Overview
Aldar Rehn is the long-serving head of the Xalmyrran Council, based at the Imperial Institute in Irrathis. He holds the titles Bastion of the Frostlands and Guardian of Xalmyrra and is a level eight frost mage. After receiving a spiral shard, he drains darkness patches, contains corruption around Xalmyrra, and later traps Raphael's faction inside a storm and veil at Cyndarel.
Appearance and Manner
Aldar is an older, powerfully built man with silver or gray-silver hair, a well-kept beard, and a habit of stroking it while thinking. His hair later develops orange streaks as he studies fire magic and uses the shard. In public he usually wears council robes, including silver-threaded robes during the Cyndarel battle, and keeps a controlled, formal, and efficient manner.
Governance and Personality
Aldar values peace, unity, records, and long-range planning. When Xalmyrra is threatened, he acts outside the council chamber, sends agents on covert work, relies on Silas as a hidden operative, and uses political arrangements to keep Teryndal, Keldara, Soltheris, and Erenmyr aligned. He cares deeply for Eira, who becomes the closest person he has known to a daughter, but his secrecy and long-range plans hurt her.
Abilities
Before shard empowerment, Aldar is a level eight frost mage whose ice magic forms barriers, shields civilians, and counters some temporal effects. He later studies fire magic with Renneth and develops air magic strong enough for high-speed flight. With the spiral shard, Aldar manipulates corruption, drains or controls darkness patches, amplifies his elemental spells, and creates a smaller Xalmyrran-style cycle and veil around Cyndarel.
History
Aldar rises as a council candidate before his later work guiding Eira in Irrathis. As council head, Aldar supervises Eira from a distance, sends her and other council mages on missions that guide her toward the shard, and brings leaders such as Xarion, Brynor, Mirael, Orin, Daryas, and Feryon into Xalmyrra's shared response to the darkness. He and Xarion organize the Xalmyrran tournaments, and Aldar uses the council to push the four nations toward joint action against the Land of Darkness.
Aldar's covert work runs through Silas, Dorian, Rowenna, and Cassian. Silas serves him in the shadows, and Aldar admits using him to remove threats to Xalmyrran unity. He also encouraged Dorian and Rowenna Ironvale to push Cassian out of the Ironvale household so Xarion would notice him, believing Cassian could keep Xarion grounded and that the two could lead Teryndal together.
After Jorhan's defeat and the breaking of the cycles, Aldar takes a spiral shard and begins traveling personally to drain corruption, inspect threatened borders, and prepare Xalmyrra for Raphael's faction and Gabriel's forces. He sends Renneth and Maric north on a diplomatic mission and plans to visit Thalassai. Brynor assigns mages to corruption-response missions and works toward a communication network using Thalassai windweavers and Thalcoris essence cores. Aldar transfers formal council authority to Brynor so he can act more freely in the field.
During the Battle for Cyndarel, messages to Xalmyrra have been intercepted. Aldar kills saboteurs near the train lines and reaches the city ahead of Brynor. He traps Raphael's faction inside a darkness storm and veil, then fights alongside Garrik, Virel, Astheron, Khoradyn, and Zhang. Aldar nearly defeats Raphael before Alistair's explosive device devastates the battlefield. Alistair later reaches Aldar's ruined body, removes the spiral shard, and uses temporal magic to impersonate him. The Aldar who reaches Kaldaryn after Raphael's death and approaches Cassian in Thalassai is Alistair wearing Aldar's form.
Relationships
Aldar's main allies include the Xalmyrran Council, Brynor, Mirael, Xarion, Eira, Kaelion, Lythariel, Renneth, Maric, Daryas, Feryon, and Thalena. Eira is his closest family-like bond, Silas is his covert agent, and Dorian and Rowenna are old adventuring companions. His enemies include Jorhan, the darkness, Raphael, Gabriel's faction, and Alistair.
Significant Events
Alistair also retrieves Raphael's Malverand heart from the Cyndarel battlefield.