- the Eberron novels.
Lady Darkwood was a darkwood dryad from Thelanis.[1][2][3]
Description[]
Lady Darkheart was a beautiful woman of elven features whose skin looked like polished bark as dark as night, and whose hair was made of inky black leaves that cascaded covering her breasts and back. Her wooden eyes glittered with bright dew.[3][2]
Her staff is long and dark, stronger than oak. The top is carved to resemble her head, with her hair winding around the shaft and running down as long tresses. Her face, normally unmoving, changed to reflect her feelings from time to time.[1][2]
Personality[]
Lady Darkheart was a willful woman who enjoyed her power in her layer of Thelanis, but was desperate to have more freedom and independence, which made her impatient and reckless. Years later, as only a shadow of her former self trapped within her staff, she was sorrowful and angry; although she was capable of kindness, she was also unwilling to hear others talk about their own suffering, considering that hers was greater.[3]
History[]
Early Life[]
Lady Darkheart was once one of the greater fey of Deepwood Moon, one of the layers of the Faerie Court. She was the last of the seven Darkwood Daughters, and her power over nature attracted the interest of Torenas the Woodsman, the local archfey: it was her role in his story to be his bride. The dryad wanted to be free and to get away from her betrothed, so she made a dangerous bargain with the Queen of Dusk and Shadow. The archfey of twilight offered her an escape, and Lady Darkheart agreed hoping it would mean she would no longer be bound to her tree; instead, Thelania transported both her and the tree to Aerenal, in Eberron.[3]
She didn't like the colorless Material Plane, and neither did she appreciate when she met Jura d'Cannith, an aristocrat from Khorvaire obsessed with plants, and he decided to marry her; he transplanted her entire tree so that he could take her with him to Sharn, creating a manor around it he called Darkhart Woods, many years before the Day of Mourning. House Cannith disapproved of their union, but Jura kept living the life of a lord and hosted infamous parties; he also made money selling poisons and prohibited substances. In the end, House Cannith used that and miscegenation (due to the marriage to Lady Darkheart) to excoriate Jura, who took the surname "Darkhart" from his wife and his home.[1]
In 995 YK, Lady Darkheart died when her tree was cut, although that last detail wasn't made public. Jura used the stump to make a darkwood throne, and a year later, he was claiming that his dryad wife had ensorcelled him, to excuse his past behavior and be readmitted into his house.[1]
The Dreaming Dark[]
The spirit of Lady Darkheart didn't disappear completely, and following instructions ultimately connected to the Queen of Dusk, Jura used some of the remaining darkwood of his wife's tree to carve a staff to which the remaining essence of the dryad was bound. He then gave it to his niece, Lei, on Dravago 26, 996 YK, telling her to present it to Flamewind; the sphinx, however, informed the artificer that she was meant to keep it. Lei started wielding the staff during her adventures in the City of Towers, and the item saved her life, as Lady Darkheart's song protected her during the fight against Chyrassk the mind flayer.[1]
More than a year later Lei took the darkwood staff with her to a mission in Xen'drik, and used her as her spellcasting focus and weapon.[2] That mission ended up leading her and her team to activate an ancient device that brought them to Night, one of the baronies of Thelanis. The spirit of Lady Darkheart became more reactive sensing her former home, and making her feelings more noticeable through the staff. Those feelings became even more intense when the Huntsman (one of the Brothers of Night) appeared before them, having sensed the presence of the staff, and wanting to take it to his brother, the Woodsman; a battle ensued, and Lei, invaded by Lady Darkheart's rage and strength, defeated the archfey using the staff. That fight made the group realize the spirit of Jura's wife was still present within the wood, and given its connection to the Faerie Court, Xu'sasar (the latest member of the group) told Lei to ask Lady Darkheart for help to traverse that plane; the spirit of the dryad guided them through Hunter's Moon (the Huntsman's domain) until they reached Deepwood Moon. There, Lei fell into a magical river, entering a coma, during which she was able to communicate with Lady Darkheart directly; the fey woman told her her story, and how she had ended up in her current state, and ask her to find a way to free her. After Lei woke up she was faced with a terrible choice, since a fey