Flayre

Name: Flayre

Age: Unknown

Race: Great Fairy

Gender: Female

Place of Origin: Kokiri Forest

P1/W5/C4

Rupees: 50

Treasures:

Fairy Magic (Innate)

Magic Proficiency (Racial)

Hover (Racial)

Language of Flora (Racial)

Height (Hover augment, -20 Magic Proficiency Rupees)

Wind (-20 Magic Proficiency Rupees)

Aroma Ring (60 Rupees)

Fairy Glitter (10 Rupees)

Magic Power (30 Rupees)

Elegy of Emptiness (-30 Quest Rupees)

Breeze Whisper (-10 Quest Rupees)

Instant Whisper (Breeze Whisper Augment, -10 Quest Rupees)

Blast Hex (Harvest Festival 2019)

Captivating Dance (Rise of the Holiday Moblin)

Sobriety (Holiday Moblin 2022)

Height: 5’10

Weight: Some questions are better left unasked.

Equipment: Wooden wand, small hand mirror.

Residence: Not applicable. Flayre views all of Hyrule as her residence.

Pet: Not applicable. Flayre views all living creatures as her pets.

Appearance:

Thanks to Saria for this artwork! (open) Thanks to Saria for this artwork! (close)

As the self-styled “Great Fairy of Desire,” Flayre is a breathtakingly beautiful creature. Her pale, unblemished skin complements her slender, curvaceous body nicely, lending her an aura of alluring frailty. Her striking figure is rivaled only by her countenance, which is characterized by high cheekbones and soft, supple features, including a pair of full, dark violet lips that can twist themselves into a truly radiant smile. Two insect-like antennae sprout from her forehead, the stalks a leafy green colour before assuming a regal purple hue toward the tips. The recurring trend of purple in Flayre’s visage can also be observed in her shoulder-length hair, which adopted a particularly vibrant shade upon her ascension. She has since groomed it with painstaking care, ensuring that her hair is always kept clean and impeccably straight, no matter the situation. Although Flayre’s comeliness and lack of physical power suggest that she is a delicate beauty, her ice-blue eyes can only be described as piercing, giving onlookers the impression that she is, rather unnervingly, focusing all of her attention upon the subject of her gaze at any given time.

Due in no small part to her aristocratic sense of refinement, Flayre expects to be at the forefront of fashion and is thus quite concerned with the quality of her apparel. Her favourite outfit is a purple knee-length dress with puffy shoulders, woven from the finest silks. This garment is sleeveless and leaves Flayre’s back exposed, allowing her to spread her wings (which are a glossy, almost-transparent pink) with ease, as well as revealing just enough of her upper chest to be tantalizing without being socially unacceptable. Flayre also has a fondness for jewelry and has been known to don various rings and necklaces, yet the only pieces that consistently remain on her person are the Aroma Ring on her left hand and a pair of silver ankle bracelets.

Even for a fairy, Flayre feels a special kinship with the air that compels her to remain constantly in flight. When she must rest, she tends to seat herself at an elevated position from which she can look down on others. She never voluntarily touches the ground, regarding walking as an activity associated with filth and barbarism. Consequently, she elects to be eternally barefoot, seeing shoes as primitive tools employed by savages and priding herself on her uncalloused soles.

Personality:

Vain, capricious, and cruel, Flayre (Or Lady Flayre, as she prefers) is a far cry from the stereotypical image most Hylians have of Great Fairies. A sensualist in the extreme, Flayre is obsessed with her own self-gratification and pursues it relentlessly. She is ruled only by her passions, and actively seeks to encourage others to surrender themselves to their darkest appetites, taking a perverse joy in corrupting the pure. This devotion to indulgence has molded Flayre into a supremely haughty woman, as she truly believes that she has achieved divinity and that all others exist to satiate her every whim. Only members of races blessed with a longevity similar to hers (such as Kokiri, Dekus, and her fellow Fairies) are afforded some small measure of respect, but even then, Flayre remains privately convinced of her own ultimate superiority. Any attempts to challenge her ingrained sense of authority are met with increasingly disproportionate acts of vengeance, up to and including outright murder. She is especially sensitive about her physical appearance, as the mere suggestion that she is anything but beautiful is enough to send her into a homicidal frenzy, and she has been known to admire herself in a mirror for hours at a time.

