Menion Leah is a character in The Sword of Shannara. He is the crown prince of the small highland Kingdom of Leah and the best friend and protector of Shea Ohmsford, the hero who defeated the Warlock Lord.
Biography
Background
Although Menion was the crown prince of Leah he was an extremely lazy youth, having absolutely no interest in the responsibility of ruling that he would one day inherit. But despite his lack of initiative, Menion was extremely talented. He was easily the best tracker in the Highlands as well as a skilled archer. On top of these talents, Menion had a strong sense of morality, something that was noted by Shea Ohmsford. Although Menion was close friends with Shea, Shea's brother Flick couldn't stand the Prince of Leah's personality and attitude to life.
Quest to Defeat the Warlock Lord
When Shea and Flick came to Menion for help after they were chased from Shady Vale by Skull Bearers, Menion felt honor-bound to become their guide and protector, and he never relinquished this role.
Menion's sense of honor and sense of humor both manifested themselves in the Eastland. The company had determined that only way to escape the multitude of Gnomes trapping them in the Pass of Jade was for the Highlander to create a distraction so they could escape. The safest way to do this, the company agreed, was to kill a Gnome chieftain to cause disorder among the tribe. However, Menion refused to kill a man whose back was turned; while he was fine with doing so in the heat of battle, he could not live with outright murder. Menion's solution was to fire an arrow straight into the chieftain's rear end, which proved to be successful despite being the riskier option
Like Flick, Menion felt somehow responsible when Shea appeared to have fallen to his death into the Rabb River, and each blamed themselves for letting their brother and friend down. Searching for Shea in the hope that he may have survived his plunge into river became Flick and Menion's drive for the remainder of the company's battle against the Warlock Lord.
Later, as Menion was searching for Shea, he rescued a young redheaded woman who had been kidnapped by Stenmin. Despite his previous claim that he had no need for love, Menion fell for the woman, who was revealed to be Shirl Ravenlock, a young woman of royalty who lived in Kern, and was Palance Buckhannah's love interest. Shirl and Menion succeeded in saving her people from the advancing Northland army by evacuating the island city's inhabitants down the Mermidon River to the temporary safety of Tyrsis, the capital of Callahorn. Menion fought valiantly in the ensuing battle for Tyrsis, a losing battle that he had resigned himself to dying in. Shea managed to defeat the Warlock Lord in time, ensuring that those defending Tyrsis survived.
After the Third War of the Races was over, Menion married Shirl. His adventures and experiences in battle had matured him, and he became arguably the greatest ruler in the history of Leah.
Legacy
Menion's descendants would go on to travel with descendants of Shea Ohmsford family, protecting them on their quests, and in some cases falling in love with them. Most notably, Menion's great-grandson Rone Leah would accompany Brin Ohmsford and the Druid Allanon in the battle against the Mord Wraiths. Hundreds of years later, Menion's descendant Morgan Leah embarked on a quest with Jair Ohmsford's descendants Par and Coll to destroy the Shadowen. Morgan also traveled with Walker Boh, a descendant of Brin and Rone, to try and find the Black Elfstone.
Computer Game
In the Shannara computer game, Menion became the father of Shella Leah. He trained her as a scout and tracker and gave her a locket, telling her to never to lose it.
Some twenty years after the defeat of Brona, while Shella was out hunting, Menion's gardener Ernst was replaced by another gardener. Ernst sabotaged the garden, and while Menion was drinking tea made of sassafras from his garden, he was poisoned and fell ill. Jonas the herbalist prepared a mixture to aid his breathing but could not find the cause. Shella returned two days later with Jak Ohmsford and they quickly prepared an antidote after determining that Menion was poisoned by dreaddire.
The next day, Menion was visited by Allanon who warned him that Brona had returned. Shella wanted to join Jak on his quest, but worrying for her, Menion forbid her to go and ordered the gates of Leah shut.