Amihan (Encantadia)

Amihan is a major character from the Philippine fantasy television series "Encantadia" and "Etheria" produced by GMA Network. Among the four elemental "Sang'gres", Amihan is the guardian of the blue Gem of Wind. She also became a Queen of Lireo having succeeded her mother Mine-a. Filipina actress Iza Calzado plays Amihan.

The name Amihan means "northeast monsoon" in the Tagalog language, evoking the character's affinity to the wind. There is also an Amihan in Philippine mythology.

Character story

Amihan grew up with her father Raquim in the world of mortals, believing that her mother was dead and that her father was a miner of precious metals who had the knack of finding gold. She would wonder why other kids go to a place called school while she stays at home to practice swordfighting, but her father would not give her a straight answer. Since she was taught to use the sword since she was childhood, she grew up being one skilled fighter. Having no clue of having a delightful future, it was unknown to her that she would someday be considered as the most superior female warrior of Encantadia.

While being taunted by some kids, the angry Amihan would unwittingly summon her powers. When it was apparent that her ability to control the wind had surfaced, Raquim realized he must tell her about her true identity and her magical heritage. He would begin by telling her a story about a far away land called Encantadia, the four jewels held by its four kingdoms which maintained the balance of power, the attempt by the kingdom of Hathoria to rule Encantadia, and how the battle waged by Hathoria against Adamya and Sapiro brought the four jewels under the protection of the diwatas of Lireo. He would never get to tell her all that she needed to know.

Amihan would wake up one night to tell her father that she dreamt of a beautiful woman warning her that they are in danger. Raquim recognized the import of the dream and barely had time to prepare before strangers appeared and pursued them. After watching her father's death, Amihan rushed at his killers, her father's sword in hand, intent on having her revenge. She was quickly disarmed and almost beheaded by the leader who hesitated upon seeing her birthmark. The murderers left when another group of strangely clad men appeared.

These men whisked Amihan away to Encantadia, the mere existence of which upturned everything she had believed about her existence. She would discover that she is not mortal, but a diwata, and that her mother is not only alive, but is the "Ynang Reyna" (Queen Mother) Mine-a of the kingdom of Lireo. She also finds out that her father was a Prince of the fallen kingdom of Sapiro, and was known as one of the best swordsmen that ever lived in Encantadia.

She would meet her three sisters, Pirena, Alena and Danaya. All of them, like her, bear the birthmark of the sang'gres (a diwata belonging to a royal family). They tell her that they have different fathers, all of whom had died while fighting the Hathors - the same people who killed her father. Learning this strengthened the young Amihan's resolve to fight the Hathors and avenge not only her father's death, but to avenge everyone who died and left children like her fatherless.

Amihan would spend the following years learning all about her people, the land of Encantadia, speaking their language, and learning how to act like a Sang'gre. The only thing that her mother was not too pleased with is that she would not give up the art of sword-fighting, as she considers it her heritage being the daughter of a Sapirean prince and master swordsman.

Amihan would be seen by some as the most likely candidate for the throne of Lireo, and this upsets Pirena, who is convinced that their mother is playing favorites, and had thought from the moment that Amihan arrived in the palace that the queen loved Amihan more than all her other children. After all, it is no secret in Lireo that of the men who fathered the queen's daughters, Mine-a loved Prince Raquim the most.

Time passed and the four Sang'gres become ladies. Amihan grows up beautiful, mature and motherly. Pirena's anger and jealousy only increased with time and it gets the best of her, making her bitter, cunning and deceitful. Alena grows up innocent, beautiful and demure as ever, and her beauty gets her quite a few suitors, including Ybarro (later named as Ybrahim). Danaya grows up into a strong-willed, rebellious, albeit militaristic woman with a soft spot for nature.

When the butterflies from Devas came to fetch Mine-a, a new queen to ascend the throne must be chosen. Mine-a, after having consulted her advisors, told her daughters to prepare for a test. With the exception of Alena, the young sang'gres spend time honing their skills, each hoping that they will be chosen. All assumed that judging will be fair, except for Pirena who overheard Mine-a talking with Imaw and wishing any one of her three younger daughters win the contest and not Pirena. Understandably, Pirena was angry and hurt, with many questions occupying her mind.

The test turned out to be a duel with a cloaked warrior, clad in white with a brown face cover (the attire is, intriguingly, of a common Sapirian warrior). The goal was to retrieve a "key" in the warrior's possession, which most assumed was the pendant it wore around its neck.

