Lord Ghaston Thornton

## Lord Gaston Thornton

"*The respect of dead men is that of no men"* - The Feeble King (II)

**Lord Ghaston Thornton** is the head of the Thornton House during the late 15th century, a member of King John Koopa VI's royal cabinet, and a character in *Wars of Frozen Flames*, debuting in the very first episode of the series, "The Feeble King". In contrast to most of the other characters, little is known about Lord Thornton's origins, motivations or personality in complete detail, as he usually isolates himself from everyone else. What little is shown however is him trying to manipulate the people around him with words, often trying to pit the nobles against each other to sow discord and raise the tensions even further, though again, it's unknown why he does this or what is he exactly trying to achieve.

## History

### Backstory

Because of the lack of information on his background, Ghaston Thornton's backstory is a complete mystery. The only things that can be said for certain are that he became the head of the Thornton house in the year 1441 following the execution of his father and the previous lord, Tytus Thornton, and gained a spot on King John Koopa VI's royal cabinet.

Lord Thornton never married anyone, stating that he never felt the need to do so, but he did have an illegitimate daughter, Alice Marshling, with an unknown woman. Lord Thornton decided to raise Alice himself and brought her to live with him, believing that Alice would be useful to help keep the castle clean.

Additionally, Thornton is also descendant of Prince Tarquin Koopa, being his great grandson.

### The Feeble King

#### Part I

Lord Thornton is introduced in the first royal cabinet meeting, where the nobles all discuss how to tackle the ongoing anarchist revolt, with Thornton commenting on being relieved over having avoided the anarchists by showing up early to the meeting. Thornton doesn't say much in the whole scene, but he does comment on John's late father being able to keep control of the realm with ease and can also be seen laughing at Lord Richard Koopa when he is mocked over Lord Sigmund Phoenix being chosen over him to replace the late Lord Alfred De La Korde as King's Claw.

Thornton reappears during the Loveday Feast, having eavesdropped on Lord Richard's conversation with Lord Agron Ironside, and tells Richard that Ironside was just trying to fuel his anger. Thornton properly introduces himself to Richard, telling him that he is actually on agreement with everything he said about Lord Sigmund, but notes how King John will not do anything to have him replaced with someone more capable and less corrupt, and proposes to Richard that they both team up to overthrow the king. Richard is angered by this, and lifts Thornton by his neck. Richard lets go off the shady lord, but not without warning him to never bring that subject up again in his presence.

#### Part II

Lord Thornton is present is present during Sigmund's cabinet meeting in which he expresses his intention of running the kingdom as regent until John VI recovers from his vegetative state, which he entered upon suffering a mental breakdown at the Loveday Feast, as per his and Queen Cynder Von Bohnenrotte's agreement. Thornton questions Lord Richard's absence, leading to Lord Berwick and Sir Torrence Python to protest to Sigmund about it, but Sigmund dismisses them. When Lord Richard interrupts the meeting and has Lord Sigmund arrested for his crimes, Thornton is one of the cabinet members who seems to be on board with the idea of Richard replacing Sigmund as the King's Claw and regent.

A few days after Richard settles in Bright Valley to fulfil his job as the new regent, Thornton attends the first official cabinet meeting organized by the duke of Sherbet Land, and while he doesn't oppose to the idea of the nobles turning over part of their lands in order to house refugees from the realm's former territory in the Bohnenkraut Kingdom, he does warn Richard that not many will agree with the idea.

Thornton reappears during Lady Jane Phoenix and Korrin Sylver's wedding ceremony, where he notices Sir Rodrick Solberg feeling rather sad about seeing Jane and Korrin deepening their bond with one another, and thus approaches the king's half-brother and questions him on the matter, mainly why he didn't choose to marry Jane himself if he loved her and wanted to help her so badly, to which Rodrick replies that he would have dishonored his brother Edrick's memory if he did marry Jane, as he was her husband before he got himself killed in a mustie accident. When Rodrick tells Thornton that he just wanted to respect his late brother, the latter scoffs at this, saying that "the respect of dead men, is that of no men", and leaves. It's implied that Thornton was trying to use his words to twist Rodrick's morals and make him jealous of Korrin for marrying Jane, even though he himself personally set them up.

