Max Griffin

Max Griffin
Age	Older than 85 Possibly aged 12 - 16 (Used his Amulet to retain his youth)
Species	Human, Stonekeeper
Occupation	Stonekeeper Prince of Elves (formerly) Pawn of the VoiceSpy for the Elf kingGuardian Stonekeeper (Around 60 or 70 years before the events of Amulet
Weapon of Choice	Amulet, Sword
Goal	To avenge Layra's death
First Appearance	The Cloud Searchers

Max Griffin was a former student of The Academy and successor of the Elf King. The Elf King declared him the new prince. He was a powerful stonekeeper of the past, who was reanimated by the Voice. When his Elf-friend, Layra, died during a failed attempt to liberate her family, Max became determined to wage war against his fellow humans. He died in the end of Escape from Lucien; rejected by Layra (The Voice).

Past

Max Griffen was born aproximently 85 years before the beginning of the main story. His father was the mayor of Cielis. While growing up, Max attended the Cielis academy alongside Vigo Light. Max also got close and became great friends with Layra, an elf who also lived in Cielis. One day while at the training grounds of the Academy, Max was being made fun of by another kid. Max then proceeded to use his stone to suffocate him but Vigo intervened, saying that killing him would get him in more trouble than he deserved. Sometime later he and Layra were talking about how Max wasn't allowed to read anything but training manuals. Max was told by Emily's great grandfather to keep the memory of shadows safe. Soon after this, he and Vigo were pleased to see that one of their instructors said they had passed their exams and that Max specifically could become a great guardian, to which his father denied, saying he had to rule Cielis after he was gone. Maw then went to visit Layra only to figure out his father had arrested her parents. Max then went to demand his father let Layra's parents go, to which he denied saying that they could be working for the Elf King. Max snuck out to go and free Layras parents, which succeeded in doing, and reunited them with Layra. Max hired an airship to carry them to safety. But an enemy airship spotted the escapees. The family's ship was shot down by the police ship for refusing to return to the dock. Max, angered and distraught at the death of Layra and her family, responded by blasting the other ship with his Stone and killing the four soldiers inside.

As a result, the Guardian Council sentenced Max to 50 years in the Ice Prison of Korthan, and before sending him away, asked if he had any last words to bid his farewell, to which he replies: "You will all regret this."

He later escaped the prison by maneuvering past guards and crawling through passages. Mortally wounded, however, the snow proved to be almost impossible to overcome. His Stone's voice appeared to him and offered to help him, so long as he submitted to the Voice, which he agrees to when the Voice points out he is going to die anyway. Eventually, he is able to use the Stone's power to retain his youth and joins forces with Gulfen in order to avenge Layra's death.

Though at first Max appears to be helping Emily, his true goal is realized while testing for a spot in the Guardian Council at the Academy. He is shown to have betrayed the other stonekeepers, such as Ronin and Peirce, several times, but urges them to trust him and work together. It is later revealed that Max, using his powers, had created replicates of the deceased as illusions (Duncan, Ronin, Pierce, and others) to take control of Cielis so that Emily would be tricked into helping him obtain the Mother Stone. Max tried to persuade Emily to join him in his plan to create a new Guardian Council, but she refused. Max then escaped with the Mother Stone, while dodging the amulet blasts from Trellis and Vigo as he headed into the elven helicopter.

Max Griffin, along with several Elf troops, later stormed the Ice Prison of Korthan, leading the Elf King in a battle carriage. At the entrance, Max requested the guards to let him visit a prisoner within the prison. One of the guards refused his approval, saying that the prison did not accept visitors. Max used his Amulet's power to strangle the guard with a fount of energy, threatening to let him enter the prison or face death. Granted access, Max and the Elven troops were able to enter the prison. Per agreement between Max and The Elf King, Max freed Chronos, a mountain giant, in order to defeat the other Stonekeepers. Max was given orders to begin their march in the city of Frontera and to annihilate the commoners. On his way to tecimate Lucien next, Max met up with the Stonekeepers during airship travel, leading to a battle in the skies. At the climax of the battle, the combined blasts of Emily, Vigo, and Max caused them all to fall. An injured Max awakened somewhere in the mountains in a large crater caused by his fall, with most of his bones broken. He contemplated giving up, but his Stone's voice coaxed him into believing that Layra would be disappointed if he gave up now and proceeded to mend his bones. Max apologized to Layra and Chronos flew off with him in hand.

