Joshua Pendragon

"*That's what being human is—moving forward, maturing, trying to become better than our base selves.*"
— Joshua Pendragon
**Joshua Pendragon** is an alchemist and the former Lord of the Phoenixes. Born to muggle parents in 1993, Joshua was the eldest of three children and the first to display magical ability. He was admitted to Hogwarts, where he was sorted into Gryffindor house. In his 6th year he was introduced to the art of Alchemy, which he would spend his first years after graduation mastering through an apprenticeship. Through this apprenticeship he met Kipi, who he would fall in love with and eventually marry.

During this time, Joshua discovered the Pendragons had originally been a wizarding family, but the historical record had been altered to erase their existence. He also found the Pendragon ancestral home of Avalon, which he rebuilt. Around this time, his younger brother Noah Pendragon became fascinated with the dark arts, and the two brothers had a falling out. Noah would join the Dark Followers, while Joshua would end up joining the Order of the Phoenix and spend the next few years working to undo his brother's dark deeds.

In Spring of 2020, Joshua Pendragon was chosen to become the Lord of the Phoenixes. During his tenure, he helped lead the Phoenixes in taking down Shakti Bhardwaj, built the new Order of the Phoenix base, and worked to determine who was manipulating the allegiances into attacking each other. He stepped down from his position after his lieutenant Andreu Zoldyck was petrified, both to help search for a way to cure him and to avoid a potential attempt on his life.

After spending some time in hiding, Joshua was able to develop a cure for Andreu. He returned to the wizarding world to investigate the truth behind the Pendragon family's near-extinction, and in the process came into conflict with the immortal wizard Merlinus. By the end of this conflict, he had been transformed into a living Philosopher's Stone. He continued to assist the Order of the Phoenix in an unofficial mentorship role, and currently lives in Avalon with his wife Kipi, his adopted daughter Robin, and his infant daughter Amelia.

## Biography

### Early Life

Joshua Pendragon was born on August 24th, 1993 in Leeds to muggle parents. He was the eldest of three children, with his brother Noah born two years after him and his sister Anne born two years after that. His childhood was relatively ordinary and happy, though he did receive some teasing about his unusual surname. He first displayed magical ability at age 7, when he accidentally transfigured a coconut flavored cake into chocolate.

On his 11th birthday, Joshua received a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His parents were cautious at first, but were soon very supportive of him attending school. He was enrolled in September 2004 and was sorted into Gryffindor house. Early on he expressed an interest in dueling, but after a disastrous performance at a dueling tournament in his 3rd year he gave up on that aspiration altogether.

Towards the end of his 5th year, Joshua attended his Career Advice meeting with his head of house, during which he admitted there was no real path he felt especially drawn towards. After some consideration, his head of house suggested an unorthodox study path: to become an Alchemist. Intrigued, Joshua decided to accept this idea, and began to receive private classes in the subject. He quickly flourished in his Alchemy lessons, and studied the subject with a passion in his free time.

#### Post-Graduation

After graduating from Hogwarts, Joshua was offered an apprenticeship with a renowned alchemist on his head of house's recommendation. During this time he began to make significant advancements in his alchemical skills, and created his first homunculus. He also studied some principles of the Dark Arts under his master's supervision, as according to the latter, "To have a complete picture of reality you must understand its uglier aspects, and I believe you [Joshua] can walk that edge without tumbling in."

On his 18th birthday, Joshua encountered a small red dragon who dropped one of its scales at his feet, before it began to swoop back and forth. Believing the dragon wanted him to follow, Joshua flew alongside it on his broom, traveling westward over the Irish Sea until they arrived at a mist-covered island. Here he discovered a set of crumbling medieval ruins, inside of which he found magical sigils and a coat of arms labeled 'Pendragon.' This confused him greatly, since he had believed his family had always been muggles, yet these ruins suggested they were once wizards. Joshua began to research the history of Pendragons, yet every history book he could find contradicted the evidence of the island, which he later learned was named Avalon. The dragon continued to follow him, so he decided to name it Uther and treat it as his companion. Around this time, he began to rebuild the Pendragon estate on Avalon.

