Menolly's Portrait
| Gender | Female |
| Rank | MasterHarper |
| Pass/Interval | 9th Pass |
| Affiliations | Harper Hall |
| Family |
Parents: Yanus, Sea Holder of Half Circle Sea Hold, and Mavi Siblings: Alemi, Sella, 5 other brothers (names not mentioned) Spouse: Sebell(who is ten years her elder), MasterHarper of Pern (after Master Robinton suffered a near-fatal heart attack and retired) Children: Robse, Olos, Lemsia |
| Fire-Lizards |
Gold:Beauty Bronze:Rocky,Diver,Poll Brown:Lazybones,Mimic,Brownie Blue:Uncle Green: Auntie One,Auntie Two |
Biography[]
Menolly's original hold, Half-Circle
Menolly is the central character in Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall trilogy. Menolly grew up in Half-Circle Sea Hold, where she helped the Hold harper, Petiron (Robinton's father), wrote songs, and dreamed of becoming a harper (musician). Her parents, Yanus and Mavi, grudgingly allowed her to continue teaching the local children music after Petiron died as their community had no other harper, but refused to permit her to sing once the replacement harper came, much less become a harper in her own right as they believed it was not right for mere girls to do such things. Menolly ran away from home and found refuge in a cave, near the dragon stones where she Impressed nine fire-lizards: gold Beauty, bronzes Rocky and Diver, browns Mimic, Lazybones, and Brownie, blue Uncle, and green Auntie One and Auntie Two. Menolly was rescued from Threadfall by a brown dragonrider and brought to Benden Weyr. After the Hatching feast, she was finally discovered by Masterharper Robinton as the apprentice Petiron mentioned in messages to the Harper Hall and was allowed to fulfill her dream of becoming a harper (Dragonsong).
At the Harper Hall, Menolly made friends with Camo, Piemur, Audiva, Silvina, Sebell, Talmor and Masterharper Robinton to name a few. Not everyone approved of a girl becoming a harper and she was victim to envy (among the girl students especially) because of her fire lizards, but she proved her talent and abilities and became a Journeyman. She wrote many popular songs, such as 'The Fire lizard song' and 'Brekke's song'--songs helped transmit news and current events throughout Pern. During her time at Harper Hall she made friends with Lord Jaxom and is seen to be one of his closest friends during The White Dragon.She realised she loved Sebell when Diver flew Kimi in the middle of the southern ocean while Sebell and Menolly were alone on a boat travelling to find Piemur, eventually she married Sebell and became a Master Harper, after which she had her three children, she stayed at Paradise River hold for a while during The Dolphins of Pern while pregnant with Lemsia.She was heavily involved in helping with the movement to banish Thread from Pern forever.
Menolly climbing to her cave.
Personality and traits[]
Menolly is not very proud of herself as a girl and is often shy, probably a result of being forced not to play at her Hold. Menolly has a great ear for music and is exceptionally talented at writing, reading and playing songs. She is very talented at handling and training fire-lizards. The teenage Menolly has been described as being very tall with long and lanky legs, however it is not known what she looks like as an adult. Menolly often thought of Robinton as a father figure and after her espousal to Sebell she is actually his third cousin once removed-in law.
Appearances[]
Dragonsong
Dragonsinger:Harper of Pern
Dragondrums
All the Weyrs of Pern
The Dolphins of Pern
The Skies of Pern