Menion Leah
From The World of Shannara
| Menion Leah | |
|---|---|
| Race: | Man |
| Gender: | Male |
| Hair color: | Unknown |
| Eye color: | Grey |
| Loyalty: | Shea Ohmsford |
| First appearance: | The Sword of Shannara |
| Birth: | Unknown |
| Death: | Unknown |
Menion Leah is one of the main characters in The Sword of Shannara and a hero of the War of the Warlock Lord. He was born the only son to a family that ruled the Kingdom of Leah. Separated from Shea in his quest for the Sword of Shannara, Menion is instrumental in helping with the defense of the cities of Callahorn, both Kern and Tyrsis.
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Description
Menion's appearance is:
| “ | ... his lean, whiplike frame moved with the graceful ease of a cat. He was not a big man, though several inches taller than the Valemen, but he was broad through the shoulders and his long arms gave him a rangy look. | „ |
| -- The Sword of Shannara (1977), pp. 79 | ||
Elsewhere he is described as having a lean face with keen grey eyes, and a perpetual half smile.[1]
Menion's personality was described by a critical Flick as:
| “ | [Menion was a] cocky idler ... Menion was only interested in Menion, the great adventurer...He has never worked for a living,as far as Flick could tell, he had never done anything worthwhile. He spent most of his time hunting or fighting ... Nothing about his life, his family, his homeland, or his country seemed to be of very great importance to him. The highlander seemed to float through life much the same as a cloud in an empty sky, touching nothing, leaving no trace of his passing. | „ |
| -- The Sword of Shannara (1977), pp. 67-68 | ||
In truth Menion pointedly ignored his royal responsibilities, being possessed of a brash self-confidence that he in reality did not try and conceal. He was blessed with a hunter's instinct that even his detractors had a grudging respect for. [2] When on adventures he always carried a quiver of arrows and a great ash bow strapped his back, as well as the Sword of Leah.
Origin and History
Menion was born the only son to a family that had governed the little highland Kingdom of Leah for as long as anyone could remember. In fact Leah was the last monarchy in the Southland. At the time of the start of the War of the Warlock Lord, Menion was pursuing life without any concern for the future. He traveled a lot, hunted even more, and by an large spent time getting in trouble. Several years prior to this Menion's mother had died, while his father continually tried to get Menion interested and involved with the problems of governing his kingdom with no success.[2]
War of the Warlock Lord
Journey to Paranor
Allanon called a council in Culhaven to discuss how to deal with the Warlock Lord. In the end, it was decided that a chosen few would journey to Paranor, sieze the Sword, and then take on the Warlock Lord himself. Menion, wanting to look after his friend, chose to go with the party. Sadly, after they had found a way through the Dragon's Teeth mountains, Shea was lost after he fell off a waterfall. Menion and Flick wanted to immediately abandon the quest and find Shea, but Allanon persuaded them to stay with the group after using his magic to see that Shea would be fine.
The party eventually reached the ancient Druid fortress, but they ended up walking into a trap: the Warlock Lord had already had the Sword removed and left some of his forces behind to deal with them. Miraculously, the group managed to escape. It was then decided that the group would split up. Menion went with Balinor, Hendel, Dayel and Durin to the Southland to prepare it for the Warlock Lord's assault.
War in the Southland
Menion eventually made his way to the city of Kern, and infiltrated the camp of the Warlock Lord's army. There, he found a captive and thought it was Shea. But after he freed the captive, he found that it was a young woman named Shirl Ravenlock, the daughter of Kern's "ruling" family. Getting Shril back into the city, he informed the rulers that their only hope was for the entire city's population to escape to the capital city of Tyrsis, which it did.
Once they arrived in Tyrsis, Menion and Shirl helped Balinor and the others expose the treachery of Stenmin, who had poisoned the mind of the acting king. While Stenmin managed to murder Palance and escape, Balinor managed to rally the legendary Border Legion and prepare Tyrsis for the Warlock Lord's attack.
Menion fought bravely at the battle for Tyrsis, killing Stenmin when he tried to open the gates of the city. But despite the defenders best efforts, Tyrsis was breached due to treachery and the Warlock Lord's army managed to get in. But just when it seemed that there was no hope, the Warlock's Lord's army broke and ran: Shea had managed to retrieve the Sword and Shannara and killed the Warlock Lord, who had been controlling his massive army.
After Shea was found, Menion happily reunited with his friend.
Epilogue
Menion's experiences in the war matured him greatly. Sometime after the war, Menion became Leah's king, and was said to be its greatest ruler. He also married Shirl, and his descendants would go on to continue fighting evil at the side of Shea's family.
References
- ^ Brooks, Terry (1977). The Sword of Shannara pp. 80
- ^ 2.0 2.1 Brooks, Terry (1977). The Sword of Shannara pp. 77-78
| Major Characters in The Sword of Shannara |
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Allanon · Balinor · Dayel and Durin · Flick · Hendel · Keltset · Menion · Palance · Panamon Creel · Shea · Minor Characters |
