Disabled Representations in The Legend of Bolyra
Trigger warning: Mention of sexual assault and discussing words that could hurt a disabled person
Today’s topic is on the disabled characters in my work in progress. After seeing specific posts on Twitter (which caused me, as a disabled person, to see red due to the language used in said posts. More on this matter after discussing the characters), I wanted to give a shout out/love to my disabled characters who just happily exist in their world while dealing with the day to day problems (and for some trying to put a stop to the Slave Trade as well as the destruction of the Mortal and Gods’ Planes.)
Main Characters:
Princess (later on Queen) Aerilaya Kuornos (nee Lithrina), who is one of six main characters, has a physical disability due to being cursed during her time as a slave in an attempt to surpress her magic abilities and on some levels affect her physical abilities. Despite the curses being removed, it has left her body in a permanent weakened state, which is usually a rare occurrence. As curses after they are removed the person is only supposed to feel the after effects for a month or two. While she can still carry on like she normally does, she has to watch herself whenever using magic (which is a problem itself as she’s experiencing magic drain from the curses and can cause her abilities to go haywire.) Magic in this world is connected to the body. If one’s body is out of sync in any matter, the magic, and physical state is affected. Sometimes this can end up being a permanent thing like in Aerilaya’s case and another character that will be mentioned later on. But regardless of this physical/magic ability she’s still happy and healthy and living her life while trying to stop her brother from destroying the country.
Nura Kuornos, is another MC, and the biological daughter of Aerilaya and the adopted daughter of Alosrin. Nura is a blind Zeniron Snow Elf. She is a result from a sexual assult when Aerilaya was enslaved. Despite this, Aerilaya did attempt to do the right thing for her by giving her to workers of Goddess Ophine’s Churches who assist with taking in children who cannot be taken care of by their parents. But unfortunately, what Aerilaya didn’t know was that the people she handed Nura over to were people who worked under Mad Doctors who experimented on people with unique abilities. This is how Nura ended up becoming blind during the time she was trapped with these people. But thanks to a group of freedom fighters who had heard about what was going on, she was able to escape from further damage being done to her. After reuniting with Aerilaya and dealing with the situation that was plaguing Taedmorden at the time. She flourished when the group headed to the Taiga Mountains where Aerilaya lived and everyone was able to decompress from the stress for several months. What helped her the most was her grandfather, King Biryor, and Alosrin who both did what they could to help her deal with her new way of life. While getting used to having an actual family. In order to help her get around, she uses a special staff that Alosrin made for her. To the naked eye, it looks like a simple wood staff with two yellow round crystals attached to the bottom and top. This staff is connected to her Light Magic and allows her to ‘see’ when walking and ‘read’ books via her Light Magic like braille as the magic scans over the words.
Villain:
Exiled Prince Fayaris Lithrina, is one of the three villains of this story, which is a strong word to use with this character since he is technically being used and abused by the other two villains. He’s the former prince of the Snow Elves, the older brother of Aerilaya, and suffers from an impulse control disorder along with another unspecified mental illness. But this is not why he’s exiled from the Snow Elves’ Kingdom. The truth behind him going into exile was following his Great-Great Grandparents, Droinyon and Ilythyrra, after years of feeding him lies that his parents, King Biryor and Queen Merialeth, were going to send him away permanently due to being embarrassed by him. The reality of this is his parents were trying to get him help via Terinea, the Goddess of Wellbeing*, for his mental illnesses and to ensure he has a semi-normal life.
Important Side Characters:
King Tholns, is a Shadow Elf and the father of Prince Alosrin and Princess Nicurna, and husband of Queen Alurara, who suffers from a traumatic brain injury that he received during a fight. While he is known for having violent outbursts from time to time when forgetting that he’s not fighting enemies; he does try his best to keep things under control. He also does memory exercises to ensure he doesn’t forget his loved ones as he has caught himself on occasion forgetting who his wife and children are. His wife, Alurara, also does what she can to assist him as well as help calm himself down when getting frustrated at himself.
