title: Arena of Valor

text: Players can purchase items, which make a large impact on the hero stats and playstyle. An example of this is Zephys, a dual warrior/assassin class. He has a passive ability that increases damage reduction against incoming damage based on a proportion of health lost. If only offensive items are bought, he will deal a lot of damage but will have a low amount of health and defense, which impacts survivability. If Zephys purchases a mix of offensive and defensive items, he can take damage for the team while still dealing a noticeable amount of damage. If Zephys buys only defensive items, he can boost his damage reduction passive to its maximum potential, being literally almost impossible to die in most circumstances like a Tank class character, but will deal drastically lower amounts of damage.


title: Arena of Valor

text: This kind of playstyle can be applied to all heroes, allowing tanks to act as warriors, mages to act as supports, and vice versa.


title: Arena of Valor

text: After Tencent fully acquired Riot Games in 2015, Tencent asked them to make a mobile version of "League of Legends", as multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games were very rare on mobile at the time, with "Vainglory" by Super Evil Megacorp (which was formed by ex-Riot Games employees) being the only notable title. Tencent wanted to seize the opportunity to dominate the mobile market because there were not any strong competitors aside from "Vainglory". However, Riot Games declined due to mobile game was not commonly seen as the platform for competitive games, and claimed that the gameplay of "League of Legends" could not be replicated on smartphones. Be that as it may, Tencent was still determined to launch a MOBA game on mobile. After receiving the refusal from Riot Games, Lightspeed & Quantum Studios (which would later developing "PUBG Mobile" under license from Krafton) and TiMi Studios (both of which are Tencent's internal video game development studios) raced to develop a MOBA game that fit the bill, resulting an internal competition.


title: Arena of Valor

text: Lightspeed & Quantum's "We MOBA" and TiMi's "League of Kings" (rough translation from 王者联盟 "Wángzhě Liánméng") were launched on the same day, on August 18, 2015. A month later, "We MOBA" was already the third most-downloaded mobile game on Apple's iOS worldwide, according to app analytics firm App Annie, while "League of Kings" was nowhere near "We MOBA". "League of Kings" was then taken down for an overhaul, and was relaunched in October, 2015. TiMi Studios used "League of Legends" as a base model to overhaul "League of Kings", resulting in both games having a lot of similarity. TiMi Studios also implemented 5v5 game mode into "League of Kings" due to the game previously having poor reception with the 3v3 concept. This time, "League of Kings" successfully overtook "We MOBA" and won the internal competition. Tencent relishes and invested additional resources into "League of Kings" to ensure its success.


title: Arena of Valor

text: Nevertheless, Riot Games deemed that the design of characters and abilities in "League of Kings" were "blatantly ripping off the intellectual property of "League of Legends"" after they discovered how the game was produced, and reportedly brought these concerns to Tencent. Tencent responded that they would change its own game enough to sell as a standalone product with no relation to "League of Legends". Despite this, "League of Kings" had already gained massive popularity in China at this point due to the game being advertised as "mobile version of "League of Legends"" through social media and word-of-mouth marketing. Tencent felt that it was too late to make huge changes to the game, so they renamed "League of Kings" (王者联盟 "Wángzhě Liánméng") to "Honor of Kings" (王者荣耀 "Wángzhě Róngyào") on November 26, 2015, and it only went through necessary changes. The international release of "Honor of Kings" was canceled, and the game would have a western twin for markets outside Mainland China which is rebranded and featured different contents, leading to the creation of "Arena of Valor", which also served as a respond to Riot Games's complaints of "potential intellectual property infringement".


title: Arena of Valor

text: "Arena of Valor" was developed by TiMi Studio Group with the same engine and user interface design as "Honor of Kings" and published by Level Infinite. A subsidiary at Tencent' Interactive Entertainment Group, headed under the Tencent Games division. "Arena of Valor" originally was named "Strike of Kings", and was intended to be the identical name to "Honor of Kings", but the publishing team thought the name might not be suitable to appeal to the Western audience. Moreover, the difference of contents featured in the game made the publishing team decide that a better name is required. Still, "Arena of Valor" has several alternative names when released in different countries, such as "Realm of Valor" in Thailand, in Vietnam, "Penta Storm" in South Korea, and "Legendary Showdown" in Taiwan and Japan.


title: Arena of Valor

text: Garena joined the marketing team as they helped to westernize the atmosphere of the game. The in-game characters have been swapped from characters inspired by Chinese folklore and Chinese mythology, to characters inspired by European folklore and several mythologies from other nations, with blending a variety of elements including Lovecraftian horror, steampunk, high fantasy, and sword and sorcery to appeal audiences outside China. The appearance of in-game characters mostly recycled and revamped designs of characters from "Heroes of Newerth", a MOBA game that Garena had acquired from S2 Games. "Arena of Valor" also included several characters such as Butterfly, Violet, and Mina from "Age of Gunslingers", a third-person shooter game that previously was also developed by a division of TiMi Studio Group. Additionally, "Arena of Valor" has multiple collaborations with other franchises, having crossovers with DC Universe, "Wiro Sableng", "Contra", KFC, "Sword Art Online," "Ultraman", "Bleach", "One-Punch Man" and "".


title: Arena of Valor

text: TiMi intended to feature characters from Marvel Universe during the prototype stage of "Strike of Kings" (before the rebranding to "Arena of Valor" and collaborated with DC Comics), with the closed beta test of the game under the name of "Marvel Super Heroes". The initial game featured some characters from TiMi' intellectual property crossover with Marvel's characters. However, Marvel Entertainment later took back their license, forcing TiMi to stop the development and Tencent Games to shut down the game as they lost the rights to release the game. Subsequently, TiMi Studio Group had to redesign the game, creating the current appearance of "Arena of Valor". TiMi then approached DC Comics to include their characters as a replacement to Marvel's characters, while Marvel went a separate way, collaborated with other video game developer companies to develop their own MOBA, such as "Marvel End Time Arena" by Smilegate, and "Marvel Super War" by NetEase.


title: Arena of Valor

text: The soundtrack for "Arena of Valor" was composed by "TiMi Audio Lab" in cooperation with different music composers each year, such as Jeff Broadbent in late 2016, Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe in 2017, Matthew Carl Earl and Obadiah Brown-Beach in 2018, Russell Brower, Paul Lipson, and Tom Salta in 2019, Yang Lee and Michal Cielecki in 2020, all creating a different atmosphere compared to the original score with Chinese music instruments in "Honor of Kings". "Arena of Valor" also features The Veda language, a constructed fictional language along with its polypersonal descendants, such as Afata, Gandal (the "impure language" of humans) and Gunna (, the "language from the abyss" of the Lokheim) for different characters from different factions. These languages were created by David J. Peterson (also well known for creating the Dothraki and Valyrian languages in "Game of Thrones") to make the game more interesting.


title: Arena of Valor

text: "Arena of Valor" has a wide variety of publishers for different regions. "Arena of Valor" was first launched in Taiwan on 12 October 2016, by Garena, following a two-week closed beta testing period. On 17 October 2017, Garena launched "Arena of Valor" in Malaysia, Singapore, and Philippines, where a majority of the gaming community plays mobile games. Garena decided to combine these three countries in one server. In South Korea, the game was published by Netmarble on 26 April 2017. The game was released in European markets by Level Infinite on 10 August 2017, and was released in North America and Latin America on 19 December 2017. On 28 June 2018, Level Infinite implemented "Asia server" unannounced. This server included Australia, New Zealand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Brunei. In Japan, DeNA cooperated with TiMi to launch "Arena of Valor" on 30 November 2018.


title: Arena of Valor

text: Nintendo announced a deal with Tencent Games to bring "Arena of Valor" to the Nintendo Switch for international markets, as well as forming a partnership to ship Nintendo Switch consoles into China. The game was announced to be released for the Nintendo Switch during the September 2017 Nintendo Direct presentation. A closed beta became available for the platform on 28 June 2018, and participants received an in-game skin for one of the characters. The game was officially launched on the platform on 28 September 2018. Speaking to Engadget, Tencent Games revealed the Nintendo Switch port of the game is enhanced and optimized for the platform, taking advantage of the console's processing power and hardware features to implement various changes to the game, such as improved graphics and animations, better lighting, smoother lines, and additional minute details like butterflies. Additionally, several adjustments were made to the game to be playable on a bigger screen with traditional controls, and stats for characters have been reconfigured. Because of these changes, cross-play between the Nintendo Switch and mobile versions of the game is not possible.


title: Arena of Valor

text: TiMi Studios once again faced an internal competition. Morefun Studios (which is also another Tencent's video game development studio) developed and released a mobile MOBA named "War Song" on January 22, 2018, in an attempt to compete with "Arena of Valor". However, "War Song" did not last long in the end. Instead, the assets of the defunct MOBA was recycled for "Chess Rush", an auto battler game, which was released on July 4, 2019.


title: Arena of Valor

text: "Arena of Valor" was reported to have caused a gradually straining business relationship between Riot Games and Tencent, and the relationship between the two firms became further strained when Tencent used notable "League of Legends" players to promote "Arena of Valor" and its esports tournaments. Riot Games's complaints initiated a two-month marketing freeze for "Arena of Valor" and demands that Riot Games be given the option to review all marketing plans, including a veto for use of select celebrity gamers. Nonetheless, Riot Games implied that their relationship with Tencent is still strong, and the conflict between them and their games is only "a bump in the road".


title: Arena of Valor

text: In July 2017, Riot Games filed a lawsuit against Moonton, the developer of the rival game "", for copyright infringement, citing similarities between "Mobile Legends" and "League of Legends". The case was initially dismissed in Central District Court of California in United States on account of "forum non conveniens". Tencent, as Riot's parent company, then filed a new, separate lawsuit on behalf of Riot Games, directly targeting Moonton's CEO, Watson Xu Zhenhua (as he had previously worked in Tencent as one of Tencent's senior employee) in Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court, for violating a law regarding Non-Compete Agreements, which ruled in Tencent's favor in July 2018, awarding Tencent a settlement of (RMB19.4 million).


