User:Angelamaria/Sandbox/Alanna of Trebond and Olau

Note: I am still undecided whether or not to use plain "Alanna" for the article title, or add her titles (Trebond and Olau). It feels rather incomplete without her titles. Any suggestion on this matter is highly encouraged and appreciated. -- Angela 07:59, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

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Article title: Alanna of Trebond and Olau

Alanna of Trebond and Olau is a major fictional female character by Tamora Pierce, who shows up in numerous books the author has written set in the land of Tortall. She appears in all the series, which are currently The Song of the Lioness, The Immortals, Protector of the Small, and Daughter of the Lioness.

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Biography

Song of the Lioness

Alanna: The First Adventure

Alanna has always dreamed of becoming a female knight, and her chance came when she and her twin brother Thom decide to trade places, allowing her to become the knight. She hides her true sex and trains with the rest of the knights-in-training, and befriends, among others, Jonathan of Conté, the heir to the throne of Tortall, and George Cooper, the King of Thieves. The latter had seen her with his Sight, and had loked for her since her entrance into Corus.

The friendship doesn't go to waste. Ralon of Malven tries to pick on her while at court, and she refuses to let her new friends fight for her. She keeps quiet about Ralon's obvious bullying, and turns instead to George in order to learn hand combat and streetfighting in secret. She finally defeats Ralon, who leaves court. George later on finds out her true sex from her, but promises to keep the knowledge to himself.

Alanna has always been reluctant to use her powers, unlike her twin, so when the mysterious Sweating Sickness came over the capital to strike down inhabitants and drain healers, she kept knowledge of her Gift to herself until Jonathan himself fell sick. With the palace healers drained and a mutual friend dead from the sickness, Alanna finally emerges with her Gift, and brings Jon back from between life and death -- inadvertently showing her real sex to Sir Myles of Olau, who decide to let her keep her secret a secret and not tell her what he found out. The whole ordeal, however, has shown Alanna that she must heal in order to replace the lives that she will extinguish later on when she succeeds in becoming a lady knight.

Suspicious of Jonathan's uncle Roger, who comes to Corus shortly after the Sickness to train all Gifted pages and squires in the use of their Gift, Alanna keeps close, if secret, guard for the prince especially during the visit to Persopolis, where they were forced to battle a group of immortals called the Ysandir. Jon shortly after made her his squire, even though her true sex was revealed to him during the battle.

In the Hand of the Goddess

George very shortly after showed her indications of his having feelings for her, which she tried to ignore. Much later on, Jon himself realizes that she is a woman, and Alanna gets into a relationship with him.

After her knighthood, she was forced to fight Roger, defeating him but revealing her true sex in the process. Against the wishes of her friends, shortly after this she leaves and travels with Coram, her manservant and foot soldier.

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

She goes to the Bazhir desert, where she soon gets adopted by a tribe. After being forced to defend herself and her honor by killing the resident shaman in a duel, she stays on to be the temporary shaman and teach prospective new shamans.

Jon and Alanna's friend/mentor Myles of Olau visit her during her stay as shaman. Myles adopts her as his own daughter, and among other concerns, Jon proposes marriage, believing the answer to be evident; but she turns him down. Angered, Jon goes back to Corus and Myles is forced to follow. Alanna leaves as well and meets up with George at Port Caynn (?), who is quelling a thieves rebellion there. During the long stay there, Alanna soon turns to George and they become involved, realizing that it should have happened long ago.

Lioness Rampant

Alanna's traveling days aren't over yet, though, and she leaves again to travel to the Roof of the World to obtain the Dominion Jewel to give to Jon and prove her worthiness as a knight to all the rest. Along the way, she meets up and gets involved with Liam Ironarm, the Shang Dragon. She also brings along with her Thayet jian Wilima and her maidservant and guard Buriram Tourakom, who are fleeing Saraine.

Once she reaches home, she has discovered that a lot of things have happened since losing touch with Tortall: King Roald and his queen are dead and Jonathan is preparing for his coronation; and impulsive, proud Thom has resurrected her old nemesis, Roger, who finally strikes during Jon's coronation. Thom dies, his Gift corrupted, and she is forced to duel with her old friend Alex of Tirragen to the death, before she reaches Roger, who is just waiting for the whole of Tortall to fall apart in massive earthquakes. She kills him.

Alanna is also appointed King's Champion, and marries George who is now the Baron of Pirate's Swoop and Royal Spymaster.

The Immortals

Her title calls her frequently from her home, however, and she later on befriends Daine, a wild mage who greatly helps Tortall battle the immortals that break lose into the mortal world.

Family

They have three children: Thom, the eldest, and the twins Alan and Alianne.