This roleplay character belongs to Grace King (tumblr) and can be found here.
For the sake of clarity, Ledan has his own lore in terms of being a nephilim,
as I wrote him far before any appeared in detail in the show.
 (Leda at his 2,355th birthday party) |
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| Ledan | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Born |
28th October, 339BC |
| Status |
Alive |
| Species |
"Archnephilim" (human/archangel hybrid) |
| Place of Birth |
Village of Åkegthveit, Pre-Viking Scandinavia (during the mid Archaic Period) |
| Location |
Fleetwood, Vermont (currently)
|
| Age |
2,355 years (appears in his 30s, alias is 55, yes he needs to get a new one) |
| Marital | |
| Sexuality |
Pansexual (technically, but doesn't use labels) |
| Alias |
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| Physical description | |
| Gender |
Male |
| Height |
5'9" |
| Hair color |
Black |
| Eye color |
Light Blue |
| Skin color |
Light |
| Noticable feature(s) |
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| Family information | |
| Family members |
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| Love Interest(s) |
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| Friend(s) |
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| Allies |
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| Enemies |
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| Cat(s) |
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| Other characteristics | |
| Specific Skills |
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| Specific Weakness | |
| Language(s) |
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| Religion |
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| Accent |
American (put on), mild Icelandic-sounding tone |
| Drink of Choice |
Scotch whisky (single malt, confirmed by Noah's drink) |
| Alignment |
Neutral |
| Affiliation | |
| Loyalty |
|
| Occupation |
|
Ledan (Elder Futhark: ᛚᛖᛞᚨᚾ, currently going by Ledan “Leda" John Hale) is an archangel/human hybrid, sometimes known as an "Archnephilim" and a witch, known to at least currently be the only one of his kind, maybe even the only one. He uses his witchcraft and contacts to do spells (and otherwise help people) on demand and help people with other issues, occasionally for money (usually in the case of wealthier clients) but mainly he’ll do it for a nondescript favour (which you’ll be bound to) that can be called in at any time.
He was born in 339BC, in a village called Åkegthveit in Sweden during the early Iron Age, and grew up believing, in his early years, he was an average human. However, he is the son of the archangel Jophiel (who died when he was just two) and a powerful witch called Thyrvï; making him very much not. He believed this because his powers are taking time to manifest, and even when they did, in the beginning they were relatively harmless.
It was only as an adult he started to come into his more potent powers, only gaining the ability to heal himself at the age of around 32, which also caused him to stop ageing. He married a woman called Ásta, with whom he had several children; Cenríkr, Ælfríkr, Sigríðr, Mæja and Rúni, only two of whom reached the at which they also stopped ageing or their ageing slowed, and had several children of their own, Leda's grandchildren.
As a type being not created by god he is considered by most angels to be an abomination, as a type of being not created by god is considered a blasphemy, and thus are hunted. This was true for Leda for the majority of his life. Due to his mix of Archangel and Human he is probably at least on his way to being as powerful as an archangel, but is still (even after 2,355 years) in the stage of developing his powers fully.
Ledan recently 'recovered' from a hex that was placed on him by a former colleague called Myrrine, while it was intended to kill him outright, his angelic side made it behave strangely. he was only able to use a limited amount of power at a time; causing him to become weakened after prolonged use of the powers he has through his father's (his archangel) side, with it also weakening him generally over time, presumably as his angelic side was all that was keeping him alive. This did seemingly not affect his ability to cast spells, however.
The hex eventually caused Leda to get worse to the point of delirium before he eventually started continually dying, with his powers regenerating him over a few hours, only to depleat again. This Led to his mother deciding to kill him with his father's blade in order to properly bring him back, with the hex being broken, as it had finally fully done its job. However, a life can't usually be resurrected without another in return and thus Thyrvï died as a result of the spell, devastating Ledan.
Ledan has six cats, all of whom he adores. While he's a been a vegetarian for several decades, though he obviously was not always (due to the fact it would almost impossible before), he is both good at and enjoys cooking. It's suggested his high skill in cooking could be partly due to it requiring similar skills to magic, which he also, as well as excelling at, very clearly enjoys or at least takes pride in.
He appears to be quite sentimental, as he keeps things he likes or treasures from time to time; meaning that at this point he has what could be described as a mini-museum of ancient/antique, but mostly otherwise valueless, items in his attic and basement of his home in Fleetwood, Vermont. Most notably, he has kept various vintage cars and motorbikes, which he enjoys keeping in as perfect order as possible.
Leda has his father's archangel blade, which was given to him when he was just seven, as both an heirloom of sorts and a way to defend himself from angels. He rarely entrusts it or its location to anyone, as he'll only let someone who he trusts completely and absolutely anywhere near the thing (understandably), as it's the only thing which can kill him (easily anyway), as well as it being sentimentally valuable to him.
Biography
Early Life
Ledan, as a baby, held in his father's arms
Ledan (Elder Futhark: ᛚᛖᛞᚨᚾ) was born to Thyrvï (a witch) and Jophiel (an archangel) in the village of Åkegthveit on the 28th October in (worked out by its closeness to the festival of Vetrnætr [2], a festival of three days that celebrated the end of summer, the start of winter) 339BC.
Though, as a result of his archangel father, he was an "archnephilim", he was raised as if he were a normal child, with his true nature kept from him. This was made particularly possible by the fact that, unfortunately, his father was killed when he was two, and he never got to know the man. To Ledan growing up, Jophiel was just the absent father who had died when he was very young.
young Leda with bow and arrow
Leda's powers didn't start to show for a long while either, in his early years he appeared just like any other child. He was taught like any other child how to fight with swords, bows, knives, the like and, from a very young age, he begun to help his mother with her work, despite the fact that magic was considered a feminine practice by the society of then [3] [4] [5].
