Aklen Pentas

**Aklen Pentas** is a character in Book 2. He is a member of **The Forgotten**, a sellsword company led by Leonard Hill. In his company, Aklen has gotten the usually undesirable position of chief torturer, yet due to his brutish personality and love for violence, he ended up quite enjoying this line of work, becoming infamous with enemies and allies alike.

## Background

Aklen was born in Crakehall as the son of the kennel master. However, his father died shortly before his birth, when a rabid dog bit fatally bit him in a frenzy. As such, he grew up without his father and this took a notable effect on his development.

Always larger than other children, he was tormented for his lack of a father until he had grown strong enough to beat anyone that dared to make fun of him. However, aside from that he was generally seen as a surprisingly sweet kid, only resorting to violence to protect himself from being made fun of.

At some point in his life, this changed. It was not something that happened instantly, but rather over the course of several years, as a head injury his mother received during an accident caused her behaviour to grow short-tempered and erratic. Beating Aklen for even minor mistakes, the boy quickly hardened, as his mother's condition deteriorated.

Growing up without love, he didn't even particularly mourn his mother, when a brief moment of clarity caused her to throw herself off a bridge and to her death. He became apathetic in return, becoming the cold, hardened killer he is today. For a while, he lived in Castamere, where his unique talent to cause pain to others was well used as a torturer. However, his presence was seen as a nuisance and when he deliberately scared the young Alanna Reyne, he ended up being nearly executed by Lord Darren Reyne, who eventually opted to release him from his service.

This incident gave Aklen a grudge against noblemen in general and House Reyne in particular. It was a luck for him that he actually found a man who saw things similarly. Leonard Hill, leader of the Forgotten, encountered him during a bar brawl and, impressed by the man's strength, offered him a paying job in the company, something Aklen eventually accepted. It was there that his talent for torture was utilized once more, as he became the chief interrogator of the Forgotten.

## Book 2

### Fires Far

Aklen is first encountered by Sadie Wade after Leonard returns from a trip to Castamere. He is present during a meeting between her, Leo, Rhogarn Snow and Edward Lancaster. There, Leo orders him to accompany them back to Castamere to negotiate with Mileena Reyne about taking in the refugees in Castamere. During the meeting, he immediately starts off on a wrong foot with Sadie, mocking her for her recent injuries, something that visibly angers both, her and Leo.

### Thorns

Aklen indeed accompanies Leo and Sadie to Castamere, alongside Rhogarn and Wylie. During the trip, he is a source of trouble for Sadie, using every opportunity to get a laugh at her cost, makign crude jokes about her missing sword hand, even if she in time manages to learn how to ignore him.

## Appearance

Aklen is an imposing man, whose physique only adds to his dreaded reputation. He is tall and heavily muscled, which thick arms and a broad chest. Bald, though with a scruffy, black beard, he looks almost like a wildling, or a foreign madman, not like the native man of the Rock that he is. In the fashion of some men from the Free Cities, Aklen wears several iron rings in both ears. Preferring to show off his physique, he wears a tight, black vest instead of a shirt.

## Personality

Aklen is a deeply unpleasant person. Rude and foul-mouthed, he gives of a bad impression almost instantly towards anyone he meets. It's not as if he minds, he usually deliberately does something to rile them up, so that they keep their distance. Disliked even by his comrades, Aklen is a loner and few know what he does in his free time. What he does during his work is well-known though, as he is infamous for the joy torture gives him. For him, being the torturer of the Forgotten is not only his occupation, it is his true calling and he is particularly skilled at it because of this joy. As such, he is also a feared man, something he seems to take great pride in.

## Relationships

### Leonard Hill

Though they are comrades in arms, Leonard and Aklen do not get along all too well. They respect each other for their skills and appreciate what they can do, but have no fondness on a personal level, which sets Aklen apart from most other members of the Forgotten, who have a personal loyalty and friendship to Leo. With Aklen, being a member of the Forgotten is just a paying job and he follows Leonard's orders only as long as they come as a part of his duties.

### Sadie Wade

Aklen and Sadie immediately start off on a bad term, which is entirely attributed to Aklen's behaviour during their first meeting. There, sensing Sadie's weakness and her still being in shock over the recent loss of her right hand, his first real interaction with her consists of him mocking her for this.