Lassendir

*"Known to the Elves as Hennethon in their tongue and to us he is Lassendir the ruler of Jelevar who served as the catalyst for all kings of men being the embodiment of a true leader he sacrificed himself so that his sons and their descendants may be blessed with longer life to become wiser and learn what it was to rule."* - Book of Kings, a book dating the history of kings from all of the three kingdoms

Lassendir was a half Elf and half human being the son to Silevrenion who was the first king of the Elvish kingdom of Velryn in which Lassendir would grow up in being given a second name of Hennethon which was his Elvish name, whilst being raised amongst humans and Elves he was given training in combat and diplomacy giving him foundations to become a great leader. Over the years Lassendir would begin using his qualities to rally many tribes and other nomadic people to form his kingdom of Elion which by the year of 50 within the First Era would be the largest known kingdom across the realm, despite having ruled the majority of the realm bringing peace and prosperity Lassendir was still considered a conqueror or tyrant to many other people to the eastern lands that his kingdom's borders did not cover. During his later days he would being to realise that his time was running short and so would make a deal with Silevrenion to sacrifice himself to bless his children and their descendants with long life and other physical attributes that may help them defend the kingdom and realm from anything, after his death Lassendir had an array of opinions about him as time went on with some people seeing him as the best king to have ever existed or even a god whereas some would see him in a different light as a merciless conqueror who massacred people to form his kingdom. It would be thanks to Lassendir that the future kings of the three kingdoms and the Galad people would be blessed with long life and a higher resistance to the corruption of evil beings such as Tozor.

## Biography

### First Era

#### Hennethon

Lassendir was born around the first year of the First Era to the High Elf king Silevrenion who had a relationship with a human making him half human and half Elf with the Elves giving him the name of Hennethon translating to 'Son of the Stars', during his childhood he would be raised among other Elves in Velryn where he was taught how to fight and how to be polite and respectful alongside diplomatic teachings. Whilst he received much of his training in both stewardship and combat from his father he would also learn to be more a human and a people person from his mother, with both parents giving his valuable lessons he would have a solid foundation to later becoming a leader and a king.

#### Elion

Little is known about the world itself before the formation of Elion however it was detailed by Lassendir's own journal that the lands outside the Forest of Runes was widely untamed with the southern lands being settled tribes whereas the north was nomadic lands, at some point approximately around the year of 24 or 25 of the First Era Lassendir would begin taming lands and forming his own kingdom that he was being prepared to do by his father naming it Elion. During this time he would continue expanding the borders of his kingdom which eventually would cover the majority of the realm making it the largest kingdom to have ever existed at any time in history, whilst he was taming the lands of the realm and building up cities and towns Lassendir was able to unite many of the species under his banner such as the Dwarves who provided great architecture to the towns and castles throughout the northern region of Elion. It would also be during his conquering of the untamed lands that Lassendir would have three children being Selwyn, Elros and Cairdor who would later go on to be the first three kings, by the year of 50 of the First Era would see Elion become the largest kingdom ever known spanning across a huge portion of the realm. Whilst he grew as a leader and a king he would grow concerned for his children after seeing the many wrong paths that he could of taken as a ruler but thanks to his own teachings he was able to be the leader he was meant to be, this concern grew as he did not feel that his children would follow in his path and in a moment of weakness he would begin spiralling into magic learning spells that might help his kids but it would ultimately lead him back to his father where Silevrenion revealed that if Lassendir gave up his soul and sacrificed himself there would be a spell that he could use to bless his children and their descendants to have long life alongside other physical attributes that naturally would make them resistant to dark forces like corruption or in the future evil beings. Having accepted this offer Lassendir would freely give his soul and in the year of 72 of the First Era he would die having his soul removed from his body which allowed the spell to bless his line of descendants including his current sons, it would be unknown what happened to Lassendir's spirit but after his death the throne would pass immediately to Selwyn who was the eldest of his sons.

## Legacy

Whilst being the catalyst for the decline in men after his death Lassendir would also incidentally save the realm by providing his descendant Artis with the blessing of long life and physical attributes to destroy Tozor, what was learned from Lassendir was that as he got older he grew less confident in the race of men to lead and rule the lands as he had done since he too had struggled with the many problems that leaders would come across such as selfishness which ultimately would be his downfall as he believed the spell that was cast on his descendants would be the key to saving the realm when it would actually be the fear of ruling for men to overcome which he would learn as his spirit watched over the realm.