Matthew

## Personality:

Ronin is a fierce, disciplined warrior who has difficulty showing his emotions. However, he proved his rare humorous side when he mocked Professor Bomba's manner of speaking, much to Mary Katherine's disapproval, his taunting of the Boggans and ultimately his teasing "tough-love" manner with Nod. After Nod's father died, Ronin become Nod's mentor and looked out for the young lad as well as he could--which Nod only truly realized when it was nearly too late. Ronin has a long history with Queen Tara and exhibited strong romantic feelings toward her. Throughout the movie, other characters hinted that they had a romantic relationship though their status was never explicitly stated.

Ronin is incredibly brave and self sacrificing, and there is no doubt to his devotion to his people—to Nod, whether he wants it or not—and ultimately, to his Queen.

## Background

Ronin and Tara grew up together as childhood friends and sometime between then and movie events, developed romantic feelings for one another.

As a leafmen, Ronin has a reputation among the forest as a "do-gooder" and "defender of the weak". This has put him at odds against jinn like Bufo, who declare he ruins their fun but knows better than to fight him.

Sometime after Tara had become Queen of the forest, Ronin was made her general and commander of the leafmen troops. This put him against Mandrake several times, becoming sworn enemies to each other in his determination to protect his queen.

At one point during his leafman career -- before or after he rose to the rank of general -- Ronin had been on a mission to Wrathwood with Nod's father, another of his friends. The purpose or contents of this mission is unknown, but it resulted in the other man's death, leaving Ronin to raise Nod in his place. He mentored the boy in the ways of the leafmen which eventually brought him to joining the army. But while Non has the skills to be a great leafmen, his lack of dedication and penchants for solo missions continued to frustrate Ronin.

## Role:

Ronin, while out with his leafman squadron, happened upon Nod being hunted by boggans. He offered the boy help and while he was rejected, he did end up rescuing him while also scolding him for wandering off alone instead of sticking with his group which goes against the Leafman philosophy. He ultimately leaves Nod to be carried off by a grackle, knowing he will get himself loose, and returned with his own group back to Moonhaven.

He met with Queen Tara to discuss the pod choosing ceremony, worried that holding a public celebrations would allow her to be attacked by boggans. He outlined his plan to just bring a pod to her but she rejected this as she had to be the one to pick the pod, teasing him flirtatiously. He eventually conceded to her and would accompany her on the journey, though still worried about her safety.

During the parade, he was part of the security detail who stood on the barge with her. When she requested he smile for her, pointedly did not, retaining his look of a serious commander. Right after Tara chose her pod and presented it to the crowd of Jinn, Ronin sensed movement nearby and fired an arrow, revealing boggans in wait to ambush them. A fight broke out on the lake and while Ronin rushed to protect the queen, he was knocked into the water and separated from her. By the time fought himself free, she was already running through the woods and he hopped on a hummingbird to follow her.

Finding the queen, he caught her mid leap on his hummingbird and whisked her away from danger. She admit he was right about the ambush and he joked that he would gloat later, actually smiling at bit which made her happy. But the moment was interrupted by the arrival of Mandrake and his son, Dagda, who were following them on grackles. Ronin managed to catch one of Dagda's arrows and shoot it back, knocking the dark prince off his bird and to his death. Mandrake was devastated and after firing his own arrow at the leafmen, dove after his son. Ronin was likewise horrified to see that Mandrake's arrow had hit Tara and she also fell from the sky.

He tried to go after her but she had summoned a storm and bent the tree tops to protect her from any further harm. By the time he got through, he witness MK being shrunk down from human size. The leafmen army had caught up by now and when Ronin landed, he rushed to take the dying Tara from MK's arms. The queen made a passing joke about his serious face and all he could do was hold her as she died, turning to dust on the wind while the ground around him turned to moss, only to decay when the leftover rot arrow fell.

Pushing through the grief, Ronin noticed MK had the royal pod and asked what Tara had said about it, instructions to take it to Nim Galuu. Realizing they would need Nim's help to care for the pod, Ronin advised the Leafmen to protect Moonhaven as he would take MK to Nim, traveling alone so as not to rouse boggan suspicion. He brushed aside Finn's worries about his grief and once they were gone, tried to explain to MK about the situation at hand but she was freaking out at what had just happened to her. Ronin tried to take the pod from her but was stopped by the arrival of Mub and Grub, the pod keepers, who who advised against detaching the pod. Grub was glad to meet the genera, wanting to become a leafmen himself one day, while both slugs informed him they would need to accompany him to keep the pod moist and alive. He was not happy with this idea but accepted it, loading everyone up onto his hummingbird. It was clear they were overtaxing it, so he declared they would need another bird to help.

