Leon Redbeard (レオン・レッドビアード Leon Redbeard) is a supporting character in the Amulet graphic-novel series created by Kazu Kibuishi. In The Stonekeeper's Curse, He is initially introduced Emily Hayes’ first mentor/teacher, a skilled guard, and companion. He's also a expert, proficient and professional swordsman. He serves as one of several guides to Emily until she reaches the Guardian Council. He was tasked decades prior to the story, via the Prophecy.
Design[]
Leon makes his physical appearance as a bipedal, anthropomorphic male red fox that depicts fluffy orange fur with matching white snout, ear interiors, and tip of his tail; this is because a curse affected and magically possessed him in his early childhood. He has black human-esque eyes and a shiny miniature onyx nose.
Clothing[]
His attire usually consist of a long-sleeved white shirt under a button-up sleeveless dark-teal tunic, a pair of crossing gray baldrics over his shoulders with a medium-gray scabbard belted and carried on his back where his personal sword can be sheathed within when not in use. He wears a pair of skin-tight tan pants under a pair of flat-heeled, lace-up dark-gray knee-length leather combat-boots as well. He accessorizes a pair of yellowish-olive elbow-length glovelettes on each forearm, wrist, and hand. He also sports a long red-violet scarf wrapped and slung low around his neck that drapes over his left shoulder.
History[]
The Stonekeeper's Curse[]
In The Stonekeeper's Curse, Leon meets Emily Hayes after defeating an Elf that was attempting to ambush her. Leon guides Emily to a cure for her mother. On the way, he tells her how he knows about the stone and trains her in using it. Ultimately, with his help, Emily is able to save her mother and defeat Luger.
The Cloud Searchers[]
In The Cloud Searchers Leon escorts Emily and the rest of the group to Cielis by searching for an airship with a captain and crew (Enzo and Rico) and uses Silas’ old notes to guide them to the floating island of Cielis. Leon teaches Emily to defend things with her stone along the way.
The Last Council[]
In The Last Council he goes with Enzo and Rico to explore Cielis and meet Alyson Hunter and her family, realizing that Cielis is not what it used to be they free Trellis and Luger from Yarboro prison and get into a fight with the Guard, in which Vigo Light along with previously thought dead Miskit and Cogsley intervene and save the group.
Books 5-8[]
Eventually, Leon‘s role dwindles as the series goes on, he begins having rare appearances starting with Prince of the Elves in which he only appears in a few pages. This is the same in Escape from Lucien where he only appears once. Leon is shown in Firelight when he shows up along with Karen Hayes and Miskit to aid Navin Hayes and Alyson Hunter at the end of the book. He also appears throughout Supernova; however, he is rarely addressed. At the beginning of the book, Leon is shown talking to Karen but doesn't say much after that.
Skills[]
Leon using his sword to cleave the blade of his opponent's sword.
Leon is shown to be very skillful with his sword throughout the series and is an excellent swordfighter. He can also jump, leap, hop, and spring between walls and leap across rooftops with acrobatic skills (agility, jumping, parkour, and speed).
Featured[]
Trivia[]
- Leon slightly/sort of resembles Fox McCloud from the Star Fox video game franchise.
- Leon can use his reading-glasses to read his books (for instance, Silas Charnon's On Stone Power).
- There was a timeline inconsistency in the series; Leon's story dictates that the Elf King rose to power 30 years earlier and is implied to have started the war. However, Max‘s story states it started 50 years earlier. In addition to that, it is revealed from Trellis’s memories in book 5 that the his father only became king during his childhood. Seeing as Trellis is only 14-16, this implies that the Elf King had taken power less than a decade before Emily and her family arrived in Alledia, thus making Leon's age a mystery.
- When Emily first meets Leon he tells her that he is a bounty hunter, but his flexibility and fighting skills resembled that of combat done by Japanese warriors.
- Although not appearing in the first novel, The Stonekeeper, Leon is one of the oldest characters as he appeared in Kibuishi's Amulet's concept submission to Scholastic.