Vena the Raven-Haired

A barbarian heroine and like Cohen, a lifetime in her own legend. She takes the form of a well-rounded matronly woman of about retirement age (for most women of her age) wearing minimalist armour seemingly designed for a much younger woman. The problem is, the much younger woman was also Vena...

Vena for a time retired from the Hero-ing business after marrying an inn-keeper and becoming Mrs. Charlie McGarry. Mrs McGarry went on to have and raise two children (one now an innkeeper, one sadly a paper-maker) who have themselves now had children. Following her husband's death and having seen her grand-children enter the world, Mrs. McGarry decided perhaps Vena should return to the Hero circuit. The discovery at the inn of a scroll that had been left behind by a guest dressed entirely in black sealed the deal, as it were, and sent Vena off on a quest to Dunmanifestin.

She is encountered whilst placidly knitting pleasant wall hangings, that is until you read the message. Of course, in barbarian hero circles "Eat cold steel Pigdog" is possibly equivalent to "Home Sweet Home" one can never tell sometimes. However, those knitting needles in her hands are deadly.

Annotation

Refer to the TV adventure series Xena, Warrior Princess[1]. Now doesn't the artwork in The Last Hero just remind you of a sixty-year old Lucy Lawless?[2]. This character may also be a reference to the film Red Sonya.