Having lived for several centuries, Flayre tends to view the world through a lens of disdainful boredom, constantly craving new thrills and pleasures to add excitement to her existence. Unfortunately for Hyrule, her preferred method of easing her ennui is to use her formidable intellect to sow chaos and discord for her own amusement. In particular, she specializes in manipulating members of “lesser races” into doing her bidding, offering power or companionship in exchange for servitude. These pacts rarely end well for the other party, as Flayre regards most of her followers as disposable playthings, but few can resist her charms. She has taken a fair number of these hapless thralls as lovers over the years, yet few have held her interest for long, and none can claim to have survived the experience intact.

However, for all her magical power and dark charisma, Flayre is ultimately her own worst enemy by virtue of her own highly erratic behaviour. Her penchant for debauchery has rendered her prone to wild mood swings when placed under pressure, her mind so intimately attuned to the sensation of pleasure that being deprived of it causes her acute emotional distress. In an instant, she can descend into a frightful rage or melancholy despair, and these episodes often have spectacular results, regardless of how mundane their origins. More than once, she has sabotaged her own plans because of this, making ill-advised decisions in a moment of anger or losing all enthusiasm for a plot despite its successful progress. Similarly, the fickle nature of Flayre’s affections promotes infighting among her servants, who are often all-too-eager to stab each other in the back in the futile hope of earning her favour, even to the detriment of her overarching schemes.

As a patron of the arts, Flayre’s twisted appreciation of beauty is perhaps her singular redeeming quality. If presented with a gift of some artistic value, be it a song, a painting, or even an expertly arranged bouquet of flowers, she can be compelled to grant a traveler safe passage through her domain. When she has been appeased in this manner, one need not fear any treachery on her part; they are guaranteed to go unmolested- figuratively and literally- while within her territory. Of course, attempting to bribe Flayre is a double-edged sword: Should she find the tribute wanting, the offending party and their unlucky companions will immediately feel the full brunt of her wrath.

Biography:

Once, long ago, a wicked wizard entered the Kokiri Forest. Armed with a vast array of unimaginable magic powers, he intended to enslave the fairies of the forest for his own nefarious ends. To combat this threat, the Great Deku Tree dispatched one of his most trusted agents, a mighty Great Fairy named Minara, to assassinate the magician before he caused too much damage. Their battle, though it went unrecorded by history, was epic in scope, neither warrior able to truly slay the other. In the end, the struggle was only resolved when Minara lured her foe into an unmarked grove near the edge of the forest, whereupon she used all her strength to craft an impenetrable arcane prison, sealing the fell sorcerer away forever.

Yet, despite her triumph, Minara had precious little time to celebrate. In the immediate aftermath of her victory, the Great Deku Tree called out to her to issue his next order: She was to guard the site of the mage’s imprisonment indefinitely, to ensure that none ever released him, accidentally or otherwise. For the proud Great Fairy, it was the highest honour to carry out the Deku Tree’s will, and so she remained, watching over the impregnable barrier. Countless decades passed without incident.

As the years wore on, however, Minara was beset by feelings of unease. While her sense of duty never wavered, the utter solitude of her eternal vigil afflicted her with a grand loneliness. Her only interaction with other living beings took the form of chasing away the occasional intruder, the unnatural aura of the grove scaring off the wildlife. When at last she could bear it no longer, Minara used her powers to create a flock of smaller fairies to keep her company. Delighted by her newborn “children,” she quickly named each one, and they in turn fawned over their majestic creator.

For a time, all was well. With the smaller fairies to keep her company, Minara’s spirits soared. She began to tell the other fairies stories. She spoke of past victories, of the Goddesses, of their master the Great Deku Tree, and even of the world beyond the forest. Her servants proved eager to learn, and soon she related these tales often, swelling with happiness as they applauded and cheered.

Unfortunately, in doing so, Minara had unwittingly paved the way for a grand tragedy…

One evening, after Minara had finishing the retelling of a particularly gripping story, one fairy raised her hand, asking when they would get to see the Great Deku Tree in-person. Taken aback by this question, Minara replied that, so long as the Tree wished them to protect the grove, they would have to stay. However, the curious fairy would not be dissuaded, insisting that, since the Great Deku Tree was their ultimate master, they ought to at least present themselves to him once. Minara was horrified. Bound as she was by the Deku Tree’s command, she could never leave, but her children had no such restriction. All at once, the aching loneliness that had besieged her so long ago bubbled back to the surface.

