Aru Shah

* Aru Shah
* With Aiden
* With Kara
* With Kara 2

**Arundhati "Aru" Shah** is the protagonist, main character, and viewpoint character in the Pandava Quintet. She is the modern-day 15 year old reincarnation of the Pandava Arjuna and lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her mother. She is the current love interest of Aiden Acharya.

## **History**

### Early Life

Aru Shah was raised in an apartment above the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture in Atlanta, Georgia. Sherrilyn, the head of the museum's security, babysat Aru while Aru's mother, Krithika Shah, went on archaeological trips around the world.

### Augustus Day

Aru attended Augustus Day, an expensive private school where there were a lot of rich kids who constantly bragged about how much money they had. To fit, in Aru made up stories about her life and bluffs about vacations and money.

## The Pandava Quintet

### Aru Shah and the End of Time

Aru (12 years old) releases the Sleeper from the Diya of Bharata to impress her classmates Arielle Reddy, Poppy Lopez, and Burton Prater. Aru must go on a quest with her Pandava sister, Mini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez, and their pigeon mentor, Boo, to stop the Sleeper from waking Shiva, the god of destruction. Although they don't defeat the Sleeper, Aru manages to stall him long enough to keep him from reaching and waking Lord Shiva.

### Aru Shah and the Song of Death

Aru, Mini, and Brynne Rao are framed for stealing Kamadeva’s bow and arrow. They must go on a quest to clear their names, lest they be banished from the Otherworld. Together, with the help of Aiden Acharya, the group travels through the dangerous realm of Naga Loka to discover the real thief and uncover their intentions. The group manages to clear their names and save the world again, but at Aru’s birthday party, she receives a text from a mysterious naga boy and a spooky dream that makes it clear there are yet to be more adventures.

#### All By Mah-Selllf (Bonus Chapter)

Eight months later, at Halloween, Aru, Mini, Brynne and Aiden go to an Otherworld middle school dance where she goes dressed up as Winnie who is one of the Sanderson sisters from '*Hocus Pocus'*.

### Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

Aru and her Pandava sisters rescue two "targets", one of whom is about to utter a prophecy that could turn the tide in the war between the devas and asuras. The targets turn out to be the last two reincarnated Pandava siblings, Nikita Jagan and Sheela Jagan. Ultimately, the Pandavas fail in preventing the prophecy from reaching the Sleeper's ears, and they are asked to step aside. Instead, Aru goes with her sisters, Aiden, and Rudy on an unofficial quest to retrieve Kalpavriksha. The group encounters new demons and gods on their journey, and eventually locates Kalpavriksha. Aru wishes to win, but must pay the price of carrying heavy burdens about the people she though she could trust. Aru seems to hug the Sleeper and vanishes. Time skips over and she wakes up with another girl nearby. Upon questioning her, Aru learns that the girl’s name is Kara, and the Sleeper is her father.

### Aru Shah and the City of Gold

Aru, the Potatoes, and Kara travel to Lanka to answer Kubera's summons. They compete in his three trials in order to win the two things that could help them win the war against the asuras, meeting manipulative gods and being tested in ways they have never been before along the way. The Potatoes manage to complete Kubera's dangerous trials and battle alongside the Nairrata army against the Sleeper and his supporters.

### Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality

Aru gets betrayed by Kara, who takes the Antim Astra and everyone's weapons. During the travel to get the **Syamantaka jewel,** both Brynne Rao and Mini get their weapons back except Aru. Near the end while fighting against the Sleeper's army for the Nectar of Immortality, she thinks to ride back to the museum but U.B.E.R (Who was Krishna, Charioteer of Arjuna) who she was riding with gave her advice and goes back to the Maze and gets Vajra back and is rejoiced. At last where she gets the Nectar Of Immortality she has to decide who she will give it to. In the end of her thought process, she decides to destroys it at which Garuda is happy with. But at the end, Kara gets stripped of her abilities and looses memory of what happened and is returned of her foster family.

## **Physical** **Appearance**

Aru Shah is a Gujurati Indian-American girl who begins the story at the age of 12, turning 15 by the end of *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*. She is a few inches taller than five foot one.

In all official art she’s shown to have a braid. However, in the books, Aru’s hair is described as being chin-length until Tree of Wishes, when she begins growing it out and eventually puts it into a braid. Her hair isn’t as curly and glossy as her mother's, but as of Tree of Wishes, Aru describes as is thick and heavy, falling past her shoulders. Aru likely has black or brown hair, as both her mother and her father are mentioned having darker hair. She also has a medium-to-dark brown skin tone that she describes as "chestnut brown". Judging by her description of her parents as well as her official art, it is also probable that Aru's eyes are dark and round. Aru also mentions that her eyebrows are close together, almost forming a unibrow, and that she sucks in her nose when she smiles at her crush, Aiden, implying that it’s at least somewhat large. She refers to herself being skinny a few times, and mentions she has no muscles when comparing herself to a statue of Arjuna. Her mother is very beautiful, but Aru thinks that she doesn’t resemble her a lot. In general, Aru views herself as not particularly pretty.

