Adin's eldest son was the second monarch and king of Deltora, and the eldest child and son of King Adin and Queen Zara. He is the older brother of Adin and Zara's second son and their three other children.[1][nb 1] Adin's eldest son was the father of Elstred and Ballum. Elstred eventually took his father's place as monarch.[2]
He was born the eldest of Adin's five children.[1] When Adin died and his eldest son was crowned as king of Deltora, he followed his father's ways and always wore the Belt of Deltora.[3][nb 2] Like his father and brothers, he married a Toran woman[1] and they had two sons named Elstred and Ballum.[4][5]
Adin's eldest son was the only monarch after his father and before his decendent, King Lief, who had more than one child,[4] and the last before Lief to always wear the Belt of Deltora.[3] However, history was somehow obscured and the story of Ballum hidden.[4][5]
Abilities[]
As the king of Deltora, Adin's eldest son had the resources of all of Deltora at his disposal. As an heir of his father, Adin, he also had the ability to make full use of the Belt of Deltora's power, and he did so.
↑ On why Adin's heir is assumed to be male: First, it must be established that the Deltoran monarchy is an absolute progeniture, meaning the eldest in Adin's line always takes the throne, regardless of gender. In Chapter 17: Secrets of The Shadowlands it is revealed that King Lief had been tracing Adin's bloodline to find an heir in case he was killed, so that Deltora would not be left unprotected when there was no one to wear the Belt of Deltora. It is revealed then that the Toran girl Marilen is "a descendant of Adin's second son", and that she is "next in line to the Belt of Deltora." Furthermore, Marilen directly states that "Lief had time only to trace the line of Adin’s second child." And although Marilen is technically not the next in line, as that right would go to Bede according to The Sister of the South, who is a descendant of the brother of King Elstred (Adin's grandson), Ballum, whose history was obscured by Elstred's advisor, Agra, not knowing Ballum's story Lief believed Marilen to be the next in line.
↑ In the first part of The Forests of Silence, the "prologue" titled Part 1: The Belt of Deltora, Jarred finds a book titled The Belt of Deltora in the palace library, detailing the history and the powers of the magic Belt of Deltora. In the text it is said that "The first to leave the belt aside was Adin’s grandson, King Elstred, who in his middle years grew fat with good living and found the steel cut sadly into his belly." This would mean that Adin's eldest son followed his father's ways and always wore the Belt.
