Ashen Knight

The Ashen Knight, Ruler of Castle Crowhenge, is a being that emerged from the portal that Harlock opened in her past when the main trio were in her dream.
==History==
Thousands of years ago, before The Ashen Knight became what he is, he was a bandit named Hector. One day during his travels through the Freearchi snow, him and his men, tired and hungry, found a lone carriage and decided to raid it. Hector, wanting no bloodshed, requested his men to abide to his wishes, however, after the exchange of only a few words after the raid began, the carriage driver was killed, and Hector began slaughtering his men out of anger that they broke their promise. After vanquishing his men, a man stepped out of the carriage, one known as Aiden. He was the love of Hector's life. 
Aiden was both a prince and a necromancer, and thus inscribed Hector to be his personal knight. Starting off as just a friendship, they eventually grew feelings for each other. One night, during a game of hide-and-seek, where Hector had to find Aiden before he died of Hypothermia, Aiden jumped out of a quickly made snowman and proposed to Hector. Although initially apprehensive at the idea of a bandit and a prince in marriage, with Aiden wanting nothing more than Hector's company, Hector agreed. 
Sometime later, Hector and a group of adventurers signed a blood pact in agreement to slay the king of Castle Crowhenge, in hopes to save humanity. One among their numbers was a tiefling. After killing the old king, the tiefling in question wished for a way out of the blood pact, believing that the throne of the castle could grant them the power. A fight broke out, and Hector was forced to slay the tiefling and claim the throne of Castle Crowhenge. Becoming the king, he was unable to leave and see his husband again, and thus grew cold towards tieflings as a whole. After his body died, Hector took on the form now known as the Ashen Knight.
=== A Storm ===
Ashen Knight first appeared towards the end of Episode 252, emerging from the portal that Harlock experimented on, which would lead to losing her arm. When young Chellisandre Harleaux stepped into the portal in the dream sequence brought on by the Steward, she gave Markus, Ashe, and Gregor instructions on how to stabilize the portal in case certain things happened to it, as well as warning the group that if they heard her cry out for help, that they should immediately close the portal, stating that whatever made that noise was not Harleaux. The group proposed that they set up a code phrase, or safe word, that if they heard her say "spaghetti" that it was indeed Harleaux and that she needed help.
After stabilizing the portal for a while, following all of Harleaux's instructions, they began to hear her cry out for help. The group hesitated, not wanting to seal her into the portal, but also not wanting to disobey her. Markus was keeping his cool, much better than Ashe was, until he heard Harleaux shout the safe word "spaghetti". Now concerned for Harleaux's life, Ashe reached into the portal to grab Harleaux out, with Gregor and Markus anchoring her to the mansion. Much to the utter shock of the group, what emerged from the portal was not Harleaux, but was instead the Ashen Knight. The group begins to freak out, having just let free this monster, and the monster muses over the sudden company. After a comment about how the Ashen Knight isn't related to the current situation, since it can sense the group's presence, Ashen Knight demonstrates some sort of power. It contorts the manor, destabilizing the portal, and begins to break apart the reality that contains the dream, transforming the manor back to its present day, debilitated state. Ashen Knight then let's out a low, deep laugh, and welcomes itself home before vanishing suddenly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HG-D0DY3Z8
Meeting up with Harlock in the present day, she mentioned that in her own memory, only she exited the portal; she explains that this means that since something else came out of the portal in their dream, that it is here in the real life. At first thinking the alchemy wing was stolen by the Ashen Knight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oxko8mgFQs&t=515s, it was later revealed that it was in fact the Steward of the castle, and not Ashen Knight, that stole it.