At the time, his mother used her magic to act as the village's healer, though her magic could obviously go far beyond this, all the while Leda was taught the reins of his mother's craft. Leda showed extreme promise in the magic department, possibly due to him being a nephilim, steadily learning all he needed to act as a somewhat of an assistant by the age of seven.
His involvement in his mothers "business" made him somewhat of an outcast, as the kids his age all either helped their parents with farming or hunting or other such similar and more mundane occupations. That, and his mother was considered to be somewhat crazy by the village as a whole, who were sceptical about her knack from healing coming from actual magic as most believed all it was old wives tales and superstition taken to extremes. Ledan also had earned the social stigma attached to boys and men learning magic.
This was offset, even if only slightly, by helping his grandfather (Agnarr) with his work as the village blacksmith. As a blacksmith Ledan's grandfather had a fair amount more prestige, due to the blades he made being of good quality,[6] though he was by no means rich, he was talented. It was because of Agnarr's profession Ledan and his mother even possessed a decent sword, let alone more than one. Since, generally speaking, they were not that well off. However, Ledan's grandfather doted on him and often gifted him what he could, which naturally was usually swords.
Manifesting His Powers
A young Ledan upon hearing about his mother's deception.
Ledan first began to come into his powers at around age seven, where he found himself able to move small objects with his mind as well as move or affect larger ones when he was angry or scared (usually breaking/destroying them). He kept this a secret from Thyrvï for as long as he could, as he believed she, even as a witch, would think he was some kind of monster.
However, when Thyrvï found out about his powers, after an argument they had, during which his powers made themselves known, she explained to him that his father had not been human; though she didn't tell him exactly what or who he was until later.
Younger Ledan in the snow.
Leda couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed with his mother for keeping this from him and letting him think that he was alone or that she was going to hate him when she found out about his powers or something, when actually she knew all along this was probably going to happen to him.
Ledan thus saw it as a somewhat of a betrayal on Thyrvï's part. However, as his mother continued to help him hide his powers from the rest of the residents of the village, he convinced himself that she had only been trying to help him in some way and got over these feelings, valuing his close relationship with Thyrvï even then.
He continued to steadily develop his powers over the years with his mother's help, taking advantage of the fact he and Thyrvï lived relatively far outside of the main village, due to her profession to hide them from the other villagers. He slowly learnt how to control his powers so they didn't flare up when he was in a bad mood or emotional from practice.
Young Ásta, at a festival feast.
However, further rumours about him spread, and the fact he had come to live in such solitude had made his social standing that much worse. He was considered strange by most of his same-age peers, most of whom avoided him like the plague because of it.
His only actual friends as a child were Ásta, her brother Abjǫrn, whose mother had been healed from a fever by Leda's mother, and another boy called Folke whose mother was friends with Thyrvï. The four often played in the forests near and around the village together. He accidentally used his powers during a play fight in the forest at one point, which led to him having to ask his friends to keep his secret.
Adulthood
[7] [8] By the age of around 15, Ledan was considered and treated as a full adult, having been treated as a small adult all of his 'childhood' anyway.[9]
Rúni, Ásta and Ledan's youngest son as a baby.
He later fell in love with and married his childhood friend Ásta, with whom he travelled to a few villages over to start his own version of his mother's business, where someone was needed to heal the sick. The two had their first son, Cenríkr, when Ledan was 18 and Ásta was around 20 their second, Ælfríkr, two years later as well as several other children; Sigríðr, Mæja and Rúni over the years.
In their new village Leda managed to gain the respect he lacked in their home village, despite the stigma that was still very much attached to the practice of magic for men, possibly due to his relatively personable nature, as well as the fact it was clear the magic he practised was clearly not simply 'old wives tales' and superstition as many people and witnessed it working for themselves.
Leda before he stopped ageing.
Leda continued to develop his powers from his father's side throughout his adulthood, manifesting powers allowing him to emit light and generate fire among other things and steadily improve on the powers he'd developed as a child, though still it remained a secret. He also begun to develop a resistance to diseases and his wounds would often heal a lot quicker.
However it wasn't until his early to mid thirties that his wounds begun to heal instantly and his ageing slowed and, eventually, stopped completely. Though this seemed cool to Leda for about five minutes it soon sank in that this likely meant that he'd vastly outlive most of the people he loved, including his own children.
Leda of course worked at the magic he was taught by his mother, getting better and better at it with the hopes of being able to help to heal more people from many different afflictions. Though by no means could he save every person who came to him or was brought to him. He'd often take in sick animals; such as dogs, cats, birds and such in order to bring up his experience and hone his skills with certain methods with various levels success.
Ásta with a cat Ledan had been healing.
Shortly after the birth of their youngest son, Rúni, during a particularly hash winter; the village they were living in was raided out of desperation by people from a settlement further north, whose crops had failed and who had been running out of food. Ásta was stabbed in the chest while trying to stop them from taking their food, as she was scared that they wouldn't find any more and children would starve.
Though she managed to fend them off, and they had later come to their own grizzly ends, Ásta's wound (though seeming initially not to be fatal) was later discovered to have gotten badly infected, and though Leda did his best to try to heal it, he failed and Ásta died.
Losing His Family
Ledan, as he was in his 30s.