Aru wears her Spider-Man pajamas throughout the whole story of *Aru Shah and the End of Time*. Nikita gifts her magical yellow pants that are apparently very flattering on her in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*. She prefers to walk around barefoot, but she can fit into her mom's shoes by *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*. During her 15th birthday party Aru wears a puff-sleeved black shirt and a skirt with gold foil lighting bolts, also designed by Nikita.

## **Personality**

Something that’s mentioned a lot in the books is Aru’s imagination. At first, that manifests in lying, but through the books, she begins to use it for strategy, empathizing, and breaking through illusions and magic.

Aru can be quite awkward at times, fumbling with her words when she speaks to someone she's attracted to. Though Aru can be bristly and defensive towards those who make her feel insecure, she's compassionate towards people such as Brynne, who she felt sorry for when she was judged for her asura heritage, and even Meenakshi, who she kills in the end, because she understands what it's like to feel unfairly over-looked and placed into the role of the villain. She is fircely protective of those she loves and is constantly looking out for her sisters and willing to do hard things in order to keep people safe, such as like shattering Shukra's mirrors or killing Meenakshi. Aru also has a sense of humor and often teases her friends and jokes around. She also loves puns and making references to a wide variety of movies as a self-proclaimed 'movie buff'. Despite this, Aru can step up when needed and be a good leader.

Aru also has a rather lonely side to her personality, which she tries to hide. This originates from the lack of her father her entire life, and the fact that her own mother was not around very much when she was young.

## **Relationships**

### **KRITHIKA P. SHAH** (Mother)

Aru has an overall favorable relationship with her mother, who used to tell her bedtime stories and cares deeply about her. Krithika hid the fact that Aru was a Pandava from her. At the start of *Aru Shah and the End of Time*, Aru isn’t overly close to her mom, but by the beginning of *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*, they’re closer, talking about feelings a lot, which Aru dislikes, and her mother acting as a mentor to Aru. Krithika is very supportive of Aru and helps with her quests - for example, in *Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality* she was the one who found the tunnels extending from the labyrinth.

### **SUYODHANA/THE SLEEPER** (Father and Enemy)

Aru is determined to defeat the Sleeper, although she’s worried that when the time comes, she’ll be too weak. The Sleeper has always known that she is his daughter, but she only realized part way through her first quest. At the end of the first book, he invites her to join him when she fails to kill him, and then vanishes. He seems to care about her, but he overall cares more about getting revenge on Krithika and whatever other nefarious plans he’s making. He also seemed to be excited to have a child; in the vision Aru saw in the Pool of the Past, he was wearing an I’M A DAD! T-shirt and holding Aru. He doesn’t really know Aru, but that makes sense, due to him never interacting with her for twelve years; he did, however, know her well enough to exploit her insecurities. Aru, on her part, is bitter; when Meenakshi tells her that he misses her, she says he tried to kill her. She also doesn’t see him as a father but as a puppet-master pulling strings. But she also doubts herself when it comes to him. She’s afraid she’ll let him go again, or even join him, and she’s especially worried she’ll turn out like him, a villain.

Later, in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, Aru sees that he did actually care about her, but makes the choice to defeat him to save the Otherworld.

In Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality, Suyodhana and Krithika are seemingly close to a truce, where Krithika urges him to leave the idea of destroying the world behind, and holds out her hand. Suyodhana reaches for it but Kara kills him with Sunny before he can repent.

### **INDRA** (Former Avatar’s Father)

Aru was initially not thrilled to be the daughter of Indra, because she felt she had a lot of expectations placed on her. She also was underwhelmed by her gift of a Ping-Pong ball, although she soon warmed up to Vajra. Her father never interacts with her directly, which makes Aru jealous of Brynne, but he does seem to be guiding her through Vajra, and occasionally sends weather messages to her, such as how he expresses he’s disappointed in her. She is not as much resentful of him anymore, and may have recieved signs from him but they have never communicated warmly.

### **SUBALA/SHAKHUNI/BOO** (Friend, Mentor)

Aru liked Boo a lot. When he was revealed to be Shakhuni, she forgave him quickly, and is quick to jump to his defense. However, she’s not very respectful to him, especially when he forces her to do Pandava training.