When the Ashen Knight reappears, he is mentioned as a metallic figure at the top of Castle Crowhenge, where it's referred to as "The Iron Golem" by Harlock, out of character, as well as "The Ruler of the Castle [Crowhenge]" by Jay. Mere moments afterwards, the Ashen Knight, Ruler of the Castle, descends upon Gregor, the Alm, and the Freearchi Militia, as well as several Fish-Dog creatures. Gregor, for the first time in his life, is truly, utterly, terrified, even before Ashen Knight appears. The Master of the Castle recognizes Gregor as he makes eye-contact with him. The Freearchi Militia turns and runs at the southernmost Fish-Dog creature to attempt to make an escape route for the group, though all five of them fail to hit the creature, whilst the Ashen Knight only watches them. 
Gregor, still almost frozen with fear, puts himself between Ashen Knight and the Alm, ordering them to back away slowly, while Ashen Knight only watches them. As one of the Fish-Dog creatures feints and kills one of the Militiamen, Gregor pulls the two Alm guards next to him to be behind him with Astra, and orders them to retreat whilst he stays behind in the clearing to allow the Alm to escape danger, wanting to stay with them as long as possible.
The Ashen Knight, still pulling his greatsword out of the skull of the Fish-Dog creature it had landed on, and wrenching its skull even further, slowly looks up at Gregor, saying "ahh... Gregor, my boy... Good to see you..." before he then throws his sword, impacting directly behind a still blood-frozen Gregor. Ashen Knight leans closer to Gregor, mentioning that Gregor takes care of the right side, whilst he would take care of the left, before moving over to the left to the other other Fish-Dog creatures. He slams his greatsword down and completely severs the spine of the Fish-Dog that would have otherwise killed one of the Alm, killing it in an instant, in "an attack that would have killed Gregor, anyone else, anything instantaneously." 
Astra, dumbfounded, looks to Gregor for a confirmation of 'continue the retreat' or what else. Gregor tells her to keep going, then asks her to watch his back, which prompted the Ashen Knight to comment how Gregor didn't trust the Ashen Knight to watch his back, much to the discomfort of the out-of-character players. 
Meanwhile, the Freearchi Militia tries to subdue their Fish-Dog problem once more, whilst mourning their lost one, though only Axe-Guy manages to hit it, before there once again comes a call emanating from the ocean, as if responding to the Master of the Castle being out and about. Ashen Knight also looks back, as if trying to locate the call, failing to do so. While this happens, another Fish-Dog leaps out from the east, which Gregor dodges by leaping above it. The Fish-Dog lands, open mouth first, into a Kiercorp trough of "Kierbrand Explosive ???"
Gregor hits the deck as Ashen Knight goes to engage two of the Fish-Dog creatures approaching from the west. Ashen Knight grabs the southernmost Fish-Dog of the two attacking him as it flies through the air and slams it into a barricade of spikes, using the weight and momentum to also slam the other Fish-Dog back into the woods, all in one fluid motion. Ashen Knight then leans down to Gregor, saying "doesn't this remind you of the good old days of the Outriders? ... Such Glory... Such Bloodshed..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4J_4PhtPhI
=== Duet of Dungeons ===
======
==Appearance==
Ashen Knight is monstrously huge, easily towering over the group of heroes who accidentally freed him. He is covered head to toe in dark brown plate armor. The Knight is estimated at easily topping 9' tall when hunched over, as shown. It easily dwarfs the Fish-Dog creatures, which easily dwarf Gregor.
His armor appears to be almost rusted, giving him the appearance of an immortal who always wears the same armor. He wears a tattered brown cape that is affixed to the back of his neck and flows down about to the bottom of his waist.
His limbs are all extremely long for their narrowness, adding an eerie aura to him. His neck is also very long, and juts out, making him look down at everything, only adding to the creepiness of him. The visor on his helmet is a slightly darker color, and has six gashes in it for eye holes that look like claw marks. Under the visor there is only darkness, either because it cannot be seen what is underneath or because there is nothing underneath.
He wields a massive blade that mirrors his own bigness, which has a black blade with red cracks, making it look like cooling lava or magma. The hilt of this sword is a light tan, and is almost shaped like a little angel's wings. This blade seems to exhibit some sort of fire or heat ability.
