Lessa

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Lessa is a fictional character in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. She is the Benden Weyrwoman during the Ninth Pass, and rider of the gold dragon Ramoth. Unique among all characters in the novels is Lessa's ability to psychically influence the thoughts and actions of others.

Prior to her Impression and ascension to the Weyrwoman position, Lessa disguises herself for many years from young child to young adult as a drudge in Ruatha Hold after Fax murdered the former Lord of Ruatha, Lessa's father and all their family.

Her father Kale was an amiable man and in ordinary times was considered the ideal Holder. However, the brutal greed of High Reaches' Lord Holder Fax is underestimated by Kale, with the result that all of "The Blood" within Ruatha are massacred except Lessa, who hid in the watch-wher's den. According to the books, Lessa was 11 turns (years) old at the time of the attack.

At a young age, she was already very headstrong and independent. Her father apparently mentions her as "stubborn at only four [years old]", and the Harper Robinton is many years later amused when she falls asleep during a marching song.

Lessa spends years surviving abuse and subtly undermining a hold which should otherwise thrive; as a way of gaining petty revenge against Fax and biding her time. So when the Benden riders come in search of a woman with the telepathic talents to Impress the new queen dragonet, the dragons can feel her aura and she also uses her abilities to embroil the dragonrider F'lar in a fight to the death with Fax, which F'lar wins.

Instead of inheriting her family hold of Ruatha, Lessa reluctantly gives up her right as heir to Jaxom, son of Fax and a distant cousin; a strong woman of "The Blood". She then travels to Benden Weyr to become the only Weyrwoman on Pern. She joins forces with Weyrleader F'lar to fight the resurgence of the voracious alien life-forms known as "Thread". Lessa's most notable accomplishment is the re-discovery that dragons can travel between times as well as places. She foolhardily dares to use this skill to travel 400 years into the past in a single jump to seek help leaving F'lar in despair back in the present. However she succeeds in persuading the dragonriders at the end of the Eighth Pass to travel to the future and resume fighting the menace of Thread that once again threatens life on Pern. These saviours become the "Oldtimers" in the present and several eventually become a thorn in Lessa's and F'lar's side.

At first, Lessa is portrayed as an extremely unsociable, cynical and uptight personality, having known nothing but abuse and petty revenge in her time at Ruatha. In the course of the books, however, she grows into her broader role, becoming much more personable; developing a genuinely loving relationship with F'lar. Nevertheless, she is always notably short-tempered and occasionally uses her considerable psychic ability to influence the mood of others and even to affect their perceptions of things.

Lessa is a petite woman described as being childlike in figure with extremely long, thick black hair. Her queen Ramoth is the largest dragon on the planet at 45 meters long, nose to tip of tail.

F'lessan becomes her only child, it being assessed as too dangerous for her to have more after nearly dying in childbirth. In the earlier books, she expresses bitterness that she was not like Kylara, another Weyrwoman known for her promiscuity, who bore many children despite not wanting any.

In The Skies of Pern, she admits that she left the care of F'lessan to his fostermother and that she'd never really paid much attention to him. Manora replied that it was expected, since she was Weyrwoman and had other duties.

[edit] Relations

  • Parents: Lord Kale and Lady Adessa
  • Siblings: several brothers, (names unknown) died in Fax's invasion of Ruatha
  • Weyrmate: F'lar
  • Son: F'lessan
  • Cousins:
    • Gemma, mother of Jaxom (father of Jarrol and Shawan)
    • Barla, mother of Pell, Aramina (mother of Readis, Aranya, Janara, Anskono, Almie), Nexa
  • Notable Ancestors:
    • Landing/First Pass: Sorka Hanrahan, Peter (Red) Hanrahan, Brian Hanrahan, M'hall Hanrahan, Torene Ostrovsky
    • Sixth Pass: Lord Alessan, Lady Nerilka (formerly of Fort Hold)