As the other fairies began to enthusiastically voice their agreement with the first, something snapped within Minara. Without thinking, she lashed out with her magic, incinerating the ringleader on the spot. A silence fell over the assembled fairies. Only then, as Minara looked up to meet the fearful, tear-filled gazes of her servants, did she realize that in her desperation to avoid being left alone, she had crossed a terrible line. In that awful moment, Minara’s face hardened. There was no going back. She would not be alone again.

Two of the bolder fairies attempted to flee later that night. Their corpses were found hanging from trees the following morning, Minara having made examples of them. Those who spoke out against this brutality were swiftly punished. Who were they to judge their creator, Minara screamed, her paranoia driving her to ever-greater acts of cruelty. Many of the lesser fairies wanted to believe in Minara, insisting that this was all just a big practical joke or otherwise some kind of mistake on her part, but as the Great Fairy became increasingly vindictive, even her most stubborn supporters resigned themselves to an existence of misery.

One fairy, however, refused to give up hope.

Flayre was not the bravest fairy, nor the most adept at magic. But she was cunning, and more than anything else, she longed for her freedom. She knew that open insurrection would be tantamount to suicide; if her harsh mistress was to be defeated, she would have to be destroyed from within. Having been blessed with a keen ability to read others, Flayre alone saw that Minara’s madness stemmed from her desire for companionship… A desire that could be ruthlessly exploited.

Throwing herself at Minara’s feet, Flayre pledged her absolute loyalty to the Great Fairy, feigning obsequiousness to earn her favour. Pleased by this display of obedience, it wasn’t long before Minara appointed Flayre her second-in-command. The other fairies looked upon Flayre with disgust, considering her a traitor who had abandoned her friends to consort with a madwoman. Flayre could not tell the others of her plan, lest the ever-present Minara overhear, and so she stoically endured their hateful glances. Every day, she forced herself to preach Minara’s virtues to her brethren, all the while worming her way deeper into Minara’s heart by stroking the Great Fairy’s ego. Sometimes, she was forced to finger one of her fellow fairies as a potential rebel element to preserve her cover and satisfy Minara’s frequent inquisitions. The insane Great Fairy saw enemies lurking in every shadow, and her retribution against any suspected plotters was merciless, no matter how flimsy the evidence.

Every time a fairy was made to suffer because of her, Flayre would close her eyes tight and think of the future. One day, they would understand. One day, they would be free.

At last, after what seemed like an eternity of serving as Minara’s lapdog, an opening presented itself to Flayre. The Great Fairy had grown careless, thinking her duplicitous aide to be above suspicion. She began to treat Flayre as her personal confidant, instructing her in the art of magic so that she might better enforce her will. It was during one of these lessons that Minara suddenly broke down, confessing that she wished to win back the love of her subjects and begging Flayre for her counsel. The tiny fairy’s heart skipped a beat as she beheld the pitiable visage of her sniveling master, knowing that the day of revolution was at hand. With the emancipation of her kin at stake, she could not afford to get nervous, not at this stage. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Flayre made an audacious proposal: Release the evil wizard imprisoned within the grove, then slay him once and for all. Surely, she suggested as innocently as she could, such an action would not only prove her dedication to the Great Deku Tree, but it would also free them all from the hated task of guarding the sorcerer’s soul.

A resolute look entered Minara’s eye as she listened to Flayre’s advice, nodding wordlessly. Without saying anything else, the Great Fairy got up and flew away. The very next day, she undid the seals she herself had placed what seemed like eons ago.

The ensuing battle was one for the ages, tearing the surrounding forest asunder. The malevolent spectre of Minara’s ancient foe, though his corporeal form had long since decayed, still retained many of his powers, now bolstered by an all-consuming desire for vengeance against his captor. But for all her faults, Minara was still a warrior of unparalleled skill, charging fearlessly into the fray. Ultimately, the Great Fairy prevailed, but only at the cost of her own life, mortally wounded by the furious revenant’s sorcery.

