Lore:Makela Leki

This article is about the Ansei warrior. For the goddess, see Leki.

Makela Leki
Makela Leki illustration from the Saintsport wayshrine
Race	Redguard	Gender	Female
Died		1E 973 Bangkorai Pass
Resided in		Hammerfell
Appears in		ESO

Makela Leki, also known as Saint Leki was an Ansei warrior, a known worshipper of the God of War Reymon Ebonarm, and one of the most famed heroes in Redguard history. She is best known for her sacrifice at the Battle of Bangkorai Pass in the First Era, where she and her five companions were responsible for routing an invading Breton army led by King Joile of Daggerfall.

Early Life

Makela grew up in a noble Redguard family, with three brothers and a sister. Her father was a swordmaster and Ansei warrior many years before he settled down to raise a family. Much like her father, Makela possessed the unique qualities that allowed her to form a Shehai - a mystical blade made of pure thought. Indeed, her natural affinity towards the Shahai was such that it's said she could form the Shehai as an infant.

At the age of eleven Makela was enrolled into the Hall of the Virtues of War to become a Sword Singer, and joined a small band of Maidens of the Spirit Sword. Although she had a natural ability towards the Shehai, seldom was it substantial enough to be used as a weapon. Despite this, Makela was still the first student from her local hall to have the ability to call forth the Shehai in two generations, thus was named as an Ansei warrior.

As the years passed, Makela and her band of five maidens mastered the Way of the Sword and completed their training, eventually returning to their hall to serve as instructors. Makela also married a man named Raliph and started a family of her own.

The Breton Betrayal

In 1E 950, the joint forces of Daggerfall led by King Joile and Sentinel launched an attack on Orsinium that resulted in a thirty year siege of the city. Although King Joile was allied with the Redguards, he betrayed them during the campaign in 1E 973 and killed Gaiden Shinji, a famed swordsmaster and contemporary of Makela. Joile then executed his plan of invading Hammerfell through the region of Bangkorai.

During the night of the Midyear Festival, Makela received word of the betrayal and the invading Breton army from the north. Makela and her band of maidens rushed to the Bangkorai Pass where Joile's forces had slain the stationed Redguard forces and were about to breach the mountain pass. Makela and her band defended the pass against his army, but eventually all of them fell, except Makela. In desperation after her father's sword broke in her hand, Makela was able to summon her spirit sword in earnest, which allowed her to single-handedly defeat the Breton army and even slay King Joile himself. Although Makela was successful in repelling the invasion, she was gravely wounded.

Before death, she recorded her thoughts and memories of her life and the final battle into a magical memory stone. Although details of the battle were preserved for later generations, Makela deeply regretted not preserving the memory of her immediate family, resulting in all of them being lost to history.

Legacy

Shortly after her death, Makela's memory stone was found in the Bangkorai Pass. Its contents secured Makela's status as a legend, and her victory over the Joile was preserved and was celebrated by Redguards thereafter. It is said that because of her selfless sacrifice, the Breton armies never reached Sentinel. Her body was laid to rest in the sacred Hall of Heroes. However, some scholars believe her final resting place to be in a nondescript cave in western Bangkorai.

Centuries after her death, Makela's memory stone was stolen by an exiled Redguard warrior named Ulbazar Thief-Lord. He fled Hammerfell and sought refuge in Evermore, only to die after being imprisoned in the city's crypts. In the mid-Second Era, as a favor to King Fahara'jad, High King Emeric sent a detachment to retrieve Makela's stone from the crypts and return it to the Impervious Vault in Sentinel.

In the mid-Second Era, the Vestige encountered the spirit of Makela in the Hall of Heroes, where she granted them her blessing and entry into the Chamber of Passage. Around the same time a lock of hair supposed belonging to Makela Leki's was found preserved inside small, exquisitely carved jadeite box and kept as a relic.

Gallery

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  As a spirit

• 

  Bangkorai Pass

See Also

Books

• From The Memory Stone of Makela Leki by Makela Leki — Diary of Leki, a Redguard warrior and master of Ansei