"*Joshua and Kipi looked at eachother in silence for a moment, a great surging sea of emotions surrounding them. Both felt surprise, delight, hesitancy, and many things more.*"
— Joshua and Kipi's second meeting
Almost a year after graduating, Joshua had a brief encounter in Hyde Park with a beautiful woman around his age, who was singing to a young boy while bandaging his scraped knee. After the boy's parents arrived to collect him, the two began a conversation, during which Joshua learned her name was Kipi and that she was magical like him. They quickly hit things off and talked in earnest for half an hour before Joshua realized he was going to be late for work and rushed off. Arriving at the alchemy lab, his master informed him he was taking on a second apprentice. By a stroke of fate, that apprentice proved to be Kipi. The two quickly developed feelings for eachother, and three weeks later began dating.

### Joining the Phoenixes

Due to his focus on his Alchemy apprenticeship, his relationship with Kipi, and unraveling the mysteries of Pendragon history, Joshua began to spend less time with his family. At the same time, his younger brother Noah began to take an interest in the Dark Arts, which quickly grew into fascination and then obsession. Noah began to believe that the world needed radical change, and that dark magic was the path to that future. Friction slowly grew between him and Joshua over these beliefs; the two spent less and less time together, and the few times they were in the same room always ended in argument.

A few months after Noah graduated from Hogwarts, he and Joshua got into a heated row that soon turned into a brief duel. Their parents burst into the room to break up the fight, but both were injured in the crossfire of spells. Noah stormed out of the house and never returned. A few days later, Joshua learned his brother had joined the Dark Followers.

## Physical Description

Joshua is tall, fair-skinned, with a relatively lean build, and was often jokingly described as "bird-boned" by his father growing up. He was born with very light blonde hair which has steadily darkened into its current ash-brown color. His eyes were originally brown, but after his experience with the Azoth they have changed to a bright red, the same color as a Philosopher's Stone.

## Personality and Traits

Joshua is brave, intelligent, and fiercely dedicated to his loved ones. He is known for giving pieces of wisdom to those who ask for it, and has served as a mentor for many Phoenixes and other individuals. He is also generally quite forgiving and willing to give second chances, believing that many people who commit wicked acts were led there by circumstance, as shown with his treatment of Evan Seymour. The exception to this belief is his brother Noah, who he believes is past the point of redemption.

As Lord of the Phoenixes, Joshua championed a policy of "fight the greater evil." He was very idealistic, believing in the promise of a brighter dawn, but tempered that idealism with a good degree of pragmatism. He was rarely blinded by traditional rivalries and willing to compromise to defeat a greater foe, as demonstrated when he briefly allied with Joel Crestello to defeat Shakti Bhardwaj.

At home, Joshua is a loving husband and father. He spends as much time as he can with his family, spending quality time with his wife Kipi and giving guidance to his daughter Robin. He is fiercely protective of his family, due in part to the knowledge that the Pendragons were almost wiped out once before. This protectiveness is usually not too extreme, but on one occasion turned into an uncontrolled cold fury when the faerie king Oberon kidnapped his daughter Amelia.

Joshua is very passionate about Alchemy, and will talk near-endlessly to those who will listen. He resents the common misconception that "alchemy is potions", and will correct anyone who makes that claim in his presence. He is also fascinated with history, mythology, and folktales, and enjoys researching them in his spare time. During his early adult years he was engrossed in the mystery of what truly happened to the Pendragons 1000 years ago, and felt responsible for restoring the Pendragons to glory. He sometimes has a tendency to take the weight of the world on his shoulders, though he has been working to end this habit with the help of his wife.

## Magical Abilities and Skills

Although not a great duelist, Joshua has mastered a number of other magical skills that have aided him both in his professional life and during his time with the Order of the Phoenix.

