SPOILER WARNING May contain plot details |
| “ | Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to. | ” |
–Madoc, The Wicked King | ||
Madoc is the General of the High King. He is the father of Vivienne, and the foster father of Jude, Taryn and Oak. He is married to Oriana.
Physical description
Madoc is described as having greenish skin, gold cat's eyes and lower teeth too long for his mouth. He is tall and burly with furred pointed ears and dark hair.
Personality
He is very protective of his family, but is also very ambitious, cunning and ruthless. He enjoys bloodshed and uses it to achieve his goals. As a Red Cap, Madoc dips his cap into the blood of those he has killed. It is mentioned by Jude that war is part of his nature.
Biography
Early Life
Before the events of the Cruel Prince, Madoc fell in love with a human woman and she then became his wife. While she was pregnant with Vivienna, she ran away with Justin Duarte while Madoc was at war. She burned down the house and left a woman and an infant's burnt remains to cover her escape.
10 years later, Madoc tracked down his runaway wife because of a tip-off from Balekin. She tried to run from him, but Madoc stabbed her in the back. Madoc also took a sword to Justin Duarte and killed him.
Madoc then took his daughter Vivienne back to the Faerie realm, along with Vivienne’s half sisters, Jude and Taryn, who he was obligated to take care of. As he raises the twins, he comes to care for them as his own.
The Cruel Prince
Madoc raises Jude, Taryn and Vivienne in Elfhame, where they are educated, although Vivienna often skips school to spite Madoc. He forbids Jude from competing in the Summer Tournament. At Jude's request, Madoc begins giving her lessons in tactics, where she has to accomplish certain objectives with a limited amount of resources.
At the coronation, Madoc sends a spy to misdirect the Court of Shadows. When Eldred is about to crown Dain, Madoc betrays and kills him, revealing his allegiance to Balekin. After Jude and Taryn's duel, Madoc offers to broker a trade between him and Jude for Cardan, because Madoc thinks she knows where he is.
Jude later finds out from Oriana that Madoc wants to make a play for the throne by crowning Oak the High King, ensuring that he becomes the regent, and can influence Oak with his decisions.
After Cardan shows up to Balekin's banquet with Jude, Madoc meets her in the hall, and when he refuses to promise to give up his regency when Oak comes of age, they duel. Madoc gains the upper hand, but gets weaker because of the poisoned wine Jude gave him. He becomes unconscious and misses Oak later crowning Cardan.
The Wicked King
Madoc retains his position as the High King's General. He constantly schemes to undermine Jude. Madoc later gets Taryn to betray Jude by impersonating her in front of Cardan, taking half of the king's army and severing Madoc's ties to the crown.
Relationships
Jude Duarte
In The Cruel Prince Jude confesses her relationship with Madoc to be an odd love. Madoc was like a parent for the twins, although he was the murderer of their real parents. Madoc raised them out of obligation, out of honor and duty, but still, he raised them with caring love and compromise. He teaches them how to fight, and after that, Madoc helps Jude in improving her technique in combat. Jude knows he is thirsty for power, he is cunning. His plans get ruined by Jude, letting the reader know how Madoc pretended to rule over faerie while Oak was being prepared to be king, and even after that.
Vivienne
Vivienne and Madoc have a rocky relationship due to the fact that she has never forgiven Madoc for killing her mother and step-father when she was little. As well as being angry towards Madoc for stealing her and her half-sisters away from the mortal world and taking them to faerie world. Because of this Vivienne is cold towards her father and spends a lot of her time in the mortal world.
Gallery
Triva
- After every battle, he ritually dips his hood into the blood of his enemies. He keeps the hood, under glass in the armoury.[1]
- Madoc’s crest contains a dagger, a crescent moon turned on its side so it rests like a cup, and a single drop of blood falling from one corner embroidered in silk thread.[2]
References
- ↑ The Cruel Prince, Chapter 4
- ↑ The Cruel Prince, Chapter 4