First appearance: S3E9 — Fire Heart — Alyndra Morlynn v Minh Lý · watch it on YouTube
Alyndra Morlynn is an astral elf fighter with hair made of starlight and armour so clean it had clearly never seen a fight. She stepped through the Arbiter’s portal looking for glory and found a fight she did not expect. Her bout with the bare-chested Bladesinger Minh Lý was one of the silliest Deathmatches around. It ended as one of the most touching: Alyndra brought the sky down on both of them and walked out of the ashes carrying her opponent’s shield and his story.
Story
S3E9 — Fire Heart — Alyndra Morlynn v Minh Lý
The Arbiter summoned Alyndra to the Dread Fortress after the Grandmaster had nearly skipped the Deathmatch to lose at ping pong to Doug. Alyndra arrived with long pointy ears and glittering chain mail so crisp it looked “like a cosplay before you do the weathering.” She announced herself with the words “I am Alyndra Morlynn. And I heard that this was the place for glory.” When the Grandmaster asked whether she was dabbing, Alyndra set her straight: “No, this is my signature pose.” She sat for a goblin painter, checked whether she could move just her mouth, and said she hoped “to bring forth the power of the stars.” The fight then moved to one of the Grandmaster’s favourite getaways, a misty autumn waterfall full of fireflies, with the Acolytes sparkling overhead like stars.
Alyndra drew first blood, helped by an Acolyte named Corrin, who cheered so hard they fell down the stairs. Then she knocked Minh flat, struck her signature pose over him, hit him again, and politely stepped back to give him room to get up. A giant four-eyed dog named Chet, Doug’s older brother, sent her running for cover under the firefly trees (“This is so pretty, but I hate that dog”). She later teleported in a flash of starlight to Gerald, who by then had bulked up into “an inverted pyramid.” Alyndra pulled down an orb of starlight and offered it to him as body glitter for his new muscles. When Minh accidentally fed Chet a sugar-free protein bar, Alyndra revealed a surprise veterinary background and saved the dog with the Heimlich maneuver. Chet shrank into an eight-eyed Pomeranian. In return for her glitter offering, Gerald floated her a scroll of Meteor Swarm, and she called it “the best day of my life.” She got so attached to the prize that she wrapped herself around the Box so Minh couldn’t open it, insisting she was “playing fair.” Gerald, squashed underneath, pointed out: “I don’t see me sitting on your house.”
Things went badly after that. Minh dropped a fireball on the two of them at the Box, and the blast pushed the river aside and left everything steaming. Alyndra waded out and turned her back on him, which earned her a smite, and she admitted she’d been “so distracted by the muscles and the fire.” The Grandmaster dumped cold water on them both. Alyndra stuck her head in the river to clear it, but the water left their nerves twitching. A flood from the Arbiter then swept both champions over the waterfall into a grassy shallow at sunset. Alyndra ate a poisonous giant strawberry and spat it out, then lied to Minh that the strawberries were delicious. She swung again and again at the stunned Bladesinger and missed. When she finally landed the perfect blow, her twitching fingers carried the swing straight across her own chest. A cackling voice echoed through the valley: “Stop hitting yourself!” Crushed, she said, “Maybe we weren’t meant for glory. Maybe mother was right.” The Grandmaster told her the portal would never have let her through if she were unworthy. Alyndra shouted to her mother, who was watching from a far corner of the stands on comped tickets: “Yes! Did you hear that, mother?”
Minh answered with a speech about surviving cruelty and a fire that is “not easily quenched,” and then hit her with a sphere of acid. Choking on it, Alyndra made her choice: “What is glory but leaving your mark upon the world? What is glory but letting them remember your name despite death?” She closed the distance, stared into Minh’s eyes, and read the scroll. The stars came down on both of them. Minh grabbed her arm (“We’re in this together”), and as the meteors burned the valley the two traded last words. “It’s been an honor,” said Alyndra. “Alyndra, the honor is mine,” said Minh. With his last strength he poured his healing into her and shielded her with his own will, saving her from the final blow. When the ash settled, only his shield remained. Alyndra picked it up and looked to the Grandmaster, who told her: “Alyndra, you must carry on his story and glory.” Whether Minh truly perished in the ash has never been revealed.
Personality and Abilities
Alyndra is earnest, polite and very easily flustered. She came for glory and kept reminding herself of it (“Don’t let the muscles distract you, Alyndra! We’re here for glory!”), even as Minh’s physique, the fire and the steam kept pulling her off course. She is a good sport to a fault: she let her opponent stand up, worried about the dog, and handed out compliments mid-fight. She also doubts herself deeply, and a mother who never quite believed in her sits behind much of that doubt. In the end, that doubt became the resolve to throw everything into one last act.
In battle she is a star-themed fighter. She wears star-woven chain mail and carries a starlit “star sword” and a shield so polished her opponent could see himself in it. She can teleport in a burst of starlight and leap with her mind, and she can draw small orbs of starlight from the sky. She can also call down holy fire on a foe and push herself to swing again and again in a single moment. She has a surprising veterinary background. After her one Deathmatch she carries Minh’s shield.
Relationships
- Minh Lý: her opponent, a muscle-bound showman who distracted her endlessly, believed in her, and saved her life with his last act.
- Grandmaster Elusia Skypiercer: lifted Alyndra out of despair mid-fight, then charged her to carry on Minh’s story and glory.
- Gerald: took her starlight body glitter, gave her the Meteor Swarm scroll, and objected to being sat on.
- Her mother: doubts her, and watched the match from the stands on free tickets.
Memorable Quotes
“What is glory but leaving your mark upon the world? What is glory but letting them remember your name despite death?” (S3E9 — Fire Heart)
- “No, this is my signature pose.” (S3E9 — Fire Heart)
- “Maybe you could put it on your new muscles and make them glittery. It’s body glitter.” (S3E9 — Fire Heart)
- “That’s unfair! How do you look so hot every time I give you my damage?” (S3E9 — Fire Heart)
- “Maybe we weren’t meant for glory. Maybe mother was right.” (S3E9 — Fire Heart)
- “It’s been an honor.” (S3E9 — Fire Heart)