As the dust settled, Flayre was overcome with pure, unadulterated joy. She had planned for every eventuality, but she could scarcely have imagined a more ideal result. Both Minara and the wizard, dead! It was a miracle! In fact, it seemed almost too good to be real. Wondering if perhaps she was merely dreaming, Flayre decided to see for herself what she had wrought, in order to ascertain that her foul mistress was truly gone.

Unbeknownst to her, however, this choice would forever alter her destiny, as fate had one last card to play…

As Flayre approached Minara’s broken body to confirm her death, the dying Great Fairy opened her eyes one last time. Minara stared at her betrayer for a moment, then smiled. The sight of the being she regarded as her dearest friend warmed her heart, and with her final breath, Minara named Flayre her successor, bequeathing her power to the smaller fairy even as she expired. An arcane mist enveloped the astonished Flayre, and when it dissipated, she had undergone an extraordinary transformation: She had ascended to become a Great Fairy herself.

Marvelling at the raw, primal power at her fingertips, Flayre rushed to inform the others of what had transpired. Everything had come to pass as she had predicted. Righteousness had bested oppression. Now, as an exemplar of her kind, she would return to her kin. She would be hailed as a hero, and she would lead Minara’s former slaves to a new era of prosperity, one that their ex-mistress could not have achieved even in her prime!

Yet old grudges died hard. When the other fairies gazed upon Flayre, they did not see a liberator. They saw an opportunist and deceiver, refusing to believe her when she told them that she had been on their side the whole time. A council was formed to settle on a course of action, during which time numerous accusations were levied at Flayre, including the far-fetched claim that she had been the architect of Minara’s madness, and that she had used a forbidden ritual to become a Great Fairy. It did not take long for them to arrive at a unanimous decision: While they lacked the strength to banish Flayre, the assembled fey made it abundantly clear that they would never willingly submit to her rule, resolute in their opinion that to follow her would be to swap one tyrant for another. Shocked and hurt by their scorn, Flayre resisted the temptation to exact vengeance on the ignorant fairies, instead fleeing into the forest with tears in her eyes.

Where had she gone wrong? Flayre pondered the question over and over as she wept. For the first time, she felt she had an inkling of how Minara must have felt after all those lonely years, toiling endlessly for those she held dear only to be stabbed in the back. Try as she might, she could not comprehend the hypocrisy of her peers, who named her a turncoat even as they betrayed her. When at last she could cry no longer, Flayre composed herself and set out into the world alone, armed with only the grim satisfaction that she had learned a valuable lesson.

Never again would she exert herself for the sake of another. Henceforth, her loyalties would extend no further than her own self-interest; she would not serve the Goddesses, she would not serve the ancient forest, and she would certainly not serve a distant, uncaring tree that she had never met in-person and had grown to resent with every fiber of her being. For her own cause, all other causes would give way. Initially, the behaviour brought about by this narcissistic outlook was merely selfish rather than outright malicious, but Flayre’s unbending adherence to her egocentric impulses would soon prove to be the catalyst for a monstrous transformation. Spurred on by countless evenings of bitter rumination, the wayward Great Fairy began to take solace in watching others suffer as she had.

In the period following her self-imposed exile, Flayre wandered aimlessly throughout the forest, shunning all company. She violently rebuffed any invitations to join the Kokiri in their village, but otherwise kept to herself as she searched for a purpose in life. Decades passed in the blink of an eye, yet Flayre continued to drift from place to place, developing an appreciation for the beauty of nature as she traveled to various locales. The plants and rivers did not judge those around them, and they were pleasant to smell, see, and hear, which was more than could be said for the sentient.

Ironically, it was Flayre’s nomadic roamings that put an end to her hermitic lifestyle. One morning, while exploring near the edge of the forest, Flayre decided to take a detour out of sheer wanderlust. Venturing past the treeline, she stopped to admire the vast plains of grass, causing her to chance upon a band of Hylian knights from the newly-founded town of Saria.

