Thalvich

Devil (By Reagan)

Thalbitch (By Reagan)

> *"I must look like such a monster right now."*
>
>

Thalvich, The Old Blood is a possesive blood mage brought to life by a devilish warlock. After killing the love of his life in his first Cycle, the guilt plagues him as he searches for his beloved in countless Cycles after, trying to redeeming himself. In this Cycle, he disguises himself as a shopkeeper until he eventually meets the love of his life again. Shedding his kind and cheerful demeanor to show his more possesive side as he tries to bind them to him for eternity. With the love of his life now swiveled away by an enticing mercenary, he pieces himself back together as he continues his search for his beloved.

## Storyline

###  Strange Lands, Stranger People

Thalvich is introduced as the owner of an herb shop called The Sanctuary in Azure Port and is implied to be the mentor that the *Greenlander Mage'*s mage teacher told them to seek out. The *Greenlander Mage* asks if he stocks anything magical but he apologizes that doesn't sell things like that. To make up for disappointing them he offers to enchant a small item for them as a thank you for visiting his shop.

He enchants a bracelet to give the *Greenlander Mage* a boost of energy but they are frozen in place once they put it on. His personality changes to a more disturbing, dangerous one as he reveals that he has taken control of all the blood in their body through the bracelet, which has some of his own blood folded into it.

He claims to recognize the *Greenlander Mage* from the taste of their blood and has seen them "turn to dust" before. He is "The Old Blood" who has transformed from a mere human into something greater, carrying multiple souls within him. He takes the books the *Greenlander Mage* has carried from the Empire, saying they won't be needing them anymore. He demands total obedience from them, threatening to boil their blood and break and rebuild them as a form of discipline.

Apparently the thought of rebuilding them has never occurred to him before so he researches how he may accomplish this. He discovers a ritual that will be complete after the *Greenlander Mage* drinks his blood three times a day for several days, something he can easily arrange. He binds them to the shop and keeps them in the basement where he will ensure they have every comfort - if they behave.

The *Greenlander Mage* is still trapped after at least two days. Thalvich talks pleasantly, claiming his earlier behaviour was his excitement taking over his better judgement. He overreacted binding them to the shop and he's willing to retract it if they agree to be bound to him alone. The *Greenlander Mage* fights back but eventually (is forced to?) agrees and the binding is successfully transferred.

He goes on to say that he's hidden the *Greenlander Mage'*s arcane tomes away, claiming they don't need them to fill their head with silly ideas; his magic will transform them into an immortal like himself. He sweetly offers to let them sit and read with him as he researches the immortality ritual but they say something "unkind" and he loses his temper. His threats force them to comply of their own free will and he is appeased.

Thalvich tries to comfort the *Greenlander Mage* since he understands that he must seem a little insane to them. Their souls, he says, are entangled but they always try to escape him. He becomes more emotional and laments that losing them is always his fault but this meeting will be a fresh start for both of them. He snaps back into his usual controlled self after discovering the ritual that will transfer the *Greenlander Mage'*s life force.

The *Greenlander Mage* panics and resists his control a third time. The blood mage disciplines them by putting them to sleep, whispering that the next time they wake his plans will be complete.

Thalvich wakes the *Greenlander Mage* after several weeks of captivity  to complete the final step of his plan, something he anticipates with relish. He leaves them alone to visit an alchemist for the final ingredients he needs, allowing Jackal to infiltrate The Sanctuary and remove the bracelet binding the *Greenlander Mage* to him. He returns from his errand sooner than expected having detected the mercenary's presence from the start and they duel.

He briefly gains the upper hand by controlling Jackal's blood but he's knocked unconscious and Jackal and the *Greenlander Mage* flee.

Though he doesn't appear again in the **Strange Lands, Stranger People series** , Jackal's dialogue heavily implies that the blood mage regained consciousness, chased them, but ultimately lost them. He still lives and will do whatever it takes to find the *Greenlander Mage* again unless he is stopped.

Jackal reports on what happened after he left the *Greenlander Mage* in the the last audio. The mercenary led Thalvich into a dust storm that ripped him to shreds and survived himself with magic. He checked to see that the blood mage was truly dead but instead found the pieces of his body putting itself back together. Jackal concluded that the blood mage cannot die and returns to the *Greenlander Mage* to run away with them, planning to sail to the horizon and beyond to get as far away as possible before the Thalvich's body reconstructs itself.

### ***The Blood Mage's Apprentice***

Thalvich returns in a new installment , welcoming the *Listener* to the Sanctuary, offering the *Listener* potions, charms and trinkets. He pauses, realising the *Listener* is here for a different reason and asks them to close up shop for him.

He turns hostile, asking who the *Listener* is and how they found him, threatening to drain all of their vitae out of them if they don’t answer honestly. The *Listener* mentions they’re a blood mage looking for a teacher. Thalvich goes closer to observe them, saying that he could see his older self in them. He asks if the *Listener* understands, stating he would not repeat himself. He asks the *Listener* for their age, if they had any formal training in other magical disciplines, if they had experimented with their gift and their blood potency. The *Listener* doesn’t know what their blood potency is so he pricks the *Listener*’s hand with a pin to test their potential. He realises that the *Listener* has the potential of haemopyromancy (their blood is a physical manifestation of a pyromancy flame) and says he’s going to be a very proud teacher. He asks his new *Apprentice* if they were comfortable training under a monster in a man’s flesh, shedding his current form to show the *Apprentice* his true self. Thalvich was impressed that the *Apprentice* didn’t run from it and asked them to place their belongings upstairs and meet him at the cellar to start their training.