Later, in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, she felt betrayed by him, discovering that he conspired with the Sleeper and was partly responsible for Sheela's kidnapping. In *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*, Aru felt very resentful of Boo, discovering that he tried to convince Kubera to ignore the Potatoes when they came asking for his help, calling them "weak children". When he appeared during their battle with the Sleeper's army, Aru was incredibly angry at him, and fulfilled his curse by yelling at him, "I wish you would just get out of our lives!" Aru's wish became true when Boo dies while trying to protect the Potatoes from an attack from the Sleeper's army. Aru later feels very guilty and upset, but is happier when she discovers Boo's soul lives within a new bird that hatches from a flame-colored egg. She and the other Potatoes witness the hatching of the new bird, which makes Aru very happy. They name him BB and he becomes an asset of the Panavas in the final battle.

### **MINI KAPOOR-MERCADO-LOPEZ** (Friend, Pandava sister)

Aru and Mini quickly became friends during their first quest together. Although they have a few rough spots, like when Mini discovers Aru lit the lamp to impress a couple losers, but they apologize to each other soon after the fact, as they do for the rest of their arguments, and trust each other a lot. Aru thinks that while Mini might be weird, she’s wise, and Mini seems to hold Aru in high regard as well, although she’s somewhat oblivious to Aru’s feelings. Mini and Aru are the closest.

### **BRYNNE RAO** (Formerly antagonistic, Friend, Pandava sister)

Aru and Brynne had an antagonistic start to their relationship, to say the least, due to a combination of circumstances, conflicting personalities, and jealousy. They truly become friends after Mini is captured, and they all share dreams with her where she tells them, among other things, to not blame each other, and after Aiden gives Aru a 100 Grand and a space to clear the air with Brynne. They commiserate about family and become closer; Brynne even shares the bar with Aru. So after that, they become pretty close friends, joking around together and teasing each other.

### **AIDEN ACHARYA** (Love Interest, Friend, Reincarnated wife)

Aiden and Aru had a rocky start to their relationship. Aru, having a crush on him, bumped into him one day, and in their first mutual interaction she word vomits on him and runs away. When they met again in *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*, he seems somewhat embarrassed when Brynne lets on he talked about that encounter with her in front of Aru. Throughout the book they become friends. A few times, Aiden says that he obviously doesn’t feel romantic feelings for Aru, and Aru, embarrassed, says that she feels the same way, despite liking him still. A significant step in their relationship occurs when Aru notices Aiden sulking in his lawn during her birthday party and he brings her along on his mission to Parent Trap his parents; however, Aru helps show Aiden that what he really cares about is whether his mom is happy and loves herself.

In *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, their relationship has progressed, and Aiden and Aru appear to be even closer and trust each other more. Aru still has a crush on Aiden, but does her best to not make it obvious. Aiden also proves that he knows Aru well when Rudy wonders why Aru would like going to Home Depot. Several times in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, Aiden hints
that he might have a crush on Aru, whether he recognizes it as such or
not, like when he stares at her after she gets her new outfit from
Nikita or when he implies that he thinks Aru is beautiful when she says Sohail the
chakora bird viewed her as hideous.

In *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*, it visible that the two are attracted to each other. At times, Aru becomes jealous of Kara, suspecting that there was romantic attraction between her and Aiden. Aru also occasionally feels flustered around Aiden. On Aru's 15th birthday, Aru confesses her feelings for Aiden, and the two kiss.

In *Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality*, Aru states that Aiden hadn't talked to her since their kiss. Before they left on their quest, Aiden asked Aru if she had told anyone about it, and that they shouldn't have done that. Aru ignored him after that, and acted coldly around him. Aiden tried to apologize later on, but it was inturuppted when the Night Mares arrived. Throughout the book, Aiden protects her when she is without Vajra, or grabs her hand when they're transporting through thr portals, or to keep her steady. Aru seems to warm up to him as the book progresses. While in the talent show, Aiden is supposed to sing about a truth, and the song is obviously about Aru. Finally, when the Potatoes are in Halls of Nidra, The Lady demands that Aru stay there as payment for them to pass through her land. Aiden steps foward and tells her he'll stay instead of her. Before he is taken, he tells Aru, "I lied Aru, I don't regret anything." Then he kisses her before he dissapears. Aru grieves his lost, and knows she has to make it up to him. When he returns in the middle of the battle, Aru is overjoyed to see him. Six months later, it shows the two began dating.