Thrust into unfamiliar circumstances by the dictates of fate, Flayre watched the Hylians warily, toying with the idea of simply killing them on the spot. Minara had once told her of the creatures that lived beyond the forest, how they were ruled by their own vices. Yet the Hylians prostrated themselves before her and beseeched Flayre for her blessing, in awe of the beautiful Great Fairy. One of them referred to Flayre as a goddess, and the word struck a chord within her. Yes, she was like a goddess compared to these mortals, wasn’t she? Intrigued by their apparent willingness to serve her, and remembering how she had successfully dethroned Minara by exploiting her desires, Flayre offered her assistance to the Hylians in exchange for the occasional favour. Thinking that they had secured a valuable asset for the colonization effort, the knights readily agreed. Pleased by their fascination with her, Flayre decided that a life of vice wasn’t so bad after all.

Winning the squad’s loyalty proved to be a trifling matter. Flayre accompanied them on their patrols and protected them from roaming packs of monsters, always hiding behind a mask of kindness in her dealings with the Hylians. She feigned an interest in the details of their personal lives, memorizing their names and pretending to fuss over any who were injured in the line of duty. As for their end of the bargain, Flayre kept her requests simple, ordering the knights to pick flowers for her or hunt the local wildlife. At her own insistence, Flayre’s existence was kept hidden from their superiors, allowing her to corrupt their hearts more easily. The thrill of having power over others was intoxicating to the nefarious Great Fairy, but she refrained from making any truly heinous demands, patiently biding her time. As the months wore on, the knights slowly realized that their allegiances had changed. The harshness of frontier life had drained them, and they had grown to dislike their king, who, unlike their beloved Flayre, resided in the lap of luxury so far away. In their moment of weakness, Flayre found that by gradually escalating the severity of her commands, she could manipulate them into committing ever-greater acts of depravity.

Soon, the once-noble knights were nothing more than a gang of hedonistic raiders, a horrific parody of their former selves. Delighted that her machinations had borne such fruit, Flayre unleashed her newly-acquired followers upon the countryside. She had learned much of Hylian culture from her interactions with them, enough to know that she wanted a slice of its legendary decadence for herself. Her band’s martial skills ensured that they were well-equipped to rob merchant caravans, and with Flayre at their helm, they were more than a match for the bounty hunters sent to apprehend the renegade knights. Furthermore, the Kokiri Forest made for an ideal base of operations from which they could strike quickly, then retreat back into.

Having established a foundation with which to build her empire, Flayre launched a campaign of banditry that would span several generations. Even after the original members of her gang had all passed away, the wily Great Fairy continued to attract a fair number of ruffians to her cause, her lack of interest in anything not related to beauty appealing to many hardened criminals. While she would hoard jewelry and objects of artistic value for herself, she cared little for rupees, and was otherwise quite generous in dividing the spoils of their plunder. Yet wealth was not the only incentive she provided. Catering to the most basic desires of mortals, Flayre rewarded her strongest warriors with intimacy, amused by the passionate lengths her lovers would go to in order to indicate their affections, as well as the jealousy her favouritism inspired in the others. In time, she even began to enjoy indulging in such lustful dalliances, though only on her terms. Still, she remained dismissive of casualties, as none in her band were so valuable that they could not be readily replaced.

Although Flayre’s assortment of cutthroats never quite achieved the ambitious heights of infamy she dreamed of, they were largely successful, viewed as a constant nuisance by the guardsmen of Southern Hyrule.

However, it was not to last. In the wake of Ganon’s rise to power, Flayre was fated to be nothing more than a footnote in the annals of history.

Although the Evil King’s invasion of Southern Hyrule created scores of refugees that were both easy pickings and potential converts for her forces, Flayre recognized that her situation was untenable. Ganon would surely brook no rivals in his mad bid for world conquest; sooner or later, he would seek to absorb her into his ranks, or failing that, to kill her. Flayre had no intention of being subjugated by anyone, let alone one as hideous as Ganon, and she knew that her small collection of outlaws could not possibly outfight Ganon’s massive armies, even if she recruited every fleeing Hylian she could find. Escape was her only option. Chasing tales of more concentrated populations in the North, Flayre departed Southern Hyrule, making an arduous journey over the formidable sierra separating the two territories. Her followers attempted to escort her, but none ultimately survived the trip. Those that were not slaughtered by Ganon’s minions en route perished in the mountains, succumbing to either the elements or starvation. As usual, Flayre cared little for their deaths so long as her objectives were met, fuelled by her will to live.

