Lear and Ophelia were brother and sister, fraternal twins. Their parents were actors in a traveling acting troupe. Their father, also the director of the troupe, met a strange Gentleman on the road to Madziar, and offered him a ride on their covered wagon to wherever he was going. The Gentleman began to discuss theater with the parents, and eventually contracted them to perform a play he had written, about the Hand of God of Agikaan. The only stipulation in the contract was that they could not alter the script in any way--they had to say it exactly as written.

They did, much to the Gentleman's appreciation, but a spy for Agikaan was at the play, and took offense by proxy for his lord. He murdered the parents in the night, and Lear and Ophelia were visited that night by the Folk Hero, who offered them a chance to become the Twin Manifest if they served Tambala. They agreed, and were merged into one figure, Lear Ophelia, an intersex Imortal in the court of Equality.