Empress Azura, a character in the The Crown & The Flame series, was the empress of the Iron Empire until her death in Book 3, Chapter 16. She is also the primary antagonist of Book 3. She is first seen in Book 3, Chapter 1.
Appearance
Azura has long white hair, blue eyes and eyelashes, and pale skin. She wears a white dress with four-layered silver shoulder pads, a silver crown with blue stones, and a necklace of the same color. She has a silver and white corset. When using her magical powers, she receives an intense electric aura around her body and face that seems to emanate from her eyes. She is described as slender.
Personality
Azura appears to be calm and even-tempered at first, showing few and short bursts of frustration from which she easily recovers and returns to a cheerful state. She is shown to care about appearances, as she curtsies to Kenna (if the premium outfit is chosen for their introduction), something Raydan noted Azura doesn't do very often.
Beneath the facade of a thoughtful, caring, and well-meaning ruler is a ruthless and arrogant dictator with no regard for the value of mortal life. She regards everyone else, including Kenna, as inferior, calling them 'children'. A cunning ruler, she kills the champion of her annual tournaments disguised as tradition, ensuring that the strongest fighters in the Empire will never rise up against her. Because she is so popular with her people, her actions are considered sacred tradition in Ducitora, and most do not object.
She is shown to be extremely power-hungry and narcissistic, believing that she is the only one who has the right to rule, even declaring to King Hector Nevrakis and the villagers of Blackspine that she is a god.
Background
In a premium scene, Raydan has the chance to learn from Azura's daughter Lia what she knows about Azura's past. However, the stories told to her by and about Azura are different from how Raydan and later Lia interpret them. Azura was born in the Stormlands, a desert in the southern part of the continent of Ducitora, over a thousand years before the events of The Crown and the Flame. The inhabitants of the Stormlands possessed electrical abilities (much like the inhabitants of the Blackspine Mountains possessed the power of fire). Azura, however, was very ambitious. She learned Ancient Irithi, the language of most spellbooks, and studied magic. This increased her electrical abilities tenfold, giving her new skills such as summoning a protective shield, superhuman strength, and sucking the life force of other creatures to prolong her life and preserve her youth.
She went to the Kingdom of Marossi, the most important of the Ancient Kingdoms of Ducitora. She challenged the unpopular king of Marossi to a riddle contest; if she won, the king would have to abdicate and give her the throne. If she lost, she would marry him. She won the contest and became Queen of Marossi. Because of the king's unpopularity, the people of Marossi welcomed the change of regime. She then went on to challenge the rulers of the other Ancient Kingdoms; with each victory, her dominion grew, until all the kingdoms of Ducitora were under her rule. With this, she changed the former Kingdom of Marossi, her seat of power, into the Empire of Ducitora with Marossi as its capital. She was crowned its first Empress. Later in the book, however, Lia implies that this is not true and that Azura took power dishonestly by murdering the King of Marossi.
According to Lia's story to Raydan, the other inhabitants of The Stormlands began mysteriously dying off until Azura was the only remaining person in the world who wielded electrical abilities (until Lia's birth). Although the exact reason is not stated, it can be safely assumed that Azura slowly killed off her own tribe to prevent the emergence of another powerful wielder of electrical powers that could potentially rise up and challenge her authority.
Some point later, Azura approached the fire-wielding inhabitants of the Backspine Mountains to ask for their surrender. Her action was predictably met with resistance, with the villagers attacking her and her soldiers and eventually forcing them to flee back to Ducitora. Azura claimed that fifty years before the start of the story, she peacefully offered each of the rulers of the Five Kingdoms a share of Ducitora's wealth if they pledged allegiance to her. However, this was rather an ultimatum for the leaders, as King Hector Nevrakis puts it in the flashback scene, "to kneel or die". Naturally, Hector Nevrakis and other leaders refused, catalyzing the war against her that serves as the major plot of the series.
Chapters
The Crown & The Flame
Book 3
- Chapter 1: The Iron Empire
- Chapter 2: The Queen's Champion
- Chapter 3: The Sacrifice
- Chapter 5: The Uneasy Alliance (Mentioned)
- Chapter 6: The Secrets of Fydoria
- Chapter 7: The Betrayal
- Chapter 10: The Spymaster
- Chapter 11: The Traitor
- Chapter 12: The Gathering Storm (Mentioned)
- Chapter 13: The Sound of Thunder (Mentioned)
- Chapter 14: The Calm (Mentioned)
- Chapter 15: The Lightning Strikes
- Chapter 16: The Great Protector
- Chapter 17: The Fond Farewell (Mentioned)
The Royal Heir
Book 2
- Chapter 11: Escape to LA (Mentioned)
Book 3
- Chapter 8: Snow and Stone (Mentioned)
Abilities
In general, Azura has electrokinesis, the power to control electricity in several degrees of lethality and for several purposes. Her lightning magic is the sole reason for her uninterrupted reign for a millennium in Ducitora.
Lightning Manifestation
For offense, Azura can generate lightning either from her body or by forming it remotely, and can direct it expertly at her targets. The amperage varies from being weak enough to stun Jorrin harmlessly for a few seconds, to being strong enough to hurt Sei in her dragon form. She can also use the lightning to amplify her strength, for instance, to hurl heavy objects at her opponents, as when she tossed her throne at Kenna in Book 3 Chapter 3. She can also use this to create a thunderstorm that travels with her. She can also manipulate lightning remotely, displayed when she produced a distant bolt that shattered the glass windows in Stormholt Castle while fighting Kenna.
