History Literature / TheLionHunters

* {{Implausible Hair Colour}}s: Medraut and his children. Medraut has white-blond hair, but as his parents are half-siblings he had perhaps better than average odds of inheriting this recessive trait. (His mother Morgause and her other children are red-headed; Artos and his other children are dark.) Telemakos is a DarkSkinnedBlond with the same "silvery" hair and blue eyes as Medraut, while Athena is a DarkSkinnedRedhead. Their mother Turunesh is black, but had a Socotran grandmother from whom she apparently passed on some recessive genes.

** SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Telemakos was apparently conceived the night before Medraut returned to Britain, and Medraut never knew about him. He looks like a darker-skinned version of Medraut.
** TellMeAboutMyFather: Medraut is a legend to Telemakos.
* HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee: Priamos is extensively interrogated by the bala heg, the ruling body of Aksum, upon his premature return from Britain. The collapse of the kingdom you're ambassador to is no excuse for sloppy accounting, especially if everyone suspects you're a traitor anyway.

* KingArthur: ''The Winter Prince'' is firmly Arthurian, focussing on the the family drama of Artos, Morgause, Medraut, and Lleu. The four following books set in Aksum and Himyar are SomethingCompletelyDifferent.
** BrotherSisterIncest: Per tradition, Artos and Morgause.
** {{Demythification}}: ''The Winter Prince'' is strictly historical fiction, stripped of magical and romantic elements of Arthurian myth like Merlin, Lancelot, Avalon, or the Round Table. Camelot becomes a rebuilt Roman villa called Camlan, sited near modern Alderley Edge, Cheshire.
** TheGoodKing: Artos is an "engineer king" who restores neglected technology, lives and works beside ordinary people, and tries to be fair to his kids.

** ParentalSubstitute: Goewin to Telemakos, and Abreha and Queen Muna to Telemakos and their other foster children.

** GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Morgause. To a lesser extent, Goewin, and Candake.
** TheHighQueen: Candake
** PoliticallyActivePrincess: Goewin is the kingmaker of Britain and the spymaster of Aksum. Sofya Anbessa undertakes a covert rescue mission for Telemakos and later becomes the ambassador to Britain.
** WarriorPrince: All of them except Mikael, but they all prefer to do something else. Medraut is a hunter and a doctor, Lleu is a swordsman. Abreha and Priamos are linguists, Ityopis is a politician, Gebre Meskal is religious, Constantine is an administrator.
* SiblingRivalry: The driving conflict of ''The Winter Prince'', as Medraut (and to a lesser extent Goewin) believes that he's been unfairly passed over in favour of his younger brother Lleu, because he's a bastard and the product of incest. The problem is rooted in the previous generation's SiblingRivalry, since Morgause envies Artos's power, which as a woman she (like Goewin) is denied.

** AngstySurvivingTwin: [[spoiler:Goewin]]
** ArrangedMarriage: Goewin and Constantine; Esato and Ahamado; Abreha and Muna; the Himyarite child-monarchs
** CainAndAbelAndSeth: Medraut, Lleu, and Goewin.
** EvilMatriarch: Morgause to Medraut, Gwalchmei, Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth.
** FreudianExcuse
** HeroicBastard: Medraut
** IAmXSonOfY: Both Britons and Aksumites, e.g. "Lleu son of Artos". Though Aksumites use a patronymic, e.g. Turunesh ''Kidane'' or Priamos ''Anbessa'', they inherit their actual family name from their mother, e.g. "Athena Meder ''of the house of Nebir.''"

''The Lion Hunters'', also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels and short stories by Creator/ElizabethWein. The GenerationalSaga begins in the sixth century Britain of a historical KingArthur, then shifts political arenas in the following books to the Red Sea empires of Aksum and Himyar.

'''The Lion Hunters''', also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels and short stories by Creator/ElizabethWein. The GenerationalSaga begins in the sixth century Britain of a historical KingArthur, then shifts political arenas in the following books to the Red Sea empires of Aksum and Himyar.

* '''''The Winter Prince:''''' (1993) Medraut, Artos's illegitimate eldest son, returns from Aksum to serve in Britain, where he struggles with his love and resentment of his arrogant younger half-brother Lleu, Artos's heir, and his love and fear of his mother, Artos's half-sister, Morgause, Queen of the Orcades.

