while he plots to claim his birthright to Obernewtyn from his defective younger half-brother's evil minders. As Master of Obernewtyn, Rushton transformed Obernewtyn into a haven for Misfits and beasts alike. Rushton is a Misfit with latent Talent, which he only begins to use at the end of Ashling when Freya, an "empath-enhancer", tries to enhance his abilities. At the end of Ashling he becomes betrothed to Elspeth. She enhances his abilities further than anyone else could. In The Keeping Place Rushton is kidnapped by Ariel, and tortured into insanity. While Elspeth is able to cure him, in The Stone Key it is revealed that his trauma has left him hollow and devoid of the capacity for love. This is displayed towards Elspeth initially with apathy, which slowly transforms into hatred and loathing, and finally causes him to relapse into a mad, animalistic state which Elspeth eventually cures once again, this time permanently through use of intense deep probing. All of this, apart from Elspeth's final triumph, was foreseen and orchestrated by Ariel. Ariel: Ariel is a Misfit with a defective mind and a rare empathy-coercion combination of talents. He is the principal antagonist throughout the series, appearing time and again in positions of power and influence. Intelligent, manipulative, sadistic, ambitious, and highly attractive, Ariel was, before Rushton's coup, favoured by the keepers of Obernewtyn and assisted them in their failed quest to find the Beforetime weaponmachines. In The Farseekers, it is believed that Ariel has run away from Obernewtyn, and is presumed dead. However he has instead ingratiated himself with Henry Druid, the Herder Faction, the council, and Salamander. Ariel is megalomaniacal, with every new book in the series slowly unfolding his wide-stretching and subtle plan. While it is clear he intends to purposefully reawaken the weaponmachines, and has attempted to seduce Elspeth to his cause, it is unclear if he is aware of how dire the consequences of these actions would be. His motives are often shrouded in mystery, and his apparent ability as a futureteller means that he is always one step ahead of Elspeth and the Misfits. Identified by Gahltha as H'Rayka—or "one who brings destruction"—Elspeth assumes Ariel is the Destroyer of which Atthis warned her. In fact, as suggested by the literal interpretation of his title, rather than being the Destroyer, he will be responsible for leading another individual—the true Destroyer—to their unwitting fate. Dameon: