Vilhelms Eglītis

*“A country is judged by the actions at the top. Such is the way across the world. Nations are judged by their rulers, and not by those that live within the borders. The future changes as I stand here, else I am a game piece of the gods, not their heir, as I have been promised.”*

-Vilhelms Eglītis

## History

*"Do I resemble you, abomination? Your form isn't my destiny... is it? You don't know how to talk, do you? Shit..."*

-Vilhelms Eglītis

An orphaned boy raised as King Bolgar's adopted grandson, Eglītis grew up with a daunting legacy that he took very seriously. He joined the knighthood as soon as he could, and became the squire of the powerful and controversial knight, Karekin Baghdassarian. Under his tutelage he became a mighty knight indeed, a hunter of monsters and slayer of evildoers. His lustre grew after the death of King Bolgar, with many seeing Eglītis as his natural heir. Though he did not become King (the crown was first offered to Khamsa, who refused, and then to Khamsa's squire Ludwig), the new monarch quickly made him the Commander of the Order of the Einherjar. His reputation plummeted after his tutor, Sir Karekin, fell from paladinhood and embraced dark powers. Nonetheless the King retained trust in him, giving him his father's blade and armor, and ordering him to hunt his master down. This Eglītis did, but he resented the King greatly for the order, for he felt blamed, and felt that no man should have to strike down their father figure. For years to come, Eglītis would refuse to speak of Karekin Baghdassarian and would lash out violently at reports that the fallen paladin had come back from the dead as a death knight.

## Personality

*"You were always so full of thoughts, Vilhelms. Your own logic destroyed you, didn't it?"*

-Karekin Baghdassarian

Seemingly the splitting image of his grandfather, Vilhelms Eglītis was a gruff and taciturn man who could exude menace when he needed to. His wrath was rare, mighty, and controlled, and his strategic acumen ranked him among the greatest battle commanders on earth. Where they differed was internally, for Eglītis was consumed by doubt and despair in a way that King Bolgar never was.

Eglītis was keen to explain that he was a warrior, not a knight. He hated the fact that his allies called him "our Godhunter." Mark Patenaude's sword was one of the only blades that was not sundered by the Black Blade of Disaster, being indestructible.

## The Great Awakening

*"The Long War has not lasted one generation, but since the beginning of time. You and I have fought a thousand battles with the turning of the wheel, a thousand times a thousand, and we will fight until the dream ends and the gods are triumphant!”*

-Vilhelms Eglītis

Seeing the toll suffered by the paladins at the hands of the Deep Ones, Vilhelms Eglītis began to despair. He did not know how his grandfather would have handled the war with the gods, but he knew that many in Ragnarok were looking upon him to take up King Bolgar's mantle. The expectations crushed him, and he had nowhere else to turn. King Ludwig was a chivalrous man, but plainly unequal to the task. The Red Knight Khamsa had secluded himself in the Thunderdome, where some said he had gone mad. And his teacher, the fallen paladin Karekin Baghdassarian, had become a death knight. And so Eglītis took a pilgrimage to Drutreu's Fortress in Rhomduil, where his grandfather and Tolumvire of Arendur had slain the demon lord Xiloxi Drutreu. There he met the Queen of Rhomduil, Idas Gharna, who permitted him to read one of the Tablets of the Gods (while keeping secret the fact that there were indeed six such tablets in her possession), leading Eglītis down a path by which he would be ultimately convinced that it was futile to wage war with the divine. Better yet to embrace and master heretical strength, to channel the darkness towards humanity's salvation.

As the Long War progressed, Eglītis progressed from a pragmatic view to wholeheartedly embracing the great old ones, having come to the conclusion that they were the true gods of the cosmos, and that the gods of his forefathers were figments off faith masquerading as deities.

Fittingly, Vilhelms Eglītis would die at the hands of Mark Patenaude in the final of three climatic duels. The Tablets of the Gods would be sundered soon after. Mark Patenaude would give the Black Blade of Disaster to the disgraced true King of Ragnarok, Ludwig, who would use it to try and kill Tholorhee.

## Legacy

*"Yes, betrayer of hope. They gave me the name to revile me, but I will yet make them kneel and worship it."*

-Vilhelms Eglītis