title: Arena of Valor

text: Riot Games eventually acknowledged the potential of the mobile market for the MOBA genre, and agreed to develop a mobile title for "League of Legends". Tencent then temporarily pulled marketing plans for "Arena of Valor" in Europe and North America in 2019, clearing room for Riot Games's announcement a few months later. Riot Games announced their own mobile MOBA game, "" on October 16, 2019, which is the 10th anniversary of "League of Legends".


title: Arena of Valor

text: In addition, the succession of MOBA genre on mobile inspired the creation of "Pokémon UNITE", a "Pokémon" spin-off game, developed by TiMi Studio as well in a further partnership with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. The game was announced in a "Pokémon" Presents on June 24, 2020.


title: Arena of Valor

text: TiMi partnered with Shengqi Games to re-distribute the Arena of Valor franchise in the Indian market, where Arena of Valor has been suspended from operating earlier in Q4 of 2020 due to unsubstantiated privacy concerns claims through the Indian government. The franchise is branded Clash of Titans, with adjusted terms such as Titans, unlike the original franchises Hero terminology.


title: Arena of Valor

text: TiMi Studio Group decided to no longer extend the license rights of the Arena of Valor franchise to Netmarble & Kakao. Netmarble announced that they'll terminate the service on the July 29, 2022; after five years of Game as a Service (GaaS). The termination causes also that Korea has no representation for the eSports in 2022. The license wasn't extended due to a failure of player retention in South Korea.


title: Arena of Valor

text: The mobile app of "Arena of Valor" was banned in India (along with other Chinese apps) on 2 September 2020 by the government, the move came amid the 2020 China-India skirmish.


title: Arena of Valor

text: "Arena of Valor" tournaments have been held in numerous regions, with each region having their own local leagues such as Garena Challenger Series Pro League (GCS) in Taiwan, Realm of Valor Pro League (RPL) in Thailand, Arena of Glory - Đấu trường danh vọng (AOG) in Vietnam, Arena of Valor Star League (ASL) in Indonesia, Arena of Valor: Valor Cup (AVC) in Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines, Arena of Valor: Valor Series (AVS) in Europe, North America, and Latin America, and Arena of Valor Japan League (AJL) in Japan.


title: Arena of Valor

text: "Arena of Valor" also has two annual world championship tournaments; Arena of Valor International Championship (AIC) and Arena of Valor World Cup (AWC). AIC is a tournament where teams from across the world participate to earn profit and glory for their own esport organisation, while AWC is a tournament where teams participate under the banner of their national flag to represent their own country.


title: Arena of Valor

text: The first AIC was held in South Korea from November 23 to November 26, 2017. The event attracted more than 36,000,000 online viewers, breaking mobile game records worldwide and has since become the leading standard of mobile eSports. The game occupying the top positions of mobile game rankings in Asia for months has also received the honor of Google Play's Best of 2017 Game award in Europe. The second AIC tournament was held in Thailand from November 23 to December 16, 2018. The tournament increased the number of competing teams to 16, with teams competing for the title and a proportion of the prize pool worth $600,000 (£460,000). The third AIC tournament was also held in Thailand from November 5 to November 24, 2019. It featured an additional all-new 1v1 competition, where one player represents each team and the winner walking away with $5,000.


title: Arena of Valor

text: The first Arena of Valor World Cup (AWC) tournament was held in Los Angeles, United States, from July 17 to July 28, 2018. A total prize pool of $500,000 made AWC one of the largest mobile eSports tournaments in gaming history. A total of nine regions competed for the grand prize, which includes Taiwan - Hong Kong - Macau, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia - Singapore - Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, North America, Latin America and Europe. Additionally, the tournament host selected three Wildcard teams to participate in AWC. The second AWC tournament was held in Da Nang, Vietnam, from June 27 to July 14, 2019, with the same total prize pool of $500,000. The second AWC also marks Japan's first participation in "Arena of Valor" international tournament since the game introduced their Japanese server on November 30, 2018.


title: Arena of Valor

text: The Arena of Valor World Cup 2020 was canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic, and were replaced by the one-off Arena of Valor Premier League 2020 (APL 2020).


title: Arena of Valor

text: On August 28, 2021, Level Infinite and TiMi eSports announced the merge of the Honor of Kings World Champion Cup, the world championship of AoV's Chinese counterpart "Honor of Kings", with the Arena of Valor World Cup. As a result, the prize pool will be increased dramatically from $500,000 to $10,000,000 from the 2022 edition. The AIC 2021 prize pool has been increased from $500,000 to $1,000,000 and will be increased from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 starting AIC 2022.


title: Arena of Valor

text: "Arena of Valor" was part of the Esports demonstration event at the Asian Games 2018 held in Indonesia. Eight countries were able to participate after qualifying from their respective regional qualification, with Indonesia automatically qualifying as host. Unlike other electronic sports events, there is no qualification for Central and West Asia.


title: Arena of Valor

text: "Arena of Valor" was among the game titles included as a medal event at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.


title: Arena of Valor

text: Arena of Valor is among the eight esports titles determined as medal events for the Asian Games 2022. Tencent eSports and TiMi eSports shared a publication on the 5 September 2021 which confirmed the first time usage of the merged version of Honor of Kings with Arena of Valor.


title: Arena of Valor

text: "Arena of Valor" won the award for "Best Music in a Casual/Social Game" at the 15th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards, whereas its other nomination was for "Best Original Instrumental". It was also nominated for "Original Score – Video Game" at the 2017 Hollywood Music in Media Awards, for "Original Dramatic Score, New IP" at the NAVGTR Awards, for "Best Competitive Game" at the 2018 Golden Joystick Awards, and for "Fan Favorite Mobile Game" at the Gamers' Choice Awards. "Arena of Valor: Flip the World" won the award for "Song/Score - Mobile Video Game" at the 9th Hollywood Music in Media Awards, while the game itself and "Honor of Kings 2.0" were nominated for the same category at the 10th Hollywood Music in Media Awards. The game was also nominated for "Best Mobile Sport" at the "Pocket Gamer" Mobile Games Awards, while "Honor of Kings 2.0" won the award for "Best Music in a Casual Game" at the 18th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards, whereas its other nomination was for "Best Sound Design in a Causal/Social Game".


title: Consumer Protection Act, 1986

text: The Consumer Protection Act,1986 (COPRA) was an Act by the Parliament of India elected to protect the interests of consumers in India.It was replaced by the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. It was made for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for the settlement of consumer's grievances and matters connected with it. The act was passed in Assembly in October 1986 and came into force on December 24, 1986. The statute on the right was made before this COPRA act 1986.


title: Consumer Protection Act, 1986

text: This Act is regarded as the 'Magna Carta' in the field of consumer protection for checking unfair trade practices, ‘defects in goods’ and ‘deficiencies in services’ as far as India is concerned. It has led to the establishment of a widespread network of consumer forums and appellate courts all over India. It has significantly impacted how businesses approach consumers and have empowered consumers to a greater extent.


title: Consumer Protection Act, 1986

text: Consumer Protection Councils are established at the national, state and district level to increase consumer awareness.They guide


title: Consumer Protection Act, 1986

text: To increase the awareness of consumers, there are many consumer organisations and NGOs that have been established. Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI) was the first consumer organization established in India in 1966; It was followed by many others such as:


title: Consumer Protection Act, 1986

text: The objectives of the Central Council are to promote and protect the rights of the consumers such as:-


title: Consumer Protection Act, 1986

text: Consumer courts do not have jurisdiction over matters where services or goods were bought for a commercial purpose.


title: Hunter Parrish

text: Hunter Parrish Tharp (born May 13, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He is known for playing the role of Silas Botwin in the Showtime series "Weeds" and for his performances in the Broadway productions of "Godspell" in the role of Jesus and "Spring Awakening" as Melchior.


title: Hunter Parrish

text: Parrish was born in Richmond, Virginia, to Annie Parrish, who works with children with autism, and Bruce Tharp, an engineer. Parrish has an older brother. He graduated from Plano Senior High School and Texas Tech University Independent School District.


title: Hunter Parrish

text: After being seen at a showcase in New York, directed by Peter Sklar, Parrish was offered professional representation and went on to guest star in several television shows and appeared in the film "Sleepover" (2004).


title: Hunter Parrish

text: Parrish gained recognition when he began starring in the hit Showtime series "Weeds" in 2005. The show ran for eight seasons, ending in 2012. Part of the main ensemble cast, Parrish portrayed the role of the older Botwin son, Silas.


title: Hunter Parrish

text: Following filming of "Weeds" fourth season, Parrish joined the cast of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical "Spring Awakening" the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in New York City. He made his Broadway debut on August 11, 2008, replacement for the lead role of Melchior Gabor for which he received critical acclaim. He remained in the role until the show closed on January 18, 2009. Parrish returned to Broadway two-and-a-half years later, to star in the 2011 Broadway revival of "Godspell" in which he starred as Jesus. Performances began October 13, 2011. He left the show on April 15, 2012 to film the final season of "Weeds".


title: Hunter Parrish

text: During this period, Parrish had many other roles on screen. He has supporting parts in the films "RV" (2006), "Freedom Writers" (2007), and "17 Again" (2009), and "It's Complicated" (2009). In "Freedom Writers", Parrish played Ben Samuels, the only white student in a California high school class. The National Review Online wrote that Parrish had played the role with "unassuming humour". He had a handful of guest role on TV and took part in the 2008 short "Cougar 101 with Hunter Parrish" for funnyordie.com. From 2007 to 2009, he hosted a web talk show with his friends Kyle Sherman and Allison Tyler called "Two Guys and a Girl".


title: Hunter Parrish

text: Since 2013, Parrish has had a string of recurring roles on television. In 2013 and 2014, he guest starred on "The Good Wife" as Jeffrey Grant, a young man accused of murder. In 2015, he also had recurring roles in "The Following" and "Hand of God". Parrish had a main role in the Amazon series Good Girls Revolt, which was released in 2016. In 2017, Parrish was cast in the recurring role of Clay Haas in the second season of ABC's thriller series "Quantico".


