Menion Leah

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Menion Leah Shannara character
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Hair colour	Dark brown
Eye colour	Grey
Loyalty	Shea and Flick Ohmsford
First appearance	The Sword of Shannara
Birth	Unknown
Death	Unknown

Menion Leah is a fictional character from The Sword of Shannara, a part of the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. His descendants feature in many of the other Shannara novels.

[edit] Biography

In the book, Menion was born the crown prince of the small highland kingdom of Leah. He was an extremely lazy youth, having absolutely no interest in the responsibility of ruling that he would one day inherit. Despite his lack of initiative, Menion was extremely talented. He was easily the best tracker in the highlands, as well as a skilled archer. Menion was close friends with Shea Ohmsford, whose brother Flick couldn't stand the Prince of Leah.

Nevertheless, as Shea noted, Menion had a strong sense of morality. When Shea and Flick came to him for help when they were chased from the Vale by Skull Bearers, Menion felt honor bound to become their guide and protector. He never relinquished this role. Like Flick, Menion felt somehow responsible when Shea appeared to have fallen to his death; both blamed themselves for letting their friend/brother down. Finding Shea became their drive through the remainder of the story, in the hope that he may have survived his plunge into the Rabb River. Menion's sense of honor also manifested itself earlier in the Eastland, as well as his sense of humor. The only way to escape the multitude of Gnomes trapping them in the Jannison Pass, Menion had to create a distraction so they could escape. The safest way to do this, they agreed upon, was killing a Gnome chieftain, which would cause disorder among the tribal people. However, Menion refused to kill a man whose back was turned; doing so in the heat of battle was one thing, but he could not live with murder. Instead, Menion fired an arrow straight to the chieftain's rear end. It was a greater risk, but Menion's character was demonstrated then.

Later on, as he was searching for Shea, he rescued a young woman who was kidnapped by Stenmin. Despite his previous claim that he had no need for love, he fell for this redhead, Shirl Ravenlock, who was revealed to be royalty and Palance Buckhannah's object of desire. The two succeeded in saving her people from the advancing Northland army by evacuating the island's inhabitants down the Mermidon River to the temporary safety of Tyrsis, the capital of Callahorn. Menion fought valiantly in the ensuing battle for Tyrsis, a losing battle that he was prepared to die in, and surely would have if Shea did not destroy the Warlock Lord in time. After the war, Menion married Shirl. Battle having forced him to mature, Menion became the greatest ruler in the history of Leah. His great-grandson Rone Leah would later accompany Brin Ohmsford and Allanon in the battle against the Mord Wraiths.