- This article is about the Baroness of Ruanon and daughter of Oren Vanalund. For the princess and daughter of King Ulnar V, see Madelon (daughter of Ulnar V).
Baroness Madelon Vanalund is the 16th baroness of Ruanon. She is the daughter of Baron Oren Vanalund, and a distant descendant of King Ulnar I.
History[]
Madelon's mother died while she was an infant.[1] She is Baron Vanalund's only daughter.[2] She had three brothers,[3] but all three of them perished in Barraka's invasion, leaving her as the only surviving child and heir to the barony by the time Lone Wolf arrived at Ruanon.
Madelon makes her first appearance during The Chasm of Doom. She was kidnapped by the Vassagonian bandit Barraka when he destroyed Ruanon. Barraka planned to sacrifice her, as a descendant of King Ulnar I, to awaken Darklord Vashna and the Undead of the Maakengorge, but she was saved by Lone Wolf.
After the Army of the South liberated Ruanon, Oren established his new seat of power in the Baron's Keep of Ruanon Town. Madelon married an unnamed man and had a son, but lost both during the Darklands War.[4]
In MS 5087, Madelon inherited the title of Baroness of Ruanon with her father's death, and led the province into new prosperity. However, in MS 5103, prior to the events of The Dusk of Eternal Night, Ruanon became the first to fall victim to a new expansion of the Maakengorge, flooding the Maaken Mines of Maura with the Nengud-kor-Adez. Madelon participated in a war council with her rescuer Lone Wolf, several selected Kai Grand Masters of New Order of the Kai, Guildmaster Banedon of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star, Kloon sage Chastan, and Marshal Thanar.
Legends of Lone Wolf[]
In the Legends of Lone Wolf series, Madelon is deaf. However, she was not recognized as deaf until she was 13 years old, and only then by a courtier in Baron Vanalund's court named Darler. Assigned to be Madelon's teacher, Darler taught her to read and write, as well as sign language. Madelon grew to love Darler, and they were married when Madelon was 18. However, the marriage lasted for only a few months. When Barraka's bandits invaded the province during the events of The Chasm of Doom, Darler was a member of the first expedition to investigate the disturbances, and no member of that expedition survived.
Madelon was plunged into grief, but soon had even worse problems when she and her maid Lekka were kidnapped by Barraka's right-hand man Rhalator. Lekka was promptly killed, leading Madelon to swear to kill Barraka herself. During the lead-up to the sacrifice Barraka had her bound naked to the altar, and prepared to rape her himself; this is explained as to revive the dead it is also necessary to perform the opposite action - to sow the seeds of life. Lone Wolf interrupted the sacrifice and freed Madelon; per her vow she then slit Barraka's throat with Lone Wolf's dagger. Barraka survived the wound, but was soon consumed by the erupting Maakengorge.
In the epilogue, it is revealed that the psychological torment of being bound to the altar awaiting rape and death had taken a heavy toll on Madelon, and she later committed suicide.
References[]
- ↑ The Sacrifice of Ruanon, Part Two
- ↑ The Sacrifice of Ruanon, Part Two. "...the baron resigned himself to the fact that this, his only daughter, born of his twilight years ..."
- ↑ The Sacrifice of Ruanon, Part Three. "Two of [Baron Vanalund's] sons were killed trying to defend the city and the third, his youngest and his favourite, was captured and subjected to one of Barraka's more protracted and ... imaginative executions ..."
- ↑ The Dusk of Eternal Night: Prologue