is discovered by Dalwyn, and the pair take comfort in each others' presence.
• Arithon stays with the tribes for a month, bonding over shepherding and learning the logistics of living in the Kelhorn Mountains. After a month, he returns to the coast with Dakar and meets the Khetienn, finished on borrowed money. From spy network dispatches delivered by the ship's captain, he learns that Princess Talith has taken the initiative to rejoin Lysaer on the south coast. Arithon intercepts the Arrow with the Khetienn, and takes Talith and her handmaid hostage. By killing only her man out of Tysan, he preserves Havish's neutrality.
• Talith and her handmaid are taken to Arithon's outpost in the Cascain Islands. He arrives to find that Jinesse and Tharrick have travelled with Erlien's clansmen, intent on reclaiming her children. Arithon tries to convince Jinesse that Fiark would be better off as a trade factor's apprentice in Innish and that Feylind would be able to learn offshore navigation from no one but Arithon. He arranges to let Feylind pilot the Talliarthe for two weeks to prove her skills to Jinesse.
• Arithon then heads inland with Caolle and Dakar By day, he travels between shepherd tribes, convincing them of his plans to stand ground against Lysaer in exchange for permanent future improvements for the tribes. By night, he walks the Vastmark shale along Dier Kenton Vale, listening to the pitch of the stone. After culling Erlien's stolen livestock herds, he and Dakar return to the coast. Enroute to Ostermere, Arithon picks up Talith in Los Mar.
• After arriving in Ostermere, Arithon lets slip his fears about the upcoming ransom exchange to Sethvir. He also performs once for the court of Havish. When the King Eldir learns that the ransom may have been stolen, Arithon admits the need for delaying tactics and calls upon his blood oath as the reason for the theft. He also shows that there is no evidence tying him directly to the theft.

TBD: This section is a placeholder. It is complete up to page 737.

[edit] Facts and Trivia

• Halliron is taller than Dakar, who is taller than Arithon.

[edit] References