Ernest

**Ernest Climb** is a librarian Villager from Gangun. He is the sole survivor of the Illager Virus when his town was attacked during the Ender War, and was kept prisoner by Count Twoten for eight years until the player rescues him in Mission 4 of Assassin of Steve 3.

## Biography

### Before the Assassin of Steve maps

Ernest Climb was a librarian who lived in Gangun, a remote, struggling village located in the Gangun Mesa, which was situated next to a resourceless gold mine. Not much is known about his life before the Ender War, in which an immense force of Endermen led by an Ender General invaded. The Ender General unleashed the Illager Virus upon everyone in the village, turning them all into illagers, and they additionally lay waste to Gangun, desecrating it to ruins.

However, Ernest was the only villager immune to the virus, and he also survived the destruction that came afterward. The rest of the Gangun villagers all died in fever from the Illager Virus, including Mayor Herbert Twoten. Ernest buried the other villagers around Twoten's mansion, and buried Twoten himself in the tomb that had been dug out for him beforehand, believing that 'it was what my faithful mayor would have wanted.'

However, not long after, Twoten rose from the dead, his mind now permanently twisted by the Illager Virus. He captured Ernest using his newfound evocation spells, keeping him alive, but casting a spell that prevented Ernest from leaving the vicinity of Gangun and the mansion.

### Assassin of Steve 3

During the next eight years, Ernest learnt little about what went on in the outside world due to his imprisonment by Count Twoten. He began to lose hope, even leaving a diary in a chest outside the mansion among the ruins of his town.

The first known person to enter his town since the Ender War was the Assassin, who is followed by the player and Roger. Ernest witnesses the fight between them that follows, including all of the Assassin's fireball powers and cloning abilities. Once the fight is over and the Assassin vanishes, the player comes down to investigate Count Twoten's Mansion. Ernest waits outside the front doors for them, wishing to greet them, but once the player arrives, Count Twoten remotely casts a spell that causes Ernest to cry out in pain and then he disappears, leaving only the front doors open, inviting the player inside.

Ernest tries a few more times to warn the player of the fate that awaited them at the hands of Count Twoten, however they soon make it down to Count Twoten's underground chamber, where Ernest is trapped in a cage hanging over the arena. The count then attacks the player by alternatively summoning various supernatural creatures and directly using evocation fangs and Ghosts, however the player is able to defeat him, breaking his curse on Ernest.

Ernest falls from the cage and thanks the player for saving him. When the player asks how Gangun was destroyed, he tells them about the Ender War and the Illager Virus, then asks about the Assassin. The player tells him about the Squiggly Replic, which prompts Ernest to tell the player about how the Squiggly Replic was combined with the Empty Orb to create the portal between the Overworld and the End, and that after the war ended the two items were split up.

Ernest goes on to move into the shop, where he instructs the player on how to use Gems to unlock Runes and on how to equip them.

## Characterisation

Ernest is a knowledgeable villager who believes in doing what is right, but is also a tortured soul from his eight-year long imprisonment at the hands of Count Twoten.

## Quotes

* "No! Stay away! He'll kill you!"
* "You seeing fancy green sparkles appearing around you? Good, that's what the Rune of Green Sparkles does."

## Trivia

* According to the signature on The Evoker Diaries, Ernest's last name is Climb, which when put together resembles Ernest Cline, the author of the novel Ready Player One.