Amulet Wiki
Advertisement

Riva Ash is a supporting character in the Amulet graphic-novel series created by Kazu Kibuishi. She is the elf mayor of Lucien, who has become good friends with Navin Hayes and Alyson Hunter after rescuing them from Dark Scouts in the abandoned streets of her city, and the future wife of Trellis.

Personality[]

Riva is a dedicated and passionate leader who recognizes her people's safety as a foremost priority. She is willing to put herself in danger in order to help others, implying her selfless nature such as when she had intervened to rescue Navin, Alyson, and Trisha from the Dark Scouts. She claims to not believe in prophecies, but says she is also willing to keep an open mind out of respect for her close friends and mentors.

Riva is a capable, responsible, intelligible, and reasonable leader of her people. She is very loyal to those she considers close, and also immensely capable when fending for herself. She is focused and precise, despite her young age.

Appearance[]

Riva is a female Elf with light blue skin, white hair, and pointed ears. Her hair is twisted/braided in the front and worn down in the back.

Skills & Abilities[]

She carries a backpack with multiple vials that can do various things, one of which can make a ring of chemical fire.

Her leadership skills, including communication and crowd control, are a valuable asset. While these have shown to prove beneficial for the condition of her people, Riva recognizes that her judgement can be biased by her feelings. For example, she is advised on when to evacuate Lucien by General Pil, but also asks Navin, admitting that she "knows too much" of the situation.

As daughter of the elf who built Lucien's underground city, Riva is very knowledgable of the city's layout and possibly its blueprint. She labels herself one of its "caretakers".

History[]

Born to a father who had helped to found Lucien, Riva spent many of her days within the city. As a girl, she often spoke to an elder tree called Father Charles, an old friend of her family's and someone whom she shared a close bond with. Riva would eventually grow up to become mayor, with Isaak Pil serving as her advisor. 

Father Charles's prophecy

Riva learning of the prophecy.

After the invasion of the dark scouts, she moved her people into the underground portion of Lucien built by her father. Some time afterward, Charles became gravely ill and told Riva that the arrival of a young leader would signal the start of a revolution that could save Alledia. His last words to Riva were a prophecy that spoke of the sky beginning to fall and a "sun" rising again. These words were cryptic to Riva and she did not quite understand what they had meant at the time. The morning after Charles' passing, Riva took notice of a small tree growing beside him, which she felt she needed to protect and decided to take it back with her underground. However, the young sapling began to wither.

Escape From Lucien[]

A week later, Balan, Doctor Weston, and the last of The Resistance arrived by underground railway after fleeing Kanalis. Despite initial trepidation, Riva's hospitality toward them and her offering of food and shelter were accepted. One morning, she found that the dying sapling had blossomed for the first time, so she went aboveground to plant it. After finding Charles cut down, Riva decided that the plant needed a proper home and went back underground. On her way, she found Navin, Alyson and Trisha, having lost Robert to the shadows, and brought them into the city of Lucien.

She reunites Navin with the remaining members of the Resistance, before informing him of the grave situation of Lucien. With already scarce and depleting food and supplies, they have considered giving the evacuation order to leave Lucien Underground via an abandoned tunnel that leads to the Cielis crater. However, due to the threat of shadows, there will be a number of casualties, thus causing Riva to hesitate as she cannot allow this to happen, prompting her to ask Navin for advice being the commander. Navin, doubtful of himself as he can't even pass his Colossus pilot exams much less lead an army, was given a tree sprout by Riva, who then told him a prophecy given to her by Father Charles. The prophecy details of the sky falling and a 'sun' rising again, cryptic words that mistified Riva for weeks on end. Although she admits she doesn't believe in prophecies, miracles nor premonitions, she believes that Navin, as the commander, will be enough to give her people hope amd convince them to go aboveground. Having a bad experience with a prophecy himself (Book 2: The Stonekeeper's Curse), Navin and Riva get along with that opinion.