* '''''A Coalition of Lions:''''' (2003) Goewin, Artos's daughter, and Priamos, the Aksumite ambassador to Britain, sail to Aksum to recall Constantine, the British ambassador and Goewin's fiancé, to war-torn Britain. But Priamos is arrested for treason and Constantine, now viceroy to the absent Emperor Caleb, will not depart until Goewin, with the help of Medraut's long-lost lover Turunesh and their son Telemakos, can find the emperor and persuade him to crown his successor.
* '''''The Sunbird:''''' (2004) Plague erupts in Aksum's brother kingdom of Himyar, and Telemakos, Medraut's Aksumite son, is asked by the emperor and his spymaster to infiltrate their quarantined port city and go undercover as a salt-mine slave in order to discover who is breaking the quarantine.

* '''''The Lion Hunter'' (The Mark of Solomon, Book One):''' (2007) On the day of his sister Athena's birth, Telemakos is savaged by his beloved pet lions. During his recovery, he learns that one of the quarantine breakers is still looking for the spy called the Sunbird, and he and Athena are sent to the king of Himyar for safety – and to spy out the last conspirator. In Himyar's court, they are fostered with the heirs to all the south Arabian kingdoms – but the childless king of Himyar will not tolerate disloyalty.
* '''''The Empty Kingdom'' (The Mark of Solomon, Book Two):''' (2008) If Telemakos betrays the king of Himyar again, his life is forfeit. Though the king holds him hostage, he treats Telemakos like a son, and while planning to annex an Aksumite territory, forces Telemakos to help him, or risk his life to escape and warn the emperor of Aksum.
* '''''The Sword Dance'':''' (unpublished) The final novel, about Telemakos "in Britain, in love," [[https://www.goodreads.com/questions/661635-everyone-else-is-asking-about-code-name remains unreleased]].

** Lleu is named after Lleu Llaw Gyffes, a figure from [[Literature/TheMabinogion Welsh mythology]], called 'the Bright One'. It's also a pun on ''llew'' and ''leo'', 'lion' in his mother's British dialect and in Latin. Aelfric renames him Loki, for the god of fire and mischief, after he learns to strike sparks with his slave's manacles.

** {{Demythtification}}: ''The Winter Prince'' is strictly historical fiction, stripped of magical and romantic elements of Arthurian myth like Merlin, Lancelot, Avalon, or the Round Table. Camelot becomes a rebuilt Roman villa called Camlan, sited near modern Alderley Edge, Cheshire.

The Lion Hunters, also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels and short stories by Creator/ElizabethWein. The GenerationalSaga begins in the sixth century Britain of a historical KingArthur, then shifts political arenas in the following books to the Red Sea empires of Aksum and Himyar.

The Lion Hunters, also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels by Elizabeth E. Wein (''[[Literature/CodeNameVerity Code Name Verity]]''). The GenerationalSaga begins in the sixth century Britain of a historical KingArthur, then shifts political arenas in the following books to the Red Sea empires of Aksum and Himyar.

Elizabeth E. Wein's official site is [[http://www.elizabethwein.com elizabethwein.com]]

* '''The Mark of Solomon, Book One: ''The Lion Hunter'':''' (2007) On the day of his sister Athena's birth, Telemakos is savaged by his beloved pet lions. During his recovery, he learns that one of the quarantine breakers is still looking for the spy called the Sunbird, and he and Athena are sent to the king of Himyar for safety - and to spy out the last conspirator. In Himyar's court, they are fostered with the heirs to all the south Arabian kingdoms - but the childless king of Himyar will not tolerate disloyalty.
* '''The Mark of Solomon, Book Two: ''The Empty Kingdom'':''' (2008) If Telemakos betrays the king of Himyar again, his life is forfeit. Though the king holds him hostage, he treats Telemakos like a son, and while planning to annex an Aksumite territory, forces Telemakos to help him, or risk his life to escape and warn the emperor of Aksum.
* "No Human Hands to Touch" in ''Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers'' (1997): A prequel to ''The Winter Prince,'' where Morgause tells of Medraut's return to the Orcades and their relationship.
* "Fire" in ''Writers of the Future Vol. IX'' (1993): A story about Lleu set after ''The Winter Prince.''