Max later spoke with the Elf King, apologizing for his failure, and asked for a second chance. The Elf King revealed to Max that he had heard Max's stone was guided by a voice and asked if this was true, to which Max denied. Max was then told that the traitor who had given this information would be executed, as the King saw this as a terrible offense to his best officer. Complimenting him, the King went on to say that Max would one day reveal his curse to him, but assured a visibly shocked and nervous Max that it was not time yet and promised to continue his work.

Death

Later, Max flies off with Emily, Trellis, and Vigo Light into the Void in an attempt to take on the Voice. As they enter the Temple of Kings (located in Valcor), the Voice swirls in between the statues and appeared in front of them. Before Max can attack the Voice, he is strangled around the neck, but Emily commands it to release him. When the Voice speaks to him gratingly about his actions, a hallucination of Layra appears, with her mother and father. Max tells Layra that he tried to avenge her and that everything he did was for her. Layra retorts that he had done it for himself, before she disappears with her family. Max then shouts to the Voice he is ready to go- and Max begins to age, losing his youthful features. Moments before his death, he tells them to find Algos Island and that Trellis is in fact, the true King.

His last words were important: “Forgive them. Forgive your people. They didn't know... That you are the king."

Characteristics

Appearance

Max is considerably taller than Emily, though shorter than her mother. His stone is blue, with a design similar to Emily's. He has black hair and blue eyes. His ha spikes, and he often wears a cape, brown boots and a tunic. He seems a little older than Emily, about sixteen years old.

After the battle in Prince of the Elves, the end of his cape is tattered and seared, most likely from the injuries he suffered at the end of the book.

Personality

Max is quite single-minded when he wants to achieve a goal, leading to him being quite ruthless, willing to put innocents in danger if it means he will get what he wants. His desire to avenge Layra, which is what influenced his decision to side with the Voice and the Elf King, is a prime example of this. He is also a skilled manipulator, hiding his true self beneath a charming façade. He does come to realize that the Voice is evil, and so he allies with the Guardian council to destroy it, albeit by resorting to threatening their lives unless they do. When his motives are called into question by the Voice, who uses Layra's spirit to prove its point, he realizes that his obsessiveness had made him a monster. In the end, he dies filled with regret for what he had done, finally letting go of his desire for vengeance.

Powers and Abilities

Even at a young age, Max demonstrated an extraordinary wealth of power.

Max is shown to be an immensely skilled and powerful Stonekeeper. As a child, he and Vigo had excelled above the other students in their training academy. When soldiers open fire on an airship intending to smuggle Layra and her family to the city of Gulfen, Max is able to detonate the ships and kill all of the soldiers inside, thus leading to his imprisonment.

Max has shown that he is able to animate stone replicates of the deceased and create the illusion that they are alive.

Using the Stone, he manages to inflict major damage on aircraft en route to Gulfen. The Voice of the Stone is also shown to mend his broken bones after he fell from the sky.

Even without using the Stone, he is shown to have considerable strength, as demonstrated when he grabbed a disloyal Elf subordinate and tossed him a great distance, supposedly killing him.

Relationships

Vigo - Former Friend and Classmate

Vigo and Max met when a fellow Stonekeeper called Max 'Elf lover' and pushed him down, resulting in Max strangling him with his Amulet. The person said sorry several times-intill Vigo then stopped Max's blast and they went on to be friends, which Vigo stated to be like 'an eternity ago'.

Emily- Former Friend and Later Enemy

Max and Emily got off to a rocky start, what with Max tricking Emily and they later fighting after Max's motives were revealed. Then Emily found out about Layra as they went off to attack The Voice. Emily tried to help Max as he died, but Vigo stated that Max 'was already dead'.

Layra- Former Best Friend

Max and Layra were the best of friends, maybe even a bit more than that. Max then helped Layra and her family escape but then the family was killed, and Max tried to avenge Layra's death. Max was shown to have great feelings for Layra, as seen when he reacted to a hallucination of Layra telling him that his efforts to avenge her death where all things that Max did for himself.

Trivia

• Of the Elf King's subordinates, he is the longest to appear under his command thus far. Both Luger and Trellis chose to leave the King and join Emily.
• While he looks around 16, he is actually over 60 years old.