title: Hunter Parrish

text: In March 2019, it was announced that Parrish would have one of the lead roles in the "Jane The Virgin" spin-off series "Jane The Novela". Ultimately, the show was not picked up by The CW.


title: Hunter Parrish

text: Earlier, in January 2019, it was announced that Parrish be part of the upcoming Netflix drama series "Ratched". Produced by Ryan Murphy, "Ratched" scored a two-season, straight-to-series order, with the first season filmed from January into July 2019. The first season is set to be released on September 18, 2020.


title: Hunter Parrish

text: In December 2014, he announced his engagement to Kathryn Wahl. On September 13, 2015, they were married at the Flying Caballos Ranch, in San Luis Obispo, California. They welcomed their first child, a daughter, in September 2020.


title: Hunter Parrish

text: In 2012, Parrish recorded his first EP called "Guessing Games", featuring six songs. At first, "Guessing Games" was only available for sale in the lobby of "Godspell"’s home at the Circle in the Square Theatre, but with a bigger release to follow. The first single from the EP, "Sitting at Home", was released on iTunes on June 7, 2012. The complete EP was released later that month, on June 26.


title: Circle of Life

text: "Circle of Life" is a song from The Walt Disney Company 1994 animated film "The Lion King". Composed by English musician Elton John, with lyrics by Tim Rice, the song was performed by Carmen Twillie (the deep female lead vocals) and Lebo M. (opening vocals in Zulu) as the film's opening song. In an interview, Rice said he was amazed at the speed with which John composed: "I gave him the lyrics at the beginning of the session at about two in the afternoon. By half-past three, he'd finished writing and recording a stunning demo." Elton John sang a pop version (with alternative lyrics) of the song with the London Community Gospel Choir, which was included in the film's soundtrack and made into a music video.


title: Circle of Life

text: "Circle of Life" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1994, along with two other songs from "The Lion King": "Hakuna Matata" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", the latter of which won the award. "Circle of Life" was also nominated for a Song of the Year Grammy. The song reached No. 11 in the UK and No. 18 in the US and is featured frequently in attractions based on "The Lion King", such as Disney theme parks and parades. Michael Crawford sang it as part of a medley for "The Disney Album" in 2001.


title: Circle of Life

text: The song was featured in Disney's 2019 photorealistic computer-animated remake of "The Lion King" and was used in the first trailer of the film, a near shot-for-shot remake of the opening of the original animated film. This new version of the song was performed by Brown Lindiwe Mkhize, the actress who performed as Rafiki in the stage adaptation of the movie in London from 2005 to 2018. However, the new version also retains the original Zulu opening vocals by Lebo M. from the 1994 film.


title: Circle of Life

text: In United States, music critics praised the song's structure and its message, however in the United Kingdom, music critics' reviews on this song was mixed.


title: Circle of Life

text: John began to perform "Circle of Life", replacing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", in some of his concerts, shows and performances from 1999 to 2018.


title: Circle of Life

text: In the theatrical adaptation, the opening sequence is noticeably different from the opening of the film. For example, the song is sung by Rafiki instead of an off-screen female narrator.


title: Circle of Life

text: With the sun rising over the Pride Lands, Rafiki commences the start of the production by singing the opening chant of the song and summoning the animals of the Pride Lands for the presentation of baby Simba. As the first two verses of the musical number end, a representation of Pride Rock appears on stage carrying its two reigning rulers, Sarabi cradling the small puppet representing her son in her arms with Mufasa alongside her. As the choir chants excitedly in the background, Rafiki accompanies the monarch and his consort to the top of Pride Rock to bless the cub before raising him high in the air, singing joyfully alongside the chorus as the gathered animals bow before their new prince.


title: Circle of Life

text: At the end of Act II, Simba's friends and family acknowledge him as the rightful king after Scar's defeat. Rafiki crowns Simba with the mantle of kingship after his victory and Simba ascends Pride Rock. There he gives a mighty roar which echoes across the whole kingdom, and the animals come back to the Pride Lands to recognise and salute Simba as the rightful king. The musical ends as Rafiki presents Simba and Nala's newborn cub to all of the animals, followed by a blackout that finishes Act II and leads to the curtain call at the end of the performance.


title: Circle of Life

text: The assembly of animals that appear are slightly different from the beginning of Act I. There are no wildebeests or adult elephant, only two zebras instead of three, nine gazelles instead of twelve, and half of the bird performers instead of four. Only the baby elephant, the rhino, the giraffes, three cranes, the cheetah, and the birds appear as poles on cranes as kites.


title: Circle of Life

text: Troy J. Augusto from "Cash Box" wrote, "Elton’s unique, radio-friendly voice and the song's powerful, dramatic production (courtesy of Chris Thomas) mean broad, immediate success as the film continues its amazing run at the box office." Music writer James Masterton commented in his weekly UK chart commentary, "Sad to relate though it is another rather unimpressive Elton John ballad, unable to stand comparison with much of his classic output and is worryingly close in places to The One – arguably the last single of any value he put out." Alan Jones from "Music Week" noted, "Elton is in philosophical mood here and has a slightly continental flavour. Publicity for "The Lion King" movie from which the single is taken should push it into the Top 20."


title: Circle of Life

text: The music video for "Circle of Life" was directed by American film composer, producer and film director Richard Baskin. It was published on YouTube in November 2017. The video has amassed over 13 million views as of November 2021.


title: Circle of Life

text: The song is well known for its opening line, sung by South African composer Lebo M. in Zulu. Due to the difficulty to pronounce the lyrics for English speakers, they are often mispronounced. The Zulu version of the lyrics are:


title: Circle of Life

text: The song was re-recorded in 2003 by the Disney Channel Circle of Stars, a group of actors and actresses who have appeared in Disney Channel television series and original movies, for the album "Disneymania 2". The line-up was significantly different when their next rerecording, "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes", was released two years later.


title: Circle of Life

text: In 2017 American boyband 98° recorded a cover version of the song to help promote a re-release of "The Lion King" on Blu-ray as part of the Disney Signature Collection.


title: Circle of Life

text: "Circle of Life" was referenced in the song "Colors of the Wind" which was composed by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz for Disney's 33rd animated motion picture "Pocahontas". The song's lyrics are about animism and respecting nature.


title: Circle of Life

text: It is the main theme song for Disney's Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World. Epcot featured a cinema-type film called "" from 1995 to 2018, with Timon, Pumbaa, and Simba discussing environmental topics.


title: Circle of Life

text: At the 2011 White House Correspondents' Association, President Barack Obama jokingly claimed he was going to show his "long-form birth video", spoofing Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories that alleged he was born outside of the United States, rather than in his actual birthplace of Honolulu, Hawaii. The opening chant was played from the film, and Simba was seen being lifted to the skies.


