Helene Leventis

"'Do you want to know why I left your service, Luther? Because you're a bloodthirsty, small-minded old fool, and I watched your lust for power send tens of thousands to their deaths.'""—Helene to Luther after her defection 'Book 3, Chapter 13'"Helene Leventis, a character in "The Crown &amp; The Flame" series, is a military officer in the Nevrakis army. She is the Captain of the Royal Guard. She is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 2.

Appearance
Helene is described as a tall, well-built woman. She has medium to long braided auburn hair, brown eyes, and fair skin. She wears a full suit of armor that almost completely covers her upper body, with a breastplate having a sword design in the middle, and red cloth underneath. Her weapon of choice is a broadsword, and she also wields a shield.

Personality
Gabriel Amarne described her as "a Nevrakis soldier with honor." She takes her word seriously, and swore her loyalty to the Nevrakis family. She fulfills her orders diligently unless they compromise the safety of her ward, seen when she refused to drink while on-duty and disobeyed Marco's orders to fend off Kenna in Aurelia due to the Nevrakis being outnumbered.

Her sense of duty is seen further in Book 2, where after Marco had been deposed as ruler of Stormholt, she now served Zenobia Nevrakis. She tried to kill Kenna in Lykos under her claim that such was her duty, but the latter told her how wrong she was to kill Gabriel, and criticized her sense of honor. Helene then revealed that she had been remorseful for her actions under the Nevrakis' influence, indicating that her sense of righteousness is greater than her blind loyalty. If the player has enough diamonds, she can join Kenna's army.

Apart from her honor, another distinguishing trait Helene has that the Nevrakis and their affiliates do not have is sympathy to others. She is against needless violence, seen when she stopped a soldier from further abusing the captured monk after Dominic pleaded with her, and also asked Marco to reconsider immolating the former weapons master, Duncan, using Hex's cannon, noting his loyalty to be a reason for sparing his life. Additionally, she has respect for everyone, noble or serf, as she treated Kenna (who pretended to faint) courteously during Zenobia's gladiator fight, while under the belief that the Stormholt Queen was a mere peasant.

After her defection to Kenna, Helene divulged her distaste of the Nevrakis: she complained to Leon about their ineptitude during training in the Battle of the Bay; and in Book 3, after Luther's defeat, she finally revealed her true feelings by openly lambasting him, bringing up his faults and twisted ideals, and calling him a "petty gargoyle of a man".

Abilities
Being a high-ranking officer in Luther's army, Helene is undoubtedly a very powerful warrior. Her skill with the blade was such that she was able to defeat Gabriel, a highly skilled and experienced fighter, as well as escape Leon, who is known as Queen Adriana's strongest soldier. Her reputation was enough to intimidate Kenna, who was not known to waver against adversaries, and dicourage the queen from being spotted by her inside Zenobia's party. Even then, when Kenna confronted her, Helene outmaneuvered her with effort and would have ended the queen's life had Kenna not used the captain's honor against her.

Helene is good with handling multiple opponents at once; she was able to defend herself when Leon and Kenna attacked her together in Aurelia, and was seen taking on six Nevrakis soldiers by herself during the Battle of the Bay after her defection to Kenna.

Luther Nevrakis
Helene was previously honor-bound to serve Luther. Although she was the captain of his guard, she was not as cruel as his other soldiers, as Dom successfully appealed to her sense of justice when Bartel Gremley wanted to torture a monk he had taken prisoner. She listens to Luther, although she does not always agree with his decisions.

Marco Nevrakis
Helene and Marco openly disagree, in part because of his stubbornness and his refusal to stop searching for Queen Kenna. However, because of her loyalty to Luther, she obeys him.

Kenna Rys (Determinant)
If the player has enough diamonds and choose to invite Helene to Kenna's army. Helene will become one of Kenna's allies and she will get 100 Nevrakis soldiers to assist her and Kenna in the battle of Lykos. She will also appear in Chapter 16 to help fight against Azura's army.

Zenobia Nevrakis
Zenobia used to be Helene's ward until the latter's defection. She was at first protective of her, never leaving too far from the Lykos princess due to her sense of duty. She neither shared nor approved of Zenobia's sadism. After her allegiance to Kenna, Helene shows distaste for Zenobia, chiding her for failing to thank her properly after Helene rescued her from a soldier. Luther also commented that while Helene was loyal to him, she silenced Zenobia for giving her courting advice.

Trivia

 * Helene remains the only adversary that neither Kenna nor her affiliates have ever truly outmatched, either losing her or losing to her in all three encounters.