Emer and the Backers have chosen Kynareth for our next Member Spotlight! As you know, Kynareth is the goddess of the heavens, the winds, the elements, and the unseen spirits of the air. Living up to her name, Kynareth (the blogger) is like a refreshing breeze on a hot summer day, providing encouragement and guidance to character builders, bloggers, and lore seekers.
I highly recommend that you scroll down to the bottom of the page and play one (or both) of my favorite TES songs while reading. Enjoy!
The Person
I asked several people on the blog about how they would describe Kynareth. Their answers were virtually unanimous: patient, encouraging, intelligent, and supportive. Here’s a little bit of personal information about Kynareth:
I am a forty year old mom of two—an eight year old boy and a five year old girl. I was a former French and English teacher, though I held different jobs before that point. Probably my favorite was my summer job as a teen at a plant nursery. It was filled with fresh air, physical activity, quiet contemplation, and learning about the myriad varieties of flowers and trees. As a result, I have an uncanny recall for many flower names in Latin! I enjoy reading and writing, sewing, and cooking. I love going to the theatre or listening to live music. This is my most recent guilty pleasure—I scout properties in France to buy and to either raise goats or tend an apple orchard in Normandy and learn how to make Calvados!
History with The SkyrimBlog
Most of our members are fairly new and don’t realize that the SkyrimBlog began as a Wordpress blog. This is when Kynareth’s relationship with the The SkyrimBlog began.
I actually lurked on the site when it was in its Wordpress format. I was especially impressed by two people named Vix (our lore master) and Suho (who was not able to continue on the blog). They speculated what marriage would mean in the game, but then the conversation turned into a fascinating discussion about the merits of including such an aspect in the game at all. It went from a gaming topic to including sociological and psychological aspects and I just thought ‘wow, this is a place I could hang my hat.’ I waited to join until the initial bugs were worked out with the transfer to Ning’s social platform. There I was able to find some great information and conversation and—gasp—other female gamers!
The Blogger & Lore Host
As a literature major, I felt especially drawn to the blogs and to the lore group, so most of my time has been spent there. Vix’s historical analysis and Kyrielle’s metaphysical explanations are both brilliant and thought-provoking. I am very fortunate to be hosting a group with the two of them.
Kynareth’s lists Vix’s story of Razzelas, Eviltrain’s Story of a Breton Farm Girl, Piper Jo’s story of Luciana Henriette as among her favorites.
Most people know Kynareth as an amazing writer.
I think stories are my life, actually, from actually reading and writing them, to understanding other perspectives through the study of language, to years of dancing and interpreting classical music through movement. My greatest delight is getting to know people and understanding their experiences and perspectives. Life is so much richer when viewed through another’s eyes
I’ve particularly enjoyed each installment of Kynareth's Elara's Journeys in Skyrim, the land of her father and Elara’s Song. If you haven’t read these yet, you need to stop whatever you’re doing and read them now—HERE. You will not be disappointed!
The Gamer
I was pleased to discover that Kynareth and I share similar experience with console games, especially Atari’s Pong, Space Invaders, and Adventure.
As time wore on, I saved my quarters for the arcade at the mall—Pacman and Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes and random pinball games. I played a little Wolfenstein and Star Wars Pod Racing on PC. I then picked up an Xbox 360 when Oblivion came out and I have been hooked again…and it is much more comfortable gaming in the comfort of my own home instead of standing in line waiting for a turn in an arcade. And if my memory serves me correctly, teenage boys did not really like to take turns. I also game with my son with either Rayman on the Xbox or Mario or Kirby on the Wii. He is also sweet enough to let me have my own save slot on his Nintendo DS.
There you have it fellow bloggers. Give it up for Kynareth!
From the post: "Living up to her name, Kynareth (the blogger) is like a refreshing breeze on a hot summer day, providing encouragement and guidance to character builders, bloggers, and lore seekers". I agree 100%. She has a kind heart, is a fine contributor, and is an excellent choice for the spotlight.
Kynareth is an exemplar member to this community. It's not all about posting as much content as possible everywhere, it's about posting quality content and above all, participating in other people's content.
She's also very friendly but I guess everyone else said that before me :)
Kynareth is simply one of the nicest and most intelligent people I have ever met. She is always friendly, always tries to encourage you be it a joke or words of support, always finds time to help - she's simply awesome! Her blogs (Elara's Journeys in Skyrim, the land of her father and Elara’s Song) are simply amazing and I constantly found myself glued to the screen in very late hours at night immersed in the story! I also want to single-out her articles on magic (On Magic: Origins and Applications and On Magic: Racial Attitudes and Aptitudes) which are clearly written, well presented and raise some very interesting questions - they are an amazing read and I suggest everyone to check them out!
People also forget that it was she, along with Paarthurnax, who saved the mankind from Alduin's rule - the reason we have Stormcloak vs Imperial and Talos - divine or not discussions today
Kynareth definitely deserved this spotlight! I could go on for hours about how wonderful and kind I've seen her be (and she's been to me), but I get the feeling she'll have plenty of that down the road now that she's in the spotlight , so I'll make it short. She's inspired me several times, both to lend a helpful hand to people, and to improve my writing skills, because damn, she's good! She blew me away with her thoughtfulness very recently, too; I'd been away from the Skyrim Blog for almost a year due to being out of state and hadn't talked to anyone here in that time (and I wasn't particularly popular before then, either) and yet, I get back, and what do I see? A PM from her, wishing me a happy birthday! That made me feel good about myself when I came back and saw it It's a small thing, but it's the smallest things that count the most, so I appreciated it a lot.
Well, having learned something about her gaming career and knowing that she's being recognized the way she deserves to be, I guess I'll just finish this off with a congrats.
Congratulations, Kynareth! Keep being the you we all love! <3
:) Most excellent and well deserved. I couldn't think of a better person to be chosen for this.
Kynareth is definitely an uncommonly kind person, of the sort you meet very rarely. But more than that, she's exceedingly intelligent and well-read not to mention the perfect social glue and mediator. To have that kind of balance in a personality is incredible.
Im so glad that Kyn has been put up for this. I agree with all the amazing compliments to her character that people have already posted. She is one of the few people on here I could actually call a true friend even though we may have lost touch over the last year. As soon as we are back on the blog and messages start to fly its like it was yesterday.
Long may it last
To be honest, this was all a little overwhelming to me, so I have had difficulty in framing my response. Thank you to all who have commented so thoughtfully...you all are the ones that make this place an enjoyable place to hang out and discuss our similar interests!
Thanks to Lex for writing such a lovely article (and reminding me that I have a theme song!). I feel like I need to frame it for those moments when I am called a Meanie Mom and then pull it out and say, "See, some people think your mom is all right!"
Yeah Vazgen, just because my blog namesake is Divine does not mean she has always made the best decisions! I mean seriously, that business with Shor (the god, not the blog member) was a huge mistake! But in my defense, when a guy asks you to help him find his heart, I took it as a romantic challenge. I did not realize at the time that he was literally, and not figuratively missing his heart. No wonder he is such a war-monger!