title: Circle of Life

text: New York Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes started using the song as his walk-up music during the 2016 Major League Baseball season.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Reginald Oliver Denny (born 1953) is a former construction truck driver who was pulled from his truck and severely beaten during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. His attackers, a group of Black men who came to be known as the "L.A. Four", targeted Denny because he was White. The attack was captured on video by a news helicopter and broadcast live on U.S. national television.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Four other Black L.A. residents who had been witnessing the attack on live television came to Denny's aid, placing him back in his truck and driving him to the hospital. Denny suffered a fractured skull and impairment of his speech and his ability to walk, for which he underwent years of rehabilitative therapy. After unsuccessfully suing the City of Los Angeles, Denny moved to Arizona, where he worked as an independent boat mechanic and has mostly avoided media contact.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: On March 3, 1991, an amateur video recording showed Rodney King, a Black motorist, being badly beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers during an arrest. The outrage resulting from the acquittal of these police officers was the principal cause of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Born in 1953 in Lansing, Michigan, Reginald Oliver Denny was a 39-year-old truck driver at the time of the attack. His parents moved to Sylmar, Los Angeles, when he was a child. Denny divorced from his first wife in 1986.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: On April 29, 1992, at 5:39 pm, Denny loaded his red dump truck with of sand and began driving to a plant in Inglewood, where the sand was due. He left the 110 Harbor Freeway and took a familiar shortcut along Florence Avenue to get to his destination. He was listening to the radio, "probably KKLA, a Christian channel," Denny said, "or country station KZLA." At 6:46 pm, after he entered the intersection at Normandie, rioters threw rocks at his windows, and he heard people shouting for him to stop, forcing him to do so in the middle of the street.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: In what has been called an "iconic image" of the L.A. riots, video footage from the Los Angeles News Service helicopter showed Denny being pulled from his truck and beaten with fists, kicked, and struck with a cinder block during the first day of rioting. Timothy Goldman, a local resident who was filming on the ground at the corner of Florence and Normandie Avenues, captured a part of the scene. The attack has been described as a hate crime in which Denny, a White man, was targeted for his race in response to police brutality against King and the belief that the criminal justice system had failed to protect King’s civil rights.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Antoine Miller climbed up and opened the truck door, giving an unidentified man the chance to pull Denny out and throw him on the ground. Henry Watson stood on Denny's neck to hold him down as a group of men surrounded him and Anthony Brown kicked him in the abdomen. As Watson walked away, two other unidentified men joined in the attack: one hurled a five-pound oxygenator stolen from Larry Tarvin's truck at Denny's head, and the other kicked him and hit him with a claw hammer. News footage showed Damian Williams throwing a cinder block at Denny's head, then doing a football-style victory dance in the road and flashing gang signs at the Los Angeles News Service helicopter of Zoey Tur and Marika Gerrard. After the beating ended, some men threw beer bottles at the unconscious body and a man searched Denny's back pockets, taking his wallet. Tur and Gerrard reported that there was no police presence in the area.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Four Black residents of South Central Los Angeles, Bobby Green Jr., Lei Yuille, Titus Murphy, and Terri Barnett, who had been watching the events on television, came to Denny's aid. Green, also a truck driver, boarded Denny's truck and drove him to the Daniel Freeman Hospital in Inglewood.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Paramedics who attended to Denny said he suffered major trauma and came very close to dying. Soon after Green took him to the hospital, Denny suffered a seizure. His skull was fractured in 91 places and pushed into his brain. His left eye was so badly dislocated that it would have fallen into his sinus cavity had the surgeons not replaced the crushed bone with a piece of plastic. A permanent crater remains in his forehead despite efforts to correct it.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: The "L.A. Four" was a nickname given to the first four men charged with the attack on Denny: Damian Williams, Henry Watson, Antoine Miller, and Gary Williams.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Damian Monroe Williams (born March 17, 1973) was considered the most high-profile member of the four. He was a 19-year-old former high-school football star nicknamed "Football". Williams was identified on the video recording thanks to a large tattoo on his left arm related to the Crips street gang. He was mentioned in news reports and court records as a member of the 71 Hustlers, an affiliation of the Eight Trey Gangster Crips. Williams had several juvenile arrests but no convictions. His friends recalled him as being generous to children and devoted to caring for an older brother who had been beaten in a robbery.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Williams faced the most serious charges of the four, and was eventually convicted of four misdemeanors and simple mayhem. He was paroled after serving four years of his 10-year sentence. After his release, he was arrested and convicted for his role in the 2000 murder of a drug dealer, and sentenced to 46 years in prison.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Henry Keith Watson was a 27-year-old former US Marine and an ex-convict who had served time for armed robbery. After his release from prison, he married, had a daughter, and was working two jobs at the time of the attack.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Antoine Eugene Miller (May 5, 1972 – February 8, 2004) was a 19-year-old who lived with Damian Williams' family. Miller's mother was not able to care for him, so as a child, Miller was sent to live with his grandmother. When he was 12, his grandmother killed his grandfather during an argument and was convicted of his murder, leaving Miller homeless. Miller had previously been arrested for misdemeanor drug charges, joyriding, and failing to appear in court. Miller was shot and killed at age 31 in a Hollywood nightclub in February 2004.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Gary Anthony Williams was a 33-year-old man described as a "drifter" and a "hustler" who begged at a local gas station. Although he claimed to work there, his arrest record listed him as unemployed.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: On May 12, outgoing Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates started a search for three of Denny's attackers, who were identified from the video of the beating. Gates himself arrested Damian Williams, while other officers arrested Henry Watson and Antoine Miller. Soon afterward, Gary Williams gave himself up to the police. The four arrested men were suspected to be part of the 83 Gangster Crips.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Judge John W. Ouderkirk granted Miller a separate trial on the grounds that the strong evidence against Watson and Damian Williams could harm his case; Miller was sentenced to 17 months in jail and 27 months on probation. Gary Williams was sentenced to three years in jail for attempting to rob Denny and assaulting another man.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Edi M.O. Faal was Damian Williams' defense attorney, and Earl C. Broadly was Henry Watson's. On July 28, 1993, Watson's and Williams' trial began. The two were charged with the assault of Denny as well as five other motorists and two firefighters who were driving past the intersection of Florence and Normandie shortly after the start of the Los Angeles riots on April 29. At the trial, Denny faced his attackers for the first time since they had assaulted him. On August 12, 1993, a jury of five Whites, three Blacks, three Latinos, and one Asian was chosen.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: On August 19, Deputy District Attorney Lawrence Morrison delivered the opening statement and a week later, the videotape of the beating was shown. The doctors who treated Denny testified, describing his wounds and their efforts to repair them. Next to testify were witnesses of the beating and Denny's rescuers. The prosecution rested on September 17, 1993. The defense began pleading on September 20, making a case for unpremeditated assault, with Faal challenging the video evidence and portraying Williams as a victim of poverty and racism. In the closing arguments, the defense attorneys claimed that Williams and Watson were being used as scapegoats for the L.A. riots. The prosecution counter-argued that the two had knowingly tried to kill Denny and were not victims.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Williams' lawyers successfully argued that he had not intended to kill Denny; he was found not guilty of attempted murder, assault, and aggravated mayhem, and convicted of four misdemeanors and simple mayhem, while Watson was convicted of a single misdemeanor assault charge. During a break in the trial, Denny approached Williams' mother, Georgiana, and hugged her. Watson was given credit for time served and was sentenced to three years' probation for the assaults of Denny and truck driver Larry Tarvin. Williams was denied bail and sentenced to a maximum of ten years for the assaults of Denny and four other people on December 7, 1993.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: Denny sought to soothe racial tensions associated with his assault, reminding reporters that most of his rescuers were Black, as were the doctors who treated him. He became friends with the four persons that saved him, and Green was hired by Denny's employer Transit Mixed. Denny also sought to make peace with his attackers' families, saying that Watson had "been through quite enough" having been jailed for 17 months awaiting trial. Watson later apologized to Denny during an appearance on the "Phil Donahue Show", where the pair shook hands.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: As a result of the injuries he suffered during the attacks, Denny had to undergo years of rehabilitative therapy, and his speech and ability to walk were also damaged. During his recovery, he received over 27,000 get-well cards from supportive members of the community. After unsuccessfully suing the city of Los Angeles, Denny moved to Arizona to work as an independent boat motor mechanic. Denny has largely avoided the media and rarely spoken publicly about his ordeal.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: In 1997, Damian Williams was released from prison early for good behavior, but in 2003, he was sentenced to 46 years to life in prison for the 2000 murder of drug dealer Grover Tinner. As of 2017, he is incarcerated at Centinela State Prison. Watson was re-arrested and sentenced to three years for a narcotics conviction and, after his release, owned and operated a limousine service in Los Angeles. On February 1, 2004, Antoine Miller was shot outside of a Hollywood nightclub during an altercation and died in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on February 8 at the age of 31. Gary Williams, Henry Watson, and Damian Williams gave interviews about the riots for the 2017 documentary "".


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: The best available footage of Denny's beating on April 29, 1992, was filmed by Marika Tur from a helicopter piloted by her then-spouse, reporter Zoey Tur. Together, they operated a company called Los Angeles News Service (LANS).


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: LANS sued television stations that rebroadcast their footage for copyright infringement; at least one of these lawsuits was successful.


title: Attack on Reginald Denny

text: In July 2006, LANS sued the site YouTube in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, for copyright infringement. LANS alleged in the lawsuit that, in the space of one week, a version of the video uploaded by a YouTube user was viewed over 1,000 times via the site. They argued this hurt their ability to license the video. YouTube requested summary judgment based on DMCA safe harbor, which was denied. LANS voluntarily dismissed the case without prejudice, planning to join a class action against YouTube in New York. YouTube appealed both the dismissal and the summary judgment ruling. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dismissed the appeal.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Batman: The Telltale Series is a 2016 episodic point-and-click graphic adventure video game developed and published by Telltale Games and distributed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment under its DC Entertainment label. The game is based on the DC Comics character Batman, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, though not tied to any previous adaptation of the work in film or other media. Upon release, it received mixed reviews, which praised the atmosphere, action sequences, and faithfulness to the Batman mythos, but criticized it for technical issues and plot. A second season, titled "", was released in 2017, and was viewed as an improvement over the original.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Though Telltale Games shut down in 2018, the licenses for the "Batman" and "The Enemy Within" games were acquired by Athlon Games, and both games were rereleased by LCG Entertainment under a new Telltale Games label as the combined "Shadows Edition" in December 2019.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: The player takes the role of Batman, both as the superhero and as his alter ego Bruce Wayne. Telltale Games CEO Kevin Bruner has stated that playtime will be split evenly between them, though at times the game will offer the player a choice of whether to approach a situation as Wayne or as Batman. Despite differences in continuity, Batman fits closely with the comics. However, his personality and actions are determined by the player's decisions throughout the series. He could be a much more traditional and inspiring hero as Batman compared to the other versions of the Dark Knight or a much more aggressive and colder character than how he's usually portrayed. The game's narrative offers a "fresh interpretation of the universe set in current times, not tied to any existing iteration of Batman in games, film, or comics", according to Telltale Games. According to Bruner, the game is set a few years after Wayne decides to become Batman, giving them flexibility in their writing and gameplay to give the player some control on how they want to play the character without ties to any established narrative. The game features a branching narrative, similar to past Telltale games, giving the player options in approaching a situation and having that choice affect later events in the game. The game includes action sequences that are resolved similar to Telltale's other games, using quick time events. The series also includes investigation sequences, allowing the player to use Batman's detective skills to progress the story.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: The series also introduces a new feature called "crowd play", available on both the PC and console versions of the game. Crowd play allows the game to be watched by an audience who can participate in the decision-making process. When this feature is active, the player provides their audience with a link to Telltale's website with a unique code to participate in that session through any web-enabled device. These additional players are given the option to vote at the game's decision points, with the results presented to the main player to judge which decision to make. Optionally, the main player can have the game automatically take the most-popular decision for them. This mode is intended to be used for an audience at the same physical setting, such as a living room or movie theater; though this mode can be used through streaming services like "Twitch", Telltale warned that latency issues may hamper the viewing players' experience. Telltale's head of creative communications Job Stauffer said that they had seen their games, as well as older point-and-click titles, popularized on streaming channels. Furthermore, when they premiered "Tales from the Borderlands" at the Alamo Drafthouse, they found the audience shouting out which choices the demonstrators should take. This led to them working to create a more interactive experience for watchers. They premiered this feature at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2016 to 500 attendees.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: "Batman: The Telltale Series", like most Batman centered media, is set within Gotham, a city infested with both crime and corruption. The time period which the series is set seems to be the mid-to-late 2010s, with technologies such as drones and smartphones being used by characters. Though a majority of the plot takes place in various areas of the city, the player visits several different landmarks on multiple occasions, including Wayne Manor, the Batcave, Gotham City Hall, GCPD Headquarters, and Arkham Asylum.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: The player-protagonist of "Batman" is Bruce Wayne (Troy Baker), secretly also the titular character. He is the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and the heir to the Wayne fortune, who uses his wealth to fund his activities as a vigilante. Wayne is assisted in his operations by Alfred Pennyworth (Enn Reitel), his butler and former guardian, and Lucius Fox (Dave Fennoy), the head of technology at Wayne Enterprises. Wayne is also friends with Harvey Dent (Travis Willingham), the District Attorney and Mayor candidate, and an associate of Vicki Vale (Erin Yvette), a reporter for the "Gotham Gazette". As Batman, he also receives occasional help from James Gordon (Murphy Guyer), a lieutenant and contact in the Gotham City Police Department, and Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Laura Bailey), a skilled thief who works with him if their needs align.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: The main antagonists of the series are a terrorist organization called the "Children of Arkham", led by a masked figure called "Lady Arkham" (Steven Blum). Members of the group include Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin (Jason Spisak) and Roland Desmond/Blockbuster (also voiced by Blum). Common criminals that appear in the game include Carmine Falcone (Richard McGonagle), the head of the Falcone Crime Family, and Hamilton Hill (Robert Pescovitz), the corrupt Mayor of Gotham City. Whilst at Arkham Asylum, the player also meets various inmates, including convicted serial killer Victor Zsasz (Kiff VandenHeuvel), former ventriloquist Arnold Wesker (Larry Brisbowitz), and the mysterious "John Doe" (Anthony Ingruber). Other characters that appear include GCPD Sergeant Renee Montoya (Krizia Bajos), Commissioner Peter Grogan (Robert Clotworthy), Wayne Enterprises chairwoman Regina Zellerbach (Lorri Holt), and Gotham City News reporter Jack Ryder (also voiced by Clotworthy). Flashbacks feature Bruce's deceased parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne (voiced by Baker and Holt, respectively), and their murderer Joe Chill (Jarion Monroe).


