Leonid

Leonid (李尔里德) is a character that appears in Shining Nikki. He is considered a designer of legend by the people of Miraland, and serves as a basis for some of Miraland's myths.

Appearance
Leonid has pale skin, light blue eyes, and light-colored hair that reaches his neck, wrapped into a loose bun. He usually wears a hood of a starry-themed cloak with gold jewelry over his head, shielding his eyes and hiding his appearance. Beneath his left eye is a distinctive red marking that resembles a cross.

Personality
Leonid is essentially omniscient: he can see the boundaries of the world and the future of Miraland, including how it ends. Because of this, he has a casual, pensive way of speaking, and a matter-of-fact way of viewing the universe. He doesn't like to get disturbed during his "observations" and would only interact with someone during his scheduled breaks.

Early Life
Leonid lived the first 22 years of his life near a small town in the Pigeon Kingdom. The hut he had lived in was a distance from the village, in a banyan tree on the edge of a cliff, and he was regarded as something of a local oddity by children who lived there. However, he lived in pursuit of reasoning and beauty, and by the time he turned 22 he had learned all there was to know about Miraland. Thus, after he discovered the Sea of Memories, he built a stargazer in order to chase the stars.

Leonid once met a young woman who had lost her way in the Sea of Memories. She could have died because of the waves in the Sea, but she stayed alive by sitting in a wooden barrel that was tied to his observatory with rope. He mostly didn't care about her because her life was not his topic for his research. However, he traveled with her following along from the barrel, and he gave her supplies each day. She told him she was a designer and she would show her designs to him during his scheduled breaks, but Lierlide said that her designs lacked beauty.

During his research time, Leonid would abandon her even if it meant the woman was left alone in the harsh sea. He only wanted to help her as long as it didn't interfere with his research or observations. Still, she always survived: she remodeled the barrel she had into a lifeboat, and persevered.

As time went by, the woman became weak because of the cold. She would continue to greet Leonid every day, despite the difficult conditions. At one point, she didn't even had the strength to stand up and talk properly. As she apologized for her frozen hands and being unable to meet him, her voice grew faint and the last bits of warmth drained from her. Her last words were something about a design, but she didn't get to finish her sentence.

Even though she was dying, Leonid ended their conversation with satisfaction, because he had something else he was interested in: he had found a star that was being born, and he wanted to give it his full attention. However, after he spoke with the woman, he saw that the newborn star had become dim, even though it had no reason to. When he investigated it, he saw a reflection of the woman holding a men's suit - the design she had spoken of. It was the first Designer's Shadow he had ever seen, and it was then that he realized the potential of humans. He interrupted his stargazing for the first time, and turned back to the real world to bring the woman to his observatory.

Ever since then, Leonid was obsessed with the Sea of Memories. In the meantime, he also provided the woman the best work environment he could give her, and she designed something while she regained her strength. After seeing what she made, Leonid deemed it decent and then told her she was going to leave the boat the next day. The woman was upset by how quickly he discarded her, but accepted her fate.

Knowing the future, Leonid knew that the woman would be successful and have a family once she returned to the ground. He dropped her off at a deserted beach, and she tried to offer him the suit she had designed. He refused it, but gave her a souvenir: a manuscript written in his own language. She was overjoyed, and promised to make his name known throughout Miraland. He knew the manuscript's effects: it went on to cause never-ending conflicts throughout Miraland.

Nikki's Story
Nikki first met Leonid in the final chapter of Nikki Up2U2: World Traveller (the second installment of the Nikki series). Leonid gave her a snowflake necklace, which was the key that connected her to Miraland.

According to Nikki, Leonid destroyed the Miraland of the year 680, wiping it out with a great flood of water from the Sea of Memories. However, he denies that this was his doing, claiming that what Nikki witnessed may not be the truth. Regardless, this is what prompted Nikki to go back in time to the year 0.

Leonid left a key in the Miraland of year 0, which Nikki is searching for with the help of Zhou and Little Hai. She gains her first clue when she finds a mysterious gem in a meteor shower in Xingyu Town. When she showed it to Ron, he immediately recognised it as something that could help him understand a tattered old manuscript he had, known as "Leonid's Excerpt". Looking at the manuscript through the gem revealed the words, but neither of them could decode the meaning. Nikki went on a hunt to find the "decoder", who she misidentified as Qinyi, and she was forced to hand over Leonid's manuscript to him to save her friend. The manuscript is hinted by Qinyi to be something with valuable knowledge that could change the world.

Nikki
Leonid is Nikki's teacher, as she refers to him as such, and they seemed to know each other prior to her arrival in the year 0.

Modi
Modi was one of Leonid's students.

Etymology
Lierlide is derived from "Lear Riddle". His English name is stated to be Leonid.

Trivia

 * The story of Silvermoon Lake in Lilith Kingdom is that it is a mirror that Leonid left in the forest.