| Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details from the latest book. |
“I know I'm good at giving you a hard time for not hanging out with everybody equally. But... I do get how much you're dealing with, and how hard it has to be to keep up with all of it and occasionally sleep and eat and see your boyfriend.”
Marella Redek is an elf who attends Foxfire. She is a Level Four in Foxfire, like Sophie, and was one of Sophie's first friends alongside Jensi and Dex.
The name Marella means "shining sea" (ironically, since Marella is a pyrokinetic).
Ability
In Nightfall, it was revealed that Marella is a Pyrokinetic, which is a rare and misunderstood ability to control and create a fire that comes with a strong desire for the heat. It also attracts heat, as shown when the chosen group for exploring the first Nightfall, marched up a snowy slope, and Marella was the only one not shivering wildly. She said the reason she was not cold was because the heat was attracted to her.
Her pyrokinesis was triggered by Mr. Forkle when she told him, Sophie and her friends that she wanted to manifest as an Empath to help identify and control her mother's unstable emotions, in exchange for information on Cyrah's murder. A few nights after Mr. Forkle triggered her ability, she thought she had a fever, and woke up that night covered in fire. Her mother stepped up and took the blame for setting the spill; everyone believed that story, as Marella's mother was seemingly "eccentric", due to a vaguely described accident and incurable head trauma that resulted in her emotional instability.
Involvement
Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities
Marella "rescues" Sophie from sitting with Jensi and his friends, saying it was "social suicide" to sit there. Sophie, Dex, and Marella become friends partly due to their mutual hate of Stina.
Book 2: Exile
Marella's and Sophie's friendship weakens when Sophie starts hanging out with Biana, Fitz, and Keefe more.
Book 3: Everblaze
Their friendship falls through the roof completely when Sophie starts to neglect Marella. To 'get back' at Sophie, Marella becomes friends with Stina, her former enemy.
Book 4: Neverseen
Marella is hardly mentioned in Neverseen at all, except during Fitz's and Sophie's cognate training, when Sophie's biggest regret is neglecting Marella.
Book 5: Lodestar
Wylie is attacked by the Neverseen and interrogated about the death of his mother, Cyrah Endal. Mr. Forkle comes up with a list of people who were present at the marketplace, where she died. Caprise Redek, Marella's mother, is on that list. Marella gives the Keeper crew the information her mother knows about Cyrah's death. In exchange, Mr. Forkle triggers her special ability. The ability remains unknown at the end of the book. Marella's and Sophie's friendship begins to heal, as Marella realizes how crazy Sophie's life is.
Book 6: Nightfall
Marella's special ability is revealed to be pyrokinesis. Because the gorgodons are only vulnerable to fire, she goes to both Vespera's Nightfall and Lady Gisela's Nightfall. In Vespera's Nightfall, she goes with Grady to capture Fintan.
Book 7: Flashback
Sophie and Biana meet with Marella to ask if she wishes to train with Fintan to hone her pyrokinesis, and she agrees.
Book 8: Legacy
Marella reveals that she swore fealty to the Black Swan before her first pyrokinesis lesson with Fintan. Per Keefe's request, she goes to Loamnore and illuminates the room with flames when Tam is forced to darken it. She is knocked out by a dwarf, but wakes up later.
Personality
- Kind
Marella was nice enough to sit with Sophie—the new girl— on her first day of school and stop her from "committing social suicide" by sitting with the Drooly Boys.
- Bitter
Marella is also shown to be bitter—specifically about people's view of her mother's condition. She notably clenched her fists when she told Sophie how everyone completely believed that "crazy Caprise Redek" set the fire when actually Marella's unexpected manifestation of pyrokinesis sparked the flames.
- Feisty
Marella isn't one to back down from a challenge. Throughout the first few books, she defends Sophie from Stina and says she enjoys doing it. She also isn't afraid to say what she means and clearly isn't one to sugarcoat things.
- Sarcastic
Marella seems to have a dry sense of humor, occasionally making sarcastic remarks.
