In Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter, the protagonist is Alveric. He is the son of the ruler of Erl, a human kingdom whose parliament wants a magical lord to govern them. Alveric is therefore sent into Elfland to find Lirazel, the daughter of the Elf King, and bring her back as his bride.
Alveric succeeds, but the marriage joins two worlds whose rules are radically different. Lirazel struggles to live among humans, and after she returns to Elfland, Alveric abandons his kingdom to search for her. Their son, Orion, becomes an important character, but he is not the protagonist: the novel’s central quest and emotional movement are driven by Alveric’s journey.
The 1924 novel is one of the foundational works of modern fantasy and helped shape later fairy-tale and high-fantasy traditions. Its magic is organized around three powerful runes belonging to the Elf King, each of which can be used only once. The book later gained a wider readership after its 1969 Ballantine Adult Fantasy reissue, decades after its original publication.