==Personality==
Ashen Knight at first appeared to be almost arrogant, but rightfully so. It is clear that he knows exactly what he is doing and when. His appearance and general behavior at first does seem to paint him as evil, though he has not yet done anything strictly bad, and even seems to assist Gregor, the Alm, and the Freearchi Militia by attacking not them, but the Fish-Dog creatures surrounding them. The Ashen Knight claims to fight for the good of mankind against the evil of the monsters that plague this world. During Episode 268, Ashen Knight is very calm when surrounded with Gregor, Harlock, and Astra, because he is "surrounded by friends,"
==Abilities==
Finally getting nearly an entire episode dedicated to it, Ashen Knight's might is exhibited. In his previous, small amount of screen time, Ashen Knight has proven stronger than Stewards of Crowhenge, and maybe even stronger than the fabric of spacetime itself; this is due to the fact that Ashen Knight broke the Steward's dream influence and also brought himself into the present. He may also possess some ability to teleport. He wields a sword, and is destructively capable with it. He is shown easily killing the massive Fish-Dog creatures with but a single strike each, and often several at a time, creatures that even gave a weakened Harlock a bit of pause. Jay mentions that a single attack from Ashen Knight could very likely kill anyone or anything in a single hit. His sword seems to have some sort of fire or fire-related magic with it, but this is unclear. Ashen Knight has some sort of telepathy, where he can read bits and pieces of a person's mind. This is likely how he knows about the safe word "Spaghetti," how he knows about the Outriders, about Charoth, Telvillion's Tear, and more. 
==Relationships==
Ashen Knight was introduced to be the Ruler of Castle Crowhenge, but what that entails is unclear. He is shown attacking the creatures of Freearch and saving Gregor and co. Ashen Knight also seems to be very fond of Gregor in particular, and reminisces with Gregor about the Outriders, although Ashen Knight himself never was one. Ashen Knight, however is a lot like the Outriders, and Gregor in particular. He claims to serve humanity, and that his purpose in Crowhenge is to destroy all of the monsters within it. Thousands of years ago, Ashen Knight claims, he was an adventurer, with a husband, who may or may not have been a part of his crew that went off to see if they could fix Castle Crowhenge. He claims it was Crowhenge that turned him into the monster that he is now.
=== Gregor Hartway ===
The Ashen Knight views himself as the same as Gregor, due to the similarites between the Outriders and the Ashen Knight's old comrades of monster hunters. He is willing to help Gregor, giving him the banner to summon him and taking him under his wing as of "The Storm Part 50". 
==Gallery==
Screenshot 20181223-050129 YouTube.jpg|Ashen Knight appearing out of the portal.
Screenshot 20190109-061947 YouTube.jpg|Ashen Knight assisting Gregor and co with the Fish-Dog creatures.
Screenshot 20190109-062523 YouTube.jpg|Ashen Knight reminiscing with Gregor.
==Trivia==
*With his lanky limbs, long and narrow, he looks similar to the Dancer of the Boreal Valley from Dark Souls 3.
**His name also seems like a reference to Dark Souls 3, in which the player character is referred to as "Ashen One". This is likely an unintended reference.
*He is voiced by WIlliam T. Sopp from SurpriseRoundRPG, who also voices Selene/Firefly in Windrose Everlasting.
*The phrase "Welcome Home" is a phrase significant to the Ashen Knight, with it being the final thing that he says in "A Storm Part 35" and, in relation to that same episode, the mantra "Welcome Home" is the entire description for the video and the description given by the tweet announcing this episode.
**Other phrases said by Ashen Knight and are shown in the same ways as "Welcome Home" now include "Such Bloodshed" and "Such Glory".
*Apparently, ash continuously pours out of his helm, or pours out only as he speaks.
*Ashen Knight gave Gregor a new stance, the Ashen Stance. He also gave Gregor a banner with which he can summon the Ashen Knight at will.
*He's been given the nickname Lanky Dunstan by some fans
==References==
Category:Side characters