Full Name: True name unknown.1 Aliases include Melodia, the lady, Threnody2
Species: Sidhe (Leanan Sidhe)
Allegiance: Herself and her Art
Religion: Nothing that would make any sense to a human…
Social Status: n/a
Age: unknown
Eyes: Green
Hair: Red, long and thick
Height: Tall for an Elf
Physical Notes: unknown
Behavioral Notes:
Supernatural Abilities: Shapechaging, Immortality. Feeds on the life force of her bound partners. Provides
supernatural creative inspiration
Personality and Appearance
Leanan Sidhe are living manifestations of the creative impulse that exists in the heart of every mortal, and a mortal assisted by one of them is capable of producing works of astonishing power and beauty. This one, in particular, is the manifestation of the creative impulse that comes from pain and suffering of the artist. As a result, she can be very fierce, uncaring, and cruel (beyond the normal machinations and different view point of a fae).
These Fae resemble tall, shapely human women with elongated canines in their natural forms; they are often mistaken for vampires, though they are not undead. They are breathtakingly beautiful even by Sidhe standards. However, they can take the shape of any creature, either through shape change or Glamour.
Background
This Leanan Sidhe masqueraded as a red-haired, green-eyed Elven looking woman named Melodia to teach Emilio Venturi (a renowned luthier named Emilio Venturi, 1507 to 1549 who lived in Pyralis). From 1541 until his death Venturi crafted the Divinities, a set of eighteen violins that were supposedly the greatest ever made without the use of magic. Each of the eighteen was named for one of the gods, and they were supposed to be able to call up the emotions connected to that deity when they were played.3
Venturi died three months shy of his forty-second birthday, which was young even for back then. Under Melodia's spell, he aged rapidly while he was working on the Divinities, and died only a month after finishing the last of them.
Emilio's wife, Rosanna, was another victim in the creation of the Divinities. To get her husband back from Melodia, she committed suicide, believing that this would paying the price for Emilio's soul and save him. Instead, her death bound her to the violin that her husband next created with Melodia's help. For the next 456 years, Rosanna's pain and the pain of other spirits captured into the violin helped to fuel the music of mortals (often sick with a terminal illness, like Issac Wells.
Whispers in the Wood
During Whispers in the Wood, Threnody was providing her inspiration to (and feeding from) Doctor Issac Wells. Abbey Preston and Janus Starson uncovered the truth about the violin and the spirits that lived in it. As a result, Issac left her, and gave the name of the violin to the Fae woman herself. In addition, a freed Rosanna Venturi placed a geas on the fae, that for the 456 years of pain that she profited from, Threnody is bound to the following:
"You shall not raise a hand 'gainst man or woman, child or beast. You shall bind no spirit against its will. You shall only feed on a mortal's life and blood if he give them willingly. Where before you have spread grief and sorrow, I now charge you to spread joy and delight. Let your talents be used to uplift and enhearten the race of men, and not to remind them of their suffering.”
Known Allies
Abbey Preston- one of the people who contributed to her "downfall", but the psi comforted Threnody in her sorrow and pain at the end of Whispers in the Wood.
Issac Wells- One of Threnody's lovers and artists. He leaves her because he can not forget the truth that Abbey and Janus uncover: that she is "the monster who created an instrument that kills; who imprisoned an innocent woman for over four centuries for the sake of art." But she still loves him.
Known Enemies
Threnody may not be not happy with Janus Starson, but how much she could do to him may be limited by Fae laws. Janus was also completely unsympathetic when the Fae woman broke down when Isaac leaving her.
Story Appearances
Sources
Author's Notes
Faeries are damned scary, or they should be if the author does his job right. They're batshit loco by human standards, implacable in the pursuit of their inscrutable goals, lacking in any sense of mercy or compassion, and very, very powerful. Melodia/Threnody was my attempt to show faeries at their worst. Hopefully this will help people understand why the ongoing Fae terrorist threat is something that the Empire and the Lothanasi take so seriously. —Chris
Voice Actor
Danae Winters