Though Leda was heartbroken by the loss, he endeavoured to stay strong for his children, as they were obviously greatly affected by it too. He had trouble for a long time with not blaming himself for not noticing the infection when it wasn't too late to begin with, and also failing to heal her when it eventually did become obvious and therefore already untreatable.
Leda just about managed to keep the family afloat with the resources he was able to get continuing with his healing, this and in the months after Ásta's death, his fellow villagers helped him when they could, as he'd always helped them in the past when they'd needed it.
Two years later, when the family was just getting more-or-less fully on its feet, and though he still missed Ásta greatly, Leda was almost his old self. He attended the community gatherings again and trying to get out of his rut and more into a happier life with his friends and family. Cenríkr, his eldest son, was almost old enough to leave home at this point. Cenríkr was looking forward to it, he'd be able to make his own way in life, and he'd already fallen in love with a young woman called Ingríðr. While Leda was happy about this he couldn't help having a natural worry for his son.
It was around this time that a sickness travelled though the village. It happened from time to time; and back then, with the limited knowledge of how sickness works, they had no real recourse to stop them spreading. While usually, due to the fact he lived further away than most from the main town, and he was the healer, his family had come out of the previous ones okay. However, this time they were not so lucky. While he attempted to do his job, heal his fellow villagers, his elder daughter fell ill with the sickness, as did his infant son soon after.
Sigríðr, suffering from a fever.
Though Leda tried his best to save their lives, it proved too difficult in the end. He'd had half the town in to care for and, while he couldn't help but prioritise his own children, there was little he could do for anyone other than try to give them a fighting chance with the basic medicine he had and pray that they made it.
However, this not being very good medical practice, it didn't do much good at all. While some of the younger villagers made it through the fever, most did not. This included Ledan's two children, Sigríðr and Rúni, who both passed away from the fever at different points in their second night after first showing symptoms.
This of course devastated Leda, though this time he resolved to stay stronger this time for his children. He went ahead with helping his eldest son to marry and leave home, and trying to help his younger daughter, Mæja, with her own slightly unconventional pursuits. He tried to appear okay, and it appeared he held up well outwardly. However, underneath it all, he was struggling. He pushed on, nonetheless, managing to get enough money from healing minor ailments and injuries to help his eldest son start his life with Ingríðr in a nearby home.
Ælfríkr, wounded.
Ledan went on in his usual routine for several more years, as his younger son Ælfríkr became more and more "adventurous". While this was completely normal for children his and even Mæja's age, since they were considered to be close to adults in their society (somewhat like a late teenager), the general rule was not to stray too far from the village and to stick together.
This was so that if something were to happen an adult would be close and could come to their assistance, and so as not to encroach on wolves' territories. Unfortunately, Ælfríkr, did not listen and slipped away beyond the nearby river, and ended up being attacked.
He survived long enough for someone to hear and find him before bringing him back to town. Leda went to see what was happening and had to fight his way to see his son only to get to say a few words of reassurance to him before he inevitably succumbed to his wounds. After losing another member of his family, Ledan decided it was best to move on. Especially since it was becoming acutely apparent he'd stopped ageing the way his fellow villagers were. He couldn't bear life in the village any more as the good memories there were marred by the bad.
Since Mæja was old enough to come with him in his mind, and Cenríkr had moved on as was living his own life with Ingríðr, Ledan decided to leave the village with his daughter after several months; allowing his eldest child the chance to take over the job he'd always done. Perhaps he wanted to run from all that had happened, but the way Ledan saw it he was giving his son a chance to do well. He returned, of course, every now and again to visit his son, later his grandchildren, and offer him advice he'd picked up from his time as the village's healer.
Ledan finding out about his mother's actions.
Ledan soon left to travel the area with his surviving daughter, Mæja, who, while she was almost an 'adult' by the society's standards, he was still fiercely protective over. While he had concern for his son, it wasn't the same, Cenríkr fit in a lot better than even Ledan had, so he had no reservations that he could cope with independent life.
He'd considered staying until she was old enough to leave home herself, however she expressed a desire to go with him; and as long as she was happy with going with him, and vice versa he saw no reason why she shouldn't. Being a rather adventurous young woman, it would probably be more fun for her, and Ledan had always been apprehensive she'd be forced into a boring life she never wanted to end up with.
Ledan recognised her problems with not fitting in all too well, after all, his decision to remain in the same business as his mother led to a great deal of scorn towards him initially. While his son was technically in the same predicament, the village Ledan had raised them was acclimatised to a male healer. Worried as he was, he also knew he'd have been miserable doing anything else. Over the course of the years, Ledan used the fact he was moving around to occasionally visit his mother as well as his son and grandchildren without much of a risk of his lack of ageing being discovered.
This went on for a while, but became less frequent when Ledan found out about the way in which his mother wished to prevent her ageing. His discovery of what she'd either already been doing or was planning to do caused a massive argument between himself and his mother. This led to Ledan refusing to visit Thyrvï for a long while, visiting only his son and his children from then on, in the hopes of it persuading her out of it.
Ledan, during his time on the road.
Ledan and Mæja travelled the area (now known as Scandinavia) Ledan developing and expanding his (already pretty decent) knowledge and skill with magic and Mæja enjoying the freedom and sense of adventure that came from not staying in one place for long.
Eventually, however, Mæja decided to go her own way and have her own intrepid adventures. By this time Ledan obviously wasn't surprised, and wasn't exceptionally concerned, as he knew from their time on the road she was able to handle herself. He'd taken her with him because he'd known she'd love this lifestyle, and that she would feel like an outsider if he didn't, and he was just glad he'd made the right call.