The group was cut off by an alarm triggered by a gate breached by shadows that followed the three Colossus pilots underground. Riva then gives the evacuation order and instructs General Pil to ready the vac bots but with a scarcity of pilots, they can't do so. Navin and Aly volunteers to help while Trish completes the mission issued to them, which was activating the beacon. Not willing to risk losing Navin nor the rest, Riva protests against this, attempting to convince them it isn't worth it. Trisha Spring remains insistent, thus Riva relents, providing her with an old map to help. She then asks who will answer the call once the beacon is activated, and with uncertainty, Trisha admits she doesn't know, as she was simply ordered to do it. Riva then warns her that they can't keep the door open for them, to which they agree and allow, before proceeding. Hearing another alarm, Riva and Balan goes to the gates, initiating crowd control. Eventually, they are forced to close all the gates, leaving Aly, Navin, Trisha and General Pil seemingly trapped.

After escaping the bottom of Lucien and getting to the Cielis Crater, Riva sees a giant ship fall down, with a bubble falling down too. She tells the citizens to stay where they are, and remembers Father Charles‘s prophecy. When the bubble falls down, Elves come out of the bubble hurt, while Trellis walking out with a hurt elf also. She realizes Father Charles was talking about Trellis, and the two briefly talk and introduce themselves.

Supernova[]

Riva is in the city of Ippo, finding a dropship of The Elf King’s Elf Troops. Patrick Joseph is also there, and Riva commands him to convince everyone to stop evacuating into the Charnon House.

The Elf King commanded for the elves to surrender, surprising the Elf Army and The Resistance. After the sudden surrender, the people of Ippo rejoice and offer to hold a banquet in Trellis's honor. Trellis hesitates on the offer, believing that hardly anything was done, however, Riva sways Trellis to accept the offer. Later that night, Trellis opens up to Riva, expressing his worries about Emily and what The Voice is planning. Meanwhile, Vigo goes to interrogate Logi in Ippo's prison, and it is revealed that the surrender was just a facade for Logi to release Emily (Phoenix) from a key that connected to the void from inside the prison; ultimately a way to silently infiltrate Ippo. The Phoenix ends up destroying the prison, and attempts to kill several people, ultimately failing as Emily manages to take slight control of it and the Phoenix leaves Ippo.

Later, Riva, Trellis, Vigo and others gather on the Luna Moth to head to Cielis and meet up with Emily. A short while before they arrive in Cielis, Trellis and Riva briefly talk about Cielis and Lucien. They then find Emily, who confirms that the Elf King was indeed under control of the Voice the entire time, presenting his mask and confirming he is surely gone now. Emily then tells Trellis that he, Vigo and Riva should go and work to rebuild the Elf Kingdom, while she goes to find and help her Brother and Mother on Typhon (unbeknownst to any of them, they have already left the now Shadow-infested Typhon.) Riva wishes Emily luck as she leaves.

Waverider[]

Riva is in Valcor, the Kingdom of the Elves, along with Trellis, Vigo Light, Loni, Roni, and Balan, who are on a mission to confront rumors of a mysterious individual who has taken the place of Trellis as King of the Elves. Upon entering the palace, they discover that Gabilan has taken the role of King, which results in Trellis's surprise that he still lived, and Loni and Roni's call to attack "for the true king". Trellis orders the two to stand down as Gabilan informs him of the damage inflicted upon the elves by Emily Hayes upon losing control of her stone, and how it struck a greater fear of Stonekeepers into the hearts of the people. Gabilan tells Trellis to "show them" how Stonekeepers take things by force by reclaiming his throne, to which Trellis refuses, and admits Galiban is now the King before bowing to him. Trellis comments that he will offer assistance where he is able, where Galiban also asks "what do you need from me", which allows Riva a chance to speak on providing neighboring lands such as Lucien, Pomo, and Kanalis the tools they will need to rebuild.

