Achmed (The Symphony of Ages)

Achmed is one of the three original main characters in Elizabeth Haydon's series, the Symphony of Ages. Achmed is a sarcastic and often offensive character, but he retains his loyalty to those he cares most for, and they usually learn to accept his humour as it is. Achmed is originally called "the Brother", but only seconds after meeting Rhapsody in an alleyway with Grunthor, she renames him Achmed the Snake, the first scary name she can think of. What she does not know is that her Namer and Singer abilities have huge repercussions that she could not have expected. Achmed is a "half-breed" (as are Grunthor and Rhapsody) as he says in book 1. He is half Dhracian and half Firbolg. His mother was a Dhracian who was captured and raped by his Firbolg father.

Early life

Achmed, while still known as the Brother, was arguably the world's greatest assassin. He is often described as moving like the night, always swathed in black robes and hooded. Achmed's killing skills are unsurpassed, and the weapon of his own creation, the cwellan, is his most deadly tool. Achmed's name, the Brother, was tied by a demon of F'dor against his will. Achmed was chained to him, and when he attempted to sever his ties with the demon, became hunted by the Thousand Eyes, the Shing. Grunthor and Achmed were fleeing from the hunters, with a key to unlock the roots of Sagia, when they came upon Rhapsody. The demon had no intention of ever releasing the Brother's name from his control, but when Rhapsody called him 'Achmed the Snake' he actually ceased to be the Brother, and his tie to the demon was broken. The Shing however, would always keep searching, nevertheless.

Journey Through the Earth

Achmed led the journey through the earth, through the tunnel roots of Sagia, eventually coming to the other side of the world, over a millennium later. Like his travelling companions, Rhapsody and Grunthor, Achmed had not aged. He attests this to having eaten the roots of the tree all throughout the journey, assuming it has kept them young and healthy, maybe even more so than when they entered the tunnels. Achmed with Rhapsody's help, ensures that a great and monstrous wyrm which would destroy the world as they knew it, remains sleeping under the earth. As they travelled to where the wyrm lay sleeping, Rhapsody plays a melody on a harp, and sets the harp to play forever, leaving it behind. During this incident, Achmed nearly freezes to death, since the cold weather in the cavern where the wyrm lay was so cold, it caused his new (thanks to Rhapsody's naming) snake-like qualities to wish to hibernate. He was saved by Rhapsody and Grunthor quickly, and they continued through the roots. After going through the fire at the centre of the earth, Achmed, just like his other companions, is changed drastically. His tie to blood and his ability to hear heartbeats is almost entirely gone, picking up only the few hundred surviving Serendarians and those of Rhapsody and Grunthor, whose heartbeats he knows so well. He has a new ability however, given to him by Rhapsody, who named him "pathfinder", and it is the gift of following paths with his mind upon concentration. In addition to these changes in skill, Achmed's scars, broken bones and wounds are healed, as if he were made anew by the fire.

The King of Ylorc

Using inventions set in place by the dead Lord Cymrian Gwylliam, Achmed was able to unite clans of mountain dwellers, called Firbolgs, under his ultimate rule as King. He changed the name of the mountain province to Ylorc, the other title being Canrif during the reign of the Lord and Lady Cymrian, who were ultimately then mountain's undoing.

He used a ventilation system set in place by the Lord Cymrian, who invented it himself, to instill the idea that his breath could course throughout the mountain. First, he used the cleaned system to inhale, making the tunnels of the mountain cold, then exhale, breathing heat throughout. This, plus a few select appearances made by himself in which he killed aggressors without revealing his face, made him appear as a God to the Firbolg. Eventually, he was finally able to unite them under his rule and begin to make men out of these supposed monsters.
* Haydon, Elizabeth. Rhapsody: Child of Blood. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 1999.