With his daughter no longer at his side, this opened the door for Leda to, much less awkwardly anyway, look for romance. It'd been almost thirty years since Ásta died. He would still have given anything to have her back, but he also knew that she'd want him to be happy. Though this caused a couple of less serious or short-lived encounters, as Ledan just couldn't seem to get himself to commit to it again after Ásta.
At some point Mæja met a and fell for man called Magni, who she then married. Concerned as he often was about his youngest daughter, she was an adult now, and Ledan was pleased to see she was happy with him.
Attacks from Angels
As Ledan's powers begun to grow, what he truly was became increasingly plain to other angelic beings on sight, and with that came and inordinate amount of danger. Until this point, he'd been pretty much unaware of the extent of the danger he faced from angels; having never met one until this point, keeping his head down had worked fine. Now, however, angels could sense him. With the lies becoming more preposterous by the year, it was for this reason he decided to go to his mother to see if his father had said anything about how he could defend himself.
One of the necklaces that Leda has kept and given a modern chain.
By this time it had been several years since he'd talked to his mother, their fight having left them on bad terms. So showing up at her door again had been awkward, to say the least.
Dispite his worries, however, she invited him in with open arms (or as open arms as she is prone to), despite her usual demeanour Thyrvï loved her son, and had missed him. She told him about several sigils she'd remembered that Jophiel had shown her which hid angels from other angels, and the two of them tried to work out how to use them to protect him.
Their solution ended up being amulets with the sigil carved onto them. he and Thyrvï made a couple for Leda (in case one broke or got lost and a few each for Cenríkr and Mæja.
This did them well over the years, as it prevented angels from tracking them just by seeing their powers, making it only a risk that an angel might see them use their powers or hear about the man or woman who apparently doesn't age. It was only that level of it that they had to worry about now; which, while not perfect, was a gigantic weight off of Leda's shoulders, not only because he was safer, his children were too.
Over the years it stayed much the same, him adventuring, his son working as he had as the village healer and his daughter off on her own adventures. Over the years his family grew, with both of his surviving children having a few children of their own. Old as it made him feel, Leda was pleased to be a grandfather. Since it'd made even Mæja and her husband settle down for a bit, it made him visit home even more than usual just to see them all.
However, while Mæja, much like her father, stopped ageing in her mid thirties, Cenríkr's ageing merely slowed. It got to the point that one day, despite living to be over 100, his body couldn't take it any more, and he began to fall ill. As he visited often, Leda was able to see him and be there for him as eventually, despite Leda's attempts to heal him, he passed away at the age of 135 from old age.
Ledan in a new country.
Leda was, of course, devastated, however he was glad that he'd lived such a long, full life; having had two children (as well as several grandchildren) of his own by this time. It was more than he could say about most of the others, after all. Yet still, he took it hard, naturally.
It was this death that inspired him to look further than Scandinavia, where he'd been always lived. Again, perhaps he'd been running away or perhaps he wanted to do more, but he decided that that was what was best for him. He started by travelling the rest of Europe, Athens, Rome, everywhere he could get to; to places which seemed like whole other worlds to Ledan.
At first it seemed overwhelming to him (naturally, he'd lived in the same general area for so long) but it quickly became simply exciting. He tried his bes to blend in, starting off terrible at it but slowly learning how to make himself stand out less. Eventually it begun to come as naturally as acclimatising to a new village back in Scandinavia, which by this time was almost just as alien to him as anywhere.
Leda reflecting in a new country
All the while, the attacks from angels still went on, just infrequently now he could make the carved amulets. With an apparent level of destabilisation in heaven, a lot of angels seemed to be falling these days; which meant a few more nephilim. They weren't exactly like Leda, their parents tended to be seraphim (but were ocassionally cherubim). Despite this, it was good to see, and Leda liked to pass on amulets to them if he could.
During this time the angels, obviously, spent more time looking for the nephilim; after all, they were abominations, and the angels had clear instructions on what they had to do about them. It was during this time that Mæja met her end.
She was back on the road now, her husband and own children having grown old as Cenríkr had, similarly with Ledan, the adventure was all she had. At some point on this path, Mæja had a run-in with an angel while trying to help a young nephilim in what would be southern Norway now. She was caught off-guard and tragically killed. Ledan didn't find out about this for a fair while, until she didn't show up to the next place they planned to meet. He only discovered her fate a few months later as he went to investigate.
His younger daughter's death hit him differently to the others, for one by this time it's been nearly 300 years since she was born and she'd been all he had left, but on the other hand he was proud she'd tried to help the young nephilim, even if it led to her dying, he knew that that was and incredibly Mæja thing to do. Despite this he was still devastated to lose yet another child.
Athens (8BC - 22AD)
Leda happily enjoying a treat.
During the intervening years Leda expanded his travels, he wanted to travel the world; while places such as Australia and the Americas hadn't yet been discovered as far as Europe was concerned, he wanted to see all the world he knew about. He spent a lot of the earlier years in southern Europe.
This included places like Athens, the rest of Greece, Rome and Pompeii. Each place managed to come across different people who were in need of his services, and sometimes more complicated things than just healings, over the years. This is how he begun to get into curse and hex removal, among other kinds of things.
It was during one of his times in Greece during the end of the BC era and ushering in the ADs years (though that wouldn't be significant to them), in a forest, he met a dryad called Nissa. He told her of his travels and what he did for a living and she asked that, in exchange for a favour in return, for him to find a way to protect her tree (to which she was bound) from harm completely. Him doing this would allow her to see more of the world, as she'd always wanted to, and after hearing of his travels she'd seen a kindred spirit in Leda.
