Ellisia Darkwood (born Leafshade) is an exceptional defensive warrior and wife of Kraasian Darkwood. In combat, she’s known for her calm approach. Outside of battlefields, she’s known as a gentle woman with an abundance of compassion, a trait she eventually passed down to her son.

Fact sheet and appearance

• Species: Elf
• Age: ca. 2050 years (as of Eternal Defenders #1 beginning)
• Affiliation: Order of Eternal Defenders
• Home: Darkpine
• Family status: married, one child
• Physical skills: defensive warrior
• Magical skills: none
• Related characters: Evelynn and Seltan Leafshade (parents), two older siblings (brother and sister), Kraasian Darkwood (husband/soulmate), Tyr’eshal Darkwood (son), Valentia Redwood, Nelisha, Queen Illeana, Ralisha Owlbeak (friends)

Ellisia is one of the tallest elven women at 195cm. In contrast to many male warriors, she’s not as muscular and so she can easily look like a common villager when she’s not wearing an armor or uniform. She has blue eyes and long brown hair, usually tied to a simple ponytail.

Ellisia is a caring person, especially when it comes to friends or family in peril. She’d be willing to take their hurt on herself to make sure those she cares for are safe – and those who would endanger them will get a taste of her steel.

Early years

Ellisia was not someone who would take attention with her talent the moment she started training. Struggling with offense meant being out of the spotlight even though her defensive capabilities were almost unrivaled even in her early years. The other Eternal Defenders eventually recognized her defensive approach and often sent her somewhere offense was in abundance but defense lacking.

In such a way, she was sent on an assignment to Redleaf when she was in her early third century. She remained there for two months and significantly expanded her abilities, to the point that she learned to use her shield for offense – bashing enemies or punching them with the edges.

During those times, she spent some time with Valentia Redwood, daughter of Redleaf’s innkeeper. These two became good friends, exchanging stories and banter and remaining postcard friends when their duty and distance prevented meeting regularly.

Meeting Kraasian

Ellisia eventually made her name as a reliable warrior willing to assure her unit’s safety. She was usually assigned to deal with smaller troubles like bandit or smuggler gangs. One such assignment, even though of much larger scale, led to meeting a warrior that was her complete opposite: Kraasian Darkwood.

The massive warrior was intrigued by her combat style. The pair spent much time comparing their experiences as well as their different approach, speculating how would the other take care of it with a drastically different skill set. By the time the trouble was dealt with, the two warriors found themselves in love.

A few decades later, Ellisia decided she wanted to be at Kraasian’s side and moved to Darkpine to live with the Darkwoods. Following the move, she sometimes set out to look for other defensive warriors she could share her experience with. This way, she forged a friendship with Nelisha, a warrior woman living some distance from Darkpine.

Mending a partner’s wounds

Ellisia’s compassion was shown fully when Kraasian suffered a series of losses in his life – first when his father fell to the demons, then when his mother succumbed to a disease. Knowing his parents over the centuries spent living together with them meant she shared some of his grief and she was constantly at his side to help him cope with the losses. In those years, she came to better know some of Kraasian’s friends, especially the royal family with whom Kraasian shared some of their losses.

Caring mother

Ellisia and Kraasian had their first child, a son named Tyr’eshal, several decades after the losses Kraasian suffered. Tyr’eshal soon started demonstrating a mixture of Leafshade traits (compassion and intelligence) and Darkwood traits (strength and bravery). While Ellisia was often troubled by how high hopes it sparked in Kraasian, she made sure that her son grew up with the best care she could give him. While Kraasian made sure that their son grows into a strong warrior, it was Ellisia who ensured that he knew the value of compassion and affection.

While being a warrior first and foremost, Ellisia’s story in the trilogy will also show her as a loving mother who wants her son to stay safe, despite knowing it’s barely possible for a warrior who inherited her will to fight for the others.