#### Part III

After Lord Richard successfully escapes arrest along with Sir Edrick Greyford, he comes across Lord Thornton, who tells the duke of Sherbet Land that his two younger sons, Rickon and Tobias, had been imprisoned under Queen Cynder's orders. Thornton suggests going to his castle to discuss things through, and after some hesitation, Richard decides to trust him.

Once in Thornton's castle, Richard apologizes to Thornton for his distrust, to which Thornton tells him that all is forgiven. Richard briefly asks Lord Thornton about his daughter Alice, with Thornton explaining that Alice is his baseborn daughter (an illegitimate child), as he never felt the need to get married and mainly brought Alice to live with him so she could help keep the castle clean. Casting that matter aside, both men proceed to talk about the current state of affairs, with Lord Sigmund being restored as King's Claw by King John VI and both of them undoing all the progress Richard made throughout 1476, as well as Richard's sons being kept hostage under the Queen's orders. Lord Thornton tells Richard that Tobias and Rickon will only be released if he turns himself in, otherwise they must fight against the king and his corrupt advisors, to which Richard agrees.

Lord Richard then leaves for the Sherbet castle with Edrick and Thornton, where they explain the situation to Richard's family. Not long after, Lord Richard announces a Great War Council in his castle which many of his closest allies and friends attend, and which Lord Thornton is present in. Richard rallies up his allies to go to war against the King's corrupt advisors, with everyone cheering for the duke of Sherbet Land.

The following day, Lord Thornton marches to Whomp City with Lord Richard and many other allies, fighting for the Sherbet forces in the Battle of Whomp City. Prior to the start of the battle, the Sherbet forces try to negotiate with the Kayenne forces. After learning that Lord Gerald Garnet had betrayed Lord Richard, kidnapped Lady Anna, and handed her over to Queen Cynder, who is holding her hostage, as well as the peace negotiations being rejected, the battle starts. During the fight, Thornton fights off the Kayenne soldiers by himself, and after some hours of battling, he commands his men, who where hiding in the battlefield, to shoot arrows at the Kayenne forces, injuring many of them and giving the Sherbet forces an advantage in battle. Ultimately, the Sherbet forces win the battle, capturing King John Koopa VI and executing Lord Sigmund Phoenix.

## Appearance

Ghaston Thornton is a slender dragon-koopa with greyish-green skin, a light grey snout, a black head, and dark grey hair that reaches his shoulders, with a bang of hair covering one of his eyes, which are black with red sclera. In addition he has two prominent fangs sticking out of one side of his mouth. Thornton wears a dark grey shell with multiple thin spikes, a black spiked choker and a pair of black spiked cuffs, one on each arm. Additionally, he is often seen holding a cup of wine (later revealed to be a beverage made of spices, berries and Scuttlebugs) whenever he appears.

## Personality

Lord Ghaston Thornton is a very reserved and mysterious individual. No one knows much about him, not even the other members of John VI's royal cabinet. For what can be seen, Thornton appears to be a shady individual who likes to observe things from the shadows, often pitting nobles against each other with an unclear goal or motive behind it. Related to this, Thornton appears to be very perceptive, manipulating and cunning as shown by him easily being able to tell that, deep down, Rodrick is jealous of Korrin for marrying Jane, and then trying to fuel that jealousy. Overall, Lord Thornton can be described as a cryptic individual who prefers to play the role of a chess master by trying to manipulate others.

It is possible that Thornton keeps his emotions hidden underneath a plain smile at all times, likely so that it is more difficult for others to decipher what he is really thinking and/or planning. This is further supported by the fact that during the Battle of Whomp City, Thornton's expression changes to a sadistic smile once he orders his troops to shoot arrows to the enemies while they are distracted, hinting that he might be hiding a cruel and sadistic personality.