FROSTBORN Reader Question: What Happened To The Matriarch?

A reader has a question about The Matriarch from the FROSTBORN series. Note that the question and answer both contain !!!SPOILERS!!! for FROSTBORN and SEVENFOLD SWORD, so if you haven’t read those books you should stop reading this post right now.

###

Now, the question!

“I’ve always wondered, did High King Arandar every try to get Mara & the Dragon Knight to try & kill the Matriarch of the Red Family of Cintarra?”

Nah. High King Arandar has had much bigger and more immediate concerns for the eight years of his reign to date. He had to drive back the remaining medvarth and khaldjari, and there were quite a few medvarth left over after the defeat of the Frostborn. He also had to deal with the aftereffects of the civil war – something like half of Andomhaim’s nobles had been killed in the space of two years, so Arandar needed to find and appoint loyal men to hold the various lands. Plus, both the Mhorites and the Qazaluuskan orcs launched major attacks, and the dvargir are ever eager to exploit any chaos for their own profit. He also needs to figure out marriages for his children, because when you’re the High King of Andomhaim, who your son marries is a Big Deal.

And then the Shield Knight and the Keeper disappeared! That’s a problem, too. 🙂

Plus, the Matriarch doesn’t make that much trouble in the balance of things – she’s basically a coward. She prefers to remain hidden in the shadows. The Red Family is how she influences the world when she wants something, but otherwise she prefers to remain hidden. From her perspective, taking over the realm of Andomhaim would be a bad idea, because the Swordbearers and the Magistri keep the urdmordar from finding her.

Also, taking over Andomhaim might draw the attention of the Warden of Urd Morlemoch, and the Matriarch is terrified of the Warden because she crossed him the last time they met. And she has good reason to be afraid of the Warden – look at what happened to the Artificer!

-JM