innkeeper, Ferric, had tricked her friend Daine into giving him his voice, and now he wanted the darkwood staff in return, interested in the power its dryad still had; Xu'sasar solved it by killing Ferric and literally freeing Daine's voice. The innkeeper's wife, an old dryad known as the Crooked Tree, admitted she was no match for the adventurers and Lady Darkheart, and let them go. As they approached the Gates of Night, that would led them to Dusk, Lady Darkheart used her song to protect Lei's group and influence nature around them, but the Woodsman and his thorns reached anyways; a new fight ensued when Torenas tried to claim his once betrothed, and Lady Darkheart enhanced Lei with courage, speed, and strength, as well as instinctive knowledge of the archfey's fighting style. Working as a team, the mortals bested the Woodsman, and Lei and Lady Darkheart combined their powers through the staff to transform him into a tree.[3]
When they reached Dusk, Thelania asked their help dealing with a threat from Dal Quor, but Lei didn't trust her, and demanded that she release Lady Darkheart from the staff; the fey queen, however, argued that the dryad's fate had served precisely to help Lei survive until that moment, by keeping her safe during her adventures. Although the artificer wasn't satisfied and still wanted to help Lady Darkheart, she and her team reluctantly accepted Thelania's mission in order to protect Eberron. They returned to the Material Plane, and from there, Lei, Daine, and Pierce projected themselves into the Region of Dreams; even there, Lady Darkheart kept helping her wielder, enhancing her willpower with her own desire for freedom, which contributed to her survival once again.[3]
Abilities[]
Lei wielding her darkwood staff in Dal Quor.
As a dryad, Lady Darkheart was bound to her tree and was able to appear and disappear through it, manifesting a physical form outside the wood when she so desired; however, her nature as an inherently magical fey being also limited her, since she could't be too far of her tree, and couldn't survive without it. She had great power over nature, especially in the Deepwood Moon, and with song, her voice "shaped the night" while she was alive.[3] As a staff, with only a fragment of her spirit left, Lady Darkheart was still able to sense and influence her surroundings, summoning thorns out of the wood if the wrong person grabbed her, repairing any damage to the wood, and singing a magical melody that dispelled some magical effects, protected her wielder from mind control, and warned of danger. Moreover, she was able to share her feelings with Lei and give her strength.[1][3]
Relationships[]
In her origin, Lady Darkheart was part of the story of Torenas the Woodsman, being meant to be his, so they would be lord and lady of the woods together. However, she despised the idea and in her desperation to gain freedom she doomed herself by making a deal with Thelania. Many years later, even as a staff, the dryad still felt resentment towards those figures, and especially towards Torenas and his brothers. In a similar way, she resented Jura as a tool of the Queen of Dusk, believing he had some sort of deal with her that allowed him to find her darkwood tree.[3]
Lady Darkheart became the weapon and tool of Lei, her niece, and although at first the artificer wasn't fully aware of the nature of the item, the spirit of the dryad kept her safe anyway. As the months passed, Lei became more attached to the staff, and trusted its strange songs and warnings; by the time she realized what and who it was, she started feeling sympathy for Lady Darkheart, and she, in turn, used their connection to help her even more. In their only conversation face to face the dryad was somewhat harsh when she saw her niece feeling sorry for herself, but then she encouraged her to keep fighting and to find a way to free her from the staff, so that they could meet in person one day.[1][2][3]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
Novels & Short Stories
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Keith Baker (2005). The City of Towers. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 48–51, 107, 197, 202–205, 209. ISBN 0-7869-3584-7.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Keith Baker (2006). The Shattered Land. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 12, 20, 108, 155. ISBN 0-7869-3821-8.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 Keith Baker (2006). The Gates of Night. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 56–59, 70–75, 170–174, 181–185, 192–208, 234–235, 300. ISBN 0-7869-4013-1.
- ↑ Keith Baker (2005). The City of Towers. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 238. ISBN 0-7869-3584-7.