Gregor Hartway

Gregor Hartway is a main character and one of the series' three protagonists in Thrilling Intent.
== History ==
Gregor was born in Renalanhttps://youtu.be/l2BIfjEW9gA?t=1m37s to a family of rock farmers. He was eight years old when his village was raided and his family devoured by owlbears. He was saved by the Outriders, a famous band of monster slayers, whom he shortly joined and came to regard as a second family. Alongside other children from similar circumstances, such as Aryn, he was trained in combat and became an apprentice to their leader, Ventis. One day during training, before Gregor became a highly skilled warrior, he was training underneath an instructor named Simon. Incompetent with any weapon given to him, he asked to try out the Glaive; a weapon used by their leader Ventis. The instructor laughed, however, offering Gregor a spear, which he proved to be incredibly proficient with. However, the instructor immediately afterwards shattered it out of anger that Gregor actually struck him. Afterwards, Ventis walked into the training grounds, giving his glaive up to Gregor. He also may have learned the stance of the leaping lizard here, however possibly not, as the dream that this information was given in was meddled with by Ashe and Markus.
The Outriders were slaughtered under as of yet unexplained circumstances. What is known is that the Outriders were all captured and executed by the church of Renalan after the Outriders killed a being thought to be an old god, with some claiming that the Outriders were working to kill the king of Renalan. Gregor managed to have run away and escape interrogation, eventually finding his way through the marsh of Renalan and end up in Altreia. Afterwards, he heard about Meadshire #7, and decided to go there in pursuit of adventure. He now seeks to recreate The Outriders and become the leader he was apprenticed to be.
Meadshire allowed Gregor into their bogus adventurer program in exchange for strength training, but regretted it when he refused to play along and escape from jail as intended. Thog hired Markus to remove Gregor, and they've been traveling together ever since.
== Appearance ==
Gregor has a small, lean, athletic frame and a youthful appearance. He has brown eyes and long brown hair that he keeps tied back, wears a long red shirt over loose white pants, leather pauldrons and a leather chest piece. His clothes hide numerous battle scars, a large one on his chest from his near-death encounter with Sir Dunstan. The symbol of The Outriders has been branded onto his chest.
== Personality ==
Gregor is cheerful and optimistic, polite, and a bit naive. His strong sense of justice leads him to help and protect the innocent, particularly by killing monsters. While he does not seek gratitude, he responds well to encouragement and does value official recognition of his martial prowess in the form of titles. He has great confidence in his abilities and his weapon, and while to some it may come off as arrogance, he rarely disappoints. When not killing monsters, he enjoys training, knitting and gardening. One of his worst fears is losing his friends.
He appears untroubled, even dismissive, of the tragedy in his life (although he does frequently have nightmares). His inner tranquility seems to come from his practice of rigid self-discipline and exercise. Many of his habits, such as his abstinence from meat and alcohol, are a holdover from his training with The Outriders. He has a strong attachment to his glaive and experiences severe separation anxiety when away from it. When Markus accidentally damages it, this causes Gregor to loudly exclaim "WHAT THE FUCK MARKUS," much to the group's surprise. When separated from a glaive, he also feels immense anxiousness, and becomes heavily focused on getting a glaive back. However, when directly confronted by a member of The Church during "The Calm" and "A Storm", Gregor becomes incredibly intense, reverting back to his "persona" as Gregor's Evil Twin, while Ashe and the rest of the group believed it was solely out of fear, "A Storm" revealed that it's also mixed with an incredible amount of rage.     
Gregor displays some typical qualities of a lawful good alignment, including black and white thinking and an unwillingness to consider the perspective of others. Though during all of the conflicts he's been in, he almost always seems to keep a level head and rarely raises his voice. He is decisive and acts without hesitation according to his convictions. He also commonly throws himself into harm's way to keep others from being harmed. His mentality, especially regarding monsters, can frighten others at times. Inien remarks how she's "afraid she'll say something that'll set Gregor off on a psychotic rampage," to which Gregor replied, "It's more like an organized slaughter."   
While often considered unintelligent, it's more likely due to lack of proper education rather than natural lack of intelligence. He has displayed an amount of knowledge and understanding of monsters that's impressed even Inien.