- Blunt
Marella doesn’t exactly filter everything that comes out of her mouth, so some of her remarks may be insensitive. In the first book, she talks about Grady and Edaline isolating themselves from everyone and becoming loners when Jolie died, without seeming to care, and Sophie thinks of it as rude. She speaks her mind though, which is one of her strongest qualities.
- Funny
Marella is often cracking jokes, and when Sophie notices she is not acting like her usual happy and hyper self, she is concerned. Marella is outgoing and doesn't care what other people think of her. She always speaks her mind and does not back down. In correspondence to Sophie, the girl of many mysteries, who often take peoples' words to heart, Marella always has her brave face on and is ready to face any challenge.
Physical Appearance
Marella is described as a very short, slender, pixie-like elf with shoulder-length blonde hair that "twists in and out of tiny braids." She is also said to have huge, ice-blue eyes—very much like Keefe's were described. Unlike Biana, Marella certainly is not into glitter or sparkles and even criticized Biana and Sophie for talking about dresses, at an important time. Marella is not at all concerned with her appearance, which can make her look a bit disheveled. She is also described to be a Tomboy.
Photo 1: Marella by Shannon Messenger
Photo 2: Marella by Courtney Godbey
Photo 3: Marella by Laura Hollingsworth
Relationships
- SOPHIE (friend)
Marella sat with Sophie at lunch in Sophie's first year, despite also having to sit with the Drooly Boys. Later, Sophie started hanging out with Biana, and Marella felt unwanted. Marella was also angry that all of Sophie's good friends dropped out of school and joined the Black Swan without telling her. She and Sophie made up, and now Marella is also a member of the Black Swan.
- DEX (friend/possible love interest)
When introducing herself to Sophie, she mentioned that she thought Dex was cute - although many people believed he wouldn't manifest.
- JENSI (friend/possible love interest)
Sophie sat with Jensi and his friends, of whom Marella calls the Drooly Boys ( Jensi, Valin, etc.) and Marella took it upon herself to save her from "committing social suicide". Later on in the book, Jensi, Marella, and Dex all sit with Sophie, Keefe, and the Vackers.
- BIANA (friend)
In the first book, Marella believes Biana to be very snobby, but as the books progress she warms up to her some.
- FITZ (friend/previous crush)
Marella admitted to having a crush on Fitz in Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities to Sophie. However, in the later books, she seemed to have moved on. Or did she? She knows about Fitzphie.
- KEEFE (friend/possible love interest)
In Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities, Marella and Keefe loved talking about Sophie's alchemy failures.
- CAPRISE (mother)
Caprise Redek received a head injury that even Elwin couldn't fix, causing her emotions to be out of control at times. Marella hoped to manifest as an empath so she could help her mother deal with her precarious emotions. Marella is shown to be bitter towards elves who judge her mother because of her condition.
- LORD REDEK (father)
Lord Redek was mentioned in Keepers books 1 and 6. In the first book, he was mentioned to be a Guster.
- TAM (friend/possible love interest)
In Lodestar, Marella was caught staring at Tam. In addition, they seemed to be teasing each other in Nightfall. Marella also shot Tam "her flirtiest smile." When Biana complains about girls becoming her friend to get to her brother, Fitz, Marella says she bets Linh feels the same way... In Legacy Marella mentions that LInh probally named her murcat Princess Purryfinns to annoy Tam by making him sya the name Marella also says she loves that idea
- LINH (friend)
Linh and Marella train in their abilities together and consider each other friends.
- STINA (frenemy/possible love interest)
Since the beginning of the series, Marella has shown a disliking towards Stina, although after Sophie began neglecting her, she began to befriend Stina. After she manifested as an Empath, however, Marella became jealous of her ability.
- FINTAN (teacher/enemy)
Fintan was chosen to mentor Marella in pyrokinesis in Book 7: Flashback.
Trivia
- Marella is an Irish name, meaning "shining sea".