Hollie Grimble

*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 *PRINCE LANDER & THE DRAGON WAR* ARE AHEAD; CAUTION IS ADVISED.**

## Hollie Grimble

Hollie being helped up by Lander during their first meeting.

## Biographical information

### Home

Grimble Island (formerly)
Lener's Crossroads

## Book information

### Appears

*Prince Lander & the Dragon War*

**Mother Saramack**: She has a hard road, that one. A very long, very hard, road. But in the end, there will be a golden home.

—A conversation about Hollie, *Prince Lander & the Dragon War*, p. 107 |  | ”

**H****ollie Grimble** was the oldest daughter of Grimble Halfdragon.

## Biography

### *Prince Lander & the Dragon War*

Having been born to her father and an unknown doe at an unknown point in time, Hollie was close to maturity by the final days of the Dragon War. Like other children of the Grimble faction, she had been raised to hate and fear the rabbits who followed Whitson Mariner. However, Hollie did not follow her father's will blindly, and was horrified to learn of his plans to surrender half of their settlement's younglings to Namoz Dragonking to secure the ongoing alliance between them. Whether she spoke out in opposition of the plan, or volunteered to join those rabbits to be sacrificed, Hollie was placed in the barn set aside to hold the dragons' intended victims.

When Lander Whitson and his companions arrived to free the captives, Hollie attacked him but was soon halted. Upon realizing, by Lander's words, who they were, she was filled with even greater fear. Fortunately, Lander and Winnie Drekker were able to convince her that they wanted to save her and the others. Lander was briefly shocked to learn of her identity but did not allow it to deter him from helping her and the children. As the group fled Grimble's camp, Hollie took it upon herself to carry two of the weaker younglings when they grew weary, something that Lander and Winnie also did.

The group's escape was aided by a number of soldiers from Whitson's army, who held off the pursuing rabbits of the Grimble faction. Hollie made sure all the children had been safely placed in a boat before joining them in it. She and Lander would next meet when Lander and his brother Lemual came to visit Mother Saramack. Lander was less than pleased to see Hollie in Saramack's company, unaware that Saramack had taken on Hollie as one of her many students. Hollie, for her part, reacted to Lander's questioning with defiance, but calmed and humbled herself when Saramack pointed out Hollie's place in their camp in relation to Lander's own.

Lander also apologized for his overreaction, and Saramack introduced Hollie to Lemual; an awkward pause then followed, with Saramack breaking the tension by commenting on the matter. She then sent Hollie on an errand to one of the votaries, offering words of encouragement to the struggling young doe. After Hollie departed, Saramack commented on her perception of what lay in Hollie's future, before turning her attention to the princes. Following an attack on Lener's Crossroads by Grimble's rabbits, Hollie was found to be missing. Winnie, who had been helping Hollie settle in the camp, vehemently argued that she must have been taken, as she had been adjusting well in the young Drekker's estimation.

Winnie's words would prove true, as Lord Grimble—Hollie's father—brought her bound and gagged with him to a meeting with Whitson on Barren Point. King Namoz, accompanied by a dragon sorcerer and priestess, also attended, with Lander rounding out the group's attendees. In a barbaric ritual, the priestess cut Hollie's and sprinkled some of her blood into a prepared potion. Breaking free, Hollie immediately ran to Whitson and Lander, with the king using fabric torn from his own tunic to bind her injury before wrapping her in his cape.

The three looked on as Grimble consumed, and was seemingly killed by, the potion containing Hollie's blood, which Namoz claimed would grant immortality. Though she had been weeping from pain, fear, and perhaps the sight of her father's apparent demise, Hollie mastered herself and asserted that she could not only run but fight as they made their escape. However, Grimble then rose again, having been transformed into a hybrid of rabbit and dragon, a sight that caused Hollie to scream in horror. Namoz's sorcerer deemed that the transformation from rabbit to dragon was incomplete because Hollie still lived, and Namoz thus ordered that Hollie die in hopes of finishing the metamorphosis.