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: While responding to a break-in at the Gotham City Hall, Batman engages in combat with a group of mercenaries and Catwoman, the latter having broken into the Mayor's safe and stolen a drive. During the fight, Batman steals the drive whilst she manages to escape. Returning to Wayne Manor, Bruce endorses Harvey Dent's Mayoral campaign against Hamilton Hill, during which he meets crime lord Carmine Falcone. While investigating and decrypting the drive, Bruce receives word from Alfred that his childhood friend Oswald Cobblepot, now a criminal called "Penguin", has returned to Gotham. Meeting up in Cobblepot Park, Oswald warns Bruce of a revolution in Gotham.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Accusations come to light that Thomas and Martha Wayne had affiliations with the Falcone family. While meeting Harvey to discuss these claims, Bruce also meets Dent's date Selina Kyle, where they both deduce each other's identities. Selina reluctantly gives Bruce the address of a meeting place with her employer: a warehouse at the Gotham City docks. Investigating as Batman, he finds the location to be the site of a shootout between the GCPD and the same mercenaries from City Hall. Believing Falcone to be involved, Bruce also finds evidence of a psychoactive agent being stored there. After finishing the decryption of the drive, Bruce discovers evidence of Falcone's criminal organization, along with ties to Mayor Hill. After handing it over to either reporter Vicki Vale or Lt. James Gordon, he confronts Falcone as Batman and interrogates him about the shootout. Falcone admits to having ownership of the chemicals but denies involvement in the shootout. Under further interrogation, he also reveals that the allegations against the Wayne family are true, confirming this with a photograph of them, Hill and Falcone. When Bruce confronts Alfred, he learns that his parents collaborated with Falcone and Hill to control Gotham and that he had hidden the truth in the hopes he would not follow in their footsteps.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Whilst confronting Falcone on his family's criminal ties, Bruce witnesses his murder at the hands of a drugged officer, Renee Montoya. Based on her testimony upon recovering from the injection, Batman deduces that Penguin was responsible for the shootout at the docks and the assassination, having synthesized the stolen chemicals. After discovering that Cobblepot intends to murder Catwoman for failing her assignment, Bruce aids her escape. Stealing a phone from one of Selina's attackers, Bruce discovers that Hill has also been involved with Penguin and confronts him on the information. Under interrogation, Hill reveals to have leaked information about Falcone and the Waynes to Cobblepot and his organization, the Children of Arkham, to hold off their plans to attack him. He also reveals that he and Wayne had used Arkham Asylum, an ailing mental institution, to get rid of people privy to their activities.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: When Penguin and the Children of Arkham attack the Mayoral debate, Batman is forced to make an alliance with Catwoman to stop them. During the attack, Cobblepot unveils their leader, Lady Arkham, injects Dent and Hill with the drug, and unveils evidence of Thomas Wayne committing his mother to Arkham. The Children of Arkham escape, releasing a list of names of people committed by Wayne to Arkham unlawfully, killing Hill, and disfiguring Dent if the player chose not to intervene. With the GCPD struggling against the Children of Arkham, Gordon calls an alliance with Batman. Harvey is also sworn in as the new mayor but begins to exhibit signs of an aggressive split personality. Due to the allegations, Bruce is forced to step down as CEO of Wayne Enterprises, with Cobblepot replacing his position. Through Vale, Batman learns the Children of Arkham are operating out of a Sky Train Depot and stops a planned attack. During this, he is injured while fighting Lady Arkham. While staying at Selina's apartment to recover, Harvey discovers them and, believing them to be romantically tied, relinquishes control to his split-personality, "Two-Face". At a press conference announcing his resignation, Bruce is injected with the drug by Vale, who reveals herself to be Lady Arkham. Using the drug's influence, she goads him into attacking Cobblepot.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Committed to Arkham Asylum by Two-Face, Bruce meets and allies himself with a mysterious patient named "John Doe". Doe reveals Vicki's identity as a member of the Arkham family, whose parents were murdered by Thomas to keep his actions hidden, and sets up a fight to get Bruce bailed out, advising that he investigates the Vales. After curing himself of the drug's influence, Batman discovers that Vicki murdered her adoptive parents in order to use her father's company to store the drugs. After Batman survives an attack orchestrated by Penguin and relays the information to the GCPD, Two-Face, using a private army, blows up the warehouse and declares martial law. After discovering Penguin is hacking his tech, Batman is forced to choose whether to stop him and the Children of Arkham or Two-Face and his enforcers. Regardless of the choice, both are eventually subdued.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: After assisting in the capture of either Dent or Cobblepot, Bruce's public image begins to recover and he is reinstated at Wayne Enterprises. Selina leaves Gotham City after stealing a prototype from the company's R&D labs, though is forced to give it back after being caught by Bruce. Returning to Wayne Manor after receiving a call from Alfred, Bruce finds that the Children of Arkham had broken in and kidnapped Alfred. Using clues he finds in a message left by the group, Bruce discovers their new hideout and investigates as Batman. Upon arrival, he finds the Children of Arkham fled but discovers their plans to release the inmates of Arkham. Arriving at the asylum just as they release the inmates, Batman fights through the riots and helps the GCPD gain control. Pursuing Lady Arkham through the catacombs, he manages to rescue Alfred and defeat her. After the fight, Vicki is apparently killed as she attempts to escape the collapsing chamber.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: In the aftermath, Gordon is promoted to the Acting Police Commissioner to replace his deceased predecessor and plans to give a public speech regarding the incident. At Alfred's behest, Bruce attends the speech, either as himself or as Batman. An assassin launches an attack at the event but is quickly subdued. The series ends with Doe, watching the event live on television, formulating a plan for the future.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Bruner stated that the game would be similar in maturity to their previous titles "The Wolf Among Us" and "The Walking Dead". The game was rendered using a "non-photorealistic" style inspired by comic artists Jim Lee, Greg Capullo, and Neal Adams. To meet this, Telltale updated its game engine, the Telltale Tool, to be able to produce improved rendering results. While some improvements in the Tool were made for "" to include physics-based modeling and support for DirectX 11, "Batman" featured the full implementation of the new Tool. However, its development schedule was rushed, leading to some initial bugs on release, some of which were fixed a few weeks later.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Following Telltale Games' closure in 2018, some of the studio's games were acquired by Athlon Games. A new Telltale Games was reformed by LCG Entertainment in 2019. In December 2019, the new Telltale Games announced the "Telltale Batman Shadows Edition" of both of the Telltale "Batman" games, which includes a special noir-like filter the user can apply to the game, released on December 17, 2019 for Windows and Xbox One users, with other platforms to follow. Owners of either original game on any platform could upgrade to this version by purchasing a piece of downloadable content.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: The game was separated into five episodes, released in approximately monthly intervals for mobile devices, personal computers, and PlayStation and Xbox consoles. The version of the series for the Nintendo Switch was announced in August 2017, and was released on November 14, 2017.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: "Batman: The Telltale Series" received mixed reviews from critics. Critics praised Telltale's updated engine, the action sequences, atmosphere, and the portrayal of the titular character. However, the storytelling and presence of various technical issues was criticized.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 74/100 based on 39 reviews, the PlayStation 4 version 70/100 based on 22 reviews and the Xbox One version 65/100 based on 15 reviews.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 73/100 based on 20 reviews, the PlayStation 4 version 66/100 based on 13 reviews and the Xbox One version 83/100 based on 8 reviews.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 73/100 based on 16 reviews, the PlayStation 4 version 74/100 based on 11 reviews and the Xbox One version 73/100 based on 7 reviews.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 73/100 based on 11 reviews, the PlayStation 4 version 73/100 based on 12 reviews and the Xbox One version 75/100 based on 7 reviews.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 75/100 based on 14 reviews, the PlayStation 4 version 67/100 based on 12 reviews and the Xbox One version 76/100 based on 7 reviews.


title: Batman: The Telltale Series

text: Telltale announced during the July 2017 San Diego Comic Con that a second 5-episode season called "Batman: The Enemy Within" would launch on August 8, 2017, for PC, consoles, and mobile devices. The season focuses on Batman facing "John Doe", who has joined a criminal organization called "The Pact" consisting of supervillains such as Riddler, Harley Quinn, Bane, and Mr. Freeze as Bruce Wayne/Batman must work with both the Gotham City Police Department and the "Agency" led by Amanda Waller. While this will be a standalone title and does not require the first game, players' choices in the first game can influence the story in "The Enemy Within".


