Character Post - Lina Aylward

It's Hannah.
In looking over the blog, I have discovered that I blog very infrequently compared to my sister. She has, oh, 12 posts, while I have a third of that.
(Which is 4, in case you didn't care to do that math).
Anyway, I am in the obvious minority, so I'm going to try to do more over the next couple... weeks? And hope that I don't just seem like a creep... like the creep I am, I guess.

This one is done under the impression that I'm allowed to do a character post, which kind of seems like Trinity's thing. Since I'm copying her, I can put a proper name on this post. I had been wrestling between the names "Jill" and "Bocephus" (maybe that's supposed to be Bucephalus?).

Lina Aylward

(Lee-nah Ayul-wurd)

Swordswoman, Elf, Warrior

I don't like the description I gave her in my first book, so here's "off the cuff".

No, just kidding, I just found out that I can't do proper "off the cuff", so I'm going to find a description somewhere in my files.

Ooohhh-kay, I have no good descriptions in my files, so back to off the cuff. I don't even know if I'm using that term correctly, but I hope you know what I mean, so here we go.

Lina has long, curly, red hair, which is her most remarkable trait. Her eyes are a vivid forest green, and her skin is light and clear. She's taller than most elves, and she stands with a straight and ready stance. She's hot-tempered, but usually cheerful.

Lina is also an accomplished swordsmaster and is often seen with a longsword in hand.

Lina... was kind of an accident. In my first book, there was this part in which I thought, oh, I need a character here.

Plop, there's Lina. No background, no last name. She was kinda disturbing and strange because you knew absolutely nothing about her and at the end of the book (a few pages after) you still knew next to nothing. She just showed up, did some strange things, then wasn't heard from again.

This is the first description that I wasn't going to put on here.

(Lina's) head was covered in long, bright red hair, she had pointed ears that stuck out slightly, and a skeptical expression on her face.

You see, she appeared first as a random swordswoman that my friend (the main character) was introduced to. She seemed serious, practical, and pretty perceptive, but she didn't really have a personality apart from that. She was only my second made-up character in the whole book.

After that book, I decided to write a sequel. I didn't want to trash the old characters and start over with new ones, but I did know that they definitely need something else. Like last names, personalities, backgrounds, and actual lives.

Lina is a athletic swordswoman, which means she has spent a lot of time training. More than a decade, in fact. Currently she's 38 years old (pretty young) and she's been training since around age nine with her soldier father, and with legend Ptera Aretino, the elf who practically created the 'modern' elvish self-defense.

Now, elves are much stronger and faster than humans, so their form of fighting is different. Much more elegant and graceful, but also much more violent. Lina, for instance, in good form, could easily leap over an enemy's head, twist over in mid-air, and take off their head before landing, provided the enemy was not another well-trained elf. In that case, it could get very dangerous and bloody.

Lina is also a teacher. She enjoys instructing others, primarily the main character, in the skill she loves so much, though her personality can cause her to get frustrated or carried away when the student does not learn in the way Lina wants them to. It would probably be accurate to say that Lina desires control. She wants things to be correct, and to be going her way, and can get angry or upset when something unexpected or beyond her control occurs. 

She's a little like my sister (sorry, Trinity), in that she can be easily annoyed. There's something about her that lets her friends easily push her buttons. Lina's also a hot-head, quick to snap at someone or lash out when they make her mad. Patience is a necessary trait in her friends.



Anatomy of a longsword (Lina's weapon of choice)

 Then there are Lina's weaknesses. One of them is her tendency towards emotion, unfortunately coupled with her wish to not show weakness. She can be easily angered or hurt, but she'll just brush people off when they try to talk to her.

Another weakness is her archery. No matter how good she is with a blade, she can't shoot a bow to save her life. Also, her cooking is notoriously bad. Her friends are encouraging, but politely tell her that she either needs lessons, or that eventually she must marry someone who cooks for themself.

It's time for me to wind this up, but I enjoyed writing this, and it has helped me to know a little about Lina that I didn't know before. For instance, I think I may have subconciously based her off of Trinity... I'll be generous and say that Trinity inspired just the good parts. Her archery is actually pretty good.