Varyyn

Varyyn, a character in the "Endless Summer" series, is the Prince of the Vaanti, and later, the leader (or Elyyshar). He is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 12 but was first referenced in Chapter 7. His name was confirmed in Book 2, Chapter 3. He is initially an antagonist, but later becomes a trusted ally.

Appearance
Varyyn has blue skin, yellow eyes, a scar across his eye and green hair in a braided ponytail. He wears an orange and black lion mask and a necklace with a blue stone. Varyyn has an athletic physique, and can be considered attractive even by human standards.

Personality
Serious and determined, Varyyn is fiercely loyal to his tribe, and is eager to capture the Catalysts. Although Varyyn's intentions are impossible to determine at first, if you spend the Diamonds, it is suggested that his intentions are not as bad as they seem.

In the second and third book, he is shown to have a different side of him - he has genuinely befriended and cared for Diego Soto, his own captive. After the group saves his people from Cetus, Varyyn is immensely grateful, willing to tag along with them through their adventures for the rest of the series, even willing to risk losing the Island Heart just to ensure their safe return.

Book One
Varyyn's first "appearance" was during the sixth chapter, when Taylor receives a brief and sudden vision of him staring down Varyyn (while he wears a lion mask).

He later appears in the twelfth chapter, wearing the same mask. Flanked by two fellow Vaanti warriors, a man in an owl mask and a woman in a skull mask, he confronts Sean, Jake and Your Character as you are finding your way back to The Celestial after your near death experience fighting Cetus. He speaks in a foreign language, but Varyyn possesses the ability to "link" his mind with Your Character; as a result of this, you begin to see visions of all of your friends bloodied, beaten and dragged into the trees. A diamond choice allows you to see a vision of Mount Atropo erupting and causing a global eruption if you touch his palm.

He is later a leading attacker in his people's raid on The Celestial; he kills Your Character's love interest (or Diego if you don't have one), but Your Character's ability to rewind time is able to save them. His tribe manages to succeed in capturing Diego, and possibly Raj and/or Grace, though the rest of the group manages to safely escape into the future via a time portal gun.

Book Two
Book Two introduces several other major Vaanti characters - Ximaedra, Varyyn's beloved mother and the current Elyyshar of Vaanti village Elyys'tel; Seraxa, the leader of the Vaanti military shown to not share Varyyn's patience; and Uqzhaal, an elder shaman.

Early into Book Two, the entire Vaanti village has secured a grasp on the English language thanks to the help of Diego, whom Varyyn and Uqzhaal have treated with respect. The group, known as the Catalysts by the Vaanti, hatch a plan to kidnap Diego and flee, but they are imprisoned by the group and sent to a nearby island.

They manage to escape the island with the help of the pirate Yvonne, but as they are fleeing, they note Cetus approaching the island. They return to help battle it off; during this time, Varyyn and Diego team up to control a glider to help fight off Cetus. While keeping the island safe and driving Cetus away, Cetus succeeds in claiming the life of Ximaedra - with her dying breath, she declares Varyyn the Elyyshar, or leader, of the group. Varyyn is deeply saddened by his mother's death, but he is very grateful to the group, and aids them in their adventures for the rest of the book. If the player spends diamonds, Varyyn will also begin dating Diego (if the player doesn't, they will not officially begin dating until the handfasting scene in Book 3). Varyyn is very grateful, even risking the safety of his people's Island's Heart to ensure the group's safe return, and is quite saddened at the possibility of never seeing Diego again shall the group succeed in leaving.

Book Three
Varyyn continued to tag along with the group. In Chapter 10, during the Vaanti Nilaa'rei tradition, Diego and Varyyn become handfasted. Varyyn's fate varies depending on how the story ends. In Rourke's ending, the Vaanti are being held in prison camps, and Varyyn briefly manages to interrupt a news report to try and get a message to Diego, having somehow retained his memories of the original timeline. In the Endless's ending, Varyyn remains with the Catalysts and the Vaanti as they adjust to life inside La Huerta's stable but isolated time bubble. In the Vaanu ending, Varyyn initially remains on La Huerta, but eventually leaves and travels the world with Diego (in disguise, of course).

Endless Summer, Book 1

 * Chapter 6: The World Has a Habit of Crushing You (Determinant)
 * Chapter 12: The Enemy Is Out There
 * Chapter 14: Last Night On Earth
 * Chapter 15: It Was Not Meant to End Like This
 * Chapter 16: Here's to Adventure

Endless Summer, Book 2

 * Chapter 3: Those Left Behind
 * Chapter 4: Island Justice
 * Chapter 6: You Can't Save Everyone
 * Chapter 7: Everything at Once
 * Chapter 8: Let's Promise We'll Do This Again
 * Chapter 9: Toward a New Horizon
 * Chapter 10: Every End is a Beginning... Except the Last One

Ximaedra
Ximaedra is Varyyn's mother. As a mother-son duo, they are naturally close even by Vaanti standards. Varyyn grieves intensely when Ximaedra sacrifices herself to repel Cetus, and attempts to use her time crystals to go back and save her. Ximaedra refuses to let him, and dies in his arms.

Diego
After capturing Diego, Ximaedra ordered Diego to act as Varyyn's tutor. The two developed a friendly relationship, with Diego covering for Varyyn and Varyyn interceding with the Vaanti on Diego's behalf. He and the other Vaanti call Diego, "Canis", which is his Hadean Zodiac sign. Upon seeing Diego and Varyyn in a seemingly intimate moment (Varyyn braided Diego's hair so he could see better), Your Character asks if Diego and Varyyn are "a thing", which flusters Diego.

After defeating Cetus, Your Character can encourage Diego and Varyyn to have a private moment, which will lead to Diego being somewhat more obvious about his attraction to Varyyn. They will finally share a kiss at the New Year's Eve party. Your Character can later encourage them to share a night under the stars before the infiltration of MASADA. When it is time for the group to step through the Lernaean Gate, Diego and Varyyn share a tearful goodbye, with Varyyn promising to wait for Diego "for eternity".

When trying to get back to La Huerta, Your Character will transmit Diego's Star Wars reference to Varyyn, prompting the young elysshar to reopen the Gate, reuniting the lovers. They got handfasted in Book 3, Chapter 10.

Trivia

 * Due to his hairstyle, Varyyn bears an even greater resemblance to the Na'vi of Avatar fame than other Vaanti.
 * Varyyn does not have a friendship indicator, even though he becomes as close to the catalysts as Lila or IRIS. This is probably due to his relationship, or lack thereof, with Diego.
 * Varyyn makes an appearance in Endless Summer, Book 1, Chapter 6, ahead of schedule, if you input the correct password into Rourke's computer.
 * You get to play as him in Book 2, Chapter 14, when the MC tries to telepathically ask him to help open the Learnean Gate.
 * For the Varynn and Diego scenes, the writing was inspired by the song, Stay from Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko.