Rayla is a Moonshadow Elf and the youngest of a former band of assassins sworn to protect Xadia. Despite her age, she is the fastest and strongest of all of her comrades,[2] though lacks a desire for war and unnecessary bloodshed. Along with Callum and Ezran, she returned the Dragon Prince, Azymondias, to his mother, the Dragon Queen Zubeia, to prevent an all-out war between The Human Kingdoms and Xadia. Rayla is also a member of the Dragonguard, following in the footsteps of her parents. She is currently in a relationship with Callum.
Appearance
Rayla has shoulder-length white hair and violet eyes with blue markings underneath them. As a Moonshadow Elf, she has black, stubby horns and pointed ears that peak out from underneath her hair. Originally, she wore a braid on the right side of her head, which was later cut off by an arrow shot by Amaya's troops.[3] She usually wears a dark teal and navy suit secured by a vest, dark brown straps, and a dark brown belt embellished with a silver brooch. The outfit is topped off with knee-high boots and bracers.
As a sign of her pledge to kill Prince Ezran, she wore an indestructible silver ribbon on her left wrist, which caused her hand to swell and begin to show signs of necrosis from the lack of blood flow following her refusal to kill him, until it was removed by Azymondias.
As a child, Rayla's face markings extended over her eyebrows, while they are now only present underneath her eyes.
Personality
Despite her natural skills, Rayla lacks the hardness needed to take a life, unwilling to take the life of someone who does not pose a threat in her eyes or when there is no just reason to do so. As such, she struggles to balance duty to her species and Xadia with her own moral compass. Despite her role as an assassin, Rayla is a kind, compassionate and a loyal friend and ally. She will do everything in her power to protect those in need, even if it means placing herself in harm's way.
Even though she does not have the drive to kill, Rayla does have the dedication of an assassin to the point of being pridefully stubborn where she wanted to die defending the dragon queen to make up for her parent's "mistake".
Rayla is willing to lie to cover her tracks and protect herself and others. When she is tasked with killing Marcos, but finds that she cannot bring herself to do it, she returns to the Moonshadow Elf camp with berry stains on her dual swords that mimic human blood.
She has a strong sense of justice and is able to tell right from wrong; immediately abandoning her mission to kill Ezran after discovering that the Dragon Prince was alive.
Rayla also has a sarcastic sense of humor, as she is quick to make witty or snarky remarks, much to the chagrin of others. Like most Elves, Rayla possesses a sense of arrogance and tends to sometimes make tactless comparisons on humans and her people, which tends to annoy her friends. She is also a bit of prankster at times playfully asking Callum if he was taught any new spells and when she got him to smell a fart flower. She finds it humorous to pretend to be human. Ironically, she has the same humor as Callum but is annoyed when he pretends to be an elf.
Rayla is very cunning and clever when it comes to suspect something about Claudia and Soren, as she pinched herself with a rose when they used a sleeping spell and knew Soren tried to kill Ezran with a badly built zip line. She tried to warn Callum about it but he didn't believe her and asked Lujanne to fool the siblings into betraying them with illusions to prove to the princes about their true intentions. Rayla tend to disguises herself as a human to explore human villages without raising suspicion.
Rayla also despises dark magic as she knows the actual truth behind it. She can also come off as mean and harsh towards anyone who uses it as she was quick to blame Callum, despite being friends, for his own corruption and sickness upon using the dark art. Which means like the princes' mother Queen Sarai she too values the life of other creatures. However, she is forgiving and means it honestly as with Callum when she was worried about him after using dark magic becoming unconscious. After that, she never reproached him for using dark magic or even addressed that incident. Even to Sol Regem, she said that Callum is a wonderful human, although it is something elves usually find very bad. She tends to be a little self-righteous when she accused Callum of using dark magic. In fact, it was the only way to save her life and that of the dragon.
With her kind growing up alongside dragons, Rayla has a deep respect for them as she is very protective towards Zym, was willing to die trying to save a shot down fire dragon and the dragon queen. She also doesn't like fitting in finding it boring and more pleasurable to stand out.
She is also a bit sensitive, Rayla knows what humans think of her kind but she knows the opposite however when Callum tells his aunt Amaya in sign language that she's a bloodthirsty monster she's hurt by what he said. When he asked about her parents she says they're dead but clarifies that she wishes they were after failing in their duties. She became extremely sensitive to the point of breakdown in tears when she was banished from her home to believing that she was failure until Callum told her otherwise. With that sensitivity Rayla is reluctant in revealing her feelings or opening up to others especially when she is in bad shape, building up a tough facade, pretending to be unapproachable and violent in order to keep others away from her, and does not pronounce serious threats. [4]
Rayla will always intend to think or fight her way out of situations using irrational methods, as shown when worst came to worse when they were dealing with Sol Regem. She said that finally, she would have to use her least favorite method of getting out of trouble, that being reason. This is probably most likely why she does irrational things and sometimes seem to not think, probably because she would prefer not to.
Skills and Abilities
Moon Primal Connection
Rayla's powers being enhanced by the full moon
As a Moonshadow Elf, Rayla is born with a connection to the Moon Arcanum, which allows her to draw power from the moon. As such, she is at her strongest at night when the spirit and energy of the moon enhance her natural strength, agility, endurance and speed. When the moon is full, she is at her most powerful and even has the ability to become nearly invisible, allowing her to take her enemies by surprise. Her invisibility also extends to her clothes and weapons.
Speed, Agility, and Strength
Rayla possesses supernatural agility, endurance, and speed, giving her impressive parkour and free-running skills, as she was able to speed across difficult terrain, like sand and rocks, with ease and jump from tree to tree without missing a beat.
Her natural agility allows her to execute mid-air somersaults and flips with ease. These acrobatic abilities make her fast and agile in battle, able to outmaneuver almost any opponent and dodge their attacks, even when she is outnumbered.
Rayla also possesses great strength, being able to scale almost any surface of terrain quickly with the aid of her blades, relying gravely on her upper body strength. She can also jump exceptionally high and far, even from a stationary position.
Combatant
Trained from a young age by the Moonshadow Elf assassins, Rayla is a master swordfighter, specialized in dual wielding swordplay. She was able to defeat multiple foes using only her swords, even when her opponents required precision attacks, as demonstrated when she efficiently and seemingly effortlessly decapitated dozens of Soulfang Serpents to save Nyx.
Draconic Language
Rayla has a limited knowledge of the Draconic language, knowing only some words used for magic spells.[5]
Tracking
Although not as skilled as Corvus, Rayla picked up a few tracking tips from him, allowing her to track Nyx's Ambler.
Riding Skills
Rayla is able to ride a Shadowpaw with ease. It's unknown who has taught her or if she is self-taught.
Equipment
Twin blades: A combination of delicate, careful craftsmanship, and clever gadgetry, Rayla's twin weapons reflect her versatile fighting style, capable of switching between lethal blades and curved hooks.[6] This ability to transform her weapon, even mid-air, gives her the chance to catch her opponent off guard, by switching from a sharp blade to a surprise hook to the legs, as well as scale nearly any surface, ranging from solid rock to hard wood. They are based on real-life balisongs or butterfly knifes in their way to function.
Trivia
- Although the name "Rayla" exists as an individual name, Rayla's name is likely to be put together by two terms instead: "Ayla" is a Hebrew, Turkish name meaning moonlight, while "Rae" is the old English spelling of the word ray, or beam. This rougly translates to "beam of moonlight".[7]
- Rayla was raised by Runaan and Ethari while her parents served in the Dragonguard.
- It was Giancarlo Volpe's idea to put in Rayla's "Naruto-run" with encouragement from Lulu Younes.[8]
- Rayla is afraid of water and gets seasick.
- Rayla's parents used to send her letters about their life in the Dragonguard on the morning of her birthday.[9]
- Rayla's favorite dessert is moonberry surprise.[9]
- Despite her status as an assassin, Rayla has only killed one person: she threw herself and Viren off Storm Spire's summit in order to save Zym. However, she was saved by Callum, and Viren was resurrected by Claudia.[10]
Appearances
Book One - Moon
- 101. "Echoes of Thunder"
- 102. "What is Done"
- 103. "Moonrise"
- 104. "Bloodthirsty"
- 105. "An Empty Throne"
- 106. "Through the Ice"
- 107. "The Dagger and the Wolf"
- 108. "Cursed Caldera"
- 109. "Wonderstorm"
Book Two - Sky
- 201. "A Secret and a Spark"
- 202. "Half Moon Lies"
- 203. "Smoke and Mirrors"
- 204. "Voyage of the Ruthless"
- 205. "Breaking the Seal"
- 206. "Heart of a Titan"
- 207. "Fire and Fury"
- 208. "The Book of Destiny"
- 209. "Breathe"
Book Three - Sun
- 301. "Sol Regem"
- 302. "The Crown"
- 303. "Ghost"
- 304. "The Midnight Desert"
- 305. "Heroes and Masterminds"
- 306. "Thunderfall"
- 307. "Hearts of Cinder"
- 308. "Dragonguard"
- 309. "The Final Battle"
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Official TDP Twitter
- ↑ TDP Official Website - Characters
- ↑ Book One, Chapter 4:"Bloodthirsty"
- ↑ The Midnight Desert
- ↑ Book One, Chapter 5:"An Empty Throne"
- ↑ TDP Official Website
- ↑ Reddit - Names
- ↑ Creator Q&A
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 TDP Official Website - Rayla's birthday
- ↑ Book Three, Chapter 9:"The Final Battle"