Elsbeth is the rightful heir to the Kingdom of Tem. She starts the story of Hon’Raa as missing/lost in the Witches Woods south of Axbrid. For most, she is presumed dead, but on her return she is to take her spot as the Queen of Tem and her brothers, Tharn, Thurn and Thorn are to surrender their fifedoms back to her to rule – as her father had intended. The dark necromancer who took her has corrupted her with an embued heartstone from an ancient dragon. The necromancer, a puppet of Arbane, uses her to gather souls so that Arbane can return to Ephaeria and wage war against the gods that banished her to Hon’Raa.
After Elsbeth is rescued by Galdermung and his troop of men, they soon realize that she is not the same. She has been embued with a dragon soul and though the seer is able to help her control the beast within she is being tortured by the beast. The dragon does not like being caged and as the story unfolds we learn that Elsbeth has come to like the power she feels from the dragon. What is actually torturing her is the visions that the neither the gods not Arbane are not what they seem.
Her tumult is driven by the dragon wanting to save her kin in the form of heartstones. She is restless and seems a little nuts. She can not take the throne until it is resolved and this gives Thurn time to continue with his quest to take control of Tem by waging a war against Tharn.