Haelara Halmund

Slum-born human thrust into the machinery of Luna’s court. She learns quickly that survival is a language, and the palace is fluent in threats disguised as kindness.

Appearance

Haelara is a seventeen-year-old human girl with a cascade of tawny hair, touched with gold, that falls in soft waves over her shoulders. She has a creamy complexion with a faint blush of rose, and sea-glass eyes flecked with gold. As queen she wears a crown or circlet of luminarite; at her first public appearance she still wore ragged clothes beneath it.

In The Outcast Knight

Haelara Halmund, called Lara by her mother and by Astarion, is a slum girl who was sweeping floors only two months before the story's main events, when she was chosen under royal edict as King Aurelion's bride. Her father, Tragus, killed a guard trying to save her and was hanged before her eyes in the trade square, where the King also announced that she carried his heir. Bound to the King in ceremony, she told her mother that a queen cannot refuse the king, and called her duty a shackle she must bear. She was then forced to stand in the courtyard while Alerion had ten half-bloods beheaded at her feet.

Through all of this she kept a stubborn defiance. When Astarion confided his guilt at the cruelty he had witnessed, she told him he could not blame himself for a sick king and agreed to help him, knowing there was no turning back. Their alliance became a growing tenderness, and when Alerion discovered them together she rebuked him, saying the Queen deserved more respect. She sent her mother in secret to Ferrin's workshop to arrange Astarion's meeting with Fi and her allies.

During the tournament she was the mind behind the raid on the royal library. Having memorised the castle's guard posts and servants' routes, she guided Usso and Ferrin to the royal archives and copied the Festival of Light plans with Usso. After Fi killed Alerion, Haelara slipped away to tell their allies the truth before rumour could spread it. At Fi's bedside she took charge, insisting the Festival of Light should go ahead, taking it on herself because the King was no longer fit, and assigning each ally their task. In the garden that night she and Astarion promised to stand together against the dark.

When her mother arrived bloodied with news of Eamon's rampage, Haelara praised her for warning them and ordered every temple opened as refuge. She stood beside Astarion when he was crowned, and that night they became lovers; for the first time she felt wanted rather than owned. In the war council she transformed the festival into a refuge open to all, and when rumours of the attack spread through the crowds she calmed them with an honest speech until they raised their lanterns and sang. The book leaves her still pregnant, moving through the frightened crowds beneath the scorched sky to steady them.

Family

After the books

Known after the books as Queen Haelara Solastis. Queen of Luna. Publicly Queen; aligned with King Astarion. Whether she is pawn, partner, or predator depends on who is telling the story. Publicly crowned; privately aligned with Astarion’s new order.