### **NIKITA JAGAN** (Pandava sister)

Nikita is somewhat cold to Aru at first. Later, when Aru sees her nightmare, Nikita is grateful for her help -- she sends Aru a thank you note, although she's careful to not let it get too heartfelt. She's initially worried about being vulnerable with Aru, but Aru quickly grows to view her as a little sister and teases her. Nikita soon grows to believe in
Aru strongly to do the right thing, protect her and her twin, and be generally a big sister.

### **SHEELA JAGAN** (Pandava sister)

Sheela likes Aru well, and talks to her briefly, but honestly, during the dream in which Nikita was making the Pandavas clothing. Aru seems curious towards Sheela's more closed off attitude, and feels worry for her when she sees how scared she is from the nightmare.

### **RUDY** (Friend)

Aru first saw Rudy in *Aru Shah and the End of Time*, when he winked at Mini, causing her to walk into a pole. She officially met him in *Aru Shah and the Song of Death*, when he rescued her, Bynne and Aiden when his grandfather Takshaka was attacking them. She got flustered when he asked her for her number, and initially refused on principal, but gave it to him after some persuasion.

Later, in *Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes*, he joins Aru and her crew on their unofficial quest to find the tree of wishes, Kalpavriksha. During the book, they become friends with each other, despite Aru initially being annoyed at him. During the book, it might suggest that Rudy has a crush on her, like when he asked her to come to his father's palace, or when he said that she wouldn't like the store they visit.

In *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*, Rudy meets up with the Potatoes half way through their quest after they complete Kubera’s second trial. He helps them get to their 3rd trial using his parents’ Anywhere Elevator, and accompanies and fights alongside them. Aru is somewhat glad to see him, although he occasionally annoys her throughout the book. By the end of the book, it appears that Rudy no longer has a crush on Aru, and now is intereste in Mini.

### **KARA** (half sister and Pandava sister, formerly friendly, antagonistic)

Kara is Aru Shah's maternal half sister, and they get to know each other better in *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*. Though initially suspicious of Kara, and later jealous of both her relationship with the Sleeper and her instant chemistry with Aiden, Aru grows to love Kara and value her greatly over the course of the story. Kara, on the other hand, was excited from the beginning to meet Aru, since she couldn't wait to have a real sister, and forgave Aru quickly when she was rude to Kara, understanding that she wouldn't trust herself either --this in turn made Aru feel guilty and resolve to be kinder to Kara and trust her more. When the Sleeper marches on Lanka, Kara stands with Aru and they defend the city together. Over the following year, Kara and Aru both attend high school together, and grow closer as sisters and friends.

During Aru's birthday party, Kara asks Aiden to date her, seemingly unaware of the crush Aru has on Aiden --Aru overhears both her asking Aiden, and Aiden rejecting her. The Sleeper arrives shortly after Aru and Aiden kiss, and reveals that fact to Kara, as another piece of evidence that she doesn't belong anywhere except for with him, trying to remake their family. He also reveals that Kara is a Pandava sister herself, the reincarnation of Karna. Kara doesn't want her family to fight, and after a moment of hesitation, destroys the celestial weapons of the Pandava sisters, though she seems shocked by the extent of that action. Aru is horrified and shell shocked after Kara leaves with the Sleeper, presumably to then fight against the Pandava sisters in the war of the devas.

Later, Krithika explains Kara's origins to Aru and that she is Kara's mother, which even Kara doesn't know yet due to the Sleeper willfully hiding the truth from her .

At the very end of the book, Aru finds new hope by thinking of something Kara had told her about her thoughts on the poem "hope is a thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson, and gains a new resolve to carry on no matter what.

## **Powers and Abilities**

### **Vajra**

Vajra was the celestial weapon Aru was gifted from her spiritual father, Indra. It was a lightning bolt with the ability to transform into many different lightning-based forms. When it was not in use, Vajra assumed the form of a bracelet. Vajra appeard to be minorly sentient, most likely being controlled by Indra at moments when he wished to guide Aru’s path. It also appeared that Vajra had some sort of a personality, such as when it reacted to Aru's emotions and things that she said. The bolt would always return to Aru except in case of divine interference, and could can take the form of a ping-pong ball, a fishing line, a hoverboard, a net, a javelin, a sword, and a rope. Vajra was also able to shed divine light. In *Aru Shah and the City of Gold*, Vajra is destroyed by Kara.

### **Pandava Lineage**

#### **Pandava Mind Link**

Aru is able to communicate telepathically with her sisters. It can be blocked out, and typically it’s easier the better you know somebody. Aru has used the Pandava mind link with Mini and Brynne so far.

#### **Less Accessible Mind**

Because Aru is a Pandava, her mind is harder to access, with sizeable gaps in her memory, according to Uloopi.

