Rannoch

Rannoch appears in The Highlander.

Appearance

Rannoch carries a light demon stain under one fingernail.

In The Highlander

Rannoch is a Highlander warrior who survived the sealed north with a light mark and nightmares that made him wake biting his own arm. At Branok's weighing he dropped to his knees in relief at the idea that survival need not mean exile. He became the first bearer of a burden-blade, forged by Yrsa Flintkiss from a broken Ink Hollow sword, swearing to bear the mark and not pass it, to carry fear without commanding by it, and to stand where the north needed him. The blade woke red and black and he wept, and his wife held his hand without flinching.

After the second burden-blade failed, he visited its bearer, Ilda Greyfur, and honestly confessed that his first thought had been for what her failure meant for him. Later he led riders under Branok's orders to claim Varkhul on the southroad. The black in the beast spoke through his mark until Eira knocked him clear, and the two then fought it together. Afterwards he refused to make the sentence "it used me" any smaller, admitted that the lawful account of Dagna Wolfmere's death grew smaller each time it was repeated, and returned north at first light with a clean scale from Varkhul for Yrsa, resolved to tell Branok the truth.

After the books

Returns north with evidence and a chance for the road behind Eira to be less silent. He leaves carrying a clean scale shard and a small, tangible opening for change. Rannoch's survival is shaped by the fear that marked lives must remain secret.