Elidhu
Encyclopedia
The Elidhu are a fictional race of beings which exist in the world of Pellinor
Pellinor
Pellinor is a fantasy series by Australian author Alison Croggon, spanning four books, the last of which was released in June 2008 in Australia, September 2008 in the UK and March 2009 in the USA....

 created by Alison Croggon
Alison Croggon
Alison Croggon is a contemporary Australian poet, playwright, fantasy novelist, and librettist.-Life:Born in the Transvaal, South Africa, Alison Croggon's family moved to England before settling in Australia, first in Ballarat then Melbourne. She has worked as a journalist for the Sydney Morning...

.

They are an impossibly old race of immortal, invincible, elemental beings, created when the Sky shed a tear onto the Earth. The Elidhu have enormous power and can breed with mortals if they so choose. Known Elidhu/Bard hybrids are Maerad
Maerad
Maerad is the principal character of the first two books of Pellinor: The Gift / The Naming, and The Riddle by the fantasy writer Alison Croggon.-The Gift / The Naming:For several years, Maerad and her mother lived at Gilman's Cot as slaves...

 and Hem
Hem/Cai
Hem, named Cai at birth is a Minor Bard in the Pellinor series of fantasy adventure books by Alison Croggon. He is the brother of Maerad and like her has amazing Bardic skills....

. The power of the hybrids is higher than the average of the two components: Maerad is stronger than the midpoint of the average Bard and the average Elidhu.

Varieties

The Elidhu come in two varieties:
  • Personifications of the Abstracts: These Elidhu are the abstract concepts become material. Examples include: Sky
    Sky
    The sky is the part of the atmosphere or outer space visible from the surface of any astronomical object. It is difficult to define precisely for several reasons. During daylight, the sky of Earth has the appearance of a pale blue surface because the air scatters the sunlight. The sky is sometimes...

     Elidu, Tree
    Tree
    A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

     Elidhu, and Arkan the Ice
    Ice
    Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...

     Elidhu. They are not imbedded in the concept, though they have power
    Superpower (ability)
    Superpower is a popular culture term for a fictional superhuman ability. When a character possesses multiple such abilities, the terms super powers or simply powers are used...

     over it. These Elidhu can travel far from where they live, though they often prefer to remain sedentary.
  • Imbedded Spirits: These Elidhu actually live in, or are a part of that which they embody. The prime example is the Landrost. He is a mountain
    Mountain
    Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

    : his spirit
    Spirit
    The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...

     cannot roam from there, and his power only extends as far as the mountain extends (though this may be proven untrue in the fourth book, The Singing
    The Singing
    The Singing is the fourth and last novel in Alison Croggon's Pellinor quadrilogy. The novel was completed in June 2007 and was published in Australia on 30 June 2008.Direct quote from Alison Croggon:...

    ), unlike Arkan, whose command of ice can affect things wherever he goes. The same conditions apply to another mountain Elidhu, the Lamedon.

Good or evil

The Elidhu generally have little interest in the goings on of the mortal world and are seen as neither good nor evil, with two notable exceptions. These are Arkan, the personnification of ice
Ice
Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...

, who is often seen as evil (although Maerad
Maerad
Maerad is the principal character of the first two books of Pellinor: The Gift / The Naming, and The Riddle by the fantasy writer Alison Croggon.-The Gift / The Naming:For several years, Maerad and her mother lived at Gilman's Cot as slaves...

 is given reason to think otherwise in The Riddle
The Riddle
The Riddle may refer to: In music* The Riddle, a 1959 jazz album by Dave Brubeck* The Riddle , a 1984 rock album by Nik Kershaw* "The Riddle ", a song by Nik Kershaw in 1984...

); and Ardina, Maerad's ancestor, who is seen as good.

Ardina, and possibly others, live according to multiple, often contradictory personalities. Whereas when first appearing in The Gift
The Gift (Alison Croggon novel)
The Gift is 2002 fantasy novel by Alison Croggon. It is the first in her Pellinor quartet.-Background:The Gift was first published in Australia on 1 October 2002 by Penguin Books in trade paperback format...

, Ardina is a playful, mischievous, dryad
Dryad
Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus Dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general...

-like sprite who lives without attachment and lightheartedly scorns attachment as a transient thing, she later appears (in the same book) as a solemn, wise, perceptive queen who seeks to always serve the welfare of her people. She also appears in The Riddle
The Riddle
The Riddle may refer to: In music* The Riddle, a 1959 jazz album by Dave Brubeck* The Riddle , a 1984 rock album by Nik Kershaw* "The Riddle ", a song by Nik Kershaw in 1984...

 as a lunar faerie or demigoddess, called the Moonchild, in which form she is said to be the daughter of the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

. It is presumable that she lives according to other personalities as well, changing them without hesitation as she pleases; she seldom reveals this information to humans, on the grounds that they would not accept it.

Powers and abilities

Elidhu have a variety of abilities uncommon to humans, though these, in turn, seem to vary among individual Elidhu. Ardina is shown having taken the form of a wolf (an ability inherited by Maerad), and sometimes appears as a "moonchild"; a celestial fairy able to hover upon the air, travel great distances within minutes, and heal wounds with a touch. Arkan is shown creating deceptive illusions, producing light from no apparent source, and commanding the weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

. Landrost, spirit of the mountain, summons strange demonic life-forms called "wers" to his aid and can direct them by his will. Nyanar, a forest Elidhu appearing in The Crow
The Crow
The Crow is a comic book series created by James O'Barr. The series was originally written by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his girlfriend at the hands of a drunk driver. It was later published by Caliber Comics in 1989, becoming an underground success, and later adapted into a...

, is able to change shape with ease and identifies himself with and as his environment.
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