Ridley Donahue

-Also known as: Rhed Donnaley (alias)

-Son of Eldin and Iyana; younger brother of Prilha, older brother of Merser. Adopted father of N.

-Friend and partner in crime to Darlhía and Jackdaw; previous employee and friend of Dunlat.

 

Personal Timeline:

1160:

-Ridley Donahue is born

1171:

-Iyana Donahue (44) dies of the plague, leaving her family devastated

1175:

-War between Kadar and Aka’thei summons aid from Dimirha, Endhar, and Lifáraen—Ridley (15) goes to war

1176:

-Ridley (16) returns from War as a deserter

 

1181:

-Ridley (21) comes to Ehlíath; he unwittingly saves Dunlat (23) from an attempted assassination, and is offered a place on his crew. Over time, the two become friends.

1182:

-Ridley (22) becomes more properly acquainted with Jackdaw (20), becoming friends with him through the necessities of his work despite the knowledge that he is estranged from his brother.

1184:
-Ridley’s (24) personal friendship with Dunlat (26) leads to his steady promotion through the organization, until he is one of his more trusted advisers. Some romantic feelings start to develop, though Dunlat refuses to act upon them.

1188:

-Ridley (28) discovers the illegal slave trade being run by the Eisovs (30), who work in the City Watch, and exposes the matter with Khel’s (25) assistance; however, Gaelyn Dauth (35) covers up the incident and recruits the twins through coercion. Khel, disillusioned by the event, leaves the Overseers and the Watch for private investigation

 

-Ridley’s experience reignites his PTSD, and he begins to spiral. Jackdaw (26) offers to help medicate his mental condition, leading to his eventual addiction to Crasuith Tar.

 

1191:

-Ridley’s (31) addiction worsens and begins to affect his work. As the mistakes and fallout begin to pile up, causing Ridley to spiral into self-loathing and further drug abuse, he nearly overdoses, at which point he and Dunlat (33) suffer a falling out.

-Ridley nearly kills himself in his despair, but the act is averted by Dar (26). He soon becomes her friend and partner in crime.

1194:

-Dar is licked, leading to a cascade of misery for her friends and family; she is taken into the care of the Church, with visitations from her Grandmother and friends; however, tormented by her physical and metaphysical lack of freedom, she asks Ridley and Khel to break her out. When they do so, with Khel assuming her identity as part of the operation, Dar escapes from Ridley and throws herself into the Ghant; as a natural born witchling, of sorts, bearing a Tarnish, she is bound to the fate of an enduring spirit, to eventually reform as a revenant.

-The cause of Dar’s death is kept secret between Ridley and Khel; the latter returns to Kerwhick. Ridley is unable to face Lhash, and breaks contact without explanation.

 

-Dunlat contacts Ridley to express his condolences for Dar’s passing, and the two begin to reconnect.

 

1195:

-Ridley (35) begins working for Dunlat again. 

1196:

-Lhash (70) and Lisl (36) set their plans into motion, gaining details into the Crime Lord’s security and luring smuggler Ennic Lankr (31) to Ehlíath. Shortly after his arrival, Dunlat (38) sends Ridley (36) to investigate Lankr, who has been avoiding contact of any kind with the Crime Lord. He befriends him and begins earning his trust, trying to learn why Ennic distrusts the Moran brothers.

 

-Lisl and Lhash make a move to recruit Lankr; however, they overestimate his willingness to believe that they are not agents of Dunlat attempting to discern his intentions; when it becomes clear that they know his true identity, he flees, avoiding Tranq using a counteragent and evading Lisl for long enough to reach Ridley, who he’d already been scheduled to meet with that night.

 

-Ennic tells Ridley the truth, and his best guess as to the situation; that Dunlat learned who he really was and believes he is a threat, and he is certain that the Crime Lord will kill him. Ridley decides to reveal his own secrets, and help him fake his death to escape the city; they will claim to Dunlat that when Ridley reached the place they were to meet, he found Ennic Lankr dead in a nearby alley, dead from bleeding out and robbed; to cast off any possible blame, Ridley had to throw the body in the river and then go to Lankr’s office the next day to ask why he never showed up, indicating that he was as surprised as anyone that he’d gone missing. Dunlat accepts the explanation, as he has no reason to think more on the death of a smuggler, and Ridley wonders why his friend never told him about the plan to kill Ennic. Meanwhile, Ennic forges a new identity for himself, and goes on to become a ship’s boatswain named Armand Leyland.

 

-Dunlat accepts the lie without question—as he played no role in what occurred and has no reason to put additional thought or suspicion into the matter; Ridley believes himself to have gotten away with the lie because they lined up the facts properly, and his friend doesn’t suspect him of knowing who Lankr really was. However, this lie begins to eat at him, given that he wanted to re-establish trust with his friend and now feels he doesn’t deserve it—this is weighed against a belief that Dunlat didn’t tell him he had learned the truth and was planning to kill Lankr, leading him to feel justified enough not to confess.

 

-Jackdaw (34) overhears Ridley confessing what really happened with Ennic aloud while high on Tar. Deeply alarmed, but aware of the rest of Ridley’s statement that the act was done with the certainty that Lankr wasn’t a threat. He knows that Dunlat will have no such internal discord, and wrestles with whether to tell him anything.

 

-With their scapegoat believed dead, Lisl and Lhash work instead towards fabricating a lethal accident—using Lisl’s access to Dunlat’s scheduling records, they arrange for an explosion (supposedly of compromised barrels of whale oil) to occur in a warehouse during a meeting in which he’ll be evaluating a struggling company for acquisition. However, Dunlat is delayed from reaching the meeting on time, and thus the explosion occurs just as he is arriving, rather than when he is already inside. He sustains minor injuries, but survives. His spymaster begins investigating, and finds inconsistencies with the premise of the event being accidental.

 

-Upon hearing that the explosion may have been an assassination attempt, Jackdaw tells his brother that Ennic Lankr was really Enford Larkland and alive, fearing there may be a connection. Though he doesn’t reveal that Ridley is responsible for this, Dunlat is able to put the pieces together after speaking with the Watch and sends his people to confront Ridley about the incident, triggering the events of A Coward’s End.

 

-N (12) arrives in the Clag; she meets and saves Ridley.

1202:

-Ridley (42) is seemingly killed when Eramis (68) attempts to capture N (18); in reality, he is put into secret and protective custody by Sovereign Askha (44)