Gwydion Eaglewing

A lifelong bachelor, Gwydion Eaglewing has served the royal family of Linwood since he was ten, when he entered into court life as a page. By the time he was twenty, he had worked his way up to the position of chamberlain, serving the new rulers, Ailil and Caitriona.

He watched their children, Ithel and Agrona, grow, and was one of few servants to treat Agrona in a more caring manner than simply as a servant to a princess. He knew that the girl had a good heart underneath her increasingly cold exterior, and was one of the hardest to convince that she could have orchestrated the deaths of her brother and sister-in-law. In the back of his mind, he continued to have doubts.

With nobody on the throne, Gwydion arranged for new positions for each and every member of the royal staff, certain that such a move was temporary and that they would have a new ruler soon enough. He did not realize that the wait would be more than a decade.

When Tesni finally took the throne, Gwydion was as surprised as anyone else, having never guessed that the handmaid Cliona was actually the daughter of Ithel and Rhiannon. Still, Gwydion took charge, making all of the needed arrangements for the coronation and bringing as many servants back as he could, hiring on new servants where he had to. Later in the year, he made all of the arrangements necessary for Tesni and Rowan’s wedding.

Like the rest of Linwood, he waited patiently for the new rulers to produce an heir. Their hopes were realized with the birth of Princess Nia five years after Tesni and Rowan were wed, and of Prince Eogan five years after that. With the line of succession secured, Gwydion began to relax, and it was Gwydion who helped to keep the calm during the eleven years that Nia was missing.

When Agrona was returned from the dead, Gwydion simply accepted it. He knew how powerful sorcery could be, as well as what strange events could happen within the royal family. It was the same when Cliona was also returned to them, though Tesni remained on the throne due to her mother’s long-ago abdication.

When word came that Bhimar was invading, Gwydion bravely chose to stay behind in order to send messages to Tesni from behind enemy lines, knowing that Bhimar would see the value in keeping him alive in order to keep the servants in line. He stayed until Bhimar decided to take Doran Redleaf's daughter, Orla, as a new wife. It was at this point that Doran begged Gwydion to get Orla and her mother, Liadan, out of Linwood in order to save them.

Gwydion agreed. Along the route to Yewsel, though, he found himself falling in love with Orla, despite knowing that he was old enough to be her grandfather. He kept his feelings inside, though, until after he had a chance to speak with Tesni, who encouraged him.

After the Battle of Hearts, Gwydion and Orla were married, and she gave him a son, Connor. In addition, because Torin Moonhaze had been removed from the council, Gwydion found himself in Torin's place, though he also continued in his duties as chamberlain for another two years, until Tesni finally hired his brother, Abban, to take the position

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