The Hero and the Crown

The Hero and the Crown is a fantasy novel by the American writer Robin McKinley, published in 1984. It won the Newbery Medal the following year.

Aerin is the daughter of Arlbeth, king of Damar, and of his second wife, and she has her mother's pale skin and red hair in a court where nobody else does. She is feared and kept at a distance, and one of the women at court, Galanna, spreads the story that Aerin's mother was a witch and that Aerin herself is illegitimate.

When Galanna taunts her about not having developed kelar, the royal ability to work magic, and then persuades her to eat the leaves of the surka plant, which is poisonous to anyone without royal blood, Aerin survives but is ill for a long time. While she is recovering she finds a book about the history of Damar and about the enormous dragons that once lived there, and what she does with what she reads is the rest of the novel. The Blue Sword, which McKinley published first, already refers to Aerin as a figure of legend; this book is the story of how she became one.