In a fight he's usually one to take point, distracting the monster or enemy from the others and protecting them from harm. Much to Markus and Inien's surprise, he's a very good tactician and is willing to take hits and massive risks if it'll get him to his objective faster. The most notable examples are when he took a blow to the neck to get to Ashe during "Liquor and Spirits" and when he committed suicide so he could deal with Charoth's "Inky Black Creatures." Though, it seems in battle his attention can be shifted very easily by an ally, or more specifically Ashe, much to her dismay. 
Gregor has been shown to befriend some unusual people, such as Zalvetta and Inien. One would think they would butt heads because of their differing alignments. Whether he realizes their actions or not is another thing entirely, regardless he's wormed his way into the soft spots of a lot of cold-blooded people. Though Gregor remarks in Harpy's Nest "[that] he uses his position as someone's friend to influence others into being better people," and states that's what he's done with Ashe; whether he was being serious or not is unknown. Even with all the stress he can put the group under, they still manage to have a soft spot towards him, likely due to his intentions purely being based around helping people. 
== Abilities ==
Gregor is fast, very strong, capable of jumping long distances easily, and enjoys performing complicated flips and flourishes while fighting. An extensive knowledge of monster lore helps when it comes to determining his opponents' strengths and weaknesses. Like many of the Outriders, he's trained in archery as well as other weapons such as the axe. It should be noted that without his glaive, Gregor has trouble properly fighting, with him explaining that the Outriders didn't teach unarmed combat much as, if you were unarmed, you were probably dead anyways. In spite of this, Gregor is shown to be exceptionally adept at fighting with his fist, even being able to use his Bread Brain while momentarily unarmed, though he still vastly prefers the Glaive. 
Gregor has shown to be immune to Verne's curses, and the reason for this has yet to to be revealed.
His special combat abilities take the form of stances, some of which are:
* Stance of Clarity; allows him to view the life history of an opponent, and later to utilize his bread brain and focus.
* The Elusive Clam; increases his ability to evade attacks by wiggling
* Charging Minotaur; allows him to charge straight ahead at an enemy at incredible speeds
* Leaping Lizard; allows him to leap, make an attack, and leap again
* Juking Jackrabbit; he hops back and forth
* Flattening Flounder; Allows him to slip, and slide like a slippery fish. He can also spin at surprising speeds.
* Swishy Fish: Makes his bones more malleable
* Hungry Hungry Spider: A rarer stance. Makes one more spider-like. Is good at catching apples.
As well as two techniques:
* Falling Star; a downward aerial attack
* Comet Strike; a flip attack that sends an enemy flying backwards, requires haste.
He can also turn into an "owl" (with some assistance), but this ability has yet to be utilized, and is incredibly good at embroidery.
=== Pandimensional Sight ===
As observed first in the Harpy's Nest, Gregor can see the weak points/sources of magic attacks objects and use them to seamlessly cut through them with his glaive, or his hands as seen in "Soldiers of Silver Part 9" if disarmed, albeit less effectively. More precisely, Gregor is able to see into a 'true world', having also been called The Verse, utilizing the way things should be to cut away at the imperfect way that they are. This world is the underlying framework for all planes in existence, the cutting of which may have yet unseen side effects. Magic is a particularly potent violation of this 'true world', and thus is able to be cut through incredibly easily. This ability has been dubbed 'Bread Brain', also often being called Pandimensional Sight, after a metaphor discussed between Faria and Gregor, describing this 'true world' as a recipe for bread, with Gregor being able to see the variation from the recipe and cut away at it. This was a product of his touch with death during BIG WAR, with Narn describing Gregor as a 'Verse Unbound' after the fact, his ability to see magic, and this 'Verse' being honed by the fact he was surrounded by magic users regularly. In part 50 of A Storm, The Ashen Knight describes his ability as being "Blessed to see the cursed", and his experiences encountering The Verse along with his recent proximity to the knight merely escalating his innate ability. Once he was able to see it, he eventually learned to touch this true wold. Using this ability notably puts a fair amount of strain on Gregor however, exhausting him fairly quickly. However, as time goes on and he uses it more, his power seems to have grown stronger, as without even thinking about it, a crate that he had laid to rest on had been cut and distorted by his bare hand.
The bread brain power can technically be used to cut anything. It is simply far easier to cut that which is magical, as it conflicts with The Verse's instructions. However, cutting that which is physical or mundane with the technique can have grave consequences, having required Gregor to essentially die momentarily to work.
=== The Glaive ===
Gregor has had two Glaives through the run of the series. His first Glaive was the Glaive of the Waves, which alongside the general cutting prowess and strength that any glaive wielded by Gregor possesses, even more so thanks to the water-like enchantment, had the ability to calm one with the touch of its flat end. 
After the destructon of his first Glaive, Gregor recieved a new one from Xavin Skalbern the Second known as The Salamander, which remains as his current glaive. Alongside its regular glaive powers, it also possesses the prowess for destructive fiery slashes.
== Relationships ==
=== Family ===
* Grandfather ("Grandpappy Hartway"; deceased)
* Father ("Papa Hartway"; deceased)
* Mother ("Mama Hartway"; deceased)
=== Ashe ===
Despite the constant disagreements between the two of them, Gregor considers Ashe to be a close friend. He shows great concern whenever she leaves the group to contemplate, saying "I wish she would talk to us"; ironically, Gregor's refusal to discuss problems is often the cause of this. However after BIG WAR they have grown significantly closer as friends and haven't fought since. Though interestingly enough Ash was shown as one of Gregor's greatest fears during their fight with Lord Pyrethum during BIG WAR, Gregor did not seem to have much trouble dealing with the fear though. The exact reason for his fears taking her shape is unknown, but it could have been a representation of the party's inter group conflicts that just took the shape of Ashe due to the pair being at odds.
=== Markus ===
Gregor is very close to Markus who he believes to have helped him prove his innocence in Meadshire. Gregor was originally distressed when Markus would enlarge him but has since grown to accept it. They are often goofing around with Kyr. Nonetheless, Markus is disappointed in Gregor when he finds out Gregor took Telvillian's Tear to Eocho without further discussing it with the group. Markus has and continually contradicts everything Gregor thought he knew about magic. While Markus believes he's a mentor figure to Gregor, it seems that Gregor doesn't share the same sentiment.
=== Kyr ===
Much like with Markus, Gregor is shown to be close with Kyr and is often seen messing around with him and Markus. Kyr shares Gregor's interest in knitting and the two have been shown discussing knitting techniques. While Gregor trusts Kyr as a friend, he recognizes that there are some things Kyr should not be let near.
=== Inien ===
Despite their obviously differing morals, Inien and Gregor get along surprisingly well. He ends up taking her side at the end of the Wizard High School arc. For whatever reason, Inien displays a soft spot towards Gregor, even saying how "she doesn't want to hate him" when he was trying to embarrassingly get her to sleep.
=== Dont ===
Gregor was initially suspicious of Dont, unsure if she was a monster or not due to her unusual appearance, but later determined she was a good person. He is seen to be incredibly affectionate towards her in her pigbat form often seen cuddling and carrying her. During Wizard High School, Gregor shows great distress as the wizard drugs show him punting her. He wishes to stop the hostilities between her and Kyr. According to Dont, Gregor has asked her how night and day works on multiple occasions.
=== Zalvetta ===
Despite the rest of the groups initial distrust of Zalvetta, Gregor ends up befriending him while carrying the Ban masks to Kyrlos. The pair are later seen hanging out and making frequent visits to the Punchdome. Zalvetta ends up stealing Telvillian's Tear from Markus so Gregor can help Eocho. They are shown to be good friends during the war when Zalvetta stumbles out of the brush and, despite being injured, greets Gregor with a smile. Afterwords, Zalvetta helped Gregor to defeat Kyrlos, teaming up with him and providing him weapons. Zalvetta confides in Gregor he found his presence comforting, especially because if he ever got out of control Gregor would "cut him down." After the group leaves Onorhant it is stated and showed that Gregor and Zalvetta keep in contact through letters. You can find one Gregor wrote to Zalvetta in The Calm arc's opening theme book.