Upon seeing Riva next, she, along with the others previously in Valcor minus Loni and Roni, are on a small boat travelling down a river. She asks what Vigo is looking for, and he replies that he is "looking for an old friend" and that the locals of the area said that they would find her at a rock quarry. The villagers are afraid to speak with her, saying that they believe she is a ghost. Vigo also informs the group that she is a Stonekeeper as they make their way into the rock quarry. As they traverse deeper into the quarry, Riva asks Trellis if he can use his powers as the King to have the elf army rebuild the cities, to which Trellis replies "I'm not the king". Further pressing the issue, Riva asks what he intends to be if he is no longer the King, Trellis quips, "I'm just going to be me, whatever that means".

The aforementioned Stonekeeper reveals herself to be Ronin, whom Riva introduces herself to, stating that she is the mayor of Lucien and is currently in charge of the Guardian Council until order is restored. She grants Ronin the power to lead the council, saying she will assist her in any way she can. Ronin leads the group into the training grounds she has created within the quarry, where they meet four young Stonekeepers who are training under Ronin's guise. Riva asks the students what they study in the quarry, where one of the students, Bren, tells her that it mostly revolves around the fast construction of cities, as well as learning shadow wrangling. Janis, another student, adds greater information on shadow wrangling, stating how they are trained to "expel shadows and help people escape despair."

A little later, the students have begun their training, and Trellis and Riva are standing beside each other observing them. Riva consoles Trellis as he expresses his worries of teaching the young Stonekeepers, where she comments on the work it will take, saying, "we are so concerned about whether we are doing enough...when all that might be required is that we stay out of their way".

Later on, the students and others at the rock quarry have moved onto the Luna Moth, which is flying through The Golbez Cycle en route to Cielis. Riva asks Trellis if he is alright, where he replies that he's "doing fine", as Riva comments, "you don't look like it". He informs her of how he is the first in his family to walk away from the throne, and that he is afraid he has let his people down. Riva comforts him, expressing that she thought what he did was admirable. The two take a walk around the Luna Moth as their conversation continues with Riva speaking on the ambitious people she has met in her life, and that she had never seen anyone act as Trellis had before. The two bond over their shared experiences of seeing the people they love be corrupted and destroyed by power. They eventually make their way to the flight deck, where they encounter Enzo and Rico who are now preparing the Luna Moth to dock in Cielis. Trellis comments on how he can barely believe this will be the last time the group sees Cielis in the sky, to which Enzo agrees, asking why they can't leave the city in the sky, before accepting that he knows it belongs on the ground, and asks the others to let him "enjoy this final fleeting moment of adventure".

On Cielis, the young Stonekeepers, Vigo Light, Trellis, Riva, Ronin, and Luger, stand in the town square as they begin to lower the city back into its crater. The Stonekeepers channel their powers as they transform into their giant forms, aside from a Stonekeeper named West, who has begun to hear the voice of Ikol attempting to take over his stone. In this encounter, Vigo ultimately ends up sacrificing himself to save the young Stonekeeper, which results in him being teleported into The Void. As the Stonekeepers recover, Trellis is informed that he will now lead the people of Cielis as the Elder Stonekeeper of the Guardian Council. Riva says, "It's always been you, Trellis, I knew it the first time I saw you". She also states that she had a vision of his future as leader of Alledia, where we see Trellis and Riva with two children, a son and a daughter. Trellis says that everyone has an idea of who he is and expects him to do everything alone, and he admits needing the people of Cielis's along with the Stonekeepers to help lower the city back into its crater.

This leads to the finale of the Amulet Saga, where we see Emily explain to Trellis why she needs to return to Earth, and where they say their goodbyes. Riva and Trellis are seen standing beside each other, with Riva holding an elven baby, insinuating that the two of them eventually get married and have children, which is what Riva's vision entailed. With that, the story of Riva within Waverider ends.

Advertisement