Danaya faced the warrior first but was beaten, next was Alena who was defeated just as easily. Amihan followed and lasted longer than the first two, although the warrior still looked too strong for her. For reasons best known to her (but most probably because she feared that Amihan might best the warrior and win the throne), Pirena decided to join the fray instead of waiting for her turn. Together, they forced the warrior to retreat into the woods.

In the midst of their pursuit, Amihan fell off a cliff, Pirena then tried to save her but then remembering that it would ruin her chance of becoming queen, kicked Amihan's hand, letting her fall down. The cloaked warrior flew down rescuing the diwata. It was at this moment that Amihan discovered the warrior's identity. It was Ynang Reyna who stated that the key was recognizing her since a mother's love would always show through, despite of any sort of disguise. They were both safe going back up the cliff.

Because of Pirena's betrayal, Amihan is declared the heir to the throne. Pirena, hurt and angry, decides to challenge the queen for the throne and steals the crystal of fire (with the goading of her long-time nanny and secret-Hathor-spy Gurna) to ensure her success. Pirena manages to bring down Ynang Reyna aided by the gem's power. But before the last blow was struck, her three sisters join forces and defeat her. She escapes and allies herself with the Hathors.

During the ceremony to acknowledge Amihan as the legal heir to the throne, the three remaining elemental gems are entrusted to each of the sisters. Amihan is entrusted with the air gem, Alena with the water gem, and Danaya with the earth gem.

It soon becomes apparent that Amihan must also produce her heir. She invokes Emre, their Bathala to help her find a worthy father to her child. She would meet a prince called Ybrahim in her dream. She would learn upon waking up that the dream was a collective dream, and she had indeed conceived a child with him.

Mine-a would die before Amihan's healthy daughter, named Lira, is born. The baby is blessed with extraordinary powers by her aunts Alena and Danaya. Danaya blesses Lira with an innate protection against Pirena's powers and energies while Alena gifts her with a beautiful voice that can magically soothe and calm her mother's (Amihan's) heart.

Pirena would return to Lireo begging for forgiveness and Amihan would pardon her sister. Unknown to her, Pirena is still in league with the Hathors. Pirena she sees the newborn Princess Lira as a major hindrance, so she kidnaps the baby and tries to kill her. However, she fails because of Danaya's blessing and her dagger could not touch the child so instead she sends Lira to the mortal realm through the Tree of Asnamon. She then replaces the real Princess Lira with her own child, Mira. Amihan would never suspect that the child growing up with her is not her real daughter.

Amihan would suffer another loss when Alena's body is found lifeless in the forest. It appeared that mourning for Ybarro, the mandirigma she had fallen in love with, and whom she now thinks is dead, Alena killed herself. Lireo would send off Alena's body to Devas on a funeral pyre, not realizing that it was actually Pirena, who had shape-shifted into the form of Alena, that they were mourning over (Pirena could withstand flames because of the fire gem's power).

The child they called Lira would grow up into a smart, confident, but proud young woman. Lira would often leave the palace and explore the woods on her own. One of her favorite stops would be Cassiopeia's lair, where she would ask the seer about the future. When Cassiopeia foretold that Lira would love a mortal, the young girl became curious and found a way to reopen Asnamon, the portal between worlds. The opening of the portal would be instrumental in bringing back the real daughter of Amihan.

When Amihan and her party was ambushed by Hathors in the forest, someone would come to their rescue whom Amihan would recognize as Ybrahim, the man she met in the dream where she conceived her daughter. Ybrahim would recognize her face, and is amazed to find out that the encounter they had in a dream would result to him being a father to the daughter of the queen of Lireo. Amihan brings Ybrahim to Lireo to introduce him to the court as the father of her child. Lira would not accept the fact that her father is a member of the mandirigma caste - who are considered society's outcasts.

Ybrahim would later find out from his foster father that he is the long-lost crown prince of the fallen kingdom of Sapiro. Amihan gladly helped him in his quest to find out about his heritage as a Sapirean, for the records of Lireo have preserved some writings about the kingdom. Amihan would slowly fall in love with Ybrahim, albeit reluctantly, for the laws of Lireo forbid its queen from marrying. She would not tell Ybrahim or any other person about her feelings.

Amihan's growing love for the mandirigma will have dire consequences, for Ybrahim is the same Ybarro that Alena had fallen in love with. The complications started when Danaya discovered Alena alive in the forest and brought her back to Lireo. Alena had lost her memory and could not remember any of them, including Ybarro. Yet, this does not prevent Alena from being attracted to Ybrahim the moment she saw him unconscious and recuperating from a poisonous wound in the queen's quarters. Amihan would feel jealousy and Pirena would use this to her advantage.