The next part starts with Thalvich encouraging the *Apprentice* to tap into their true potential, saying they should take what they deserve, saying out of all the cycles he’s lived, he’d never found anyone to be worthy of his teaching. He asks the *Apprentice* to rest and asks them to work on their stamina. He praises the *Apprentice* and asks them to remember it as he does not give praise lightly. He offers the *Apprentice* a vial of his own blood as a reward. It’s a gift because he can tell that the *Apprentice* can truly understand what love drives him to do.

He starts talking about his past. In his first cycle he was a beast, brought to life by a warlock and met his lover for the first time. He says he made an awful mistake, one he would never make again. In his second cycle, he was a laborer that was forgotten by time. In his fifth he was hailed as a hero, fighting alongside the Crimson Mother against the tide of the Abyss. He thought if he were to ever meet his lover again, he would be able to win them over by being the hero they deserved but he never got to meet his lover in that cycle and many others. He explains that the *Apprentice* is a new face and they can forge a new future for them.

He shows the *Apprentice* a vial of his lover’s blood, enough for them to track his lover down with it. Thalvich says that if he didn’t already see his lover in this cycle, he could have sworn that the *Apprentice* would be them. He promises to give them anything they wished for so long as they helped him fulfill his wishes. He’s willing to give the *Apprentice* all his blood and to forfeit immortality to be with his lover, live a human lifespan and perish with them.

## Personality

Thalvich hides his more possessive personality behind a sweet, somewhat bashful shopkeep persona that hates to disappoint people. This persona is very customer friendly and will admit to dabbling with small enchantments, staying away from larger, more dangerous magic. He says he likes to do favors for other people as a way to bring in new customers. He was undiscovered until Jackal's investigation suggests that it's very convincing.

His true personality is unhinged and erratic from a long career as a blood mage. His voice completely changes when he sheds his shopkeep persona, dropping to a constant, intimate whisper. His mood changes at the drop of a hat due to the multiple souls living in his blood and they are a constant pressure on his control. He can be temperamental, obsessive, threatening, emotional, and even a little nerdy.

Thalvich claims to be an immortal who has been "removed from the cycle" and sees the world from a completely different perspective. History altering events like magical purges don't bother him. The only thing he anticipates is encountering the *Greenlander Mage'*s soul/blood again.

He is obsessed with owning the *Greenlander Mage* completely, devastated by the memories of losing them over and over through time. Their blood has a unique scent that he can identify without them spilling any actual blood. He describes the *Greenlander Mage* as too delicate to wield arcane power and doesn't appear to recognize them as a mage, possibly influenced by previous lifetimes where they had no magic at all.

## Trivia

### Thalvich

* A Greenlander from the central continent of Sarrus and the former pet blood mage of the Devilish Warlock. He migrated to the Crimson Sands after unknown circumstances.
* He rejects the tradition of taking apprentices who seek him out for power.
* He sells salves and other alchemical items out of his herb shop.
* His research contains references to Hollow's other characters. His second episode is also the first time the Eastern Theocratic Tribes are named as Rapture and the second instance foreshadowing the kingdom as a significant location in the Hollowverse.
	+ His research to bind the *Greenlander Mage* to the shop references a pyramid sanguine that pays homage to Leviathan.
	+ Refers to "the complete writings of the Necromancer King" to make the *Greenlander Mage* immortal, a rare book that has survived multiple arcane purges. It contains the ritual for partnered immortality which requires the transfer of finite life force to sustain two lives.
* Calls himself a creature of the vitae (immortal). Jackal calls him "creature" as well, evidence that he is no longer human.
* The interference of a certain Great Old One led to his creation.
* His magic gives him control of another person's body but not their mind or will. They need to drink his blood in a specific ritual order for him to break and rebuild them as he pleases.
* Calls the *Greenlander Mage* "my darling" and "my dear".
* Hollow confirmed in a stream that Thalvich can shapeshift.
* Thalvich exists outside the (reincarnation) cycle
* According to Hollow, it’s very easy for Thalvich to pretend to be Jackal
* Total destruction (lava, acid, etc..) would destroy his body, but as for his mind, soul, and magic, that's up in the air, it could be that he's gone for centuries as he pieces himself back together from a single cell or he becomes a smaller creature that borrows some blood.
* As of "Yandere Blood Mage Tests You", Thalvich is going through a dark hair(emo) phase.
* Thalvich was little more than an animal in the first cycle. He accidentally drained the *Listener'*s blood resulting in their death, he has carried the guilt ever since.

### Fan Theories

* The *Listener* in this video is related to the one in the Devilish Warlock audio, either a fellow mage or the same *Listener* reincarnated lifetimes later (unconfirmed).
* Killed the fanmade *Listener* Reagan from the Devilish Warlock audio.
* One of the personalities he's absorbed is Ortas and the *Greenlander Mage* is the (one) reincarnation of the necromancer's partner (unconfirmed).

## Audio References

All audios can be found the the ***Strange Lands, Stranger People*** playlist here.

1. ↑ Strange Lands, Stranger People
2. ↑ Captured By a Yandere Blood Mage
3. ↑ Yandere Blood Mage Keeps You
4. ↑ Rescued From A Yandere Blood Mage
5. ↑ Enticing Mercenary Takes Care Of You
6. ↑ Entcing Mercenary Asks To Run Away With You
7. ↑ Yandere Blood Mage Tests You
8. ↑ Yandere Blood Mage: The Things We Do For Love