Lexi (98:53)
Today's archives topic is Xaden's parents, Finn Ryerson and Talia. Let's kick it off with Finn Ryerson. Finn Ryerson was Zayden. Zayden Ryerson's father, and he was the Duke of Varisha as well as Duke of Tyndor, because remember that Arisha is Slash was the capital of Tyrandor. He was the leader of the Tears Rebellion which coined him the nickname the Great Betrayer. His only known surviving relatives are Zayden, of course, and his nephew, Bodhi Duran. He had an unnamed sister, Bodhi's mom, who was also executed alongside him. After the rebellion, Finn's aide was Garrick's father. Like how Daddy Atos was Lilith Sorrengail's aid. But he was actually trustworthy and didn't suck. When Finn was 20, he entered the infantry quadrant. It was standard for aristocracy to go into the infantry because writers are discouraged from holding their family seats. Zayden has also shared that his father hoped he would go into the infantry like he did because Finn thought writers were pompous pricks. Hey, guess what they are after. Finn graduated from Bisgaeth War College. He served his mandatory four years of service. After his service ended, he became the Duke of Orisha. It's said that he was an excellent, excellent public speaker and a leader that the people believed in and wanted to follow. It's unknown how Finn found out about the Venin invading from the Barrens. It could be because he was a ranked officer and slash or of nobility, so he was just privy to that information already. Or because Tyrandor was more separated from the rest of Navarre, where not all of it was warded, so the secret was harder to keep in this province. So it was more, I'll call it common knowledge among leaders. Or because they had a better relationship with poor Emile, who was actively fighting the fight against the Venin. Could be a little bit of all of that. But in any case, his disagreement with the way Navarre was handling, or rather not handling, this very real threat was a big factor in his eventual attempt for Tyndor to secede from Navarre. More on that in a moment. Backing it up to approximately 25 years ago, Finn signed a marriage contract with Zaden's mother Talia, and they had baby Zaden. Their marriage contract included her providing an heir for Tyrandor and staying until his 10th birthday. Finn believed that marriage is a necessary evil to secure the line and nothing more. In fact, he said that the most useless word in the language of aristocracy has always been and will forever be love, and you should save that love for your children. Unrelated but even though Finn could be a hard ass, he did teach Zaden chivalry, like holding doors open. So we can easily deduce that Finn and Talia did not love each other and the relationship was strictly to keep the bloodline going. He cared most about Arisha and Tyrandor. How he had any connection to the Isle of Idotus or why she was the one to marry him, we do not know yet. Maybe, who knows? Along these same lines, before the rebellion, when he was seeking allies to support him in the upcoming apostasy From Navarre, Finn entered negotiations with Dakaris for the betrothal between Zayden and Cat, where he gifted the ribosat chest to Dakaris, which was the most valuable thing Finn owned and it was considered priceless. Tokha was his first ally before the rebellion, though we also learned from King Cortland of Devarelli that Finn upheld his end of a bargain even when it was unpleasant to do so, which it seems Zayden did not know anything about and neither do we readers beyond that when the bargain was Etc. Etc. This rebellion lasted about a year where the Teish fought against Navarre and declared independence. However, the rebellion ended up being unsuccessful thanks to the Final Battle of Orisha. According to to field reports, Finn Ryerson shot Brennan Sorrengale in the chest with a crossbolt during this battle. Before the Battle of Orisha, Finn did send Zayden away for his own safety. This made Xaden angry at his father, so Zayden's last words to Finn were spoken in anger. Xaden has shared that he deeply regrets this, but he likes to believe that his father forgave him. I believe that too. After the Battle of Orisha and Brennan's death or Big Quotations Death, Finn Ryerson was apprehended by General Lila sorry Thoringale. While he was being interrogated, he accused King Tari and all the other previous monarchs of an unspeakable conspiracy, AKA that the Venin are real. He was executed by Coda's Dragonfire in Caldir alongside the other rebellion leaders, including his sister. Finn Ryerson's last words were you're all cowards. Arisha, the capital of Tirndor was burned and the title Duke of Tyndor passed to a more loyal Tierish house Llewellyn. But turns out Llewelyn was secretly on their side. As we talked about moving on to Talia, Zaden's mom. It's never confirmed whether she took the Ryerson name when married to Finn, but in any case we're never given her current last name or her maiden name. She was young when she entered the marriage contract with Finn Ryerson of Tirandor, which stated she had to stay until their heir was 10 years old. It was purely transactional, as we learned from Fen's correspondence, where he said to save love for children. Talia claims she was young when Zaden was born as well as when she she left, but we don't have an exact age for her. As soon as her marriage contract was up on Xaden's 10th birthday, Talia left. My goodness, she did not waste any time. That really just goes to show how much she was counting down the days until she was allowed to leave. That day, she gave him a piece of his favorite chocolate cake. Before leaving that night, she tells Zaden that she didn't want to leave him behind, but since he was Fen's heir, she had no choice. And when asked why she didn't stay, knowing that a rebellion was coming and Venon were infesting the continent, she said she would have been killed alongside all the other others if she had. So she did what she thought was best and went back to the Isles. As Zaden bluntly points out, this was best for her. While it doesn't seem like she regrets leaving Tyrandor, it has pained Talia to leave Zaden behind. As we discussed a lot in this episode. She's so happy to see her son again, though Zaden isn't ready or may ever be ready to forgive her for abandoning him. We and Zaden can assume from the stretch of chapters that Talia is from the Isle of Hedotis, and she's now, of course, married to a member of the Triumvirate Ferris, and they have two children together, Simeon, who is about 11, and Gaius, who is younger than Simeon, but we don't know his exact age. We don't know about any other family of Talia's besides Xaden, obviously. While Xaden takes after his father most of all, there are traces of Talia. He shares her high cheekbones, long eyelashes, shapes of her ears, and the gold flecks in her eyes that Violet is so fond of. While in Tiran Door, Talia never had any family visit, and she loved all things colorful, which we now know is because she was starved of it. On her aisle with all the pale colors. She would tell Xaden bedtime stories about people with purple eyes who lived without war. In other words, her people. This is why we assume she's from this aisle, but I suppose again, it's not confirmed, but I'm willing to bet it. Talia also believes that Zaden should just enter into a marriage contract with Kat because it's only three years, and then he can go back to Violet. She believes that the potential alliance and sharing of knowledge would make that sacrifice worthwhile, and that he should think of Tyrandor. This is so in line with his father's thinking, and it goes to illustrate how her marriage with his father indeed was transactional. These marriage contracts are, from their perspective, a way to form advantageous alliances forge futures and provide heirs to kingdoms. And hey, hers was 10 years, so three years is not so bad from her perspective. And that's the wonderful ending to Finn, Ryerson and Talia.
