Charadon hadn't failed; he was the longest servng leader in Doviello history, able to fend off all challengers almost long enough to die of old age. I'd guess he probably did fall to a challenger eventually but it is no dishonor for an extremely old man to fall in a close battle with one of his strongest young sons. I imagine that even when dieing it was recognized that he was a superior warrior who was just too far past his prime. When resurrected, he was brought back in the prime of his youth but with all the experience of a man who had fought for nearly a century, and so could best nearly anyone.
He did decide to realign his people with the Amurites instead of Mulcarn once Kyorlin had proven his toughness, but that was a smart move as Kyorlin defeated Mulcarn.
We don't really have a lot of information on Mahala. We know that she is named after Kael's wife's D&D character, and that she is surprisingly beautiful and gentle for a Doviello, but still quite tough. She wants to civilize her people, but they don't want be be civilized.
Lugh the Wolf is a pretty typical Doviello, believing fully that their infighting guarantees only the strongest survive and will make the pack stronger. Lucian is quire different. He fights and kills challengers to keep control when he has to, but he really wishes he wouldn't have to and he sees such infighting a major problem. He, like Mahala, would like to civilize his barbarous brethren. I'm not sure he would really be one of Charadon's favorites, since he is philosophically much closet to Mahala, but he might respect him for his shear strength. I tend to think that Lucian was actually a Doviello Alpha male from after Charadon died and before he was resurrected, and might even have been the one to kill the elderly Charadon. I tend to think that Lucian may be a relative of Mahala, perhaps her father, but I have absolutely no evidence for that.