Though not formally concluded, The Lion Hunters is on indefinite hiatus while the author writes the Young Pilots series (beginning with ''Literature/CodeNameVerity''.) Elizabeth E. Wein's official site is [[http://www.elizabethwein.com elizabethwein.com]]

* AbusiveParent: Morgause conceived Medraut in order to use him against Artos. Various things he mentions her doing to him over the course of his life include: mangling his broken hand in order to teach him a lesson about hunting safety; driving a pin through his cheek; drugging him; perhaps molesting him; and generally making him as insane, angry, and cruel as she is.

** Lleu is named after Lleu Llaw Gyffes, a figure from Welsh mythology, called 'the Bright One'. It's also a pun on ''llew'' and ''leo'', 'lion' in his mother's British dialect and in Latin.

** IAmXSonOfY: Both Britons and Aksumites, e.g. "Lleu son of Artos". Though Aksumites use a patronymic, e.g. Turunesh '''Kidane''' or Priamos '''Anbessa''', they inherit their actual family name from their mother, e.g. "Athena Meder '''of the house of Nebir'''".

The Lion Hunters, also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels by Elizabeth E. Wein (''[[Literature/CodeNameVerity Code Name Verity]]''). The series begins in the sixth century Britain of a historical KingArthur, and expands in scope in the following books to the Red Sea kingdoms of Aksum and Himyar (modern Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Yemen and southwestern Saudi Arabia.)

Elizabeth Wein's official site is [[http://www.elizabethwein.com elizabethwein.com]]

* GlamorousSingleMother: Turunesh is a more involved mother than many Aksumite noblewomen, who send their sons to be raised in monasteries, but she didn't change her lifestyle much after Telemakos's birth.

* {{Implausible Hair Colour}}s: Medraut and his children. Medraut has white-blond hair, but as his parents are half-siblings he had perhaps better than average odds of inheriting this recessive trait. (His mother Morgause and her other children are red-headed; Artos and his other children are dark.) Telemakos is a DarkSkinnedBlond with the same "silvery" hair and blue eyes as Medraut, while Athena is a DarkSkinnedRedhead. Their mother Turunesh is black, but had a Socotran mother from whom she apparently passed on some recessive genes.
* KingArthur
** BrotherSisterIncest: Artos and Morgause

** TheGoodKing

** Candake is named for the biblical queen of Sheba, the wife of Solomon. The tame lions Solomon and Sheba are also named after them, and the lions' cub after their son Menelik.

** Telemakos thinks the emperor calls him Bitwoded, 'Beloved', as a mark of favour for his services as the Sunbird. Sofya explains to him that it's a little more than that - it's formal title that makes him a candidate for the throne.
* ParentsAsPeople

* ReassignedToAntarctica: Morgause's position as queen of the Orcades - i.e. the Orkney archipelago at the northern tip of Scotland - is a tacit exile from the rest of Britain.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething

* TangledFamilyTree
** AngstySurvivingTwin
** ArrangedMarriage

** IAmXSonOfY: Both Britons and Aksumites, e.g. "Lleu son of Artos". Though Aksumites use a patronymic, e.g. Turunesh Kidane or Priamos Anbessa, they inherit their actual family name from their mother, e.g. "Athena Meder of the house of Nebir".

* "Fire' in ''Writers of the Future Vol. IX'' (1993): A story about Lleu set after ''The Winter Prince.''

The Lion Hunters, also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels by Elizabeth E. Wein (''[[Literature/CodeNameVerity Code Name Verity]]''). The series begins in the sixth century Britain of a historical KingArthur, and expands in scope in the following books to the Red Sea kingdoms of Aksum and Himyar (modern Ethiopia and Yemen.)

* '''The Mark of Solomon, Book Two: ''The Empty Kingdom'':''' (2008) If Telemakos betrays the king of Himyar again, his life is forfeit. But while the king holds him hostage, he treats Telemakos like a son, and while planning to annex an Aksumite territory, forces Telemakos to help him, or risk his life to escape him and warn the emperor of Aksum.

** {{Demythtification}}

** ParentalSubstitute: Goewin to Telemakos

** The 'Mark of Solomon' is both Telemakos's maiming by the emperor's lion Solomon and Abreha's seal tattooed on his neck.

