Crown Prince of Unauwen

The Crown Prince of Unauwen is King Unauwen’s elder son, heir to the throne, and a ruler who treats the unity and welfare of the realm as obligations rather than privileges. His younger brother’s refusal to accept their birth order turns a difference of minutes into a political rupture: the crown prince becomes the representative of an indivisible Unauwen Realm, while his brother claims Eviellan and defies their father. The character is introduced through Ewijn’s account to Tiuri and Ristridin, which presents the succession dispute as the origin of the realm’s recent unrest.

Identity and Succession

The brothers were born on the same day, with the crown prince older by only a few minutes. Custom nevertheless made him heir, and from his eighteenth year he served as underking and stadtholder of the realm. He and his brother were alike in appearance and intelligence, a resemblance that made the younger prince find their unequal positions still harder to accept. Their likeness did not extend to temperament: the crown prince resembled his father in his attention to the realm and its future subjects, whereas his brother was ambitious and hungry for power.

The succession conflict is therefore not presented as a difference in ability or outward distinction. The brothers’ resemblance makes the formal boundary between them look almost arbitrary, but the narrative gives that boundary a constitutional meaning: the crown prince is the designated successor, and King Unauwen will not divide the realm to satisfy his younger son. His authority rests both on custom and on the political principle that the kingdom must remain whole under its appointed ruler.

Rivalry and the Break with Eviellan

As the brothers grew older, their disagreement became open hostility. The younger prince came to hate the crown prince, while their father repeatedly tried to reconcile them and persuade his younger son to accept his position. The crown prince’s account is notably different from his brother’s grievance: he is described as oriented toward the good of the realm, not simply as the beneficiary of a disputed title. The resulting conflict places family affection and political responsibility under pressure at once.

King Unauwen eventually appointed his younger son stadtholder of the southern Province of River Streams. The arrangement initially seemed to work, but the prince began governing with increasing independence and sometimes acted directly against his father’s wishes. He then invaded Eviellan, conquered it, and made it a province of the Unauwen Realm. King Unauwen repudiated that decision and ordered him to withdraw. Instead, the prince declared himself king of Eviellan and his father’s equal, claiming that he no longer had to obey him. The king removed his son from the governorship; the son refused to accept his dismissal.

Civil Conflict and the Continuing War

Supporters of the younger prince in the Province of River Streams backed his resistance. The crown prince came with an army to take over the governorship, and the dispute became armed conflict between the brothers. The crown prince won. That victory restored the king’s authority in the province, but it did not restore the older peace: Ewijn’s account stresses that friendship and tranquillity no longer prevailed everywhere in the realm.

From Eviellan, the younger prince sent bands of warriors into his father’s country to stir up unrest. Although there was no formal declaration of war, fighting continued along the border and in the south. The crown prince’s victory thus marks neither a final settlement nor an end to violence. It establishes his side’s immediate success while leaving the larger division unresolved, with the realm living in the gap between nominal peace and recurring combat.

Peace Efforts and Narrative Role

The crown prince tried several times to make peace with his brother, without success. Ewijn reports that people said the prince still loved him, a detail that complicates the political account: the brothers’ enmity is not presented as proof that all personal attachment has disappeared. The prince of Eviellan, however, rejected every approach. The knights of Unauwen took up their white shields and swords in preparation for further fighting, making the failed negotiations visible in the transition from attempted reconciliation to renewed readiness for war.

The account ends with a sudden change in expectation. Rumours spread that the prince of Eviellan might at last make peace, surrender Eviellan, and travel to Unauwen’s capital to reconcile with his father and brother. Messengers had indeed gone to the king, who sent an embassy to Eviellan to negotiate. The Crown Prince of Unauwen’s own role in these negotiations is not specified; the account identifies Edwinem, Lord of Forèstèrra, as one of the envoys. Ewijn then falls silent. This unfinished prospect leaves the reconciliation unconfirmed, while showing how the crown prince’s repeated pursuit of peace remains set against a conflict his brother has so far refused to end.