It concerned Amihan and Danaya that Alena could not remember who she was, how she came back from the dead, how she ended up being Hitano's captive in the forest, and more important, what happened to the jewel of water. Both assumed that Alena had been brought back from death and she probably brought her jewel to Devas and left it there. They concluded that if Alena goes to Devas, she may get back her memory and as well as her jewel. Amihan allowed Alena to make the trip, and Danaya volunteered to accompany her.

Pirena, who knew the truth, did not want the journey to Devas to happen, for it would reveal that Alena never died, which would mean that the jewel of water was not in Devas. When Amihan had second thoughts about Alena getting back her memory, which included remembering her love for Ybarro/Ybrahim, Pirena subtly convinced Amihan to withdraw her permission.

Disgusted that the queen allowed her personal feelings to cloud her judgement, Danaya disobeys and towing Alena with her, goes ahead with the journey to Devas. At Pirena's goading, Amihan sends her soldiers after her two younger sisters. Alena would be captured and brought back at once to Lireo.

Danaya would elude her pursuers, and when she reappears in Lireo, she attempts to assassinate the queen. The guards capture Danaya but she later manages to escape. She would then reappear at the palace gates, surprised to be placed under arrest. Amihan was willing to forgive her youngest sister, but Danaya, who denies committing the crime, refuses to ask pardon for something she did not do. Attempting to assassinate the queen warranted death, and Danaya would bravely give up her life only the queen herself took it. Amihan could not bring herself to strike her sister dead, and when Pirena volunteered to take over the task, Amihan spared Danaya from the death sentence, and banished her from Lireo instead.

Alena eventually regains her memory, but the odd thing is that she now does not remember what happened after she fell unconscious in the forest while grieving over Ybarro's death. Amihan had the grace to accept that Ybrahim is better off with Alena, so she tells her Ybarro is alive, and tried to be happy when the lovers are reunited.

As fate would have it, Danaya would stumble through the Asnamon portal and discover that the Lira living in Lireo is not the daughter of Amihan, for the real heir to the throne was kidnapped and brought to the world of mortals by Pirena.

Even before Danaya would return to Encantadia bringing the real Lira with her, Amihan would begin to suspect that her Lira is not her real daughter. It all started when Alena was disturbed that Lira's singing voice could not move her as it should, when Alena herself gave the gift of voice to Lira when she was newly born. At Imaw's advice, Amihan used a magic dagger to test if she and the girl would share any wound received from it. They did not. Next, Amihan brought out the flower that bloomed the moment her daughter was conceived. According to Imaw, the flower should reflect the health of the child it was conceived with. To Amihan's dismay, the flower was wilting although right in front of her stood a very healthy Lira.

Apparently, King Hagorn of Hathoria crossed the portal between worlds to do what Pirena could not - kill the real daughter of Amihan. Amihan would eventually confirm that the girl she calls Lira is not her real daughter, and Pirena would show her true colors. An enraged Amihan declares war against Hathoria.

Amihan did not know that Pirena already had the allegiance of some of her soldiers and with their help, she lost her kingdom to Pirena who immediately crowned herself queen of Lireo. Pirena would imprison her and force her to give up the jewel of air.

Danaya would come back to Encantadia bringing the real Lira with her. On the other hand, Pirena's daughter, who had taken on her real name of Mira once she discovered her identity, exiled herself in the world of mortals. Lira would find herself Pirena's captive before she would have a chance to meet Amihan.

Eventually, Amihan and Lira would escape Lireo under Pirena's rule. Once free, she led the loyal forces in exile. Ybrahim would offer them refuge in what remained of the castle of Sapiro. Amihan would make Sapiro her headquarters for the duration of the war.

Amihan would lose Alena once more when she was captured by the Hathors and given to the renegade Hitano in marriage. Ybrahim would meet Alena in a dream, but he did not know that Alena arranged it in order to conceive his child before her marriage to Hitano is consummated. Neither Ybrahim nor Amihan knew about Alena's escape, the birth of her child, her use of power to speed up the child's growth from boy to young man in days, making her son immune to any known weapon in Encantadia, and her transformation into a flower as the last of her strength slipped away. Pirena would be the first to realize who the young man was, and lost no time in using the gifts his mother bequeathed on him.