title: Teutons

text: The Teutons (, , ) were an ancient northern European tribe mentioned by Roman authors. The Teutons are best known for their participation, together with the Cimbri and other groups, in the Cimbrian War with the Roman Republic in the late second century BC.


title: Teutons

text: Julius Caesar described them as a Germanic people, a term he applied to all northern peoples located east of the Rhine, and later Roman authors followed him. On one hand, there is no direct evidence that they spoke a Germanic language, and evidence such as their name, and the names of their rulers, indicates at least a strong influence from Celtic languages. On the other hand the indications that classical authors gave about the homeland of the Teutones is considered by many scholars to show that they lived in an area associated with early Germanic languages, and not Celtic languages.


title: Teutons

text: The ethnonym is attested in Latin as "Teutonēs" or "Teutoni" (plural) or, more rarely, as "Teuton" or "Teutonus" (singular). It transparently derives from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stem *"teuteh₂-" ('people, tribe, crowd') attached to the suffix "-ones", which is commonly found in both Celtic (Lingones, Senones, etc.) and Germanic (Ingvaeones, Semnones, etc.) tribal names in the Roman era. The stem apparently had a lower-class connotation, as opposed to an elite group or a ruling class, and its original meaning in PIE times may have been 'the people under arms', as suggested by the Hittite "tuzzi"- and the Luwian "tuta" ('army').


title: Teutons

text: Thus, the name "Teutones" may be interpreted as deriving from Proto-Celtic *"towtā" ('people, tribe'), or it may have been from a stage of Germanic language development prior to the first consonantal shift ("pre-Germanic") (compare the later form *"þeudō"- 'nation, people, folk'; cf. Gothic "þiuda"). A possible corruption of the original name by Greek and Latin writers makes the attribution less secure.


title: Teutons

text: The much later use of "Teuton" to refer to speakers of West Germanic languages occurred in the Latin of monastic writers by the ninth century, and has continued into modern times. It originally served as a learned classical Latin word to be used instead of the similar sounding "theodiscus", an older term that was a Latinization of the then-current pronunciations of the West Germanic word for "of the people".


title: Teutons

text: In modern English, "Teuton" often has been used in a still broader way to mean the same as "Germanic".


title: Teutons

text: The Teutons commonly are classified as a Germanic tribe and thought probably to have spoken a Germanic language, although the evidence is fragmentary. However, because of the non-Germanic, possibly Celtic, form of the names of both the Teutones and their associates the Cimbri, as well as the personal names known from these tribes, some historians have suggested a Celtic origin for the Teutones.


title: Teutons

text: The earliest classical writers classified the Teutones as Celts, but more generally they did not distinguish between Celtic and Germanic peoples. Apparently, this distinction was first made by Julius Caesar, whose main concern was to argue that raids into southern Gaul and Italy by northern peoples who are less softened by Mediterranean civilization, should be seen in Rome as a systematic problem that can repeat in the future, and demands pre-emptive military action. This was his justification for invading northern Gaul.


title: Teutons

text: After Caesar, Strabo (died about AD 24) and Marcus Velleius Paterculus (died about AD 31) classify them as Germanic peoples. Pliny also classified them this way and specified that they were among the Ingaevones, related to the Cimbri and Chauci.


title: Teutons

text: The fourth century BC traveller, Pytheas, as reported by Pliny the Elder (died AD 79), described the Teutones as neighbours of the northern island of Abalus where amber washes up in the spring, which was traded from these Teutones. Abalus is one day's sail from a tidal marsh or estuary facing the ocean (an "aestuarium") called "Metuonis" where the Germanic "Guiones" (probably an error for Inguaeones, Gutones, or the Teutones themselves) lived.


title: Teutons

text: Pomponius Mela (died about AD 45) placed them on the largest island, Codannovia, presumed to be Scandinavia, which was one of a group of islands in a large bay called Codanus, open to the ocean. Traditionally, scholars interpret this bay as the Baltic sea.


title: Teutons

text: Plutarch in his biography of Marius, who fought the Teutones, wrote that they and Cimbri "had not had intercourse with other peoples, and had traversed a great stretch of country, so that it could not be ascertained what people it was nor whence they had set out". He reported that there were different conjectures: that they were "some of the German peoples which extended as far as the northern ocean"; that they were "Galloscythians", a mixture of Scythians and Celts who had lived as far east as the Black Sea, or that the Cimbri were Cimmerians, from even farther east.


title: Teutons

text: Surviving texts based on the work of the geographer Ptolemy mentioned both Teutones and ""Teutonoaroi"" in Germania, but this is in a part of his text that has become garbled in surviving copies. Gudmund Schütte proposed that the two peoples should be understood as one, but that different versions of works based on that of Ptolemy used literary sources such as Pliny and Mela to place them in different positions somewhere near the Cimbri, in a part of the landscape they did not have good information for - either in Zealand or Scandinavia, or else somewhere on the southern Baltic coast.


title: Teutons

text: The name of the district of Thy in Jutland has been connected to the name of the Teutons, a proposal in line with ancient reports that they came from that area.


title: Teutons

text: After achieving decisive victories over the Romans at Noreia and Arausio in 105 BC, the Cimbri and Teutones divided their forces. Gaius Marius then defeated them separately in 102 BC and 101 BC respectively, ending the Cimbrian War. The defeat of the Teutones occurred at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae (near present-day Aix-en-Provence).


title: Teutons

text: According to the writings of Valerius Maximus and Florus, the king of the Teutones, Teutobod, was taken in irons after the Teutones were defeated by the Romans. Under the conditions of the surrender, three hundred married women were to be handed over to the victorious Romans as concubines and slaves. When the matrons of the Teutones heard of this stipulation, they begged the consul that they might instead be allowed to minister in the temples of Ceres and Venus. When their request was denied, the Teutonic women slew their own children. The next morning, all the women were found dead in each other's arms, having strangled each other during the night. Their joint martyrdom passed into Roman legends of Teutonic fury.


title: Teutons

text: Reportedly, some surviving captives participated as the rebelling gladiators in the Third Servile War of 73-71 BC.


title: Joachim

text: Joachim (; "Yəhōyāqīm", "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocryphal Gospel of James. His feast day is 26 July, a date shared with Saint Anne.


title: Joachim

text: The story of Joachim, his wife Anne (or Anna), and the miraculous birth of their child Mary, the mother of Jesus, was told for the first time in the 2nd-century apocryphal infancy-gospel the Gospel of James (also called Protoevangelium of James). Joachim was a rich and pious man, who regularly gave to the poor. However, Charles Souvay, writing in the "Catholic Encyclopedia", says that the idea that Joachim possessed large herds and flocks is doubtful.


title: Joachim

text: At the temple, Joachim's sacrifice was rejected, as the couple's childlessness was interpreted as a sign of divine displeasure. Joachim consequently withdrew to the desert, where he fasted and did penance for 40 days. Angels then appeared to both Joachim and Anne to promise them a child.


title: Joachim

text: Joachim later returned to Jerusalem and embraced Anne at the city gate, located in the Walls of Jerusalem. An ancient belief held that a child born of an elderly mother who had given up hope of having offspring was destined for great things. Parallels occur in the Old Testament in the case of Sarah, the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac, Hannah, the mother of Samuel, and in the New Testament in the case of the parents of St John the Baptist.


title: Joachim

text: The cycle of legends concerning Joachim and Anne was included in the Golden Legend (around 1260) by Jacobus de Voragine. This cycle remained popular in Christian art until the Council of Trent (1545–1563) restricted the depiction of apocryphal events.


title: Joachim

text: No liturgical celebration of Saint Joachim was included in the Tridentine Calendar. It was added to the General Roman Calendar in 1584, for celebration on 20 March, the day after the feast day of Saint Joseph. In 1738, it was transferred to the Sunday within the Octave of the Assumption of Mary. As part of his effort to allow the liturgy of Sundays to be celebrated, Pope Pius X (term 1903–1914) transferred it to 16 August, the day after the Assumption, so Joachim may be remembered in the celebration of Mary's triumph. It was then celebrated as a Double of the Second Class, a rank that was changed in 1960 to that of Second Class Feast. In the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, it was joined to that of Anne, for celebration on 26 July.


title: Joachim

text: The Eastern Orthodox Churches and Greek Catholics commemorate Joachim on 9 September, the Synaxis of Joachim and Anne, the day after the Nativity of the Theotokos.


title: Joachim

text: Joachim is named as the patron saint of fathers, grandfathers, grandparents, married couples, cabinet makers, and linen traders.


title: Joachim

text: In medieval art he often wears a conical Jewish hat. He is often treated as a saint, with a halo, but in the Western church there was some awareness that he had quite likely died too soon to strictly be counted as a Christian.


title: Joachim

text: Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate was a popular subject in artistic renditions of the life of the Virgin.


title: Joachim

text: Symbols associated with Saint Joachim include a book or scroll representing linen makers, a shepherd's staff for the Christian Word, and a basket of doves representing peace. He is almost always clothed in green, the color of hope.


title: Joachim

text: The name of the San Joaquin River dates to 1805–1808, when Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga was surveying east from Mission San José in order to find possible sites for a mission. The name was in common use by 1810.


title: Joachim

text: In Islam he is called Imran (), and one of his believed graves is in Salalah; which is claimed to be the "longest grave in the world" (12 metres).


title: Battle of Towton

text: The Battle of Towton took place on 29 March 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, near Towton in North Yorkshire, and "has the dubious distinction of being probably the largest and bloodiest battle on English soil". Fought for ten hours between an estimated 50,000 soldiers in a snowstorm on Palm Sunday, the Yorkist army achieved a decisive victory over their Lancastrian opponents. As a result, Edward IV deposed the Lancastrian Henry VI and secured the English throne.


title: Battle of Towton

text: Henry VI succeeded his father Henry V at the age of one in 1422, but was a weak, ineffectual and mentally unsound ruler, which encouraged the nobles to scheme for control over him. The situation deteriorated in the 1450s into a civil war between his Beaufort relatives and queen Margaret of Anjou on one side, with those of his cousin Richard, Duke of York on the other. In October 1460, Parliament passed the Act of Accord naming York as Henry's successor, but neither the queen nor her Lancastrian allies would accept the disinheritance of her son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. They raised a large army, who defeated and killed York and his second son Edmund at Wakefield in December. Financed by the City of London his son and heir, Edward, found enough backing to denounce Henry and declare himself king. The Battle of Towton was to affirm the victor's right to rule over England through force of arms.


