Andry

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Andry is a fictional character created by Melanie Rawn for her fantasy novels of the Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies. He is one of the antagonists - and protagonists - of the Dragon Star trilogy.

Andry was born in 699 to Tobin and Chaynal; Sorin was his twin. Andry was a Sunrunner like his older brother, Maarken. As such he was fostered out to High Kirat. It soon became apparent, however, that Andry would not enjoy life as a Lord or knight. He asked to be sent to Goddess Keep and forego his knighthood. His request was granted, and he was sent to Goddess Keep in 713.

Dragon Prince character
Lord Andry of Radzyn Keep
Race faradhi
Birth 699, Radzyn, The Desert
Colors ruby, amber, and amethyst
Rings ten with two bracelets with sapphire and moonstone
Dragon Unknown
Titles Lord of Goddess Keep
Princedom The Desert

Contents

[edit] Biography

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Dragon Prince

Andry's life was forever changed in 719, when Lady Andrade showed him the Star Scrolls. Working with Hollis, his brother's Chosen, he deciphered the scrolls and discovered their coded secrets. Andry traveled with Andrade to that year's Rialla, where another potentially life altering event occurred: he met Alasen of Kierst. She was faradhi gifted, but did not want to become a Sunrunner; Andry didn't understand how she could deny a wondrous part of herself - or of him. He asked her to marry him; she turned him down, even while claiming to love him. Hurt and angered, he tried to show her what awesome gifts Sunrunners possessed, but she got frightened and ran to Ostvel, whom she married. During this time Andrade, Andry's aunt and the Lady of Goddess Keep, had been killed by sorcery. Still feeling hurt and betrayed, Andry returned to Goddess Keep as its new Lord, even though he had yet to reach his twenty-first winter or to earn all ten faradhi rings.

Unlike the other Sunrunners he knew, when Andry looked into the Fire he saw death and destruction. This vision defined the rest of his life and reshaped the Continent.

During his reign as Lord of Goddess Keep, Andry made many changes, including abolishing the required half a dowry that had been payment for entering Goddess Keep, and altering the skills necessary to earn the higher faradhi rings. He even created the Devr'im or Lords of Light, who were trained in defensive and offensive casting - and were even allowed to kill using their gifts when the occasion warranted it - a thing strictly forbidden in the past. Most of these changes occurred after Andry had seen a vision from the Goddess depicting a great war, full of death, and Radzyn Keep, Andry's beloved home, burning to the ground. Horrified by his visions, Andry readied the Sunrunners for the coming war.

On top of the visions, Andry's life was greatly changed by the death of his twin, Sorin, in 728. Sorin had been killed by Marron, a sorcerer (and Pol's half brother, though Andry did not know it at the time). This infused Andry with anger and a hatred for all diarmadhi. This, on top of his visions, caused him to search for diarmadhi and kill them. Andry killed Marron for Sorin's death, but did so without a trial - something Marron was owed due to his exalted birth. For this very public crime, Andry was exiled from the Desert for the length of Rohan's reign.

These, among other things, caused a rift between Andry and the rest of his family, whose allegiance was to the land and thus Rohan and Pol. Had Sorin not been slain, it was thought that Andry may not have reacted as strongly to his visions or would have had someone to share them with, who would understand and be able to reach across the chasm between the Lord of Goddess Keep and the High Prince. However, it was not to be.

[edit] Dragon Star

In 737, the Vellant'im attacked and all of Andry's nightmares came true. Though at first still estranged from his family, by the end of the war he fought side by side with them, using his gifts alongside Pol's. He used his gifts to kill, but he protected Chayla from doing the same, knowing that she would deeply regret it later. In the wash of power, which he held from his Devr'im and wrestled from Pol, Andry became lost in the light, spread too far. For a number of days he held on to life; he held on long enough to ask Chayla to be the Lady of Goddess Keep. Then, he let himself go into the light and become one with his Goddess.

[edit] Lord Andry of Goddess Keep

Andry's reign over Goddess Keep forever changed the Continent. He changed age old traditions at Goddess Keep, including the ranks of faradhi rings, and even changed the worship of the Goddess herself. More rituals were added, and Andry became the sole commune of the Goddess; all intercessions with her had to go through the Lord of Goddess Keep. The easy relationship the people of the Continent had with their deity was gone; a codified religion now stood in its place.

Sin was a concept hitherto unknown to the peoples of the Continent. Andry himself did not know of it until he read the Star Scrolls, ancient texts written by the Sunrunner Lady Merisel. Andry utilized sin as a tool to operate outside of the High Prince's Writ. Heresy became a crime punishable by death, where it had never before existed. Andry felt he needed to do all of this in order to prevent the visions he was receiving from the Goddess, visions of Radzyn Keep and the Continent in flames. He was trying to shape the world, so that it would have a chance against the coming invasion - an invasion no one else believed was coming. This was the same justification Andry used for hunting down and killing diarmadhi.

In the end Andry's visions came true - the Vellanti invaded, Radzyn burned, the Continent was nearly destroyed - though they were slightly altered. For example instead of falling destroyed, Radzyn merely burned; instead of the Continent being conquered, Pol emerged victorious. These differences between Andry's visions and reality could be due, at least in part, to Andry's actions as the Lord of Goddess Keep, though the truth of this cannot be known.

Preceded by
Andrade
Lord of Goddess Keep
719 - 737
Succeeded by
Chayla

[edit] Family Links

[edit] Andry's Children

After Andry's death Maarken and Hollis brought all of his children to live with them at Whitecliff.

  • Andrev of Goddess Keep: Born in 724 to Andry and Othanel, he was Andry's oldest son. He was fostered out to Tilal, Prince of Ossetia and Sioned's nephew, in 737. Andry had taught him how to use his faradhi gifts and used them to aid Tilal during the war against the Vellant'im. He was an immense help to Tilal during the war, but then Andrev died while he was Sunrunning. He had toppled from his horse and the iron pin of his cloak pierced him, killing him due to his faradhi blood.
Dragon Prince character
Tobren of Goddess Keep
Race faradhi
Birth 725, Goddess Keep
Colors amber, topaz, and moonstone
Dragon Tirita
  • Tobren of Goddess Keep: Born in 725 to Andry and Rusina, she was rejected by her mother, who had not wanted to become pregnant. She was fostered out to Whitecliff in 737 under the care of Maarken, Andry's oldest brother, and Hollis. After her older brother, Andrev, ran off to be Tilal's squire, Tobren was one of his most frequent communicants on the sunlight.
  • Chayly of Goddess Keep: Andry's daughter by Valeda.
  • Joscev of Goddess Keep: Andry's son by Ulwis.
  • Merisel of Goddess Keep: Andry's daughter by Brenlis, named after the ancient Sunrunner, who wrote the Star Scroll.