** Telemakos learns to move in silence while belled like a cat after seeing Menelik silently retrieve a belled ball.

* TheSpeechless: Medraut, in penance for precipitating the battle of Camlann.

** ''A Coalition of Lions'': Artos and Lleu are mortally injured in the battle of Camlann, Ginevra dies of a fever, Medraut disappears, and the next heir to the throne is in Aksum. Goewin introduces another variable when she threatens to support Telemakos as Artos's heir instead of Constantine.

** ''The Mark of Solomon'': Abreha is fostering the various child-kings and queens of the Himyarite kingdoms, whose parents died of the plague. Abreha lost children of his own, and his remaining son is a non-entity unlikely to inherit his throne.

The Lion Hunters, also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels by Elizabeth E. Wein (''[[Literature/CodeNameVerity Code Name Verity]]''). The series begins in the 6th century Britain of a historical KingArthur, and expands in scope in the following books to the Red Sea kingdoms of Aksum and Himyar (modern Ethiopia and Yemen.)

* AloofBigBrother: Medraut to Lleu.
* AnimalMotifs

** Medraut means 'marksman.' The Aksumite version of his name, Meder, refers to a pagan deity and means 'the lord of the land', symbolically the lion. 'Lleu' is also a play on Leo, 'lion'.

** Candake is named for the biblical queen of Sheba, the wife of Solomon. The tame lions Solomon and Sheba are also named after them, and the lions' cub after their son Menelik.

* BigBrotherInstinct
** PromotionToParent: Telemakos devotes himself to Athena after Turunesh sinks into post-partum depression and Medraut blames the baby for Telemakos's injury.

** SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Telemakos was apparently conceived the night before Medraut returned to Britain, and Medraut never knew about him. Telemakos looks like a darker-skinned version of Medraut.

** PoliticallyActivePrincess: Goewin, Sofya
** WarriorPrince

** ''The Mark of Solomon'': Abreha is fostering the various child-kings and queens of the Himyarite kingdoms, whose parents died of the plague. Abreha lost a son of his own, and his remaining son is a non-entity unlikely to inherit his throne.

** IAmXSonOfY

** Mikael looked out for Abreha when they were imprisoned as children on Debra Damo. The blight of Mikael's life is why Abreha feels no loyalty to Caleb.

* GlamorousSingleMother: Turunesh is a more involved mother than many Aksumite noblewomen, who send their sons to be raised in monasteries, but she didn't change her lifestyle much after his birth.

* HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee

* SiblingRivalry
* TheSpeechless: Medraut, in penance for touching off the battle of Camlann.

** SomeoneToRememberHimBy

The Lion Hunters, also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels by Elizabeth E. Wein (''[[Literature/CodeNameVerity Code Name Verity]]''). The series begins in the 6th century Britain of a historical King Arthur, linked in the following books to the Red Sea kingdoms of Aksum and Himyar (modern Ethiopia and Yemen.)

* AloofBigBrother: Medraut

The Lion Hunters, also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels by Elizabeth E. Wein (''[[Literature/CodeNameVerity Code Name Verity]]''). The series begins in the fifth-century Britain of a historical King Arthur, linked in the following books to the Red Sea kingdoms of Aksum and Himyar (modern Ethiopia and Yemen.)

** HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee

The Lion Hunters, also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels by Elizabeth E. Wein (''[[Literature/CodeNameVerity Code Name Verity]]''). The series begins in the fifth-century Britain of a historical King Arthur, linked in the following books to the Red Sea kingdoms of Aksum and Himyar (modern Ethiopia and southwest Arabia.)

* '''''The Winter Prince:''''' (1993) Medraut, Artos's illegitimate eldest son, returns from Aksum to serve in Britain, where he struggles with his love and resentment of his arrogant younger half-brother Lleu, Artos's heir, and the manipulations of his mother, Artos's half-sister, Morgause, Queen of the Orcades.
* '''''A Coalition of Lions:''''' (2003) Goewin, Artos's daughter, and Priamos, the Aksumite ambassador to Britain, sail to Aksum to recall Constantine, the British ambassador and Goewin's fiancé, to war-torn Britain. But Constantine has become viceroy to the absent Emperor Caleb and will not depart until Goewin, with the help of Medraut's long-lost lover Turunesh and their son Telemakos, can find the emperor and persuade him to name his successor from among his warring sons and nephews - including Priamos.

