Heinrich

**Heinrich** is a middle-aged man who seeks to revive the Royal Guard. He's been searching all over the world to document any trace of them.

On iRO, this character's name is misspelled as Hainrich.

## Story

**SPOILER WARNING:** Plot and/or ending details follow.
Heinrich was looking for information at the Prontera castle in order to track down King Schmitz Von Walter. However, while at the castle, he is interrogated by a Crusader/Paladin who demands to know his identity for security purposes. When the Crusader/Paladin refuses to relent in his/her interrogation, Heinrich reveals that he is looking to find traces of the Royal Guard and Schmitz's descendants. The Crusader/Paladin presses for more information, but Heinrich asserts that the information is under tight security and that he cannot talk about the Royal Guards with just anyone. The Crusader/Paladin refuses to leave it be and Heinrich decides to test the Crusader/Paladin's asceticism and endurance. He tells the Crusader that long ago, King Schmitz gave a title to a brave soldier who came back with 100 Sacred Marks. Since earning that many Sacred Marks would be too arduous, the Crusader/Paladin's task instead would be to collect 100 Burning Hearts to prove his/her endurance to Heinrich.

After the Crusader/Paladin returns with the hearts, Heinrich continues his story and explains that only the best Crusaders and Paladins had the qualities expected of a Royal Guard. Royal Guards were agents of the divine order that judge with swift punishment. Unfortunately, the Royal Guards disappeared along with King Schmitz and all documentation about the Royal Guard vanished with them. Heinrich wishes to see the Royal Guards of the past pass down their history to the new generation and so have been trying to find any trace of them all over the world. He managed to excavate and analzye most of the treasures of the Royal Guard. Only one bit of information was left for him to find in order to revive the job class: the mark of King Schmitz that was embossed onto their clothes. He surmises from reports in other cities that this last mark of the Royal Guard may exist in a Glastheim monastery. Unfortunately, due to his age, Heinrich was unable to venture to Glastheim to find the mark and has just about given up.

At that moment, the Crusader/Paladin decides to go to Glastheim him/herself, which alarms Heinrich. When the Crusader/Paladin asserts his/her conviction to go to the destroyed city, Heinrich resigns himself to the Crusader/Paladin's decision and explains that the last trace should be in the main area of the Glastheim Abbey. The Crusader/Paladin leaves and returns some time later with a Saint's Clothing Piece. Heinrich is astonished that the Crusader/Paladin was able accomplish the task and presents an old shield that was excavated by the castle staff. According to an initial analysis, the Royal Shield wasn't used, but the castle staff thinks it was used by King Schmitz himself. Heinrich believes he might know how to use the old treasure. He gives the shield to the Crusader/Paladin and sets to work analyzing the cloth piece.

It is later revealed that Heinrich was a faithful adjutant of King Schmitz and continued to do so for hundreds of years. Somehow he managed to find a way to move from body to body in order to remain in the realm of the living. He refuses to accept that Schmitz has died and continues to scour the world to revive the Royal Guard. King Schmitz had tasked Heinrich with recruiting Royal Guards and the Royal Shield served as the covenant for those who possess the right qualities for the job class.

Many years ago, Heinrich commanded the Khalitzburg and White Knight knightages of Glastheim. He was fiercely loyal to King Schmitz Von Walter and would do anything to assure his safety. He was in the great hall of the Glastheim palace when he was approached by Varmundt and some adventurers. They implored him to hide the castle's Heart of Ymir as a necromancer valkyrie by the name of Himmelmez was coming to take the heart. Heinrich is skeptical of the threat and notes that he cannot move the heart without the approval of the king.

Suddenly, Himmelmez appears before them, alarming Varmundt. However, Heinrich remains unfazed, pointing out that a woman cannot be a threat to him and his knights. Himmelmez wonders if he would be so fearless of her if he knew what had become of the king. Before Heinrich could find out more, Himmelmez disappears. He assumes that she has already gone after the heart and musters his knights together to go after her. Before they could do anything, the knights began dying before Heinrich and turn into undead. The commander tries to stop his knights, but Varmundt tells him to defend himself as they were nothing more than monsters now. Heinrich begs his former knights for forgiveness as he reluctantly destroys them all.

After briefly mourning the death of his knights, Heinrich orders the adventurers with Varmundt to seek out survivors and destroy any monsters they come across while he and Varmundt go after Himmelmez. They manage to track her down to the northern part of the castle, but she stops them in their tracks by summoning the Root of Corruption. Heinrich tells Varmundt to stay behind and help the adventurers while he goes on ahead after Himmelmez. Unfortunately, the valkyrie puts up a barrier, hindering Heinrich's advancement. He had no choice but to wait for Varmundt and the adventurers to catch up to him. Once they did, Heinrich explains the situation and notes that it's unforgivable for him to have killed so many of his knights. Varmundt pulls him out of his grief and focuses him on the task at hand, which is to stop Himmelmez from taking the heart. After the sage dispels a part of the barrier, Heinrich and him go on ahead while the adventurers seek out Himmelmez's monsters to collect Coagulated Spells.

Heinrich, Varmundt, and the adventurers manage to get to the inner sanctum of the castle where the heart was held, but Himmelmez had already taken the heart from its spot. Behind her was a knight name Geralt who was being tormented by the valkyrie's magic. Heinrich pleads with Himmelmez to let Geralt go as she has already gotten what she came for. Himmelmez refuses, sneering that Heinrich's last knight made it troublesome for her to get the heart and that she wanted to make him pay for wasting her time. She assures Heinrich and they will meet again and turns Geralt into Amdarais. Heinrich swears that he will never forgive her for what she's done.

## Gallery

* Heinrich in the past.
* Heinrich's official sprite later added to RO.
* jRO art of Heinrich.

## References

1. ↑ Job Change to Royal Guard
2. ↑ Old Glastheim