Elspeth Gordie with Maruman
Elspeth “Elf” Gordie is the main character in the Obernewtyn Chronicles.
Profile[]
Name: Elspeth Gordie
Age: 14- around 19
Gender: Female
Species: Human
Talent: Farseeking, Beastspeaking, Coercion (along with the power to heal herself granted by the Agyllians and her dark spirit power)
Appearance: Tall and thin with long black hair.
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Background[]
She is a young Misfit daughter of burned Seditioner parents, and was an orphan at the Kinraide Orphan Home until she was condemned to Obernewtyn.
Elspeth is tall and slim, with brilliant green eyes, which are somewhat sad, hence the nickname "little sad-eyes" given to her by Brydda Llewellyn. She is also called "Elf" by her brother Jes, and other close friends such as Matthew. Her hair is long and black, described as "black silk" by Kella in Ashling, and she has pale skin like most orphans at Kinraide. An extremely powerful Misfit, Elspeth possesses farseeking, beastspeaking, coercion and the ability to heal herself; Talents in equal and prodigious strengths (a trait that is unique to her - no other known Misfit is so strong in three separate Talents), and also bears some abilities associated with futuretelling, healing and teknoguilding. Elspeth is Guildmistress of the Farseeker Guild, and, later, Mistress of Obernewtyn in Rushton's absence. She is also The Seeker and the fated Innle of beast legend, identities she keeps secret from all humans.
Names []
Elspeth is called many names throughout the books, including:
- "the Seeker"; or Innle in the beast-language
- Elaria to the Gypsies.
- "Elf" by her brother Jes, and other close friends such as Matthew
- "little sad-eyes" given to her by Brydda Llewellyn
She's been dubbed a figure of legends, said to do a number of things, the most important to:
1) Find the five signs, and beat "the Destroyer" to the weaponmachines in time to prevent a second Great White rising over the world, and
2) Free the beasts from human dominance.
Elspeth possesses many talents, which set her apart from other Talented Misfits. She possesses the abilities of Farseeking, Coercion, Beastspeaking and possibly Teknoguilding, given her ability to manipulate locks. Some futuretelling or Truedreaming ability is also apparent, though this is vague and uncontrolled. She has the power to heal her own body, bestowed upon her by Nerat the Agyllian, in The Farseekers. She also has a separate Talent of killing with her mind that she is too scared to uncover properly (but learns to do so in The Sending). The only Talent she doesn’t have in some capacity is empathy, which she often longs for.
Elspeth becomes betrothed to Rushton Seraphim at the end of Ashling, having then realised that what she had felt for Rushton all along had been love, but she was too scared to face it.