Isadora Taavo

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Isadora Taavo
Isadora Taavo
EE-sah-DOOR-rah TAH-vo
Created by Jenn
Portrayed by Andrea Joy Cook
Information
Gender Female
Occupation Keeper of the Chronicles
Affiliation The Grey Tower
Spouse Julian Taavo
Bondmate(s) Julian Taavo
Nationality Kandori

Isadora Taavo is a Kandori Blue Oathsworn Aes Sedai and the current Keeper of the Chronicles of the Grey Tower.

Description

In outward appearance, Isadora Taavo is every inch the consummate Aes Sedai: statuesque, elegant, poised, composed, with great care put towards her appearance. Her pale skin bears a luminous quality to it, further enhanced by the golden blonde hair that flows down roughly to midback. Her clothes are always of the finest silk, adorned with subtle embroidery. Though born and bred in Kandor, she dresses in the Tairen style, finding the fit and cut to be both flattering and just revealing enough to suit her tastes. (That her Warder-husband is from Tear also plays a factor, but one she enjoys skirting around and teasing him about). She prefers soft colours and shades that compliment her large blue eyes. While she can navigate through the murky waters of politics, she finds it distasteful and oft times distressful. Needless to say, this is where the mantle of Aes Sedai abruptly ends. If the circumstances require her to play Daes Dae’mar, she quickly becomes unhappy and will turn to distractions to help her cope.

Isadora is soft-spoken, gentle, precise, possessing a quick, intelligent mind and a keen eye for detail. She is eloquent and gracious. As the middle child, and only girl of a glassmaker father and a lapidary mother, she developed her own sense of aesthetics that she somehow linked to furniture and furnishings. Her four older and younger brothers did not share this fascination. Isadora’s femininity was something that was cherished and emphasized. As such, she grew up well protected and defended by her four rambunctious siblings, oft times having to mend and patch up her brothers after their scrapes and fights. That same sense of caring is evident in most facets of her life. She is proud of her Kandori heritage and like many of those from the Borderland nations, she has an uncompromising hatred of the Shadow and all it represents.

Though offered the choice to free herself from the Oaths, Isadora elected to remain bound by them; as such her face is ageless. She is mildly irritated at the silliness of requiring those still sworn to don on a special pin, but will only speak of it in the company of her Warder-husband, and then only in private. She wears the Great Serpent Ring on the fourth finger of her right hand, opposite an exquisite jeweled wedding band set with blue stones that match the exact shade of her eyes on the fourth finger of her left hand. She rarely wears her shawl or the narrow Keeper stole, donning it only when the circumstance requires it.

Biography

It was not a Shadowspawn attack that cost her part of her little finger as would be befitting of a Kandori. It was not even in a proper battle to defend family and home. It was because the pretty little girl of five summers did not mind her father’s warnings. They found her one hot summer day, standing in the middle of his workshop, surrounded by the things of his glassmaking trade. She clutched a bloody cloth to her hand, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. The tip of her pinky finger had been shorn off by one of the large tools, a bloody crooked line all that remained of the nail bed. What was most remarkable to the family was that the pretty little girl had not uttered a sound.

Life carried on after that, though it was years before her parents trusted her on her own again. Despite the smothering precautions, her formative years passed happily. She was given a good education and while her family was by no means wealthy, Isadora and her brothers did not want for the necessities. Her fourteenth nameday passed and as she flirted and laughed, surrounded by attention and possible suitors, her life somehow changed in an instant.

It was not something born of strife or loss; it was not something dramatic spurred on by emotion and passion. It started with her brothers, her four headstrong, beloved brothers. They made a pact amongst themselves, assigning her the role of witness, that when they came of age, they each would join the army and help battle against the Blight. That night, Isadora realized just how fragile the life she had known was. Not wanting to be left out, and suddenly faced with the overwhelming paralyzing fear that she might lose one of them, she gathered her brothers together and made the same oath as they had. They accepted her oath as they had each other’s, with solemn gravity that made her spine straighten and she couldn’t help but stand a little taller. She didn’t know how she could help them... only that she wanted to.

Three months later, The Wheel, it seemed, heard and answered her earnest prayers. In an unexpected turn of events, it was found that she could channel. Isadora did not want to go, but her brothers reminded her of their shared oath and explained how she would be the most able to help them as an Aes Sedai. With mixed feelings, she left to begin her new life at the Grey Tower.

Her time as a Novice did not suit her well, but a chance encounter with an unusual Tairen Drin made her time in Whites bearable. The few years spent as an Accepted were better, though she worried and fretted about her brothers; the distance began to wear on her. Were they well? Were...they even alive? They did not remember to write often and when they did, their words were sparse. Julian was there through the worst of her worry and was a constant source of comfort and laughter. When she finally realized that her feelings for him spanned more than just friendship, Isadora found that she was not surprised in the least by it. They had progressed so naturally together that she could not imagine her life without him.

The moment she passed her Great Stair and chose the Blue Ajah, she sought him out and told him in no uncertain terms how she felt. Julian’s response was eager and ecstatic. He earned his fancloak soon afterwards and swore all that he was to her, as her Gaidin, as her Warder, and if she would allow it, as her husband. He offered her his sword and the exquisite jeweled ring with flashing blue stones. Isadora gladly accepted and promptly bonded him. The next morning, she took him (he would say goodnaturedly that he was dragged) to Kandor where they were married. Julian left behind his titles and ties to Tear for her, and to the delight of her aging parents, took their family name as his.

For nearly two decades she served as an advisor and trusted confidant to the Kandori throne. The vaunted position reunited her at last with her brothers, each a respected officer in the army and each married with families of their own. Then shocking news filtered in one dreary morning that the Grey Tower had borne the brunt of a Seanchan attack followed by the shocking death of the Keeper of the Chronicles. This merited enough concern that Julian agreed that they needed to return. Isadora did not wish to leave Kandor, but understood that the Hall’s hierarchy had to be stabilized. A weak Tower would aid no one in the struggle against the Shadow.

She has never forgotten the oath that she and her brothers made. Few know this, but that singular promise has shaped many of her choices and served as an unwavering beacon that has guided her forward all these years. It still serves to define much of who she is now. That incredible focus is tempered by Julian, who reminds her to laugh, encouraging her to enjoy the less dire things in life.

Career History

  • Novice
  • Accepted
  • Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah
  • Keeper of the Chronicles (6 September 2016)