Her body passively generates electricity, as anyone making physical contact with her will feel a tingling sensation upon his/her skin; prolonged exposure can exhaust whomever she touches, akin to touching a live wire.
Lightning Shield
For defense, Azura can manipulate her lightning to form a protective shield around her, where she can lower portions of it on one side so she can strike Theile at the same time maintaining the shield from the other side to fend off attacks. The shield can be broken down with enough force, but when reinforced with newly harvested life energy, it is powerful enough to sustain twenty thousand pounds of mass and defend against successive fire streams from two dragons from all angles.
Life Energy Transfer
Using her electrokinesis, she can transfer life energy: either from herself to a corpse, proven when she was able to resurrect a dead wolf pup (which left her exhausted); or from a living being to herself, which kills such target on the spot but rejuvenates her in the process. Furthermore she can still suck out the life energy of another even when she is at full power, and can siphon life energy from multiple targets at once to amplify her attacks and defenses. This process is relatively quick, as she was able to absorb several soldiers' lives by the time it took Dom and Sei in their dragon forms to inhale. This regular intake of life energy is also the cause for her biological immortality for a millennium, shown in Book 3 Chapter 11.
Levitation
Azura has also shown the ability to levitate, perhaps by using her electrokinesis to move herself.
Weakness
Although Azura is very powerful, she can be overwhelmed by magic users, like Sei who drained her of all her energy with a large torrent of flame while in her dragon form, or like Kenna who after wearing an anti-magic artifact defeated her by bypassing her shield. Her lightning shield can also give in to strong enough physical attacks, as when Kenna smashed it with Leon's Mace. It can thus be concluded that Azura can be taken down with a sufficiently powerful attack, or a nullification of her power, so long as it is not reinforced with more power from absorbed life energy.
In Book 3, Chapter 6, thanks to Raydan and Aurynn's research in the Library of Fydoria, they learned that Azura's magic is not innate and she isn't as invincible as once thought. She can be dominated with the conjunction of the Protection Amulet and spells in Ancient Irithi: vin hama rusa to activate the anti-magic shield and sekakto to bypass her protective shield.
Despite having legendary powers, Azura is nevertheless mortal and is as frail as an ordinary human being when injured, as she bled and died immediately after being stabbed by Kenna's sword through the stomach.
Relationships
Clover Hapley
Clover Hapley is her handmaiden. She is completely devoted to the Empress and has accepted her fate of being used one day as a charger for Azura's power.
Lia
Lia is her daughter. She bears a resemblance to her mother from her white hair and blue eyes. Azura has a loose hand towards Lia, expressing indifference when she works with and joins the Stormholt forces in helping to take her mother down. She also does not seem to care very much for her daughter, even spitting at her in Book 3, Chapter 16. Lia succeeds Azura in becoming the Iron Empire's next Empress after her death at the end of Chapter 16.
Raydan Lykel
In Book 3, Chapter 10, it is hinted that Azura possibly has a thing for Raydan, as she flirts with him and invites him to have lunch with her in the gardens of Fydoria, even though he is her prisoner. Should the player decide to spend diamonds to unlock the lunch scene, the player can choose to turn the interaction into a romantic rendezvous. Raydan can also share a kiss with Azura. In Chapter 11, Azura kisses Raydan to thank him for saving her daughter.
Other Looks
Trivia
- The name "Azura" means "sky-blue" as in the color. This is a nod to Azura's skin, hair, eyes, lightning, and jewelry.
- She's fascinated by Fydorian culture.
- She is somewhat similar to the villainess Azula in Avatar: the Last Airbender. Both of them are extremely powerful, power-hungry, arrogant, manipulative, self-centered, and publicly calm and collected but secretly mentally unstable; had a strained mother-daughter relationship; could generate blue lightning; and were abandoned by her allies near the end. In addition, their names are also very similar.
- Another possible inspiration is Empress Azshara from Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft Universe.
- Both have white/silver hair and are known to be exceptional users of sorcery.
- Both have titles that reference light. In Azshara's case, they include Light of Lights, Light Beneath The Tides, and Light of a Thousand Moons. They even have similar names.
- Both are overly ambitious to the point that they would willingly and viciously sacrifice loyal subjects to attain greater power.
- Both have annexed territories into their dominions, with their acts of conquest building an empire that is so advanced they are almost considered utopian societies.
- Both empresses are also blindly admired and loved by their people to the point that they are worshipped.
Memorable Quotes
Empress Azura [to Leon]: Only the victor shall claim the highest honor in all of Ducitora... Only the victor shall sacrifice his life, so that my light may shine brightest! (just before killing him) |
Empress Azura [to Kenna]: The sacrifice of the tournament victor is the most hallowed of our traditions. To reverse it would be sacrilege. |
Empress Azura [to Kenna]: Before you can become a part of Ducitora, you must accept my leadership absolutely. You cannot doubt, cannot question. You must believe with all of your heart that everything I do is for the best. |
Empress Azura: No mercy. No dignity. No peace. Stormholt will burn atop the pyre. And I will light the spark! |
Empress Azura [to Kenna]: Your capacity for stubbornness runs too deep. Like a weed. And like a weed, it seems I must pry you up from your very foundations. Root... and... stem. |
Empress Azura [to Kenna]: Deep in your heart, you knew that this end was inevitable... because even with all your armies... all your tricks and schemes... you are but an insect raging against a thunderstorm. You are nothing. |
Empress Azura: Fools... all of you. You n-need me... I am the Guiding H-hand, the L-light of... of... (last words) |
References
- ↑ The Crown & The Flame, Chapter 15. Scolding Jorrin.