Nissa looking happy in ancient Greece
Despite the fact he couldn't do anything to help her after all, Nissa appreciated his trying. The two sparked up a flirtatious friendship, during which time he continued to try and find solutions to the problem Nissa was having, feeling bad since they were friends at this point and he felt like he'd let her down slightly, as each spell they tried had either little or no effect at all.
He eventually came to focus almost entirely on the task, as he feared someone would harm her out of carelessness. This meant that in order to see Nissa, Ledan would have to travel into the forest in which he'd met her until eventually he found something that worked properly, which fully protected Nissa's tree.
Over the years this close flirtatious friendship became something more serious, and for the first time in hundreds of years Ledan found himself in a genuine romantic relationship. While this wasn't the first relationship he'd been in since Ásta had died, not by a long shot, it was the first serious one. He'd come to care a lot about Nissa, and eventually decided to introduce her to Thyrvï. This proved to be a terrible idea as Leda's mother went berserk upon meeting her, coming up with various excuses to take an instant dislike to the dryad.
Ledan with Nissa, at some point during their time in Athens
Despite trying hard to persuade her that Nissa was a good woman. However, Thyrvï was as insistent and stubborn as ever to the point of just being cruel to her, again leading to a rift between her and her son. During this time, having chosen to (obviously) side with Nissa as she had done nothing wrong, and thus he and Thyrvï, again, didn't speak for a long while.
The two of them travelled together for a long while, and for the first time in a her years, Nissa got to see the wider world than the area surrounding her tree; despite actually being older than Ledan by a rather considerable amount. She viewed the world with the same awe he had years and years ago.
While he by no means forgot his troubles, he felt a lot better than he had in a while. Seeing new places kept him on his toes, quenched his thirst for adventure. What was better is the places he'd already been changed so much over time, and that had to be one of the most fascinating things to experience, as no regular human got to. It made it even more interesting and fun for him, and it also meant that even when he left a place he'd been for a long while he'd still have someone there that he knows. Not that being without had caused him any harm, it was just a nice change.
At some point, Ledan felt the need to try and make up with his mother, though after all she'd done to her, Nissa understandably refused to talk to her. This meant Leda had to go alone to see her in a smaller town west of Athens, with Nissa remaining in Athems while Ledan stayed was visiting Thyrvï. The reunion went as well as could really be expected, he agreed he would visit but would still ignore her "advice".
Pompeii (23AD - 65AD)
Ledan in Pompeii
Between the years 23 and 65 Ledan and Nissa lived in the town of Pompeii, having spent the years between their time in Athens and there more or less travelling non stop, they felt the need to settle for a while. While here Ledan had the opportunity to vastly broaden his horizons with his magic, even more than before.
Not only did he do protection and healing spells he tirelessly worked to reverse the hexes and curses of other witches as there were a few other in the area, because (as mentioned earlier) he found it it quite the fascinating hobby once he got started with it. It was like unravelling a mystery or solving a complex puzzle. Considering the gravity of the situations people were in he felt bad for liking it, but nonetheless he did.
One example, the one he remembers most vividly, of these occasions was a young woman, who came to Ledan in a moment of distress. She had discovered a series of letters to herself (in her own handwriting) telling her to seek help as her former lover was controlling her to love him again by making her forget everything leading up to her leaving him. They explained to her that she had moments when she would remember and realise this and be aware of what was happening but these would soon disappear and she would be back to her controlled state with no memory of writing the letters. It took Ledan a long time, but he worked out a way to reverse the control he had over her. He never found out what happened to the man, but his client had made him promise her that he would not to hurt him. This was a promise he found extreemely hard to keep.
After a while of living in Pompeii, however, due to his reversal of certain curses form certain powerful witches, Leda was becoming somewhat unpopular with the darker witches in town, dark witches didn't like it when some foreign witch swanned into town reversing all of their hard work for profit. So he and Nissa left the city for somewhere a bit different.
Nissa wanted to go somewhere like where Leda grew up this time, having never really seen anything like it, she found the idea fascinating. However things had changed a lot since he was there and while he could speak the and understand language they spoke somewhat, even by now it his words sounded bizarre and archaic to them.
Eventually his romantic relationship with Nissa ended after almost a hundred years and Nissa and Leda went their own ways, though remained close friends again over the years, though Nissa has never forgotten how Leda helped her and still nicknames him based on what he did.
Venice (1310-1499)
16th Century
Ledan, in his past.
Ledan spent the majority of the 1500s in South India, initially having planned to stay just for a small while but getting caught up trying to cure a strange illness that was hitting the area. While to the locals it seemed like any other kind of sickness, to Ledan it was clearly more, there was something magic in it, as the way it was spreading and the way it acted made apparent.
He attempted to "heal" multiple people of the "sickness" failing most times but occasionally having slightly more luck with it but no complete successes (as the person would get the illness again soon after) until he watched a local witch try something that seemed to work. While he wanted to ask her about this she made an excuse and vanished.
Leda did his best to try and replicate the results but continuously fell flat, trying to track this woman in order to ask her how she could ask her a few questions. Initially, he wondered if she had something to do with the 'sickness', though he didn't see it as incredibly likely, considering the healing. He heard word of some successful healings in a neighbourhood in Madurai, jumping on the chance to find out how it was she was healing these people, only wanting to help out if he could. However, he didn't find her, what he found was a neighbourhood filled with people in desperate need of healing; this just made him wonder "why didn't she heal everyone?".