* AngstySurvivingTwin
* ArrangedMarriage

** PromotionToParent: Telemakos to Athena
* EvilMatriarch: Morgause to Medraut, Gawain, Gareth, Agrivaine
* ElectiveMonarchy: Himyar
* GlamorousSingleMother: Turunesh

* HeroicBastard: Medraut
* IAmXSonOfY

** Demythtification

** ParentalSubstitute: Goewin

** GodSaveUsFromTheQueen
** TheHighQueen: Kandake

* WellDoneSonGuy: Telemakos

The Lion Hunters, also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels by Elizabeth E. Wein ([[Literature/CodeNameVerity ''Code Name Verity'']]). The series begins in the fifth-century Britain of a historical King Arthur, linked in the following books to the Red Sea kingdoms of Aksum and Himyar (modern Ethiopia and southwest Arabia.)

* AloofBigBrother

** PromotionToParent

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen
* HeroicBastard

** BrotherSisterIncest:

** ParentalSubstitute

The Lion Hunters, also known as the Arthurian-Aksumite Cycle, is a series of historical novels by Elizabeth E. Wein (''CodeNameVerity''). The series begins in the fifth-century Britain of a historical King Arthur, linked in the following books to the Red Sea kingdoms of Aksum and Himyar (modern Ethiopia and southwest Arabia.)

* Demythtification

* '''''The Winter Prince:''''' Medraut, Artos's illegitimate eldest son, returns from Aksum to serve in Britain, where he struggles with his love and resentment of his arrogant younger half-brother Lleu, Artos's heir, and the manipulations of his mother, Artos's half-sister, Morgause, Queen of the Orcades.
* '''''A Coalition of Lions:''''' Goewin, Artos's daughter, and Priamos, the Aksumite ambassador to Britain, sail to Aksum to recall Constantine, the British ambassador and Goewin's fiancé, to war-torn Britain. But Constantine has become viceroy to the absent Emperor Caleb and will not depart until Goewin, with the help of Medraut's long-lost lover Turunesh and their son Telemakos, can find the emperor and persuade him to name his successor from among his warring sons and nephews - including Priamos.
* '''''The Sunbird:''''' Plague erupts in Aksum's brother kingdom of Himyar, and Telemakos, Medraut's Aksumite son, is asked by the emperor and his spymaster to infiltrate their quarantined port city and go undercover as a salt-mine slave in order to discover who is breaking the quarantine.
* '''The Mark of Solomon, Book One: ''The Lion Hunter'':''' On the day of his sister Athena's birth, Telemakos is savaged by his beloved pet lions. During his recovery, he learns that one of the quarantine breakers is still looking for the spy called the Sunbird, and he and Athena are sent to the king of Himyar for safety - and to spy out the last conspirator. In Himyar's court, they are fostered with the heirs to all the south Arabian kingdoms - but the childless king of Himyar will not tolerate disloyalty.
* '''The Mark of Solomon, Book Two: ''The Empty Kingdom'':'''

* '''''The Winter Prince:''''' Medraut, Artos's illegitimate eldest son, returns from Aksum to serve in Britain, where he struggles with his love and resentment of his arrogant younger half-brother Llew, Artos's heir, and the manipulations of his mother, Artos's half-sister, Morgause, Queen of the Orcades.
* '''''A Coalition of Lions:''''' Goewin, Artos's daughter, and Priamos, the Aksumite ambassador to Britain, sail to Aksum to recall Constantine, the British ambassador and Goewin's fiancé, to war-torn Britain. But Constantine has become viceroy to the absent Emperor Caleb and will not depart until Goewin, with the help of Medraut's long-lost lover Turunesh and their son Telemakos, can find the emperor and persuade him to name his successor from among his feuding sons and nephews - Priamos among them.
* '''''The Sunbird:''''' Plague erupts in Aksum's brother kingdom of Himyar, and Telemakos, Medraut's Aksumite son, is asked by the emperor and his spymaster, Telemakos's aunt Goewin, to infiltrate their quarantined port city and go undercover as a salt-mine slave in order to discover who is breaking the quarantine.