=== Firi ===
Gregor befriends her while searching for Ashe. She asks him to save her friend during the attack on Xinkala. When Firi shows an interest in monsters, Gregor is eager to tell her everything he knows about them. Firi also put him back together after he exploded into meaty chunks, making him a sort of familiar to her. She also seems to trust his judgement, as when he asks or tells her to do something, she does it with virtually no questions asked. In A Storm, Gregor's ability allows him to see the not-magic Firi is connected to, and it terrifies him so deeply he blacks out. As of yet, he hasn't seen her since.
=== Kyrlos ===
Kyrlos is extremely fond of Gregor and acts as a mentor figure towards him, as they both share the same Renalan heritage. When Gregor was riled up trying to get the Clans to help Eocho during the Ban occupation, Kyrlos was able to calm him down. He left his crossbow to Gregor in his will and tells him if he dies during their deathmatch, to lead the Rust Clan as their new leader. However, after Kyrlos killed most of the Conga Line and his own men, it is uncertain how Gregor feels for Kyrlos, especially now that he has killed the Clan Leader.
=== Aryn ===
According to Gregor, Aryn was his best friend in the Outriders. It is unknown if the sentiment was mutual. In a conversation with The Ashen Knight, he says she was a better person in the beginning than she became, but she was always a good person.
=== Narn ===
Gregor sees Narn as a monster; a very tough monster at that. Despite Narn surrendering, Gregor tried to finish the job, likely under the impressions they had regenerative powers similar to most Spiritfolk and was just stalling for time. He's surprised and reluctantly goes along with Narn when he finds out they're Firi's friend. Gregor was brought back by Narn during the battle with Xin, coming in contact with something known as "The Verse." Narn also claimed to have made a pact with Gregor and that they "took something in return" before claiming it was Gregor's friendship.
== Trivia ==
* He always signs his name with blood because no one has explained the concept of pens to him.
* Gregor lost his sense of smell during The Adventure Began when Ashe attempted to heal him by running a large amount of Eos through him.http://3rdwheelandthe4thwall.tumblr.com/post/118517679466/fan-email-4-17-15-todays-a-productive-day
* Gregor has stage-fright.
* It has been stated that his favorite stance is The Elusive Clam.https://youtu.be/wvw_ko-iDg0?t=47m47s
* Gregor cares little for Markus' literary work.
* His hair apparently grows really fast. https://youtu.be/dkwowd2V26A?t=318
* He is technically neither vegetarian nor vegan. Instead, he has specific rules, which is why he doesn't consume meat, booze or cinnamon. https://twitter.com/FrameDodge/status/878674418914013188
*Despite the rest of the group in "The Village of Corpses" referring to his cursed form as an owl, Jay himself referring to him as a "rotund little owl beast" implies that he's not a complete owl and given that the transformation was based on Gregor's past trauma, it's quite possible he was transformed into a young owlbear. Jay was asked about this during a stream and replied that "Jackson had recently asked a similar question, and that we would find out later."   
*When Gregor's first impression of a person is unfavorable, he turns into "Gregor's Evil Twin" who is the opposite of Gregor; this is evident when he first meets Adivian. His "Twin" was first introduced at Wizard High School as merely a persona.   
*He carries around numerous, likely very stale, granola bars on his person at all times.
*When imprisoned at Meadshire, he primarily ate cotton candy filled with fiberglass.
*Gregor's social security number is 941008224. However, one digit has been changed and it is unknown which one.
**Seemingly everyone knows his social security number except for him.
*His favorite drink is water. He believes that all other drinks are just unnecessary additions to said water.
*Gregor is the Champion of several guilds in Onorhant, including Moren's Gold Guild, the Dirt Guild, the Horse Guild, the Horserider's Guild, Colvin's Philosophy Guild, Eilin's Fuckin' Off and Taking the Afternoon to Yourself Guild, and Zalvetta's Shadow Guild.
**His Championship of Eilin's Guild may be self appointed, as Eilin stated "that directly goes against the Guild's tenets, but Champion isn't an official position, so."
**Ballast McGee asked Gregor to be the Champion for his Writer's Guild at several occasions. Gregor turned him down.Episode 149
== Gallery ==
See Gregor Hartway/Gallery.
== References ==
Category:Main characters
Category:Members of the Outriders