Growing up, Erna was a happy child. Her father worked hard, and although he was often away, leaving her in the care of neighbors, she never felt abandoned or alone. She was his only child, and the center of his world, and because of this she knew little strife aside from questions, for Erna never knew her mother. From a very young age, her father answered her queries with stories of the woman’s grace and beauty, and the love that they had shared, although he never gave her a name. At times, these stories contradicted one another—he would occasionally change her eye color by mistake, or the  instrument she played changed from a lute to a fiddle, but Erna always excused this as mere forgetfulness, and never once considered the stories might be a lie. In her naivety, she held the stories he regaled her with in high esteem, always hoping to someday find a love just like her parents’. But everything changed when he lost his job.

When Erna was twelve years old, her father's barge crashed into a cluster of jacked rocks, just below the surface of the lake along the shoreline. All the goods carried on it went overboard, but when her father and others returned to retrieve them shortly thereafter, there was no sign of any of them. Members of his crew had sustained injuries, but he emerged from the wreckage unscathed. This fact, along with the vanishing merchandise, made the dockmaster suspicious of Arnhall. He accused him of conspiring to steal goods and sell them for his own profit, and although there was not enough hard evidence of the suspected crime to put him in a cell, it was enough of a reason for him to be fired. Ever since the incident, Arnhall has adamantly insisted that his barge was not sailing correctly that morning. He has conjectured time and time again that it was a personal enemy, or a rival barge-driver who tampered with his boat and scavenged the merchandise. From Erna's standpoint, there has never been cause for disbelief. Regardless of the truth, this unfortunate event left the family in a very harsh predicament: Erna was not old enough to do anything more than poorly weave nets or try to fish for food, much less work, and her father was unable to find work as his reputation quickly spread. Yet, as luck would have it, he met a younger woman by the name of Adelaide at market day one month. He was taken with her beauty and humor (and financial stability), and quickly married her. That same year, she bore him a daughter with warm dark eyes and light brown hair, whom they named Adja.

The marriage of Arn and Adelaide left Erna feeling confused and betrayed by her father. Suddenly, all of the tales of undying love she had been raised with had been rendered meaningless by the same person who spun them, for the sake of money. What she viewed as an act of greed rather than affection appalled her, and she quickly grew bitter toward him and her stepmother, refusing to throw away the “memory” of her mother as her father had. Adelaide’s dowry managed to let them scrape by for the next three years, until Erna could begin doing proper work to help support the family. Although Adelaide kept the household running, weaving nets with Arn for them to sell on the side, and tending to her young daughter, Erna felt that her stepmother was not doing enough to support the family, rather adding two more mouths to feed into the mix. She quarreled with her often, and although Adelaide attempted to be a good motherly figure for Erna, her efforts were largely rejected. Soon enough, however, a war broke out that would change everything.

Easterlings swept through the North, driving terror into the hearts of the men and women of Dale for the first time since the attacks of the dragon, Smaug. Erna and her father argued with Adelaide over what must be done, until finally the woman went off on her own for a day. She returned to her apologetic husband and hostile stepdaughter to tell them that she had secured a place in the dwarven stronghold of Erebor, along with others fleeing town. It was then that Erna’s anger began to temper. Together with her father, stepmother, and five year old stepsister, she fled to the mountain halls, waiting out the battle as it waged on. Even from the safety of Erebor, Erna was not spared from the sights of battle and bloodshed, and the cries of dying men. Many times, Adja would escape supervision, and head toward the great hall where the wounded lay on makeshift stretchers. Her sister seemed intent on investigation the herbalists and palette-bearers, and the warriors bleeding out even as healers filled the air with reassuring promises of fast recoveries. Nonetheless, she held her back, determined to shield her from the scene as best she could. But Erna could not keep her gaze from wandering on its own, and the sights that she witnessed would forever linger in the back of her mind.

The return to Laketown was sobering. Homes had been looted, and damages done to the wooden town, though they were lucky to have avoided the brunt of the attacks. But rebuilding takes time, even for those on the outskirts of battle. Slowly, they settled into their old way of life, but this time there grew a grudging respect between Erna and Adelaide. She taught Erna to weave nets properly, to better catch the fish she sold at the docks, and Erna soon came into a job as a dockworker, loading and unloading cargo from the boats each day. The family lost much in the war—many of their belongings were stolen and destroyed—but with time Erna hopes to rebuild what meager wealth was lost, and more. She still avoids her home, as she did before, and prefers to stay out late, despite the upheaval of the war and its aftermath. 

Sociable and pragmatic, Erna gets along easily with most, and resembles her stepmother in personality much more than she thinks. However, she holds the influx of Easterlings in disdain, neither trusting them nor wishing to associate with them, for she sees them as an extension of the war that hurt her people. She is likely to avoid or spark conflict with those whom she encounters, although with time her opinions may yet be altered. While she is not easily caught up in legend, she has a soft spot for romances, and can frequently be found humming ballads as she unloads cargo. Her worn hands still manage to play sweet melodies on the fiddle she borrows from the innkeeper of the Burnwater House, but as hard as she tries to capture her thoughts in notes and chords, she cannot escape the feeling that there is something missing from her life. Something waiting to be discovered.

Artist Credits:
1. gabbyd70
2. gabbyd70
3. vladgheneli
4. DarkRone
5. gradevus
6. jonhodgson
The original sources are linked via the images and artist names.