Arthur Nathamer

Aditha Nathamer - sister

Captain **Arthur Nathamer** is a major PoV character in Book 1. He is the son of Hackor Nathamer, commander of Raylansfair's city guard and the older brother of Aditha Nathamer. In an attempt to win his father's approval, he joined the city guard as well, though he often finds himself torn between Hackor's rigid demands and his own morals.

## Backstory

Arthur Nathamer was born as the oldest child and only son of Hackor Nathamer, back then a mere guardsmen of exceptional loyalty and sense of duty. While his father advanced through the ranks of the city guard, young Arthur always looked up to him, hoping to one day follow in his footsteps.

Arthur continued to look up to his father even after Hackor's decision to protect the city during a fateful Ironborn attack caused the death of his mother, Hackor's wife. His younger sister, Aditha, came to resent her father ever since, but Arthur's devotion to his father did not waver.

However, unfortunately for him, Hackor never came to see him as a worthy successor. In a way, he had a point. Arthur idealized the duty of a guardsman, while going out of his way to be soft and kind even towards criminals. This streak, his refusal to use violence, it made him a less suited guardsman, which Hackor continuously called him out for.

Nonetheless, though advancing to the position of the commander, Hackor was unable to prevent Arthur from entering the city guard, after two of his guardsmen saved the boy while he intervened in a dispute in the city. This bravery was rewarded with a position among the guard.

Though knowing his father was disapproving of such ambition, Arthur tried his best to prove himself worthy of his new rank. He became exceptional in the amount of work he'd put into his duties, albeit his refusal to use violence always came as a problem. It was due to this that Arthur never truly advanced in the guard as far as he otherwise could have done, nor did he ever win his father's pride in the way he wanted to.

## Book 1

### We Write History

Arthur is first introduced when Lyria Mettel arrives at the city guard headquarters, where he is currently standing guard. They have a brief conversation, before he lets her through to speak to his father. In doing so, he unknowingly allows the investigation on Wolfius Woodbark to begin.

### The Iron Price

After some time, Arthur returns in a more significant way, when a killing spree begins to hit Raylansfair. Not only are the murders Wolfius commits still ongoing, Arthur is also drafted into a new investigation, revolving around the mysterious beast that has killed several travellers in the outskirts of the city. At the start of the chapter, he, his father and some experts from the city guard are called to the newest murder site. The old farmer Millie, mother of Roman, has been killed by the beast, a gruesome sight that causes Arthur to grow almost sick. He manages to strike up a brief conversation with the hunter Christian Thomas, who makes some assumptions on the nature of the beast, before he is called off by the commander.

Shortly afterwards, Arthur is ordered to inform Harris Flowers about the murders and the state of the investigation, with Hackor requesting help from the castle to properly protect Raylansfair. As he arrives there, he gets into a brief conversation with Nora Recton, before being allowed to go to Harris' quarters. There, he accidentally walks in on the acting lord and Sherryl, whom he recognizes as one of Aditha's childhood friends. Despite the uncomfortable situation, he successfully manages to convince Harris to send more troops to support the city guard. He even makes the decision to accompany them.

This decision expectedly leads to Hackor's disapproval. While he allows the farmers around Richard Harking to help, he sends Arthur away again, much to his own disappointment. The city guard moves in on Wolfius' supposed hideout, while Arthur is forced to go back to the headquarters. This decision however ends up saving the lives of Lyria and Rosalie Mettel, who have been attacked by Wolfius until Arthur chased the man off.

Together with Lyria, he delivers the critically injured Rosalie to Mathea, the healer. He ends up assisting her with saving Rosalie's life, but when he begins to freak out over the realization that Aditha is alone at home with Wolfius out on the streets, he gets her permission to leave.

Hurrying to the Nathamer estate, he finds Aditha in the presence of Clayton Teryl and Kersea Catelins, using the fake names of Ellyrio Terys and Briar. As it turns out, Clayton wishes to make peace with the city guard to be undisturbed during his mission in the city. For this, he has captured Wolfius, with the intention of delivering him to Hackor in order to stop the chaotic killing spree. After some thinly veiled threats, they leave, after handing over the injured and chained Wolfius.

