Willen

Willen is a character from the Ravenloft product line novel Dance of the Dead (Novel). In universe, he was the lover of Larissa Snowmane. He helped her escape the clutches of Captain Raoul Dumont. Later he was inadvertently killed by Snowmane's Dance of the Dead.

Biography

Before he was transformed, Willen was one of the feu follet, Good-aligned will o'wisp variants that feed on positive emotions rather than negative ones and live in Souragne. When Larissa Snowmane was a child living in Souragne, Willen was one of the feu follet that sought to help her reach her potential as a whitemane and achieve a sacred bond with the swamp. However, her father Aubrey Helson took her away, and she never got the chance.

Many years later, Larissa returned as a grown woman and actress aboard Captain Raoul Dumont's riverboat known as La Demoiselle du Musarde. Sensing her return and Dumont's capture of feu follets, the Maiden of the Swamp called one of her feu follets to let her transform it into a human-like form to guide Larissa. Willen jumped at the chance. In the guise of the child of a swamp witch, Willen befriended Larissa and helped her escape the irate, lustful, and entitled Dumont when she detected the sinister nature of the plot with Handsome Jack and fled.

Using his naturally charming presence as a feu follet, Willen insinuated himself into the crew of the boat as a native pilot and a Souragne guide. There, he learned about his people's capture and the gallery of unusual slaves being held by Dumont. Although Willen feigned approval of their capture to Dumont, he could not be more appalled. Later, after Willen convinced Larissa to seek help from the Maiden (see below), he returned to comfort the creatures and inform them of the plan to free them.

After Willen overheard Dumont conspiring with Alondrin on how to force Larissa to accept his affections, Willen went to her and told her the truth about her father. Although she hesitated to believe him, she eventually accepted his request for her to into the swamp and find the Maiden there.

Willen did what he could to stall Dumont's pursuit while Larissa learned the "magic of fruit and flowers" from the Maiden, and he eventually ventured to the Isle of the Maiden to check up on them. However, at Alondrin's insistence, Dumont sent Yeluda to spy on him in return for her freedom. When Willen returned to the ship, Yeluda's betrayal was revealed as Willen was captured. Alondrin's magic powder could not force Willen to become a zombie, so Alondrin attempted to torture Willen through his naturally empathic connection to creatures, namely Bouki to reveal the nature of Larissa's plans. However, Willen did not buckle

Eventually, Larissa, armed with knowledge taught to her by the Swamp Maiden and the Lord of the Dead (Anton Misroi), led a strike force of swamp creatures to attack Le Demoiselle and its now zombie crew. As Dumont forced the actors of the Pirate's Pleasure to sing and strengthen the power of his ships wards, Willen bade Dumont's imprisoned magical creatures to make music to counteract the songs of the actors. Eventually, Willen and the other prisoners were freed by Larissa and Gelaar.

On deck, Willen joined the others in fighting Lond's zombies. In the fight with zombie Brynn, he was saved by Sardan, whom decapitated the zombie. From there, they fought the zombies together. However, as Willen noticed Larissa beginning the Dance of the Dead (Ritual), he knocked Sardan unconscious to spare him death. Willen was unable to get to Larissa before she enacted the ritual, and he become one of its casualties, transforming into a zombie himself, much to Larissa's later alarm and regret.

Of the zombies that survived Alondrin and Larissa's clash, only Willen was not claimed by Anton Misroi, as he knew Willen had special significance to Larissa. Misroi could not undo the results of his own magic, that of which he had taught to Larissa. She laid the zombie remnant of her lover to rest by sending him away on the yawl pulled by Flowswift, his body set ablaze by her fire magic as a funeral pyre.