Auguste/Main

"*Marvelous! What a splendid performance.*" —*Auguste*

**Auguste** is a character in *Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent*. He is the main antagonist of Master of Fame storyline.

## Profile

### Appearance

Auguste is a tall and thin, pale man with dark hair wearing dark coat under an elegant purple cloak.

### Personality

While keeping a facade of a respected playwright, he's a manipulative psychopath and serial killer who only finds inspiration to write his plays after murdering someone. However, he's able to manipulate those close to him to do nothing to stop him, making them think that his victims are the means to a greater end: his plays.

## Story

Auguste said to have begun working as a playwright in a small show tent, but without selling a single script. At 19 years old, he began an affair with his master's wife but ended up getting discovered by him. The master, in his anger, stabbed his wife many times to death and then committed suicide. Watching that filled Auguste with the excitement needed to write his first production, called *The Chaste Wife*. At some point of his life, he would met and befriend Simeon, who eventually gave him the Thief's Ring that allowed him to fulfill his wish for Fame. Since that time, he continued murdering people to feel the same excitement that he would use to write more plays until becoming Orsterra's most famous playwright, becoming a rival even to Simeon. Some time later, he met a woman named Francesca and made her his main actress and even the mother of his son Mikhail. Francesca would be against his killings, but manipulated by Auguste to give them a blind eye on each occasion.

However, deep down, Auguste wanted to be stopped by someone but he also felt the obligation to write a play like none other before. He would find an opportunity to fulfill both of these goals when meeting the Chosen One at his theatre, planning to make them the protagonist of his ultimate play.

For that, he disguised himself as a former playwright named Schwartz, who had his wife Galalea's heart stolen away by Auguste and later committing suicide, so Schwartz would decide to take revenge on him and ask the Chosen One to help him. While playing as Schwartz, he had one of his most trusted actors play as himself to avoid suspicions.

Schwartz had the Chosen One witness "Auguste" kill one of his actresses for bad acting and then planned to attack him at his mansion, built next to the old Jennish Gallows, where a cruel, old king of the Highlands would execute the criminals' families and force them to choose which one of their relatives would be spared, thus crushing their spirits. After that, he had the player witness "Auguste" poisoning Mikhail and then himself, and force Francesca to choose which one would receive the only antidote. While he (as Schwartz) would insist that the boy should get it, Francesca ended up choosing "Auguste" so he could finish his ultimate play. However, "Auguste" ended up having another antidote the whole time. This turn of events caused Francesca to snap from guilt and become mad, rejecting Mikhail as her son while "Auguste" went back to the theatre, claiming to have the perfect plot twist for his play, leaving Francesca to die after fighting the Chosen One.

Back at the theatre, Auguste (back in his usual attire) conversed with his old rival Simeon about his play, assuring him that his new play is the culmination of all of his work. After leaving, he had the theatre manager killed and dressed as him in order to be used as a decoy for the Chosen One and Schwartz. Meanwhile, "Auguste" would play the main role on stage, on a play relating Auguste's life and all of his crimes, in which, after the scene representing Francesca and Mikhail's incident, asked for a vengeful sword to make him pay. Right after that, the Chosen One and Schwartz entered the stage and fought him, killing him right before the curtain closed, with all the audience thinking that was all part of the show.

Behind the curtain, Schwartz revealed the truth to the Chosen One and how they had been fooled into playing the main role in his final play. He also hinted that Schwartz is actually his real self before becoming the man he is now, who begs the Chosen One to kill him. After a final duel, the playwright is defeated and killed for good.

His death shocked everyone, who thought it was due to an accident behind the stage. Auguste was buried next to the theatre, with Simeon assisting to the funeral. There, he met the Chosen One and told him that Auguste was indeed formerly known as Schwartz, an unsuccessful playwright whose wife was stolen away and murdered by his former boss, and while he got revenge, he ended up with nothing but his plays, becoming obsessed with them to the point of becoming Auguste. However, right after that, the poet claimed to just have come up with that story, and left.

## Skills

### Passive Skills

#### Resilience Skills

  Light Resilience
  Dark Resilience

## Trivia

* While Theatropolis is the city of arts, and therefore where the Master Playwright chooses to spend most of his time, he owns a villa in the Woodlands.