#### **Water-related Powers**

Aru can breathe underwater due to a blessing Uloopi granted to Arjuna, Aru's past incarnation. She can also converse with marine animals such as crabs and fish.

### **Otherworld Training**

#### **Dancing**

Aru is tutored in dancing by Urvashi, and is very talented at it. She wasn’t taught to waltz.

### **Agni’s IO(F)U**

Agni gave Aru a gold coin that reads IO(F)U as a gift; Incendiary Offers for Future Use. He has an arsenal of weapons Aru will need in the future, and when she does, she can call on him. At the beginning of Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality, Aru and her friends decide to go looking for Agni to see if he can supply them with new celestial weapons. They cash in the offer by dropping the coin in a fire at an Indian wedding.

### **Celestial Lipstick**

Kamadeva’s gift to Aru is a silver lipstick tube, a celestial spotlight made of crushed stars and aged moonbeams. Kamadeva told her to use it when she felt like the world should see her in a different light. She uses it on her 15th birthday.

## **Trivia**

* Aru is the first narrator and protagonist of a Rick Riordan Presents book
* Aru's mother speaks Gujarati, and Aru’s picked some up from her, particularly swear words
* Her favorite color is green
* Her favorite dessert is tiramisu
* Her favorite superhero is Spider-Man
* Aru is a fan of the movie Die Hard, as well as the Lord of the Rings movies
* Aru has an egg plushie
* Her birthday is February 15, making her an Aquarius (♒️), which is an air sign and fixed sign associated by the water-bearer. This suits her personality as Aquarian’s are known for their leadership skills and imagination as well as their tendency to lie
* As confirmed by Roshani Chokshi, she is an Aquarius sun and Aries moon
* She was named "Arundhati" by her father, which means the morning star. Arundhati is a Sanskrit/Hindi name of a star which was named after a type of climbing plant, possibly meaning “not restrained” in Sanskrit. In Hindu belief, it is the name of the sage Vasishtha's wife
* "Shah" is another term used for 'king' in Iran, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Persian language
* Aru leads the afternoon visitors’ tour every Saturday; she wears a crisp scarlet vest with its three honeybee buttons and imitates her mom’s museum-curator voice
* Aru grew up reading and doing her homework beneath the giant stone elephant at the entrance of the museum
* She often falls asleep in the theater, and wakes up just before the crackling self-guided tour recording announces when India gained independence from Britain
* She regularly hides a stash of candy in the mouth of Steve, the four-hundred-year-old sea dragon statue in the west wing of the museum
* A month before the events of Aru Shah and the End of Time, Aru moved to Augustus Day School, which is costing her mom a lot, which does not help Aru’s nerves at tests in addition to her horribly unfashionable shoes
* Aru is excellent at chess, does choir, and can remember facts she heard just once
* Aru lit the Diya of Bharata at 4 pm
* She named the stone elephant Greg after Mini’s suggestion
* Her birthday, February 15th, is one day after Roshani Chokshi's (the author) birthday, which is February 14th
* The covers and official art are not representative of what the text describes her as looking like
* When Aru was 11 or 12, she went to a school dance, but only stayed for twenty minutes before demanding that her mom take her home
* Two years before the year Aru turned 13, Aru started staying at the museum's annual fundraising project during Halloween instead of trick-or-treating. She dressed up as a flying-blue-monkey, which took three weeks to put together. Unfortunately, her effort was not appreciated by most, seeing as her costume hadn't dried in time and she got paint all over the patrons. This incident became forever known in museum circles as the "Blue Monkey Scandal"
* One year before the year Aru turned 13, Krithika forced Aru to dress up as a witch, a costume Aru thought was very boring, so there would not be a repeat of the scandal
* In the bonus scene, Aru dresses up as Winnie Sanderson from Hocus Pocus when she attends an Otherworld Halloween party, expecting to be in a trio with Brynne and Mini; unfortunately, Mini was allergic to her wig and Brynne thought Aru was joking, so Aru was alone in her costume
* Aru is a Slytherin and she got 'Dauntless' on a BuzzFeed quiz
* Confirmed via a live interview on Crowd Cast, Aru's favorite Bollywood movie is Jodhaa Akbar -- she gets really into the gushiness, and privately thinks Aiden looks like Hrithik Roshan -- but she doesn't tell anyone because she's embarrassed. She watches Baahubali a lot with her friends as well
* Aru likes going to cemeteries
* Aru has disliked magicians ever since a birthday party in 4th grade, where she was left in a closet and the magician refused to let her out until he pulled a rabbit from a hat, which took forever because the rabbit was very fat and the hat was tiny
* Aru does not hate dancing — in fact, she’s very good at it, as confirmed by Mini