They went to the bird racing ring which coincidentally was were Nod had ended up after quitting the leafmen. The boy had failed to lose a rigged race and was bring threatened to be fed to a snake by Bufo, to which Ronin made a dry joke about putting him in a hornets nest before shooing the frog and his gang away. Nod assumed Ronin came to bring him back but on being informed of the queen's death, he offered to join the mission. Ronin at first denied this, having only come for one of the racing birds, but seeing MK's ineptitude to fly, he accepted Nod's help.

They carried on quickly towards Nim's tree but Nod's refusal to hear his warnings antics get a boggan patrol after them, separating the teens from the group, and requiring Ronin to come to their rescue. After this, he takes MK on his own bird and leaves Nod to carry the slugs. As they continue on, he explains to a curious MK that he has been watching over Nod as in the leafmen code, all are connected to each other.

The group finally arrived to Nim Galuu's Tree and stood to watch his floor show in which he tried to calm the crowd, only to find out at just that moment that the queen has perished. Not willing to expose this, he fled bac stage but found Ronin, Nod, MK, and the slugs already waiting for him there. Ronin confirmed that Tara was gone and that they needed information from the Rings of Knowledge on how to properly care for the royal pod. He took them down into the tree and found the scroll they needed which stated that the pod needed to be kept moist - confirming what the slugs said as they sent glares Ronin's way - and that it needed to bloom in the moonlight. When asked what would happen if it bloomed out of moonlight, Nim revealed that part to be missing and assumed termites were the cause. Everyone was satisfied by what they had learned and ventured back upstairs.

Ronin took a moment to himself, likely settling on the idea of Tara's death, when he was approached by Nod who suggested he take it easy. Ronin declared it too early to relax and put Nod in charge of watching the pod -- now in the hands of the slugs -- while he got a message to the leafmen. Going to Nim to request the use of his fireflies, he was told by the glow worm that he could not have prevented Tara's death, though didn't to be listening. Using the fireflies, he spread a message through the forest to the leafmen that the pod was safe and they would soon be returning to Moonhaven. Unknown to Ronin, Nod and MK had left the tree on their own just as Mandrake stormed inside. Ronin made it down there just as the slugs were being dragged off, the pod with them, while he was too slow to save them.

Angered by this, he confronted Nod and blamed him for not thinking about anyone else. When MK spoke in his defense, he mentioned he expected her to be the mature one and while he continued to rant, he let slip that the pod was the last part of the queen he would ever have, though quickly changed his worlds to mean the forest had had lost the last part of her. Nod suggested they go get it back and Ronin scoffed, make sarcastic jokes about such a plan as they they had no boggan armor with which to disguise themselves. But MK declares se knew where to get some and without explaining, she commandeered Nod and his's bird to lead the way. Ronin followed.

MK led them to the human abode which they soon realized was the home of the relentless "stomper" that the leafmen had been diverting from their civilization for years. He joined along with Nod's mocking of the man up until MK, annoyed, revealed him to be her father. She pointed out to Nod that she was a stomper herself and that Ronin knew so all along, to which he replied that it had been a very strange day. When MK further questioned Nod in his opinion of stompers, he made an ill-timed joke which resulted in her shoving him and storming off. He asked Ronin if he'd gone to far and Ronin dryly said he should try again; maybe she'd punch him. The two moved on to get the armor which Bomba had kept pined on his research board for studying.

Ronin tried on a particularly large skull helmet and asked Nod how he looked, to which the boy dryly replied "as scary as ever". They were drawn to the sudden commotion caused by MK who was now being chased by her dog, Ozzie, prompting the group to flee with the disguises. Bomba took notice of the racket and with his gear, caught a glimpse of Ronin's face which confirmed his suspicions about tiny people. MK was captured in Bomba's vacuum machine but he fainted upon seeing her and dropped the glass jar, freeing her to go with the Leafmen.

Using his and Nod's birds, they traveled to Wrathwood where the boggan army was amassing. Wearing their disguises, they slipped inside but finding the slugs would be too difficult with just stealth. Ronin immediately developed a plan to create distraction and after stripping off his disguise, he goaded the boggans into trying to capture him. This pooled all attention onto him and gave the others a chance to find the slugs and Tara's pod.

The plan was working well until he was found by Mandrake who calmly greeted him and had the other boggans stand by so he could engage Ronin himself. The two did battle with Mandrake questioning why Ronin would come alone, to which the leafman declared he didn't. Mandrake assumed he had an entire leafmen army waiting but it was soon revealed that his only companions were Nod, MK, and the slugs. Amused, Mandrake declared that he had "over prepared" and summoned the full might of his boggan army from the depths of the tree, with soldiers numbering in the hundreds or thousands.

Mandrake goes after MK and the pod, but Ronin bypasses all his warriors to grab him and drag him back down, throwing him to the bottom of the tree. As the boggan army swarms him, he encourages Nod to take the group back to Moonhaven and when his protégé refuses to leave him alone, Ronin declares he is now thinking like a leafmen. But there is nothing more Nod can do as the army consumes Ronin, seemingly killing him. The others are forced to flee, passing by his hummingbird to wait for its rider.