As expected, the man himself is anything but pleased to be Arthur's prisoner. With a mixture of threats and promises, Wolfius tries to gain his freedom, promising to help against Clayton's far greater plans, but also promising vengeance should he not be freed. However, Arthur sees through Wolfius' lies and decides to keep him a prisoner.

### Masquerade

Arthur's decision not to let Wolfius go earns him the man's eternal hatred, but also the admiration of Aditha.

## Relationships

### Hackor Nathamer

Hackor and Arthur have a complicated relationship. On the one hand, Arthur idolizes his father. Always yearning for his approval, he has dedicated his entire life to win it, by becoming the man Hackor wants him to be. Unfortunately for him, Hackor never saw him as a suitable guardsman. By following what he deemed to be Hackor's will, he actually only caused his father to be disappointed in him. Hackor never shied away from ctiticizing his son and calling him out for his failures as a guardsman, but Arthur in return almost never said anything against his father. One of the few times this changed was when Hackor's words were aimed at Aditha. All of this change after Hackor's death. Realizing that up until the final moment, Hackor did not see Arthur as an adequate guardsman worthy of his respect shattered Arthur's belief in his father. He became bitter about this and came to see Hackor as the cold father he truly has been.

### Aditha Nathamer

The Nathamer siblings have a very close and loving bond. Both suffering under their cold father, they have grown close from a young age, with Aditha looking up to her brother and holding him in the highest regards. For a time, she even was Arthur's only friend, when his father and the guardsman looked down upon him. In fact, the very traits that made him be seen as a failure as a guard made her appreciate him even more, his morals, sense of dignity and refusal to kill. Their relationship became only stronger due to Arthur's refusal to accept Wolfius' crooked deal. For a time, she outright idolized him. However, after Hackor's death, the siblings began to drift apart a bit, as both had different ways to deal with the grief.

### Mathea

Mathea and Arthur begin their relationship on good terms. Both share a similar set of morals, with their code disapproving of using violence, or at least lethal force. In fact, Mathea showed herself quite impressed by Arthur's principles, as she wouldn't have expected to find this with a member of the city guard. It is due to this that Arthur urging her to kill Wolfius came as a shock to her and she showed herself disappointed by this. Their relationship began to recover a bit after this, though Arthur severed it, likely for good this time, when he decided to leave Mathea and the traumatized Rosalie Mettel to go with Ryler in an attempt to find Wolfius. Mathea rewarded him with a slap to the face, calling him out on abandoning her in the middle of the raid and essentially telling him that she doesn't wish any further contact with him beyond what they are forced to do on a professional level.

### Wolfius Woodbark

From the beginning, it became clear that Wolfius is Arthur's antithesis. A violent madman working solely for his own personal pleasure, this clashed heavily with Arthur's selfless, dutiful nature. The fact that he targeted several people Arthur felt affection to only solidified the fact that he wanted to bring him to justice more than anything else. Wolfius in return quickly came to hate Arthur, putting him and his family onto his hitlist. In time, the hunt for Wolfius became an obsession for Arthur, especially as Wolfius stabbed Hackor during the raid, a wound that contributed to his ultimate demise.

### Sherryl

Arthur knew Sherryl for most of his early life, as she used to be a good friend of Aditha and therefore a common guest in the Nathamer household. However, the events that led to Tariel's exile caused them to lose contact, with Sherryl leaving the city to study in Oldtown. After her return, Arthur quickly noticed that something was wrong about her, though he did not grasp the full depths of it until after the raid, where Sherryl's actions had caused plenty of dead, among them likely Hackor. However, in her final moments, Arthur decided to take pity on Sherryl, seeing her as merely a victim herself. As such, he kept her company in her final moments and he even ended up mourning her passing.

### Ryler Grimthorn

Arthur and Ryler first met during the Raid on Raylansfair and Arthur's decision to accompany him caused Ryler to be impressed by his desire to see Wolfius brought to justice. Sensing him to be a potential ally, Ryler deided to trust in him, eventually revealing much of his backstory and the suffering he had to endure at the hands of Lupin and Wolfius. The two became firm allies, working on the Wolfius case even after the official city guard investigation was called off. As such, Arthur took a great risk to help Ryler out, who in turn came to appreciate Arthur as an ally and perhaps a friend.