Learning of Cassiopeia's prophecy that the real Lira would save Encantadia and become its queen, Amihan reluctantly allowed her daughter to embark on a journey towards Devas, accompanied by Danaya, to seek help. On this journey, the two would come across a young man who blocked their path. Unknown to them, this is Kahlil, Alena's son who is now following Pirena's orders. Danaya would kill him and upon examination of his body, realize that he bears the mark of the sang'gres.

Danaya would go back to Sapiro carrying the dead young man's body with her. At almost the same time, Ybrahim brought Alena home. He had discovered the spell that turned his beloved into a flower and broke it. What should have been a happy reunion between sisters turned into tragedy when Alena recognized the dead young man as her son. Mad with grief, Alena challenged Danaya to a duel and Amihan could not prevent it. When Danaya refused to kill her when she lost, Alena left Sapiro and wandered the forest alone.

Lira would come back from Devas with a mission to unite the four daughters of Mine-a. Amihan would not know of this mission as Lira was forbidden to disclose it until it had been fulfilled. It would therefore exasperate Amihan why Lira would endanger herself trying to woo back both Pirena and Amihan. By this time, Pirena had lost her crown and Lireo was fully under Hathoria's control.

Ultimately, at the conclusion of "Encantadia", Amihan fulfills the prophecy by bestowing the crown of Lireo to her daughter, Lira. However, the latter immediately abdicates the throne, instead choosing to follow her heart and be with the mortal Anthony. Amihan gives Lira her blessing, but however declines to resume the queenship of Lireo, which eventually goes to her sister Danaya.

At the conclusion of the whole Encantadia series, she fights at the Adamyan front in the last war of Encantadia. She faces Ether's cronies with the help of her father Raquim and kills Ether thus returning Danaya's jewel to its rightful owner. She attends both of the coronation ceremonies of Armea and Cassandra. She is the one who blesses Armea in the coronation. She and her sisters mysteriously disappeared, leaving Encantadia to be ruled and guarded by their descendants Armea, Cassandra and Arman. She like her other sisters have become the stuff of legend as the trilogy ended and many claimed to see the four elemental Sang'gres playing in the sky.

Family affiliation

Amihan is the second among the four daughters of Ynang Reyna Mine-a. Pirena is her older sister while Alena and Danaya are her younger sisters. Her father was Prince Raquim of Sapiro who was killed by Hathors led by Hagorn. She also gave birth to Princess Lira whose father is Ybrahim of Sapiro (who is actually her cousin). She is the grandmother of Cassandra.

Personality

Amihan is the mother-figure among the Sang'gres. Like her mother Mine-a, she has a soft heart for those she loves, especially her family. This quality of hers has often been abused by others, especially Pirena. She is regal and majestic, often exhibiting a queenly aura of power and nobility. She is, in a way, the anti-thesis to the wild and ferocious Pirena. Though she is fierce in battle, she is the warm heart of the family of Sang'gres. She is the wisest and most caring of the Sang'gres, often acting like the eldest sister, even though she's the second-born daughter.

Powers and weapons

Elemental Powers

Amihan has power over air. She can create and manipulate the aspects of wind and the air. Amihan can levitate objects using her elemental power. She can also fly using the wind and she can move freely in the wind. Amihan is blessed with the ability to control the wind, she can also sen message through the wind. When she acquired the Air Gem her powers and her physical ability is enhanced. She also has an affinity with cold and snow, as "amihan" refers to the cool monsoons in the Pilippines.

Other Powers

In a near death experience after being stabbed by Asval with the Kabilan, Amihan willed herself to be outside the scope of destiny, so as to prevent her imminent death. This caused the lines on her palm to disappear which means she is now in control of her own destiny. Along with this is the ability to summon a body double, Aera, another gabay-diwa, that would allow her to be in 2 places at once this is called Bilocation. She can teleport to other place without occupying space.

*Weapons
**Sword of Prince Raquim- after the death of her father, Amihan vowed to avenge his death using his own sword. This became Amihan's weapon of choice in all her future battles. Towards the end of Etheria, Bathala gifted Amihan with an evolved version of the same sword.
**Brilyante ng Hangin— Amihan is the destined keeper of the blue Jewel of the Air. She and her sisters were born to be the keepers and protectors of the four basic forces of Nature; Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. She was born with the connection to the jewel, when her time came to be its protector, there was a sudden upsurge in her powers that include the ability to create lighting bolts, use wind current as shields and protective barriers, and even send messages through the wind.