The Shepherd

— The Shepherd, *Temptation Stairway*

**The Shepherd** is a minor character that appears in *Temptation Stairway*. She takes care of the Hourglass Dogs in the Hourglass Meadow, also serving as a guardian that blocks the way for meetings with The Great Runas.

## Appearance

The Shepherd appears to be feline to an extent. She has a black humanoid body with a skinny neck, legs, and arms. Her head sports a pair of black ears that curve upward like horns. Her two-toned face resembles a mask, having red on her left side and white on her right (with a small section of red on her white side's cheek). The red side sports the outline for her mouth and has an oblong light-yellow cat eye while the white side has a much more detailed eye along with an eyebrow. Her red side and red cheek present on her white side also have angular whiskers. She also sports hair that starts as a brown streak on the top of her head and spreads into two pigtails.

The Shepherd's outfit consists of a brown button-up vest with red buttons, exposing her midriff, and a matching long brown skirt tied with a red belt. She also wears brown sandals and holds a shepherd's crook.

## Personality

The Shepherd appears blunt and exhausted at first, acting aggressive and dismissing what Ena has to say. She seems to hold significance to The Great Runas, insisting it doesn't give out horoscopes anymore and shouldn't be disturbed by "simpletons". She is thus insightful, and does seem to warm up in some way, as she's quickly swooned by the Turrón that Ena gives her. After receiving the treat, she gives a Blood ID in return and directs Ena towards the Mannequin Expanse not far ahead before dozing off.

## Trivia

* The Shepherd speaks Russian, voiced by bilingual (English/Russian) voice actor Emma Breezy. She has an accent and imperfect pronunciation; this is likely because Emma was born in New York. This caused some confusion, but Emma has confirmed that The Shepherd speaks "entirely in Russian". Transcription:
> Ах... Ещё один Эна-баламут...
> Уходи, наш Великий Рунас уже на даёт гороскопы.
>
> Ты шшш... негодная шшш... егоза шшш...!
> Никто не пройдёт!
> Великий Рунас бы был очень злой, если бы какой-то простак, как ты, появился в его любимом мест...!
> А?... Это... Туррон?! ¡turrón, turrón, turrón, turrrrón!♪
>
> Возможно ты выиграл эту войну, но проиграл битву.
> Возьми, это ID крови. Это значит ты собираешь щедрые предложения для нас.
> Продолжай... вперёд и внеси в святой кодекс, потом найди голубую дверь.
>
>
* Unlike the other non-English speaking characters Merci and Robert, the words that The Shepherd speaks match up with the given subtitles.
* Oddly, The Shepherd's render used for merchandise shows her with two eyebrows rather than a single eyebrow on her white side as seen in *Temptation Stairway*.
* The Shepherd's crook appears lodged in Moony's head-hole later in the episode she appears in.
	+ This may hint that Moony took a path through the Hourglass Meadow to find The Great Runas and somehow ended up meeting The Shepherd.
* The Shepherd is one of the unlockable avatars on Joelgc.com.

### Cultural references and inspirations

* The idea for The Shepherd was stated during a Twitch stream to be from a video recommended to Joel Guerra on YouTube named *LoFia Soren - Spiral of moments*. The video eventually inspired the idea of The Shepherd's crook and then the character.
* The tank from which The Shepherd is eventually shot from resembles the tank from the *ZoneOut* game found in TempleOS, an operating system written by the late computer programmer Terry A. Davis.
* The Shepherd's face design is based on a painting by Norma Salt titled *Picasso's Cat–El Gato*.

## Gallery

### Artwork

Concept drawings of characters for *Temptation Stairway* including The Shepherd.Render of The Shepherd uploaded to Joel G.'s social media, almost 3 months before her debut.The Shepherd with five Hourglass Dogs.A similar render of The Shepherd with four Hourglass Dogs, as seen on Joel G.'s Twitch profile.Rigging and custom pixelation effect test with The Shepherd. Unlike the final product, the pixelation effect is applied in Blender.The Shepherd's 3D model and eye set. Modeled by Utu-Nui.GIF of The Shepherd with an Hourglass Dog. Posted on Joel G.'s Twitter.Concept art of The Shepherd. Found in the files for Utu-Nui's model of The Shepherd.
### Website

The Shepherd avatar skin from Joelgc.com.
### Screenshots

The Shepherd's reaction to seeing the Turrón.The Shepherd and Ena.Ena and The Shepherd doing the Turrón dance.
### Merchandise

The Shepherd and some Hourglass Dogs on a shirt.The Shepherd and Hourglass Dogs sticker.The Shepherd, Phindoll, and Brick Frog sticker set.A sticker of The Shepherd with some Hourglass Dogs.
## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1362883961496690688
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://twitter.com/EZBreezyVA/status/1361713387147788293
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWnk7GEqRfk
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/Utu\_Nui/status/1476336397951078401
5. ↑ https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/shepard-from-ena-4ab722ef1602409fb458f82becf02834
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1403848038360174595