However, Ronin did survive the ordeal and sometime while Mandrake led his army on bats to attack Moonhaven, Ronin fought his way there. He arrived just in time to stop Mandrake from getting the pod and though heavily beaten, he could still put up a decent fight. Mandrake eventually had him pinned down and readied to finish him off, but Nod arrived and the two worked together to keep Mandrake back. They stalled him long enough for MK and Bomba to clear the bats from Moonhaven and allow the pod to bloom in the moonlight. It unleashed its power of the forest and blasted Mandrake away, sealing him in a tree for good.

The newly opened pod released a cloud of magic which circles around him specifically until approaching the one chosen as the heir: a [[Marigold Child|marigold jinn. A vision of Tara appears in the dust to Ronin's surprise and great happiness to which she playfully points out he is finally smiling. Tara moves on to grace the jinn with all her magic and fades away as the child is now their new queen. Everyone bows to her, including Ronin and Nod.

With everything okay now, Ronin and Nod have a heart to heart. Ronin admits to feeling like a poor substitute for Nod's real father while the boy declares he did the best he could and lately has been showing "real promise". MK arrives upon them in the middle of this and jokes that they should just say they love each other, to which Ronin replies that they just did. Nod comments on her still being small and while she explains about missing the chance to get big, Nod admits he isn't too upset that she will be staying with them. However, they are surprised when she starts lifting into the air as their new queen reveals she has the power to send MK back. MK wants to linger and properly say goodbye, but Ronin tells her there is no need as she is already a part of them. Grub comes in to agree with the statement, mentioning the Leafmen moto, but quickly takes is back while declaring he is no leafman. Ronin disagrees and lets him keep his helmet, a sign that he would let the snail join the leafmen. Mub is overjoyed.

He watched as Nod and MK share a kiss goodbye before she is whisked away to rejoin the human world.

Appearance

Ronin is a muscular man with fair skin, grey hair, and blue eyes.

He wears a Leafman armor under a white vest with golden patterns and his Leafman insignia but it was removed near the end.

## Powers and Abilities:

* **Hand-to-Hand Combat** - He is extremely skilled in close combat and swordsmanship. He was easily able to defend himself against dozens of Boggans. He was also able to hold his own against Mandrake.
* **Enhanced Agility** - Being a Leafman, he is proportionately more agile than most other Humans, capable of jumping incredible distances to take down foes.

## Relationships:

### Tara

Ronin and Queen Tara shared a long past, and it was hinted that they had been childhood friends before she became Queen. Tara constantly tried to get Ronin to lighten up as he took his role of protecting her "so seriously."

Ronin rescues Tara during Mandrake's attack, however is unable to prevent her from being shot by an arrow. Tara dies in his arms and he becomes grief-stricken and traumatized. Several characters throughout the course of the movie mention Ronin and Tara's relationship. His second in command asks him if he's "alright" after Tara's death, and when Ronin replies as if he was talking about physical wounds, he says, "that's not what I meant" and puts his hand on his shoulder.

After Ronin got the pod to Nim Galuu, Nim tells him that there was nothing he could have done to save her.

Ronin takes the mission personally, as if it was the last thing he could do for Tara. When the pod is taken, he slips and says, "that was the last I… any of us had of the Queen," bashfully changing his slip up as he cannot admit his love for Tara out loud due to his tough-seeming personality.

After the pod has safely bloomed, Tara again appears and Ronin smiles when he sees her again. She then tells him, "there's that smile." Ronin does not care that she was teasing, he is just overjoyed to see her.

### Nod

Ronin acts as an overprotective father to young Nod. Nod's father was Ronin's best friend before he was killed on a mission they went on together. He had promised to look after him. Originally, Nod resents Ronin's tailing and fatherly advice. However, they finally come to understand one another and after the fight they try to spar at each other. M.K. tells them, "oh come on, just say you love each other."

### MK

Ronin immediately takes the role of a father figure to MK, as he helps guide her along the journey.

### Bomba

Ronin originally pokes fun at Professor Bomba and nicknames him the "stomper," because the Leafmen live in a faster time, so Bomba seems slow and clumsy. He eventually regards him and treats him respectfully when he finds out he is MK's father.

### Mub and Grub

Mub comes off as annoying to Ronin, but he eventually warms up to Grub and lets him join the Leafman army.

### Mandrake

They are sworn enemies. Mandrake's greatest wish is to harm Tara while Ronin will do anything to protect her. According to Mandrake, Ronin is "someone [he's] known for a long time and always wanted to destroy".

## Trivia

* His plate armor appears to be quite hardy, being able to take damage from arrows and Mandrake's ranged rotting attacks without Ronin himself being rotted or aged.
* Ronin is arguably the second non-human character to speak to Mary Katherine. But since his statements were general, he could have simply been speaking to everybody.