While this was going on he was still making headway with fixing the illness; he still didn't know what was causing it but now he was doing better in terms of fixing it for individual people, though not all. This led him to think the woman perhaps couldn't heal everyone, since it seemed to very much depend on the person for him as well. It was months before he even saw the woman again, and this time it was completely by accident. Having seen him try to heal people from whatever it was a few times, she finally believed that she could trust the nephilim, if only in the simplest sense that she figured he hadn't caused thus.
She explained to him that magic had travelled down in her family, they'd always just been naturally drawn to it, and so they'd learnt and developed their own very unique methods over time. This was why nothing he knew worked, her methods were completely different to his and apparently lended themselves a lot more to this specific situation.The woman showed him how to do what she was doing and he found himslef able to help out with some of the work, though they by no means could handle the situation entirely; to do that they had to find the source.
Ledan, in the past
This eventually led to him meeting a man cald Amrit Nayak, whose eldest daughter, Jayamani, had come down with the "illness", shortly after his wife had, and whom had also seen Ledan healing other people. Ledan informed Amrit that he couldn't be sure it would work but he was definitely happy to try to help her. Terified at the prospect of it not working as he was, he'd seen what it did to other people after all, Amrit seemed to accept this. When Amrit's wife passed away from its effects, they knew the situation was urgent for Jaya.
Ledan perfomed the hex reversal as soom as he can, and thankfully it did manage to reverse the curse for her. After a few days she was back to normal, with seemingly no ill effects left.
19th Century
20th Century
Ledan in the 1920s
During the 20th century, Ledan spent most of the time in staying in Britain, having come to like the place. While it wasn't exactly heaven on earth the vibrant community there kept him exited. He spent a the fist few decades keeping to London, under the alias he'd had at the tail end of the 19th century.
However, as with all of his aliases the ruse was starting to get unbelievable as he was a man who looked to be about 30-35 by this time as his alias, Ledan Hawk, he was claiming to be in his mid 50s. While in past he'd gotten away with this for a few years people started to wonder after a while. Despite having come to love the place it was starting to become time to leave.
He eventually decided to start anew and move away down to Swansea, as he heard from a friend about a thriving magic community in the area. He took on a new alias, as usual, this time calling himself "Ledan Åke Sörenson" in official records (him being listed as a British man from a Swedish family), so as not to arouse suspicion due to him not ageing since he took on his former alias. The old him, as usual, simply disappeared, and he reinvented himself in his new home, only a few people knowing him truly.
Leda in his RAF uniform during WWII
It was here, during the 1930s and 1940s, he met Luna Gray, a young and especially talented witch (for her years anyway), who helped her mother to sell magical supplies and potions in secret in central Swansea to other fellow witches. This was how he met her, considering he needed to restock on magical supplies quite a lot living in a big city and frequented the supply shop.
At gatherings he came to know Luna well, discovering common ground in an interest in spells that revolved around the removal of curses and hexes (Ledan's speciality). Before they knew it the two had sparked up a romantic relationship. This was obviously complicated, however, after the beginning of the Second World War, and considering the political climate.
It was also during this era Leda developed his love of jazz music that he still has this day. While fond of the classics as anyone, jazz music just spoke to him in a way it didn't. He used to try to dance to it with Luna, despite the fact he famously has two left feet. However, at peace with that fact and as long as Luna didn't mind, he embraced it and took the obvious jokes that came his way in good humour.
He took on a position in the Royal Air Force, resolving to himself to not interfere to heavily in the events with his powers. He eventually garnered the rank of flight sergeant [1] over his time in the service during the war. Every time he was back home he'd spend as much time with Luna as he could, for obvious reasons. Despite the tenuousness of the situation they were in throughout the time they were together, their relationship was one of the most stable Ledan had had in a very long time.
For the most part, Leda tried to lay low, having been in many wars before in his life, he knew that there was only so much one person could do. He gained a reputation for making sure no one in his team died in situations where it seemed astounding to the point of impossibility he could have managed it. Obviously, he used his powers to achieve this, figuring it was the least he could do given the powers he had at his disposal, despite the fact he couldn't reveal them. However, at least a few of his friends over time had an inkling there was more to Ledan than met the eye, though they never stated as such to him until a lot later.
Luna, Ledan's friend and later girlfriend, in the 1940s
After the war was over, he and Luna finally reunited and got to spend most of their time together. They continued their relationship into the early 50s, when eventually Luna wanted to get married and have children, as she'd always wanted to and it was getting to the point where she wanted to have them.
Ledan told her that he couldn't do that yet, not cause he didn't want to, but despite how long it'd been he was still afraid of having children again only to lose them like he had before. This devastated Luna and eventually led to the end of the relationship, and is still one of Leda's biggest regrets in life.
Moving to the USA
At some point later, while they'd agreed to keep in touch, they both moved on from the area, Luna to another part of Swansea and Leda out of the country to America to explore a bit more. He stared off in New York state, finding a great environment for his talents there, due to the shire amount of people in the state's main city. He was able to find a surprising amount of normal people in need (or simply wanting) his help. In the 50s, Wicca had started to become popular and while it wasn't something he believed in or put a lot of stock into he was glad that it caused more people to be willing to give him a chance.