title: Battle of Towton

text: On reaching the battlefield, the Yorkists found themselves heavily outnumbered, since part of their force under the Duke of Norfolk had yet to arrive. The Yorkist leader Lord Fauconberg turned the tables by ordering his archers to take advantage of the strong wind to outrange their enemies. The one-sided missile exchange, with Lancastrian arrows falling short of the Yorkist ranks, provoked the Lancastrians into abandoning their defensive positions. The ensuing hand-to-hand combat lasted hours, exhausting the combatants. The arrival of Norfolk's men reinvigorated the Yorkists and, encouraged by Edward, they routed their foes. Many Lancastrians were killed while fleeing; some trampled one another and others drowned in the rivers, which are said to have run red with blood for several days. Several high-ranking prisoners were also executed.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The strength of the House of Lancaster was severely reduced as a result of this battle. Henry fled the country and many of his most powerful followers were dead or in exile after the engagement, leaving a new king, Edward IV, to rule England. In 1929 the Towton Cross was erected on the battlefield to commemorate the event. Various archaeological remains and mass graves related to the battle have been found in the area centuries after the engagement.


title: Battle of Towton

text: In 1461 England was in the sixth year of the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster over the English throne. The Lancastrians backed the reigning King of England, Henry VI, a weak and indecisive man who suffered from intermittent bouts of madness. The leader of the Yorkists was initially Richard, Duke of York, who resented the dominance of a small number of aristocrats favoured by the king, principally his close relatives, the Beaufort family. Fuelled by rivalries between influential supporters of both factions, York's attempts to displace Henry's favourites from power led to war. After capturing Henry at the Battle of Northampton in 1460, the duke, who was of royal blood, issued his claim to the throne. Even York's closest supporters among the nobility were reluctant to usurp the dynasty; the nobles passed by a majority vote the Act of Accord, which ruled that the duke and his heirs would succeed to the throne upon Henry's death.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The Queen of England, Margaret of Anjou, refused to accept an arrangement that deprived her son—Edward of Westminster—of his birthright. She had fled to Scotland after the Yorkist victory at Northampton; there she began raising an army, promising her followers the freedom to plunder on the march south through England. Her Lancastrian supporters also mustered in the north of England, preparing for her arrival. York marched with his army to meet this threat but he was lured into a trap at the Battle of Wakefield and killed. The duke and his second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland were decapitated by the Lancastrians and their heads were impaled on spikes atop the Micklegate Bar, a gatehouse of the city of York. The leadership of the House of York passed to the duke's heir, Edward.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The victors of Wakefield were joined by Margaret's army and marched south, plundering settlements along the way. They liberated Henry after defeating the Yorkist army of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, in the Second Battle of St Albans and continued pillaging on their way to London. The city of London refused to open its gates to Henry and Margaret for fear of being looted. The Lancastrian army was short of supplies and had no adequate means to replenish them. When Margaret learned that Richard of York's eldest son, Edward, Earl of March, and his army had won the Battle of Mortimer's Cross in Herefordshire and were marching towards London, she withdrew the Lancastrians to York. Warwick and the remnants of his army marched from St Albans to join Edward's men and the Yorkists were welcomed into London. Having lost custody of Henry, the Yorkists needed a justification to continue the rebellion against the king and his Lancastrian followers. On 4 March Warwick proclaimed the young Yorkist leader as King Edward IV. The proclamation gained greater acceptance than Richard of York's earlier claim, as several nobles opposed to letting Edward's father ascend the throne viewed the Lancastrian actions as a betrayal of the legally established Accord.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The country now had two kings — a situation that could not be allowed to persist, especially if Edward were to be formally crowned. Edward offered an amnesty to any Lancastrian supporter who renounced Henry. The move was intended to win over the commoners; his offer did not extend to wealthy Lancastrians (mostly the nobles). The young king summoned and ordered his followers to march towards York to take back his family's city and to depose Henry formally through force of arms. The Yorkist army moved along three routes. Warwick's uncle, Lord Fauconberg, led a group to clear the way to York for the main body, which was led by Edward. The Duke of Norfolk was sent east to raise forces and rejoin Edward before the battle. Warwick's group moved to the west of the main body, through the Midlands, gathering men as they went. On 28 March, the leading elements of the Yorkist army came upon the remains of the crossing in Ferrybridge crossing the River Aire. They were rebuilding the bridge when they were attacked and routed by a band of about 500 Lancastrians, led by Lord Clifford.


title: Battle of Towton

text: Learning of the encounter, Edward led the main Yorkist army to the bridge and was forced into a gruelling battle: although the Yorkists were superior in numbers, the narrow bridge was a bottleneck, forcing them to confront Clifford's men on equal terms. Edward sent Fauconberg and his horsemen to ford the river at Castleford, which should have been guarded by Henry, Earl of Northumberland, but he arrived late, by which time the Yorkists had crossed the ford and were heading to attack the Lancastrians at Ferrybridge from the flank. The Lancastrians retreated but were chased to Dinting Dale, where they were all killed, Clifford being slain by an arrow to his throat. Having cleared the vicinity of enemy forces, the Yorkists repaired the bridge and pressed onwards to camp overnight at Sherburn-in-Elmet. The Lancastrian army marched to Tadcaster, about north of Towton, and made camp. As dawn broke the two rival armies struck camp under dark skies and strong winds. Although it was Palm Sunday, a day of holy significance to Christians, the forces prepared for battle and a few documents named the engagement the Battle of "Palme Sonday Felde" but the name did not gain wide acceptance. Popular opinion favoured naming the battle after the village of Towton because of its proximity and it being the most prominent in the area.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The armies gathered at Towton were among the largest at the time. Contemporary sources (like "Gregory's Chronicle") claimed that the soldiers on each side numbered in the hundreds of thousands. These figures are thought to be exaggerated, and modern historians believe that a combined figure of 50,000–65,000 is more likely, between one and two percent of the English population at the time. An analysis of 50 skeletons found in mass graves between 1996 and 2003 showed most were 24 to 30 years old and many were veterans of previous engagements.


title: Battle of Towton

text: Henry's physical and mental frailty was a major weakness for the Lancastrian cause, and he remained in York with Margaret. In contrast the 18-year-old Edward was a tall and imposing sight in armour and led from the front: his preference for bold offensive tactics determined the Yorkist plan of action for this engagement. His presence and example were crucial to ensuring the Yorkists held together through the long and exhausting struggle.


title: Battle of Towton

text: Approximately three-quarters of English peers fought in the battle; eight were with the Yorkist army, whereas the Lancastrians had at least nineteen.


title: Battle of Towton

text: Of the other Yorkist leaders, Warwick was absent from the battle, having suffered a leg wound at Ferrybridge. Norfolk was too old to participate and his contingent was commanded by Walter Blount and Robert Horne; this may have been an advantage, since he was regarded as an unpredictable ally. Edward relied heavily on Warwick's uncle, Lord Fauconberg, a veteran of the Anglo-French wars, highly regarded by contemporaries for his military skills. He demonstrated this in a wide range of roles, having captained the Calais garrison, led naval piracy expeditions in the Channel, and commanded the Yorkist vanguard at Northampton.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The senior Lancastrian general was Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, an experienced leader credited with victories at Wakefield and St Albans, although others suggest they were due to Sir Andrew Trollope. Trollope was an extremely experienced and astute commander, who served under Warwick in Calais, before defecting to the Lancastrians at Ludford Bridge in 1459. Other notable Lancastrian leaders included Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, and northern magnates the Earl of Northumberland, Lord de Ros and Lord Dacre. Another leading Lancastrian, Lord Clifford, had been killed by an arrow in the throat at Ferrybridge.


title: Battle of Towton

text: Very few historical sources give detailed accounts of the battle and they do not describe the exact deployments of the armies. The paucity of such primary sources led early historians to adopt Hall's chronicle as their main resource for the engagement, despite its authorship 70 years after the event and questions over the origin of his information. The Burgundian chronicler Jean de Waurin (c. 1398 – c. 1474) was a more contemporary source, but his chronicle was made available to the public only from 1891, and several mistakes in it discouraged historians at that time from using it. Later reconstructions of the battle were based on Hall's version, supplemented by minor details from other sources.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The battle took place on a plateau between the villages of Saxton (to the south) and Towton (to the north). The region was agricultural land, with plenty of wide open areas and small roads on which to manoeuvre the armies. Two roads ran through the area: the Old London Road, which connected Towton to the English capital, and a direct road between Saxton and Towton. The steeply banked Cock Beck flowed in an S-shaped course around the plateau from the north to west. The plateau was bisected by the Towton Dale, which ran from the west and extended into the North Acres in the east. Woodlands were scattered along the beck; Renshaw Woods lined the river on the north-western side of the plateau, and south of Towton Dale, Castle Hill Wood grew on the west side of the plateau at a bend in the beck. The area to the north-east of this forest would be known as Bloody Meadow after the battle.


title: Battle of Towton

text: According to Gravett and fellow military enthusiast Trevor James Halsall, Somerset's decision to engage the Yorkist army on this plateau was sound. Defending the ground just before Towton would block any enemy advance towards the city of York, whether they moved along the London–Towton road or an old Roman road to the west. The Lancastrians deployed on the north side of the dale, using the valley as a "protective ditch"; the disadvantage of this position was that they could not see beyond the southern ridge of the dale. The Lancastrian flanks were protected by marshes; their right was further secured by the steep banks of the Cock Beck. The width of their deployment area did not allow for a longer front line, depriving the Lancastrians of the opportunity to use their numerical superiority. Waurin's account gave rise to the suggestion that Somerset ordered a force of mounted spearmen to conceal itself in Castle Hill Wood, ready to charge into the Yorkist left flank at an opportune time in battle.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The Yorkists appeared as the Lancastrians finished deployment. Line after line of soldiers crested the southern ridge of the dale and formed up in ranks opposite their enemies as snow began to fall. Edward's army was outnumbered and Norfolk's troops had yet to arrive to join them. The Yorkist vanguard was commanded by Lord Fauconberg. Hall names John Wenlock and John Dinham and others as commanders of the Yorkist rearguard. Sources variously mention the Duke of Somerset, Trollope, the Earl of Northumberland and the Duke of Exeter as the commanders of the Lancastrian host, but show little agreement as to which portion of the host each of them was assigned.


