King Glockenspiel VIII

* **Main Page**
* Gameplay
* Dialogue

* Phase 1
* Phase 2

**King Glockenspiel VIII**, or **The Raven King**, is one of the current rulers of the Key Kingdom, alongside Queen Celesta XIV. He is first encountered during the main story of Tuba Warriors. Unlike the Celestas, those of the Glockenspiel lineage are far more prideful of the family name, leading to none of them ever having first names at birth. They believe that first names are only reserved for those with enough power to succeed as royals. King Glockenspiel VIII uses Raven as his first name, since its the title he was given during his reign.

Once Maestro first enters Organ City, they will be captured by a group of Glockenspiel Guards. These guards will then take Maestro into Key Castle, where King Glockenspiel VIII and Queen Celesta XIV are waiting to question them. If Maestro is "killed" by any Piano Warrior patrol outside of Organ City before ever entering Organ City, Maestro will instead be directly transported here by the warriors. Maestro will then inform them both that they are fighting against the Brass Empire. Hearing this, both of them will promise to entrust a weapon of great power to Maestro in order to aid them. Though first, for King Glockenspiel VIII to trust them, Maestro must prove their own worth at the Organpipe Challenge at Organpipe Training Grounds.

During the Organpipe Challenge, Maestro will have to climb the Organpipe Towers in ascending order, defeating not only the enemies on the way up, but also the mini-boss enemies at the very top of each one. King Glockenspiel VIII is the boss at the top of the final Organpipe Tower. Maestro will not be able to kill them, as once the King reaches 5% HP, he will call the fight off, gifting Maestro the Blacknote Badge.

The Blacknote Badge is a key item that, when equipped alongside the Whitenote Badge, will stop all Keyboard Military members from attacking Maestro on sight. It is also required that you have both equipped for some side-quests, such as "The Key To Victory."

Once Maestro has both and returns to Key Castle, the royals will grant Maestro the Regal Melodica. The Regal Melodica is a weapon that functions much like a flute. The weapon has decent ranged an musical output, however where it really shines is in its special ability. Its ability allows Maestro to fill all unoccupied slots in their party with a random assortment of Grand Piano Warriors, Glockenspiel Guards, Harpsichord Healers, Marimba Bashers, and Organ Riders once per battle. These characters do not persist after the battle.

## Appearance

King Glockenspiel VIII is usually seen with a large puffy Organnoth cape wrapped around him. Underneath, however, as seen during Phase 2, The King has 6 arms. All of these arms are covered in layered over silver and gray armor that mimics the keys of a glockenspiel. Underneath the majority of this, he wears a thick purple gambeson. Each of his hands have sharp knuckles and sharp golden tips. At the elbows of his forearms, there are large, striped, black, balls of fabric. On the tops of his forearms are golden stripes with red fire-shaped metallic fins of sort. His torso has the same alternating black and white buttons as is common among the Keyboard Military. On the right (his right) half of his chestpiece, is a row of Piano Badges, a common sign of rank in the Keyboard Military. The other half of his chest armor is a row of layered silver panels, again mimicking a glockenspiel. His abdomen is red with purple laces crossing over each other on top of it. His legs are gray and covered in layered panels of silver, much like his arms. Around his neck is a collar made from the feathers of Ragtime Ravens, the reason for his name. On his shoulder he wears a gray shoulder pad with gold detailing and and lettering spelling out "VIII" on it. Attaching this is a pair of brown straps that stretch all the way down to the bottom of his ribcage.

Adorning his head is a helmet that is partly in reference to the Key Helms worn by Piano Warriors and Grand Piano Warriors, and also party in reference to a raven helm, an old medieval helmet. The helmet is silver, black, and gray. It's cranium however is white. Wrapping around this is a golden crown with a silver ridge connected to it. Adorning the crown are several purple jewels. The eyes of the helmet are red.

In his bottom 2 hands, he wields a pair of steel wave-bladed swords. The handle of these is brown. The pommel is a sphere and golden. The hand guard is purple with gold accents. Wrapping around the handle of these blades is a red ribbon with gold detailing. The ribbon on his left sword (his left) has seemingly been damaged over time, though the right is still perfectly fine. In his middle pair of hands he wields a purple Chord-Barreled Key Gun, which allows him to fire off up to 5 shots at a time. In his upper left hand he wields a golden-colored longsword. The handguard is purple with gold detailing. The handle is brown. The pommel is purple with gold detailing and discus shaped, at the end of the pommel is a short metal rod, at the other of it end is a golden ball, overall this assembly mimics a mallet one would use for a glockenspiel. In his upper right hand he wields a The Blacknote Blade. The Blacknote Blade has long been the weapon of the Glockenspiel lineage since King Glockenspiel V "The Valiant." The handguard is purple with gold detailing and a red gem in the center on either side. The handle is brown. The pommel is purple with gold detailing and discus shaped, at the end of the pommel is a short metal rod, at the other of it end is a golden ball, overall this assembly mimics a mallet one would use for a glockenspiel.