At some point his ex girlfriend, Luna, found another person to be with and whom she'd eventually marry by the name of Richard Morgan. Despite their past, Leda made an effort to be her friend, them having got on well before their romantic relationship began anyway. He found himself visiting her and her husband on occasion, getting to know them both very well and soon viewing Richard as a friend as well, him being a laid back man. As a result he was like an "uncle" to their children (Henry, Debra, Edmund and Nathan) as they grew up, visiting them often.
Ledan in the 1970s
He spent a large chunk of his time in Las Vegas from the late 70s and through to the mid 90s, again having heard about a fair amount of witches (if not really a community per se) in that area. He wound up glad to have gone there as he found another group of like-minded people who he would later come to view as friends.
With very few people as skilled as him in terms of competition in the area, but just enough to cause a few problems for him to fix. It was the best of both worlds. It wasn't so much that he wanted more of the money involved for himself so much as he wanted to make sure that he had work to do. Despite how long it'd been, he still enjoyed his job. It was one of infinite possibilities, after all.
He met a jazz singer and fellow witch called Noah Motsepe in a bar there. The two steadily struck up a flirtatious friendship as Leda frequented the bar he sang at, due to Noah finding Leda's enjoyment of his singing amusing. Noah expressed ambitions of owning his own, similar place and Ledan admitted he didn't really have anything in mind for the future, just imagining he'd continue doing as he was now. Noah initially was concerned about this, feeling as if Leda lacked ambitions and that worried him, however he soon realised Ledan just really enjoyed his work.
Eventually these two formed a romantic relationship which lasted for a few years in the late 80s and early 90s before a less than amicable break up abruptly ended it. While initially they were on bad terms, over the years when their paths have crossed again due to their running in similar circles, they've managed to get to the point where they can consider each other friends again (this bit needs to be discussed with the other mun to elaborate on). He remained in Vegas until around 1996 when he decided he needed a change of scene.
The change of scene was pretty massive, it being the difference between the desert in Nevada and the snow and beautuful forests of Vermont. He went for somewhere completely different on purpose, wanting a completely different backdrop to clear his head.
Pre-series
Leda in the modern day.
By mid 90s Ledan had set himself and his business up again to the extent it was before in the small town of Fleetwood, Vermont, buying a fairly fancy property there. He relied mainly on old clients who followed his business when they needed it (and passing on his praises to their friends) as well as his friends referring clients to him when it fit his areas of expertise (and he would do the opposite).
Since he was so remote at this point, however he often had to go to the client or go out to find clients though travel as he had before he'd ever stayed in one place for a long period of time; this time he just had a base to go back to now. It was a light change in his usual operation, but with his ability to teleport, it became a lot easier to find clients.
He appreciated the new remote locale despite this, not only did it remind him of home, it felt like a breath of fresh air to be able to sit down and relax some days. Much as he loved his work he could have done with some time off, and while he had before, he'd not really had quiet like this in several hundred years. Not that he never went out of the small town for some adventure, he just left to do that when he chose to. At some point during this time Ledan attended Amrit's 500th birthday, which is fairly frequently referenced by anyone who attended, as apparently it got pretty out of hand.
Supernatural
Note/Diclaimer: A lot of this will be referring to a personal verse between me and my friends, consider anything mentioning canon characters dependent on either your willingness to acknowledge it. I don't always play Leda involved at all in the actual events of Supernatural directly.
Things with titles other than "Season" are his subplots, which will always be in his 'canon' as having happened, but just happen to have occurred during the show's timeline at some point.
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
Season 7
Season 8
Season 9
Season 10
The Hex
At some point towards the end of season 9 and the beginning of season 10, Ledan was hexed by his long-time friend Myrrine, due to her panicking over Ledan's affiliation with certain hunters. Ironically, she was sure she was preempting a betrayal on his part. However, Ledan obviously had no intention of betraying his friend. Ledan didn't know the full nature of the hex or even who placed it on him for some time, only that it was powerful and that even he, a powerful and knowledgeable witch specialising in these things, found himself at a loss to reverse it.
In the beginning Ledan shrugged it off as nothing, mainly seeing it as a nuisance and something that he would find a solution for, it was just trickier than usual. This calm reaction is likely because Ledan had rivals attempt to (and sometimes succeed in) hexing him on a myriad of occasions, there was bound to be one that would give him a little bit of a run for his money. Soon, however, he and his "inner circle" became concerned. Nothing was working and Ledan was slowly appearing to sicken, this was not normal him at this point, having not experienced this in over a thousand years.
Soon it became apparent that using any of the powers he'd gained from his father was making it worse, they were draining his energy and strength. Soon, advanced uses of his powers caused dizzy spells and nosebleeds among other things.
Season 11
The Death of Thyrvï
Season 12
Name
Ledan (pronounced Lee-dun [li:dʌn]) , originally written ᛚᛖᛞᚨᚾ (in Elder Futhark), comes from words from Leda's own language, Ancient Nordic ('Heimámál') meaning 'to guide/go' or 'beacon', as it was common to name children after some form of strength or power. The word in question helped form the word 'lead' over time in English, it's possible his mother made up the name.
An awkward by-product of this is that his name happens to mean boredom in modern Swedish, the current language of his homeland. This and his nickname Leda is occasionally confused with the name of Greek mythological character, Leda; which is usually pronounced slightly differently than his nickname (usually pronounced Lay-duh [leɪːdə]. Both, however, have nothing to do with his name.
Trivia
- Leda speaks with a very slight accent.
- when alone at home, or when he speaks with his family, it's noticeably more pronounced.
- He can only sing vaguely well with an accent, he sounds awful putting one on.
- His favourite colour is purple, specifically dark purple.