title: Battle of Towton

text: As Somerset was content to stand and let his foes come to him, the opening move of the battle was made by the Yorkists. Noticing the direction and strength of the wind, Fauconberg ordered all Yorkist archers to step forward and unleash a volley of their arrows from what would be the standard maximum range of their longbows. With the wind behind them, the Yorkist missiles travelled farther than usual, plunging deep into the masses of soldiers on the hill slope.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The response from the Lancastrian archers was ineffective as the heavy wind blew snow in their faces. They found it difficult to judge the range and pick out their targets and their arrows fell short of the Yorkist ranks; Fauconberg had ordered his men to retreat after loosing one volley, thus avoiding any casualties. Unable to observe their results, the Lancastrians loosed their arrows until most had been used, leaving a thick, prickly carpet in the ground in front of the Yorkists.


title: Battle of Towton

text: After the Lancastrians had ceased loosing their arrows, Fauconberg ordered his archers to step forward again to shoot. When they had exhausted their ammunition, the Yorkists plucked arrows off the ground in front of them—arrows loosed by their foes—and continued shooting. Coming under attack without any effective response of its own, the Lancastrian army moved from its position to engage the Yorkists in close combat. Seeing the advancing mass of men, the Yorkist archers shot a few more volleys before retreating behind their ranks of men-at-arms, leaving thousands of arrows in the ground to hinder the Lancastrian attack.


title: Battle of Towton

text: As the Yorkists reformed their ranks to receive the Lancastrian charge, their left flank came under attack by the horsemen from Castle Hill Wood mentioned by Waurin. The Yorkist left wing fell into disarray and several men started to flee. Edward had to take command of the left wing to save the situation. By engaging in the fight and encouraging his followers, his example inspired many to stand their ground. The armies clashed and archers shot into the mass of men at short range. The Lancastrians continuously threw fresher men into the fray and gradually the numerically inferior Yorkist army was forced to give ground and retreat up the southern ridge. Gravett thought that the Lancastrian left had less momentum than the rest of its formation, skewing the line of battle such that its western end tilted towards Saxton.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The fighting continued for three hours, according to research by English Heritage, a government body in charge of conservation of historic sites. It was indecisive until the arrival of Norfolk's men. Marching up the Old London Road, Norfolk's contingent was hidden from view until they crested the ridge and attacked the Lancastrian left flank. The Lancastrians continued to give fight but the advantage had shifted to the Yorkists. By the end of the day, the Lancastrian line had broken up, as small groups of men began fleeing for their lives. Polydore Vergil, chronicler for Henry VII of England, claimed that combat lasted for a total of 10 hours.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The tired Lancastrians flung off their helmets and armour to run faster. Without such protection, they were much more vulnerable to the attacks of the Yorkists. Norfolk's troops were much fresher and faster. Fleeing across what would later become known as Bloody Meadow, many Lancastrians were cut down from behind or were slain after they had surrendered. Before the battle, both sides had issued the order to give no quarter and the Yorkists were in no mood to spare anyone after the long, gruelling fight. A number of Lancastrians, such as Trollope, also had substantial bounties on their heads. Gregory's chronicle stated 42 knights were killed after they were taken prisoner.


title: Battle of Towton

text: Archaeological findings in the late 20th century shed light on the final moments of the battle. In 1996 workmen at a construction site in the village of Towton uncovered a mass grave, which archaeologists believed to contain the remains of men who were slain during or after the battle in 1461. The bodies showed severe injuries to their upper torsos; arms and skulls were cracked or shattered. One exhumed specimen, known as Towton 25, had the front of his skull bisected: a weapon had slashed across his face, cutting a deep wound that split the bone. The skull was also pierced by another deep wound, a horizontal cut from a blade across the back.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The Lancastrians lost more troops in their rout than from the battlefield. Men struggling across the Cock Beck were dragged down by currents and drowned. Those floundering were stepped on and pushed under water by their comrades behind them as they rushed to get away from the Yorkists. As the Lancastrians struggled across the beck Yorkist archers rode to high vantage points and shot arrows at them. The dead began to pile up and the chronicles state that the Lancastrians eventually fled across these "bridges" of bodies. The chase continued northwards across the River Wharfe, which was larger than Cock Beck. A bridge over the river collapsed under the flood of men and many drowned trying to cross. Those who hid in Tadcaster and York were hunted down and killed.


title: Battle of Towton

text: A newsletter dated 4 April 1461 reported a widely circulated figure of 28,000 casualties in the battle, which Charles Ross and other historians believe was exaggerated. The number was taken from the heralds' estimate of the dead and appeared in letters from Edward and the Bishop of Salisbury, Richard Beauchamp. Letters from an ambassador and a merchant from the duchy of Milan broke this number down into 8,000 dead for the Yorkists and 20,000 for the Lancastrians; in contrast, bishops Nicholas O'Flanagan (Elphin) and Francesco Coppini reported only 800 dead Yorkists. Other contemporary sources gave higher numbers, ranging from 30,000 to 38,000; Hall quoted an exact figure of 36,776. An exception was the "Annales rerum anglicarum", which stated the Lancastrians had 9,000 casualties, an estimate Ross and Wolffe found to be more believable. A more recent analysis of the sources and archaeological evidence, which posits accounts of Towton were combined with those of the actions of Ferrybridge and Dintingdale, suggests total casualty figures in the range 2800 - 3800.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The Lancastrian nobility sustained heavy losses. The Earl of Northumberland, lords Welles, Mauley, and Dacre, and Sir Andrew Trollope fell in battle, while the earls of Devon and Wiltshire were afterwards taken and executed. Lord Dacre was said to have been killed by an archer who was perched in a "bur tree" (a local term for an elder). In contrast, the Yorkists lost only one notable member of the gentry—Horne—at Towton.


title: Battle of Towton

text: On receiving news of their army's defeat, Henry fled into exile in Scotland with his wife and son. They were later joined by Somerset, Ros, Exeter, and the few Lancastrian nobles who escaped from the battlefield. The Battle of Towton severely reduced the power of the House of Lancaster in England; the linchpins of their power at court (Northumberland, Clifford, Ros, and Dacre) had either died or fled the country, ending the house's domination over the north of England. Edward further exploited the situation, naming 14 Lancastrian peers as traitors. Approximately 96 Lancastrians of the rank of knight and below were also attainted—24 of them members of parliament.


title: Battle of Towton

text: The new king preferred winning over his enemies to his cause; the nobles he attainted either died in the battle or had refused to submit to him. The estates of a few of these nobles were confiscated by the crown but the rest were untouched, remaining in the care of their families. Edward also pardoned many of those he attainted after they submitted to his rule.


title: Battle of Towton

text: Although Henry was at large in Scotland with his son, the battle put an end (for the time being) to disputes over the country's state of leadership since the Act of Accord. The English people were assured that there was now one true king—Edward. He turned his attention to consolidating his rule over the country, winning over the people and putting down the rebellions raised by the few remaining Lancastrian diehards. He knighted several of his supporters and elevated several of his gentry supporters to the peerage; Fauconberg was made the Earl of Kent. Warwick benefited from Edward's rule after the battle. He received parts of Northumberland's and Clifford's holdings, and was made "the king's lieutenant in the North and admiral of England." Edward bestowed on him many offices of power and wealth, further enhancing the earl's considerable influence and riches.


title: Battle of Towton

text: By 1464, the Yorkists had "wiped out all effective Lancastrian resistance in the north of England." Edward's reign was not interrupted until 1470; by then, his relationship with Warwick had deteriorated to such an extent that the earl defected to the Lancastrians and forced Edward to flee England, restoring Henry to the throne. The interruption of Yorkist rule was brief, as Edward regained his throne after defeating Warwick and his Lancastrian cohorts at the Battle of Barnet in 1471.


title: Battle of Towton

text: In the sixteenth century William Shakespeare wrote a number of dramatisations of historic figures. The use of history as a backdrop, against which the familiar characters act out Shakespeare's drama, lends a sense of realism to his plays. Shakespeare wrote a three-part play about Henry VI, relying heavily on Hall's chronicle as a source. His vision of the Battle of Towton ("Henry VI", Part 3, Act 2, Scene 5), touted as the "bloodiest" engagement in the Wars of the Roses, became a set piece about the "terror of civil war, a "national" terror that is essentially "familial"". Historian Bertram Wolffe said it was thanks to Shakespeare's dramatisation of the battle that the weak and ineffectual Henry was at least remembered by English society, albeit for his pining to have been born a shepherd rather than a king.


title: Battle of Towton

text: Shakespeare's version of the battle presents a notable scene that comes immediately after Henry's soliloquy. Henry witnesses the laments of two soldiers in the battle. One slays his opponent in hope of plunder, only to find the victim is his son; the other kills his enemy, who turns out to be his father. Both killers have acted out of greed and fell into a state of deep grieving after discovering their misdeeds. Shakespearian scholar Arthur Percival Rossiter names the scene as the most notable of the playwright's written "rituals". The delivery of the event follows the pattern of an opera: after a long speech, the actors alternate among one another to deliver single-line asides to the audience. In this scene of grief – in a reversal of the approach adopted in his later historical plays – Shakespeare uses anonymous fictional characters to illustrate the ills of civil war while a historical king reflects on their fates. Michael Hattaway, Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Sheffield, comments that Shakespeare intended to show Henry's sadness over the war, to elicit the same emotion among the audience and to expose Henry's ineptitude as king.