Once she had cleared the treacherous peaks, Flayre pressed on, eventually taking refuge in the woods to the west of Castle-Town. Captivated by the sheer size of the grand city, she wasted no time in assembling a small cult devoted to her, composed of ensorcelled travelers and bored nobles who used the forest as a hunting ground. Eager to see what could be stolen from the magnificent Hylian capital, Flayre had her servants infiltrate the city to carry out her will. Unfortunately for her, the brazen, unrestrained tactics that had served her so well in the comparatively lawless South proved to be pure folly in the tightly policed North. Her sordid activities (which included theft, kidnapping, and murder) went unhindered for a short while, but she quickly gained the attention of the Castle-Town Guard, who dispatched a detachment to forcibly disband the cult. Caught by surprise, Flayre’s worshippers were rapidly put to the sword, and the Great Fairy herself, distraught by this setback, attempted to flee eastward to regroup.

But Flayre had underestimated the persistence of the Hyrulean Guard. Pursued by agents of the crown, the Great Fairy was eventually cornered in the depths of the Lost Woods by a Sheikah wizard. Thinking that no mere mortal could best her in the art of sorcery, Flayre turned to face her opponent, and was promptly struck down by his magic. Her natural talent for the arcane was dulled by her insistence on using others to fight for her, whereas the Sheikah diligently trained each day so that he might eliminate any threat to Hyrule, no matter how dangerous. Flayre’s arrogance had been her downfall.

Humbled and beaten, Flayre could only watch as the Sheikah made preparations to seal her away in an unmarked grove, leaving her to ponder the consequences of her actions for all eternity. She screamed, first to express her defiance, then to beg for mercy. When that did not work, she offered herself to the Sheikah, hoping to seduce him and thus make her escape. But the royal magician would not be swayed by her words, his loyalty to the kingdom unshakable. Without bothering to respond to her pleas, he opened a great rift in the grove and cast her into the waiting abyss. Flayre felt her power ebb away, and then all was dark.

When she awoke, Flayre found herself floating in a featureless void, alone. Instinctively, she cried out until her throat was raw, entreating her followers, her fellow fairies, and finally Minara for assistance, but only the ominous echo of her own voice responded, as if to mock her. The perpetual blackness of her prison was anathema to her hedonistic mind, every waking second torturous in light of her addiction to pleasure. She raged against her prison, vowing to take vengeance upon all who had wronged her. She would conquer the world, then set it aflame just to spite everyone in it. The Great Fairy continued her blasphemous tirade for several hours, oblivious to the futility of her anger. At last, when she could say no more, she fell silent and was still.

That was the first day. There were many more like it, for Flayre would spend over a decade in the solitary pocket dimension, trapped with no hope of rescue. A seething, all-consuming hatred threatened to erode her sanity completely, yet a single, precious memory sustained her: She recalled how she had refused to languish under Minara’s tyranny, how she had longed for her freedom above all else. She had persevered then. She would persevere now.

Finally, an opportunity presented itself. The Sheikah tribe had erased any records of Flayre’s existence, so that in the event that one of her cultists had somehow survived, they would not be able to locate her. So it was without any actual intention of malice that the Cult of Nayru stumbled upon her prison and broke the seal that had bound her, thinking that they were doing a good deed by liberating a Great Fairy. Flayre did not care about any of this. The moment she saw a glimpse of light amid the surrounding darkness, she rushed at it with all her strength, bursting into reality with such violence that all of the nearby priestesses were rendered unconscious by the resulting blast.

Surveying her handiwork with indescribable satisfaction, Flayre considered her next course of action. Her once-formidable grasp of magic had waned, diminished by the long years of imprisonment, and she had no allies to call upon. She would have to begin anew. But she was free, and that was all that mattered. Deciding to allow the priestesses to live out of a twisted sense of gratitude, Flayre glanced skyward and smiled. Weakened as she was, she could only croak out three words. She repeated these three words slowly, reciting them like a mantra even as she took flight, heading in a southerly direction.

“Rest… Recuperate… Revenge…”


Rupee History:

The Enemy of my Prison Warden is my Temporary Ally: Elegy of Emptiness, Breeze Whisper, Instant Whisper

Rise of the Holiday Moblin: +50 Rupees, Captivating Dance

Holiday Moblin 2022: Sobriety

Update upon promotion to Veteran: +1 Courage.