Tialo, a character from the Nightbound book, is the son of Lord Elric and Lady Thalissa, and Your Character's half-brother. He is first seen in Chapter 11.
Appearance
Tialo has green eyes, short red hair, and fair skin. He wears a black tunic with gold trim over a gray shirt with Mandarin collar. He is referred to as skinny if you place a hand on his shoulder in Chapter 12.
Personality
Tialo is young and arrogant. Upon first meeting him, you note him to be surly and when he learns you are his older half brother/sister, he acts discourteously until Thalissa calls him in out on it, saying that he will address you with respect, indicating his lack of manners. As a result, he later tries to adapt what you call "bland courtesy" but his distaste and contempt still show. He enjoys the Fae life, the revelry and the balls, and looks down upon mortals, even if they're half supernatural beings: Tialo refers to you as half mortal rather than as half Fae, unlike Elric and Thalissa. He also prefers the company of full-blooded Fae. He sees only the beauty of the Fae Realm but none of its flaws. Lord Elric says Tialo is clever, intuitive, and sweet, but is deeply bitter and resentful at the life they chose for him. He is stubborn and selfish and, according to Elric, never learns. Even though both you and Tialo are Lord Elric's children, he sees himself as a duke's son and you as a foundling. His statement that everything [in Lamrian] is his by right shows his classist belief. Katherine calls him an "obnoxious, overindulged snot".
Background
When Lord Elric and Lady Thalissa gave Lamrian their patronage and turned it into a formal colony, they relinquished their holdings in the Fae Realm. As such, even though Tialo wishes to only live in the Fae Realm, he would be a pauper there and not have the life he desires. Lamrian and the hopes of ruling it someday are all he has. Thalissa mentions he always wanted to have a sibling but that rather meant a younger sibling.
Chapters
Nightbound
Nightbound
- Chapter 3: A Den of Wolves (Mentioned; Determinant)
- Chapter 11: Inside the Spires
- Chapter 12: Family Affairs
- Chapter 13: The Jealous Boy
- Chapter 16: What Comes After (Determinant)
Relationships
Lord Elric
Lord Elric is his father. Even though Lord Elric knows his son is weak and venal, he tries to believe that he will come around. In Chapter 13, after Tialo unsuccessfully attacks you, Lord Elric abjures him and disavows him as his son and heir. Lord Elric tells him that he is not only unfit for rule but unfit to live among them. It breaks his heart to banish Tialo from Lamrian. He is unable to return as he will be killed if he does.
Because Tialo is banished, he is dragged out of the ballroom when the bloodwraith appears and kills Lord Elric.
Lady Thalissa
Lady Thalissa is his mother. Like his father, she tries to believe the best in him, saying he means well even though he is prickly, and hopes that he will warm up to the thought of having a sibling. Upon seeing how he talks to and about you during your first meeting, she calls him out on his discourtesy, saying he shames them. In Chapter 13, she is grief-stricken and disappointed in his actions towards you, that he put his own petty grievances above the safety of their people. She does not object to her husband's decision to cast him out. She tells him that he made his bed and now he has to lie in it.
Your Character
In Chapter 3, if you have Luc give you a Tarot reading, he will mention the jealous boy. In Chapter 11, when Nik introduces you as the child of Lord Elric, he believes it instantly and introduces you to his son, Tialo, and his wife, Lady Thalissa. While the older Fae warm to you immediately, he does not. On the contrary, he acts discourteously towards you and shows his contempt for you as a half mortal even when he later tries to (unsuccessfully) school his face into courtesy.
In Chapter 12, you accidentally bump into him in the marketplace which results in him pointedly brushing off his sleeves. He is surprised you haven't left already since, as you're "no more than a foundling", Lamrian would never be a place for you. If you say you're sorry he feels this way, he doesn't accept it. When you tell him you would like him and you to be friends, he rejects your offer, telling you he doesn't want you to be your friend as he would rather have full-blooded Fae as company. He doesn't think he has anything in common with you and your mortal friends. When you say you don't want to impose or take anything away from him, he tells you couldn't as everything here was his by right. He refuses to accept that you're family and instead warns you to leave. Otherwise, you two would always be on the opposite sides of a chessboard. When you tell him you cannot yet leave, he tells you that you refuse to see sense and that everything that happens next will be your fault. He then storms off. A little later, you see the Perrikin which will warn you again to not trust the jealous boy but you don't yet piece together that this prophecy refers to Tialo.
During the ball in Chapter 12 and 13, when the lights go out and someone exclaims that the wards are down, he attacks you: he tries to stab you while his henchmen attack your friends. If you own the Perrikin, she pounces on him, hitting him square in the face, latching on with her tiny teeth and all four sets of claws. When the lights return, he claims innocence and says that you are the one who tried to attack him. Unfortunately for him, no one believes him.
Trivia
- His character model resembles Beau Han from The Junior, Book 1.
- His crimes include conspiracy and attempted murder.
- If you collect all seven monster tears, you see what became of him. After his exile, he is shown wandering through the forest and plotting his revenge on you. As he brainstorms ways to physically and emotionally torture you, he encounters either the giant alligator, which promptly eats him, or a shadow monster which kills him.