Encyclopedia
Ariel
Description:
Character Profile created, owned, and updated by Amashelle. Ariel is most often described as angelic looking: beautiful and very fair with light blonde curls, but he is also cruel and manipulative. "It's like being near something that smells sweet, and then you realize it's that sweet smell that rotten things sometimes get,†(Dameon, describing Ariel, Obernewtyn, North American Edition, pg 149). Ariel first appeared in Obernewtyn, in which he was a major antagonist. As a favourite of Madam Vega and Alexi, Ariel was in on their plans to find the weaponmachines. Ariel was feared by all the other children and known for having trained a pack of wolf-dogs to tear a person apart on command. After Mme. Vega and Alexi were killed, Ariel fled Obernewtyn and into a blizzard. It was presumed he died in the storm, but in The Farseekers, Domick discovers he survived the blizzard and is now involved with both the council and the herder faction. He is also an agent of Henry Druid. After he convinced the council that Obernewtyn was still standing and was proven wrong, he fell out of the council’s graces. By the end of The Farseekers, it is rumoured he went to Herder Isle to become an acolyte. In Ashling, Ariel starts to show up in Elspeth’s dreams, but his first real appearance since Obernewtyn is when Elspeth sees him standing on the deck of The Calor Lady: the slave ship that took Matthew away. Later, Daffyd reveals that Ariel betrayed the Druid and sold Gilaine and Daffyd’s brother Jow, among others, as slaves. Throughout The Keeping Place, Ariel’s only appearances are in Elspeth’s dreams. He intimates that he is still looking for the weaponmachines and that he knows Elspeth is meant to find them: "There is no us, Elspeth. There is only you. And I do not hate you, I need you." (Ariel, The Keeping Place, p218). In The Stone Key, Ariel plays a more prominent role, though he still does not appear except for in dreams and hearsay. He is revealed to be the creator of the Demon Bands, the link between the Herders and the Slave Trade, and, perhaps most importantly, the one who captured and tortured Rushton and Domick. He is not a herder acolyte but is instead in effective control of the entire Herder Faction through careful manipulation of the One. Ariel has continued his experiments on misfits using a machine from the beforetime and his own creative torture techniques, building on what he learned while working with Mme. Vega and Alexi. Those that survive his torture become Nulls: mindless drones with a talent for futuretelling, much like Selmar back in Obernewtyn. Also in The Stone Key, Ariel infected Domick with a plague and planed to use him as a carrier to wipe out the west coast, but at the last minute, Ariel foresaw that Elspeth was in the area and instead decided to let her watch Domick waste away from the disease. In all his doings, Ariel is careful to avoid being in direct control of anything, preferring to manipulate the people in charge to do his bidding. Not since Obernewtyn has he been seen in a subordinate position. His motives have always been ambiguous. That he wants Elspeth in order to find the weaponmachines is almost beyond doubt, but why is a popular debate (see: Ariel’s Motives in Obernewtyn and Would you like to see Ariel Redeemed?). He leaves booby traps anywhere Elspeth might look to get more information on him, including inside the One’s mind. As of the end of The Stone Key, Elspeth has never probed Ariel’s mind. While Ariel is called H'rayka (one who brings destruction) by the beasts, he is mostly likely not the destroyer but only connected to the destroyer in some way (see: New Destroyer Theory, Spoilers!) Ariel told the Herders that he was at Obernewtyn because he was Alexi’s son, but that has not been confirmed true. There have been no other mentions of Ariel’s past prior to Obernewtyn.
Age:
11 or 12 in Obernewtyn (pg 109 NA Edition). Described as being a few years younger than Elspeth in Ashling (pg 306 NA Edition).
Position:
Ambiguous and fluid. Former spy for Henry Druid and the Council, former adviser to the One, still intimately connected to Salamander" >~Link~ and the Slave Trade.
Talents:
Like Elspeth, Ariel has an array of Talents. His strongest seems to be a twisted form of empathy that was described by Domick as being worse than coercion (pg 182 TKP North American Edition).
He may have strong futuretelling ability, since he is adept at travelling the dreamtrails (unconfirmed, but almost certain).
He is a weak coercer, possibly has some beastspeaking ability that helped him train the wolf-dogs (unconfirmed), but has not demonstrated any talent for farseeking.
Notes:
The name 'Ariel' is of Hebrew origin and means 'Lion of God'.
In Shakespeare's The Tempest, Ariel is an airy spirit who is under Prospero, the Duke of Milan's thumb because he saved the sprite from the witch Sycorax, who imprisoned Ariel in a tree. He's like a darker sort like 'Puck' out of A Midsummer Nights' Dream.
Details:
Info Saturday 20 March 2010 - 13:06:21 by Min
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