SPOILER WARNING: This article has important plot information. Caution is advised! |
“ | I have learned that true wealth is not all glittering gold and jewels. | ” |
–Falkan to Nesryn - Tower of Dawn |
Falkan Ennar is a Shape-shifter and merchant who sold 20 years of his life for Spidersilk.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Falkan grew up in Adarlan. His father and brother were shape-shifters, though Falkan himself never displayed the ability, for which he was grateful. When he was seven, his older brother sired a daughter by a woman and abandoned them.[1]
When he became a merchant, Falkan began searching for his niece and found her mother, dying. She lived long enough to tell Falkan that she'd thrown the girl out, and give him a description. She died before giving him a name.
A year before going to the southern continent, Falkan sought out the Stygian Spiders and bargained with them for a hundred yards of Spidersilk. He believed that the price they asked meant he would lose twenty years of the end of his life; he was horrified when they took the price off his current age, causing him to look twenty years older. Initially he did not care, since he was still rich.
Around this time Falkan met Aelin, on a mission from Arobynn Hamel as Celaena Sardothien, in the Red Desert. Celaena recognized the Spidersilk he had on display at a market, and they struck up a conversation. Falkan shared the tale of how he acquired the Spidersilk, and Celaena told him a bit about her. Falkan gave her a six-inch piece of Spidersilk before she left.[2]
Falkan then sailed to the southern continent and spent two years there, searching for the spider with who he bargained. Upon arriving, Falkan discovered that he had the shape-shifting ability, which had been stifled by the purge of magic in Adarlan and manifested due to his accelerated aging.[1]
Tower of Dawn[]
Falkan spends a while at the Eridun aerie, and is still there when Prince Sartaq and Nesryn Faliq arrive. He tells them a bit of his story, leaving out his shape-shifting abilities.
He later comes to their rescue when they are attacked by a stygian spider at a watchtower in the Dagul Fells. Shifting into a giant wolf, he battles and kills the spider, though he receives wounds for his trouble. When he shifts back, Nesryn recognizes his magic and says it aloud; Sartaq becomes aggressive upon hearing it, as his experience of shape-shifters is that they are assassins. Nesryn forces him to help Falkan, who reveals the story of how he learned of his gift and explains that he can't control it very well.
He spends weeks recovering at the aerie and then accompanies Sartaq, Nesryn and Borte to the other watchtowers. During the searches, the group is ambushed by spiders and captured. Falkan, hiding in Nesryn's pocket as a small animal, chews through her spiderweb restraints and manages to shift into a stygian spider and trick their captive into leaving. While escaping, Falkan stops and stays back to fight, hastily telling Nesryn of his search for his niece and asking her to find her. He holds the spiders off for a while and is gravely injured but survives long enough to be rescued.
After a short recovery Nesryn takes him aside and tells him of Lysandra, and how she might be his niece. Falkan weeps and vows to meet her.
Kingdom of Ash[]
During the fight at Anielle, Falkan is surprised when he suddenly turned back into a young man. He explains that he's been feeling something and noting changes. He was eating a meal with Borte, when suddenly he changed back completely to a younger body. This happened because the spider that Falkan traded 20 years of his life to was killed.
In the war tent at Anielle, Falkan recognizes Aelin from the market in Xandria where she stole a horse. It's revealed that he is Lysandra's uncle and that the Stygian spiders and the kharankui are Valg and that they serve Maeve who is a Valg queen.
Personality[]
Falkan is initially greedy and only interested in wealth, to the point of sacrificing years of his life. After contemplation, he realizes that it is not worth his life and begins searching for the spider who bargained with him to get his years back.
He displays admirable responsibility and devotion, spending nearly twenty years searching for a niece he never met because she was his family. He also has selflessness, as he is prepared to sacrifice his life to save Nesryn and her allies from the stygian spiders.
Physical Description[]
Falkan is 27 years old, however, he looks close to fifty because he made a trade with the stygian spiders to have 20 years of his life taken away from in exchange for Spidersilk.
He is broad-shouldered and fit, with short brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. He has white lines around his eyes and tan skin.
Powers and Abilities[]
Falkan is a shape-shifter and can shapeshift into most animals. However, because he only discovered he had the ability when he journeyed to the southern continent, he is not very skilled at shifting and can only manage some forms. The large wolf form he uses is as big as he can manage; anything larger is beyond his magic.
Appearances[]
- The Assassin and the Desert (first appearance)
- Tower of Dawn
- Kingdom of Ash