Maerad of Pellinor is the central character of The Naming, The Riddle, and The Singing. At the beginning of the books, she is sixteen, an orphaned slave in an obscure mountain settlement, from which she is rescued by the Bard Cadvan of Lirigon. Their chance meeting reveals that she is descended from a famed family of Bards from the School of Pellinor, and that she is the Fated One, prophesied to save the land of Edil-Amarandh from the Nameless One in his second rising. Although she possesses terrifying Elidhu powers that she inherited from her Elemental ancestors, which make even her friends afraid of her, she is still a young girl, confused, lonely, and afraid of her destiny. Despite her destiny, by nature she is bookish, and her dearest wish is just to be an ordinary Bard and study the L