Arilyn Moonblade

Arilyn is a half-elven assassin from the Forgotten Realms fantasy world.

WARNING: PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!

Appearances: Arilyn has appeared in all of the Songs and Swords series, by Elaine Cunningham. She has the typical elven points on her ears, and the ability to retain a youthful appearance after what would be considered middle age by humans. Her eyes are blue, flecked with gold, and she has more of the human build than the elvish. Story: Arilyn was raised in the elven city of Evereska, but was never really accepted by the community due to her half-elven nature. When she was fifteen years old, her mother was killed by a pair of common street thugs. From that time on, she carried her mother's sword, a moonblade from which she has adopted her surname. For the next decade or so, she studied swordsmanship under the tutelage of one of the teachers for the academy in the city. Afterwards, when she left, she became an assassin for the Harpers, though she herself did not join the organization until later. She was a Harper for a while, but left them after undertaking a rescue mission for Isabeau Thionne, a noblewoman from Tethyr, whom she considered to be not worth rescuing.

Arilyn's moonblade is a elven hereditary sword, which has many different powers. Perhaps the most notable is burning the hands of anybody other than the wielder who tries to hold the sword. It has nine different symbols on the blade, each representing a different power given to it by one of the wielders. The moonstone in the hilt enables each successive wielder to grant a power to the sword over a period of time. The different powers include: quick strike, protection from fire, blue fire to warn of close danger, silent warning of danger, dream warning of danger, projecting illusions to disguise the wielder, a portal between Faerun and Evermeet known as elfgate, and the ability to call forth the shadows of those who previously held the sword, or the wielder's own shadow. Arilyn's mark grants the blade the ability to warn of when the elves in Faerun have need of a hero's sword by glowing green and a dream explanation afterwards. She uses the two-handed style of wielding the sword in honor of her deceased mother.

Relationships: Arilyn's mother was Princess Amnestria of Evermeet, and her father Bran Skorlskun, a human ranger. Amnestria's power that was added to the sword was the elfgate, which was judged extremely dangerous should word of it ever escape, so the moonstone was removed from the hilt and replaced with a topaz, and Bran took the moonstone with him, away from Amnestria, who moved to Evereska under the name Z'beryl. As mentioned, Amnestria was killed by a pair of thugs. Bran continued to wander Faerun until in the novel Elfshadow, he returned to Arilyn in the city of Waterdeep, where the moonstone and the moonblade were reunited. He has maintained sporadic contact with her ever since. She and Danilo Thann are romantically linked, and have appeared together in multiple novels.