Luciana Andronicus (nee Nightworks), was born paralyzed from the waist down, and one of the few humans who can use magic. The humans of this world used to be able to use magic, but after several wars and other illegal activity, the Goddess of Magic, save a few groups, was stripped of their abilities. Luciana is a special case as she shouldn’t be able to use her abilities, but the area where magic is stored wasn’t affected. So, she doesn’t have a Magic Disability on top of her physical disability, which she is grateful for since she thrives on her independence, and is very stubborn on asking for help from her husband, Nym, or her cousin, Thornton Sr. She along with her husband and her cousin were once famed nobles of Helina, but they decided to take to the streets and fight again the current regime as well as free as many slaves as they could. After being busted and nearly hung at the gallows, the three of them fled to Bolyra. This is where they created the Thieves’ Guild of Bolyra. They steal from the wealthy and assist those who are down on their luck while still fighting against Slave Traders and Slave Owners.
Ner is a Zeniron teen who was once a healthy child until the age of 2 when he caught a disease dubbed Black Heart Fever, which ravaged his immune system and body. While he recovered from the disease his body has permanent lingering effects/symptoms, which are controlled with medicine. He is one of the more fiester characters while putting himself down in the process. Ner doesn’t have a good view of himself presently in the story, but this will change after helping a God on his fetch quest and realising the support system he has around him.
Astra, a Moekyaoe (a humanoid goat woman), is the Head Healer of Delphitida’s Dinir and Ophine’s Sanctuary where she and a group of Healers assist those that are down on their luck. While she doesn’t have any magic due to her abilities being permanently suppressed by her father for unknown reasons at the age of 5. Astra still went on to train as a Healer when reaching adulthood to not only help others, but to see if she could help herself in the process. After she finished her studies, she discovered that nothing could be done on reversing the magic suppression, but by that point she didn’t care as her classmates and teachers had given her hope that she can still be helpful without magic.
Sature, a Winged Shadow Elf child, who was born deaf, but he could speak up until someone magically sealed his vocal cords when he and his younger sister, Tolirara, were enslaved. Before this event happened in his and his family's lives, he was a happy kid, and did normal kid stuff with his sister and their friends. When at school on top of learning how to read and write, he along with learning English and Elvish sign language, with Tolirara and their friends. After years of living with his slave owners, he along with his sister where saved, and taken in by Aerilaya and Alosrin.
*Author’s Notes: Terinea the Goddess of Wellbeing doesn’t snap mental illness away. Her role is to assist people with mental illness/help them through their issues while alleviating symptoms. She also helps those who have been harmed beyond what the mortal healers (my world’s version of doctors) can do to help.
About me, the author of this post and website, my name is Elyse. I’m a disabled writer and artist with a shunt and physical limitations due to something called Dandy-Walker Syndrome. This syndrome also on some levels affects my learning - this means I learn things slower than the average person. BUT despite this, I do try my best on creating content for my blog, Patreon, and Ko-fi for anyone who reads my stuff. I truly do appreciate your support, which has been a major confidence boost after years of being beaten down by people (especially by people who should have been in my corner, but weren’t.) Which sadly still affects me to this day. I know many will say “they are just words. They can’t hurt you.”
But they can, especially when hearing words like - burden, she shouldn’t be alive, and they are a financial burden. These are things I heard a lot growing up, especially ‘the boy should have lived and the girl should have died’ often when finding out I had a twin brother who died two days after we were born. Yup, I’m a premature baby as well. I was born three months premature.
I’m not saying this to make people feel bad for me or to lecture, but the reason I’m bringing this subject up is after seeing that book blurb stating the disabled MC is a burden to society really brought up some old wounds. Especially stuff from when I was homeless from 2017 to 2018 and at one point was living out of a transitional housing shelter that truly caused my mental health to spiral and nearly crash into something bad. While making me question if I was making up my own disability (I know I’m not because it is on record with my hospital.) My point to this is please be respectful and kind towards disabled people and people in general. You don’t know what demons they are fighting.
Hey, thank you for making this far and I apologise for such a long post here. I know it isn't the norm for me to be this long winded unless on a Patreon post, but that's here nor there. I truly do appreciate your support and reading my blog. It does mean a lot as I mentioned earlier. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope you have a fantastic day.
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