Erihan

Erihan is a fictional character in the novel Crystal Mask by Katherine Roberts. He is one of the major characters within the book and plays a large part in the plot later on. He is the son of Lord Nahar, leader of the Kalerei.

Character introduction

Erihan is the son of an affluent Horselord named Nahar. He is a member of the Kalerei, an influential tribe in the Purple Plains. Erihan is adventurous and determined; never giving up. Erihan plays one of the larger parts within the plot, travelling with Shaiala through most of the book.

Character sketch

Motivations

Erihan is motivated through Shaiala's determination to find her old centaur friends, which she so longs for. He is also in search of his father as they got separated early on in the book. He fights for the good and is determined to destroy the evil plans Yashra attempts to use. He is even more focuses on destroying Yashra when she captured him and mistook him for another "street scavenger".

Goals

Erihan's main goal is to find his father and his tribe that he became separated from. He also wants to help Shaiala find her old centaur herd and find what her goals are as well. This eventually turns into a rescue attempt at saving the captured children at Yashra's den.

Conflicts

Erihan hates Yashra for what she has done to him and for what she is doing to other children and centaurs therefore provoking him. Yashra attempts to kill him at the end of the story but fails.

Minor irritations

The other children that were captured from Southport and taken to Yashra become a problem for Erihan. He tries to persuade them that Yashra is playing them along so she can use them to her own advantages but few listen and some in the end don't escape with Erihan and Shaiala from Yashra's evil mask until the very end.

Epiphany

Erihan wants Shaiala in the end to go live with him and the Kalerei maybe proving his friendship towards her from all the past experiences they've had together. He also feels sorry for her as she finally realizes she is not a centaur and from that she has no where to go.

Biographical summary

Prior story

Erihan was the son of Nahar, Horselord. Before the story he was travelling with his father and some of the Kalerei in Rivermeet but Erihan fell into the river losing all his belongings therefore looking poor was picked up in Southport where they thought Erihan was just another scavenger, perfect for Yashra. The story picks up from there.

Actions in "The Crystal Mask"

Erihan first appears in the novel when the singers are searching for clues about the whereabouts of Shaiala in Rivermeet. They hear about a story of a boy that is missing and feared dead, murdered by a creature that comes at night. Shaiala meets up with this boy, supposedly Erihan when she is captured by Yashra's men, the Harai.

Shaiala and Erihan work together throughout the book firstly to escape from Yashra's evil trick and secondly he helps Shaiala release the children and centaur slaves captured to work at the mines at the Sunless Valley and work under Yashra.

After their escape from Yashra's hands the story continues with Shaiala's tale of finding her centaur tribe. Erihan is adamant that centaurs do not exist and tries to persuade Shaiala to stop. To his surprise they find centaurs at the Dancing Canyons and they help them gain access to the watercourse passage into the Sunless Valley where they met up with the naga.

They took part in the battle to save the children at Yashra's base and succeeded in defeating Yashra's evil campaign in the Sunless Valley.

Erihan and Shaiala form a friendly relationship, and Shaiala decides to live with Erihan and his family as she finally realizes that she is not a centaur and that she needs a new life.

Relationship with other characters in "The Crystal Mask"

Friends

Shaiala - Erihan forms an intimate friendship with Shaiala at the end of the novel "The Crystal Mask", where Shaiala goes to live with him and the Kalerei with his family. Shaiala and Erihan were together for most of the book, travelling around searching for their goals. Erihan saves Shaiala numerous times giving her advice along the way.

Nahar and his family - Erihan has a good relationship with his family. Erihan implies that his father is forceful and hard, when he says that he will kill him when he finds out he lost his dagger.

Renn - Erihan and Renn never become proper friends. There was little dialogue between the two of them mainly because Renn only met Erihan towards the end of the novel. They never really developed a proper friendship between each other as both of them kept to themselves.

Enemies

Erihan was enemies with:

* Yashra
* Frazhin
* The Harai

Yashra was offensive and inconsiderate towards him, The Harai mistook him for a scavenger which he found most unpleasant as he was a prince. Yashra also attempted to kill him but failed; which at the time Yashra was very unstable. Frazhin was the ultimate enemy of the singers side and Erihan and the Kalerei allied with The Echorium showing their hostility to Frazhin, Yashra and The Harai.

Major themes

Erihan shows themes of heroism, bravery and intelligence throughout the book, helping many people along the way, kind, thoughtful and intending well. Erihan and the Kalerei pervade the good side of the spectrum and the Harai the evil sound of the spectrum. Although Erihan showed disdain for others in the first half of the book obviously showing that he came from a rich family.

See also

* Shaiala
* Yashra
* Renn
* Crystal Mask
* Katherine Roberts

External links

* [http://www.katherineroberts.com/ Katherine Roberts homepage]
* [http://www.knibb.org/roberts/crystal.htm Direct link to Crystal Mask section on Katherine Roberts' homepage]