Post by Minuit on Jun 26, 2010 21:49:17 GMT 10
Tortall Character Profile
by Lisa and wordy
The Life and Times of Owen of Jesslaw
In the annals of Tortallan history, there are few knights who have developed the academic following that Sir Owen of Jesslaw has maintained. While not known for great nation-saving deeds that other knights have claimed in the thousand-year history of the Eastern Lands, the novelty of Sir Owen is that he was always associated with knights who were known for such things.
Owen was the son of the Lord of Jesslaw, a man who was equally known for having no tact. One famous knight – Sir Nealan, who later went on to become the Duke of Queenscove (and the man who single-handedly revolutionized field hospitals) – once presumed that Jesslaw was certainly a madhouse. Owen’s mother was killed by bandits before he was old enough to begin page-training, and it is said that this shaped his personality as well as his career. It is possible that the loss of his mother (and the fact that his sister was younger than him, and they grew up away from one another) was part of the reason he was infamously shy around the fairer sex, according to the memoirs of Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan, the only woman he was ever known to be completely comfortable around, save his eventual wife. In fact, the lady knight’s accounts document much of Sir Owen’s early personality – he had a remarkable skill for putting his foot in his mouth, and she documented his enthusiasm and joie de vivre that made his presence desirable even when he displayed a lack of tact.
At the age of fifteen Sir Owen was taken on as a squire to Lord Wyldon of Cavall. It was during this period that he met the young lady he was eventually to marry – Lady Margarry of Cavall. Little is known of their courtship, except that her father was reluctant to see the two form an attachment. All documentation of Owen during this period leads the casual historian to question if Owen really was an active part of the courtship. Among the little information that is written, it is said that Lady Margarry first brought up the subject of marriage to her father, insisting that she wanted Sir Owen. Lord Wyldon, it is rumored, resigned himself to the notion quickly, expressing his relief that the boy was at least “half-broken to bridle”.
Showing true courage and a profound enthusiasm for battle while still a Squire during the Scanran War, Sir Owen is now a renowned bandit hunter. After surviving his Ordeal of Knighthood in 461 HE (an experience that he is rumoured to have deemed "not at all jolly") Sir Owen pledged his life to ridding the Tortallan countryside of hill bandits and other low-life, fulfilling his passionate promise to avenge his mother's murder and bring justice and peace to the land. Many of Sir Owen's friends and extended family have remarked upon the young knight's fearlessness when faced with danger or even death, including his close friend Lady Knight Keladry, who witnessed Sir Owen's unmovable bravery and sense of justice when he accompanied her across the Scanran border and into unknown dangers during the war. Domitan of Masbolle, a sergeant in the King's Own, was also there to witness Sir Owen's iron will and unwavering loyalty while accompanying the Lady Knight into Scanra; the Sergeant was overheard referring to the then-Squire Owen as "a bloody terrier". All who have had the honour of working alongside Sir Owen have been left in awe of the man's positive attitude and fierce warrior spirit.
Rumors have flown about Sir Owen and the company he kept during his training years as well as his adulthood. It is said that he was considered for the role of King’s Champion after King Jonathan IV’s passing, but the new King Roald opted to find a champion outside of his generation of knights. There are some who say he made this decision after he was accused of favoritism (a criticism Roald took very seriously): he had sponsored Owen as a page, when they were both boys.
It is said that Sir Owen’s lifelong friendship with Lady Knight Keladry (who is repeatedly cited as his dearest friend, in all the letters that have survived from his contemporaries) might have held more-than-friendly overtones. Some questioned that he might’ve been in love with her during his training years, if not later. Many have made the argument that the lady knight was the only woman he loved more than Lady Margarry of Jesslaw (nee Cavall).
Thanks, Em and Lisa! 
Maybe once we'd have seen it during Smackdown!