Helene Leventis

Helene Leventis, a character in "The Crown & The Flame" series, is a military officer in the Nevrakis army, the Captain of the Royal Guard. She is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 2.

Appearance
Helene is described as a tall, stern-faced, 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 swears 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".

Book 1

 * Chapter 2: The Ruins of Rajkur
 * Chapter 3: The Ambush
 * Chapter 4: The Mercenaries
 * Chapter 5: The Challenge
 * Chapter 6: The Duel
 * Chapter 8: The Gilded Cage
 * Chapter 9: The Escape
 * Chapter 10: The Battle for Aurelia
 * Chapter 12: The Labyrinth
 * Chapter 13: The Mechataur
 * Chapter 16: The Cannon

Book 2

 * Chapter 6: The Foundry Destroyed (Determinant)
 * Chapter 7: The Thieves of Lykos
 * Chapter 8: The Masquerade Ball (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 9: The Shadow
 * Chapter 10: The Pit Fight
 * Chapter 11: The Nevrakis Handmaiden (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 12: The Storming of Lykos (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 13: The Wolf's Mouth (Determinant)
 * Chapter 14: The Battle of the Bay (Determinant)
 * Chapter 15: The Dragon (Determinant)

Book 3

 * Chapter 5: The Uneasy Alliance (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 13: The Sound of Thunder (Determinant)
 * Chapter 17: The Fond Farewell (Determinant)

Swordsmanship
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 discourage 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.

Additionally, as shown in Book 1, should Dom run out of a cell at the wrong time, Helene will swing her sword in a blur with such force that Dom "actually feels his head leave his body and hit the floor", showing her superior strength with the blade. This is also shown in Book 2 where, should Kenna fail to avoid Helene and Zenobia at the ball, after Annelyse is killed, Raydan rushes forward, and Helene decapitates him in the same manner.

Physical Prowess
Helene has a good amount of physical endurance: during her duel with Gabriel, she survived falling off a window while already injured, with Kenna and Raydan expressing disbelief at such feat; she also brushed off Kenna's sucker punch to the jaw easily. In Book 1 Chapter 9, should Kenna hit Marco with the wine pitcher, Helene strangles her to death with one hand, displaying her strength.

She 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.

Leadership
Helene was a very capable leader worthy of her position as commander of Luther's troops. Nobody questioned her commands, and Luther even entrusted her with keeping Marco in check in his absence. In fact, her authority and influence over the Nevrakis soldiers was such that she was able to procure at least a hundred who are solely loyal to her and who joined her in betraying Luther.

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, and partly because Marco blackmailed her, she obeys him.

Kenna Rys
Kenna and Helene have a stained relationship after Helene kills Gabriel. In Book 2, Kenna confronts her and has the option to ask if Helene is prepared to die. During the interaction, Kenna can either convince her to leave for good or invite Helene to her army, weakening Luther's army either way. If the second option is taken, Helene will become one of Kenna's allies and bring 100 Nevrakis soldiers to assist her in the battle of Lykos. She will also appear in Book 3, 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, especially after what happened with Marco. However, 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 comments in Book 3, Chapter 5, 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.
 * Helene took her name from the beautiful queen of Sparta in Greek mythology, Helen of Troy, whose abduction started the Trojan War.
 * She appears in The Crown & The Flame arcade game that your Brother and Elena are able to play in a premium scene of Rules of Engagement, Book 2, Chapter 12.
 * In The Royal Heir, Book 3, Chapter 18, Ana De Luca mentions the Leventis Military Academy, most likely named after her.