Elisabeth

*You are right here in your story. Don't skip ahead.*
Massie Burnson, *The Wreck and Rise of Whitson Mariner*, p. 32
**WARNING: SPOILERS FOR *THE ARCHER'S CUP* ARE AHEAD; CAUTION IS ADVISED.**

**L****ady Elisabeth** is the wife of Lord Ronan and the mother of his children, including Jane.

## Biography

### Early life

Elisabeth grew up in the Black Lake region, and came to be considered the most beautiful doe in the area when she came of age. Many bucks sought her hand, including Grare, with whom she was very close. Elisabeth, whom Grare called Beth, went on many childhood adventures with him in the area of Black Lake. She also made Grare, an aspiring and talented chef, an apron that he treasured. However, Elisabeth's heart ultimately turned elsewhere, much to the sorrow-and later rage-of Grare.

Elisabeth eventually married Ronan, then Lead Captain under Lord Lokken, with whom she would have several children. When Lokken passed away, Ronan accepted the mantle of citadel lord, and Elisabeth thus became lady of Blackstone Citadel. Unfortunately, their happiness was marred by Grare's unwillingness to accept that Elisabeth had chosen someone other than him. Things between Elisabeth and her old friend became so strained that Ronan's family began to avoid Blackstone mess hall, instead eating their meals in the Lord's Quadrant.

Not long before Emma Joveson and her entourage arrived at Blackstone Citadel, a series of threatening letters from a malevolent figure calling himself Bane Graveheart began to emerge. One of these letters was found pinned to Elisabeth's pillow one morning. This alarmed Ronan, who quickly summoned a Lord's Council the following day.

### *The Archer's Cup*

Elisabeth burst into the middle of the Lord's Council being held to reckon the identity of Bane Graveheart with yet another letter from the threatening figure. Upon inquiry, Elisabeth revealed that she had found the letter in her children's room. The letter claimed that the water gate was about to be destroyed. As Ronan reeled, Elisabeth gave permission for Captain Truff and others to make haste to the water gate to find and eliminate the means of Graveheart's threat. She then took her husband to their rooms to rest.

After Matron Breelia Wilder, who had been arrested on suspicion of being Bane Graveheart, escaped, Lady Elisabeth stunned the denizens of Blackstone by appearing in the mess hall for the first time in years. She delivered Ronan's key to Truff, along with a charge to find Wilder and bring her to justice. Elisabeth tearfully offered a reward of her own treasures to anyone who could capture the escapee, after asserting her love of Ronan while looking pointedly at Grare. Jo Shanks, who accompanied Grare in the search for Wilder, later discovered a shrine Grare had made to Elisabeth, consisting of various gifts she had given him and a loving portrait of her as a young doe. However, Jo mistakenly came to believe that Breelia Wilder, a gray-furred doe like Elisabeth, was the object of Grare's unrequited affections.

On the morning of the Ultimate Archer's Cup, the Lord's Quadrant was infiltrated by Grare—actually Bane Graveheart—and Elisabeth, along with her husband, children, guards, and companions, was tranquilized. Grare took Elisabeth's unconscious body and tried to flee with her, but the cook was stopped by Jo, who had realized Bane Graveheart's identity and whom his heart had truly been set on. Grare was subdued and arrested and Elisabeth was taken to Blackstone's Hospital to recover from Grare's sedative.

The next day, Elisabeth stood arm in arm with Emma Joveson as Blackstone celebrated the winner of the Ultimate Archer's Cup and the end of the division in their citadel.

## Physical appearance

**Grare**: She still is.

—*The Archer's Cup*, pg. 197 |  | ”

Elisabeth is a gray-furred doe who is around the same age as her husband, Lord Ronan. She is noted to bear a resemblance to Gallipot Grenda and Breelia Wilder. Elisabeth's stunning beauty was enough to win her the attention of many suitors in her youth. As a young doe, she is pictured in Grare's shrine in Warren Fortress as wearing a crown and necklace of flowers.

## Personality and traits

Elisabeth is described as having "a high spirit and a head full of ideas;" this was at least the case in her youth.

## Relationships

### Ronan

Ronan was one of many bucks to seek Elisabeth's hand in her youth, due in part to her great beauty. His affection for Elisabeth is noted as having prompted Ronan's decision to remain at Blackstone, despite not being originally from the area. Elisabeth ultimately came to reciprocate his affections, and the pair married. They would go on to have several children, some of whom would enter the service of Lord Hewson at Harbone Citadel. Sadly, their oldest son perished as an officer there, leaving behind several siblings, their youngest child being a daughter named Jane.

Elisabeth, or Eliza as Ronan called her, cared deeply for her husband and was thus deeply saddened to see him suffering during the Division of Blackstone Citadel. Her concern moved her to visit Blackstone mess hall despite her estrangement from Grare, and to offer to surrender prized valuables to anyone who could capture the rabbit she believed to be responsible for her husband's pain.

### Grare

**Grare**: [Elisabeth] made me a bane, and turned my heart into a grave.

—*The Archer's Cup*, pg. 247 |  | ”

Elisabeth and Grare grew up together in the region of Black Lake, and as youths fell in love. However, Elisabeth's heart changed as they grew older, and eventually she came to love Ronan instead. Sadly, Grare could not accept this change, and became embittered against Elisabeth while still longing to be with her. This desire made Grare dangerously unstable and poisoned him against Ronan, whom he sought to evict from Blackstone through threat in hopes that it would open the way for him and Elisabeth to be together.

For her part, Elisabeth seems to have either guessed at Grare's hostility towards her husband or been uncomfortable herself after their breakup, as she and her family refrained from joining the other residents of Blackstone from dining in Grare's mess hall.

## Trivia

* The name "Elisabeth" is of German/Dutch origin and means "God oath" or "pledged to God".

## References

1. ↑ *The Archer's Cup*, pg. 122
2. ↑ [1]