- Ledan's enjoys jazz music, often listening to it as he reads or occasionally live. He also enjoys big band music as well as blues and swing.
- One of his favourite singers is Frank Sinatra, who he frequently listens to.
- Another seems to be Ella Fitzgerald.
- He hates chocolate. He finds milk and light chocolate sickly sweet and, while he doesn't hate it as much, doesn't enjoy the flavour of dark chocolate that much.
- Ledan has a few tattoos, one being the runic letters "ᚲ ᛇ ᛋ ᛗ ᚱ" on his left arm (his children's initials in order of their age), and another being a traditional tree of life (Yggdrasil) on his left angle.
- Ledan is a fan of single malt scotch whisky, and appears to have collected a lot of bottles over his many years, some gifts and some presumably purchased.
- He'll usually order Chivas Regal at bars, simply because it's his favourite that most bars sell.
- He doesn't seem to like Bourbon, stating that it lacks the smoky, peaty flavour found in scotch whisky
- He is terrible at dancing, which is the subject of many jokes among his friends. Ledan doesn't seem to take offence to this and often chimes in with his own jokes. He has explained that he dances 'exactly' like "a dad at a BBQ".
- He bought the Tarot deck he uses today before the cards were used as divining tools. He'd already bought his deck in Venice in 1498, and originally used it to play tarocchini.
- Leda has been a vegetarian since 1972.
- He rarely allows meat in his home (other than the meat for his cats), and never cooks it.
- He does allow things like turkey for Chistmas, as an example, but never cooked in his oven so as to keep it perfectly free from "remnants". With most of his friends being able to teleport, however, this isn't too hard to accomplish.
- He bonded with Mary Winchester over the fact they're both vegitarians.
- Leda is an amazing cook, this is as a result of years and years of practising magic, which (his kind at least) uses mostly the same skills as cooking, especially since cooking is a hobby of his.
- He also bonded with Mary Winchester over the fact they're both keen cooks.
- Leda gets into many of the holidays brought over from pagan traditions. He's particularly fond of Halloween and Christmas and will decorate his house enthusiastically.
- Ledan can speak a fair few languages, however these were all picked up by either places he's been (i.e Ancient Rome) or the dominant language of the time, due to necessity (his own language was, after all, pretty rarely spoken as it was).
- For this reason, he's currently trying to learn Mandarin (but is so far shit at it).
- He has 6 cats; Leífr (male), Freja (female), Hildr (female), Leífi (male), Mær (female) and Fróði (male, kitten). All of whom he adores.
- Leda speaks in his first language (Ancient Nordic) when not around his clients as this is how he talks to his cats and he uses it to label all of his ingredients.
- He reads mainly books from Iceland, as the language is similar to his own, he was able to pick it up rather easily. He enjoys crime and trhiller books, as well as fantasy.
- Leda likes Norse mythology/things with Norse mythology in them; he finds it nostalgic.
- Leda is fond of and had has many vintage cars and motorbikes, he's particularly fond of 50s British motorbikes; he has:
- A BSA Golden Flash
- A Norton Commando Frostback
- A 1950 Ariel Red Hunter
- A 1957 Triumph Thunderbird
- A 1959 Cadillac Eldorado, convertible (blue)
- A 1959 Chevrolet Impala, convertible (red)
- Leda is quite sentimental, he keeps things he likes from time to time meaning that he has what could be described as a mini-museum of ancient/antique but mostly otherwise valueless items in his attic.
- Leda is the oldest character on-show with a full, stated, exact age (it can be inferred that he celebrated his 2,355th birthday on the 28th of October this year, as last year he was 2,354 on the same day). However there are many far older beings around, their exact age is just never specified.
References
- NOTE 1: Since I could find research for the magic (among other things) of a lot later in Scandinavian history, I have based my research on that, assuming that attitudes were similar, though the only research I could find suggests that attitudes were probably slightly less melodramatic. I have based related aspects of the biography on this. This is since we don't know much about this period of history.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Davis, R. World War Two Military Ranks Table. (Last accessed 18th Feb 2016.)
- ↑ Blake, M. (2011). About Vetrnætr. (Last accessed 14th Nov 2014)
- ↑ Ward, C. (Unknown). Women and Magic in the Sagas: Seiðr and Spá. (Last accessed 14th Nov 2014)
- ↑ McCoy, D. (2012). Seiðr. (Last accessed 14th Nov 2014)
- ↑ Mitchell, S A (2010). Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages. (1st ed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 384 pages)
- ↑ Carlisle, T. (2013, March). The role and status of the smith in the Viking age. (University of Glasgow, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts., 155 pages)
- ↑ Price, N (Prof.). (2012). Life and Afterlife: Dealing with the Dead in the Viking Age. (Last accessed 14th Nov 2014) (Not exactly relevant, but very interesting presentation, and I used some ideas from this)
- ↑ Price, N (Prof.). (2012). The Shape of the Soul: The Viking Mind and the Individual. (Last accessed 14th Nov 2014) (Not exactly relevant, but very interesting presentation, and I used some ideas from this)
- ↑ Short, W R. (1999). Families and Demographics in the Viking Age. (Last accessed 28th Dec 2014) (excerpt: The age of majority is not clearly defined, but by the time a boy was 16 years old, he was expected to take on all the roles of an adult male in Viking society. Even younger children took on some adult responsibilities. In order to qualify to be a judge in court, a man need be only 12 years old. Although children were excused from attacks and battles and permitted to leave before a fight began, some young children initiated lethal revenge attacks.)