## Personality

King Glockenspiel VIII, much like many before him, is a battle-hardened warrior that views combat prowess as the ultimate judge of character.

Due to some of his choices as king against outsiders, he has often been regarded as overly suspicious and aggressive towards them. This however, couldn't be further from the truth, as King Glockenspiel as actually very genial towards outsiders, he just doesn't appreciate people entering his country without his knowing.

He also, unlike his brother and father, the previous 2 kings, shows a great appreciation for science, and not just physical prowess. This is to such an extent that he even has enhanced his own body with cybernetics in a hope to surpass his elders and keep the lineage alive.

During his fight at the Organpipe Training Grounds, he spends the majority of his first phase on the defensive, very rarely attacking. He chooses instead to study his opponent and allow them to wear out before putting his all into it. During his second phase however, though his attacks aren't immensely powerful, his sheer speed and rate of attacks, thanks to his extra arms, leads to a very difficult battle. He is, thankfully, merciful to Maestro, just like the others in the Organpipe Challenge, allowing them to yield and try again if their health reaches too low.

## History

Glockenspiel VIII was born in 2S 173 only 9 and 4 years behind his brothers. Their father was the king at the time, namely, King Glockenspiel VI 'The Eagle." His father got the title due to his rank of "Eagle Major" in the Keyboard Military prior to ruling. The Eagle was a "tough but fair" kind of father, often treating his children much like soldiers. He strongly urged his sons to take part in the military, much like himself, and the 2 elder sons followed this advice. Raven however sought to involve himself more in merriment and exploration. He was instilled with a deep curiosity about the world around him and sought to learn as much as he could.

This curiosity was not well respected by his father, often believing he would never make a successful ruler. The Eagle's other sons were greatly prospering and in 2S 193, his eldest son got the rank of "Falcon Major" which was just 2 steps below "General Major," the highest rank in the Keyboard Military. For this, the Eagle finally granted his eldest son with the name "Falcon," and threw him a party to celebrate. Meanwhile, Raven was off on a sabbatical in the Woodwind Kingdom. His other son, who never got a name, though Raven would often call him Sparrow, was still climbing the military ranks, still stuck at foot soldier levels.

In 2S 199, The Eagle resigned, hoping to live his final days watching his greatest son lead his kingdom. This of course meant that Falcon was appointed as King Glockenspiel VII.

In 2S 200, during the Battle of Tremoloa Hill, their middle brother died fighting for his kingdom. And, in 2S 201, The Eagle was assassinated by an unknown assailant. Both of these losses inspired Raven to join the military, in hopes that if he were to become king, perhaps he could make it better. Despite what his remaining family wanted for him, he chose to be a Harpsichord Healer, in hopes that he could mend those who needed him.

During his time as a field medic, he began to see a need arise among his people; prosthetics. And so, in 3S 4, he brought the problem to the attention of Falcon, hoping he would understand. Thankfully he did, and Falcon agreed to put some of the kingdom's resources into cybernetics. In 3S 17, Raven agreed to be a test subject in for this project and, though it took many years to adjust, he now had 6 arms with which to fight.

In 3S 22, his brother was assassinated by a diplomat from the Woodwind Kingdom and Raven, whether he liked it or not, was now King.

One of his first actions as king, inspired by the assassinations of both his brother and father, was to crack down on internal defense of the Key Kingdom. He did this by instituting patrol parties of both Piano Warriors and Grand Piano Warriors which were sent out to capture any outsiders and bring them straight to both him and the Queen to be questioned. Though this choice did get pushback, it did work over the few years, successfully stopping many assassination attempts.

In 3S 26, King Glockenspiel VIII had a child, whom he actually gave a name to upon birth, something never before seen in the Glockenspiel lineage. He named his son Sparrow Glockenspiel IX, in reference to the nickname he had for his middle brother.

In 3S 45, after finding out about the old powerhouses they once owned, without any knowledge of their downsides, he alongside Queen Celesta XIV "The Grand," greenlit the reactivation of the Synthesizer Sentinels.

## Trivia

* Originally the creators were going to name him "The Spider" due to his cybernetics, however they felt it sounded too evil for his character.