Leon Stirling

"'Now, when you're in the middle of a fancy palace, it can be hard to know what war means. But war means losing everyone you care about at the end of a sword. War means seeing your fine things burned in front of you! War is agony, and you should be doing every last damned thing you can to stop it from coming to your door!'"—Leon Stirling to Annelyse about war.

Leon Stirling is a character in The Crown & The Flame series. He is a knight and the former Captain of the Royal Guard of Stormholt. He served as the Crown Guardian, Protector of the Queen from Book 1 Chapter 16 until his death in Book 3. He is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 1.

Appearance
Leon has tan skin, brown eyes, short, brown hair, and stubble. He wears a special suit of Stormholt armor, different from the ordinary soldiers such as Jackson's, but still in its colors (blue and silver). He has a belt strapped across his chest and over his left shoulder.

Personality
Leon is a wise and faithful soldier. His first instinct is to protect the Crown, as seen when he attempted to let Kenna and Gabriel leave the mercenary camp quietly. Leon is also known for his vulgar speech, something Kenna has teased him for since he first started working for Kenna's mother.

Perhaps due to having fought in numerous battles, Leon is noted for his militant behavior, offering Kenna to let him tell Annelyse the blunt truth about war, as well as expressly telling Rowan Thorn to yield Thorngate to Kenna, and that Thorn can be anything she wants to be, so long as his queen is the sole ruler. In a flashback, he also recommended to Queen Adriana that he and his men go to Ramsforge and straight-out eliminate the traitors until the queen suggested a more passive way to victory.

Queens Adriana and Kenna have mentioned that Leon is also very stubborn. He prefers not to be around machines, as they make him nervous.

Queen Adriana Rys
Adriana and Leon had a discrete love affair when he became Captain of the Royal Guard. As a gift, she gave him the Ram's Head Mace.

Kenna Rys
Leon serves as Crown Guardian, Protector of the Queen for Kenna Rys. She can give a final goodbye to him if she decided to visit the spirit world in Book 3, Chapter 17 (Diamond).

Trivia

 * He bears a resemblance to actor Laurence Fishburne.