Grimble attempted to kill Hollie with a crossbow taken from another dragon who had emerged from the water surrounding the island, but Whitson intercepted the bolt and was mortally wounded. Hollie, who had turned just in time to see this occur, screamed at the sight, but quickly helped Lander to get his father into their boat. Thanks to a mechanism installed by Winnie, they were able to speedily make their way across the water and away from the attacking dragons. Hollie took the King's head in her lap and helped him to remove the Ruling Stone from his neck and place it around Lander's before he breathed his last.

Arriving on the shore, Hollie accompanied the soldiers carrying Whitson's body to safety along with Winnie. In the process, she paused to look back, and saw Lander launch a preemptive strike against the arriving dragons. Hollie later reported this to Mother Saramack, who encouraged her to honor the king's sacrifice on her behalf. Hollie later approached Lander after he returned to Lener's Crossroads, expressing her sorrow at the king's loss and weeping openly at the kindness he had shown her.

Lander echoed Saramack's encouragements to Hollie, and further asked her to protect the aged doe and her treasury of knowledge in the event the dragons breached the camp. He added a final encouragement to her, and his words made Hollie smile and comment that he sounded like Mother Saramack. Lander accepted this compliment gladly, and Hollie then took her leave.

## Physical appearance

At the end of the Dragon War, Hollie was almost an adult, though still young enough to be considered a child. At the time of her rescue from Grimble Island she wore a simple, long-sleeved dress.

## Personality and traits

Hollie is shown to be a little rebellious, ending up with Grimble younglings to die because she learned of the bargain with the dragons, and telling Prince Lander she did not need his permission to go where she wished. In general, she was a kind doe, prepared to fight for the little ones' safety, and later helping them get to Lener's Crossroads. She fit in very well with the Trekkers and it was clear that she belonged with them. She expressed grief over Whitson dying for her, feeling it would be better if it had been the other way around.

## Family tree

 - The Grimble Family -

Note: Broken lines indicate relation through affinity or adoption or distant relation; unbroken lines indicate relation by blood.
## Relationships

### Grimble Halfdragon

Hollie presumably found out about the deal to trade the younglings for the alliance with the dragons, defied Grimble, and so was thrown in with the little ones to die as well. If it had not been for Whitson's intervention, Grimble would have killed his eldest daughter in the ritual to turn into a dragon. As soon as the dragon priestess lets Hollie go after wounding her, Hollie rejects her father and runs instead to Whitson's arms.

### Lander Whitson

Upon hearing that Hollie was a Grimble, Prince Lander was shocked. He rescued her along with the other Grimble younglings, however. When they met in Mother Saramack's chamber, they exchanged unkind words, but apologized to each other afterwards. After Whitson died to save Hollie, Hollie expressed to Lander grief over Whitson's death. Lander comforted her, and instructed her to live well, saying that her life had deep value.

### Mother Saramack

Hollie clearly loves Mother Saramack. Mother Saramack accepts Hollie as her student. When Prince Lander sees Hollie in Mother Saramack's chamber and responds harshly, Mother Saramack acknowledges his feelings. Mother Saramack then patiently informs Hollie of the duties of Prince Lander, saying Hollie would be wise to listen to him. Hollie and Lander each apologize to each other, and Mother Saramack introduces Hollie to Lemual. When Mother Saramack asks Hollie to go see the prester, Hollie hugs Mother Saramack before leaving. When Prince Lander advises Hollie to live well, Hollie compliments him by saying that he sounds like Mother Saramack.

### Whitson Mariner

When Grimble has Hollie gagged and bound, Whitson steps forward to protect her. He asks what Grimble has become, that he would kill his own daughter. As soon as the dragon priestess lets go of Hollie, Hollie runs right past her father and into Whitson's arms. Whitson gives his life for Hollie, and Hollie later expresses grief that he traded his life for her.

## Trivia

* Hollie is an English name meaning "holly".