Oak

SPOILER WARNING

## Oak Greenbriar

* The Folk of the Air
* The Stolen Heir

**Oak** is a faerie prince and heir to Elfhame. He is the son of Dain Greenbriar and Liriope, foster son of Madoc and Oriana, great-great-grandson of Mab Greenbriar, grandson of Eldred Greenbriar, half-brother to Locke, foster brother to Vivienne, Taryn, and Jude Duarte and nephew of Balekin, Elowyn, Rhyia, Caelia, and Cardan Greenbriar.

## Physical Description

He is smaller than the other faeries because he was born at an early age. Like many of the fey, Oak has an animal feature, which are the little horns growing out of the top of his head and the legs of a hind quarter of a deer. These horns were most likely passed down by his grandmother, Taniot, who also had horns growing out of the top of her head. His deer legs were inherited from his father.

By the time Oak is seventeen years old, he has become tall, lithe, and finely muscled. His hair is a warm gold threaded with platinum. His bangs part around his small goat horns. His fox eyes are a shocking amber. There's a constellation of freckles across his nose, and he has a trickster's mouth. Above his hoofed feet, his lower legs have a dusting of fur the same color as his hair. From the thigh up, Oak is human in appearance. Suren feels pummeled by Oak's beauty, and says it makes her want to smash things.

## Personality

Oak is an utterly normal faerie child, neither particularly called to cruelty nor free of it. He is charming. He's used to being coddled and whisked away from distress by Oriana. Oak can be mischievous and is generally happy. He gets very upset when doesn't get his way. An incident occurred when Jude was made to slap herself under Oak's command as she did not have her rowan berries on her to protect her from enchantments. He appears quite oblivious of what is going on around him. He loves and misses Oriana while in the mortal world.

As a seventeen-year-old, Oak has greatly matured and has a coy personality; often grinning, smiling, or generally delighting at most things. An interesting trait he grew into is that he is very good at killing, and he often loses himself in it. Wren makes the jab that the reason he's so good at it is because he likes the feeling of killing people. He's also manipulative and secretive. He manipulates himself to appear as a mere child of the Gentry to mislead people, then surprises them with his bravery and violence. Oak has cultivated a reputation of being a spoiled, wild prince who is too irresponsible for a throne. He also possesses the ability of a love-talker as his mother was a gancanagh, but he claims not to use his power. He has the swagger of someone used to people doing what he wants. As a member of the High Court, Oak has been trained in all the areas of a courtier.

## Biography

### Early Life

Though he is the son of Prince Dain and Liriope, but many were led to believe he was Oriana's to keep him safe from his true father, who wanted him dead before he was born.

His mother, Liriope, had died after being poisoned by Prince Dain as he knew she was pregnant with his baby. Oriana managed to save Oak and raised him with the help of Madoc.

* The Cruel Prince
* The Wicked King
* The Queen of Nothing
* The Stolen Heir

It is revealed that Oak has royal blood as he is the son of Dain. Madoc uses Oak for his plans for Oak to become king but since he is not of age, he will be able to be the ruler and would convince Oak to do everything he wishes to do when he comes of age.

However, Madoc's plans are ruined by Jude. Cardan takes his nephew's place as High King until he comes of age. Oak is till then taken to the human world to live with Vivi and her girlfriend Heather.
Oak goes to school and plays with the other children like him. When he comes to Faerieland for Taryn and Locke’s wedding, he is oblivious to everything that is happening around him.

Oak is a little bit older and a little more mature now. He takes lessons from Jude in swordplay, but dislikes it. He also unknowingly and unintentionally glamours the other kids when they are playing together. He has a very caring and sympathizing nature, which is seen when he wants to help the young Queen Suren since she is wearing a painful bridle. He also asks Jude to pardon Suren after what her parents did so that they can help her.

He repeatedly says to Jude that he does not wish to become the High King in the future, much to her annoyance.
Oak and Suren go on a quest.

## Relationships

### Family and Relationships

* Liriope
* Oriana
* Vivienne
* Jude Duarte
* Taryn Duarte
* Dain Greenbriar
* Cardan Greenbriar
* Suren

Liriope was Oak’s birth mother. Liriope did everything in her power to escape Dain and make sure her son was born, even if it meant sacrificing her own life. Oak never gets to meet Liriope. He was removed from her dead body by Oriana, in an attempt to save his life after Liriope had been poisoned.

Oriana is highly protective of Oak. She does not like it when Oak plays with Jude or Taryn. This is because Oriana feels highly responsible for Oak. Oak’s mother, Liriope, was one of Oriana’s closest friends. Liriope entrusted Oak into Oriana’s care she and wants to protect the child that she was entitled to look after. Oriana names Oak after Liriope's acorn, which brought her the message to rescue Oak. Oak is also very protective of Oriana, and tries to protect her with a play sword when the serpent tries to attack her.

Vivienne is shown to care for Oak, although she isn't above teaching him bad things. She is often seen playing with or tickling him. Oriana believes that Vivi is a bad influence on Oak since she teaches him many "bad things." However, Oriana never keeps Oak from her.

Oak was always like Jude’s little brother. For both of them, it wasn’t important that Oak was a faerie and Jude mortal, she loved him all the same. When they were both young, Jude was glamoured by Oak and made to slap herself repeatedly, and although she knew he didn’t do it on purpose, she still holds a bit of resentment towards him.

Taryn takes care of Oak, though they don't seem to be very close.

Dain is Oak's father. He wanted Oak dead because there was a prophecy that said that Dain’s child would lead to his death. Dain attempted to kill Oak by poisoning Liriope with blusher mushroom. However, even though Liriope died, Oriana managed to save Oak by cutting him out of Liriope’s womb. To Dain’s knowledge, Oak didn’t survive Liriope’s poisoning and believes Oak was never born.

Cardan never truly met Oak. His only interaction was when Jude used Oak to crown Cardan.

Suren and Oak were childhood friends, but Suren left Elfhame and Oak stayed. Suren's parents betrothed Suren and Oak, but after losing the Battle of the Serpent, their betrothal was ended.

## Gallery

by PhantomRinby PhantomRinby Magdalena Pągowska
## Trivia

* Oak is eight years old in *The Queen of Nothing*.
* Jude says Oak smells like loam and pine needles.
* Oak doesn't eat meat.
* Madoc and Jude have trained him in weapons. Unfortunately, this means he is only trained how to kill, not have to duel or put on a show.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/books/a40189520/holly-black-the-stolen-heir-exclusive/
2. ↑ *The Stolen Heir*: Chapter 4