* **Alchemy:** Joshua is a master alchemist, and one of the few granted a license to practice in Britain. His main specialty is in metallurgical alchemy, and he is able to transmute nearly any metal or alloy with ease. He was also skilled at biological alchemy, particularly in the creation of homunculi. Notably, he has created two homunculi, H and Scout, which he is able to control through a remote link. Joshua has the knowledge and skills necessary to create a Philosopher's Stone, but he has chosen not to since he has no interest in immortality. By far his greatest alchemical achievement was opening a gateway to the Azoth (albeit under coercion), a feat no alchemist had ever achieved before.
	+ **Philosopher's Stone Powers:** As a consequence of his exposure to the Azoth, Joshua is effectively a living Philosopher's Stone. He is able to produce large amounts of magical energy which allow him to perform the feats of a Philosopher's Stone, such as turning base metals into gold. He can also transmute objects with a mere touch, accomplishing in seconds what would normally take hours and specialized equipment. Using this power takes an incredible strain on him however; brief uses usually cause him to bleed from the nose or mouth, with longer uses incapacitating him for weeks at a time.
	+ **Panacea:** Due to the magical energy produced in his body, Joshua's cells are constantly destroyed and regenerated. A side-effect of this is he is immune to viruses, including Lycanthropy, because his body destroys infected cells before they can spread the virus. This immunity also extends to certain poisons and other illnesses, serving as a built-in panacea or "cure-all". Certain magical poisons or curses can bypass this immunity, however.
* **Legilimency:** Joshua is trained in Legilimency and has been known to use it for both interrogation and therapy. He is able to skim through a target's surface thoughts, as well as enter a target's 'mindscape', a visual manifestation of a person's thoughts and memories. He generally does not use this ability unless he has to, viewing it as an invasion of privacy.
* **Occlumency:** As part of his Legilimency training, Joshua also learned the art of Occlumency. He is able to organize his thoughts into a protective 'mind palace' that can shield his mind from mental intrusion. This technique also grants him a greater deal of focus and clarity when he uses it, and can sometimes grant him faster reflexes when used correctly in combat. However the stress of combat often makes it difficult for him to use this technique for that purpose.
* **Mythology & Folklore:** Joshua has studied a great deal of lore both in learning Alchemy and for his research into the true history of the Pendragons. This lore tends to focus on medieval and renaissance magical traditions and tales, though he has also extensively studied Greco-Roman Mythology for recreation.
* **Care of Magical Creatures:** Joshua is proficient in the handling and raising of a number of magical creatures. Most notably is his dragon companion Uther, but he has also cared for phoenixes, thunderbirds, and hippogriffs.
* **Flying:** Although he never played Quidditch, Joshua is a proficient flyer both with a broom and on the back of a hippogriff.
* **Artifice:** Joshua has experimented with metal charming in combination with his metallurgical alchemy. He has successfully produced a small number of protective amulets and talismans.

## Possessions

* **Wand:** Joshua's wand is made of cypress with a unicorn hair core, which he purchased from Ollivander's when he was 11. After obtaining his staff, he later had Ollivander's transfuse his wand into the staff.
* **Pendragon Staff:** An oak staff with dragon carvings at the head. Joshua discovered this staff at age 18 while exploring the ruins of Avalon, locked in a secret vault. The staff was created by medieval Pendragons, and Joshua had his wand transfused into the staff shortly after discovering it. It currently serves as his primary method of channeling magic.
* **Cloak:** A red cloak with subtle embroidery depicting dragons and phoenixes, which Joshua sewed together himself under the instruction of his mother. He later had the cloak enchanted, so it now offers a measure of magical protection.
* **Top Hat:** A fine red top hat that Joshua received as a present from Kipi after completing his apprenticeship. Though the hat has no magic itself, Joshua wears it everywhere and likes to joke that it may have some hidden properties.
* **Uther:** Uther is a small red-scaled dragon and Joshua's constant companion. The two first met in the summer after Joshua graduated from Hogwarts, when Uther suddenly appeared at his doorstep and led him to the ruins of Avalon. Uther is a pendragon, a near-extinct species of dragon from which the Pendragon family derive their name. This causes Uther to grow much more slowly than most dragon species, but also makes him far cleverer.
	+ **Uther's Scale:** This red dragon scale bears a mark in the shape of the the Norse rune Dagaz, and was given to Joshua by Uther when they first met. The scale has mysterious properties and has acted as a key to a number of ancient magical chambers.
* **Regulus:** Joshua acquired Regulus two years after joining the Order of the Phoenixes during a mission where they rescued a group of phoenix birds from poachers. Regulus grew rather attached to Joshua during that experience, and so has been his pet ever since.
* **Zephyros:** Joshua's pet hippogriff who he met a year before becoming Lord of the Phoenixes. Zephyros had an injured wing which Joshua mended, and the hippogriff flew him back home out of gratitude. Zephyros is very independent and likes to wander the Avalon grounds and fly about as he pleases, but he will still transport Joshua when needed.

## Relationships

### Family

#### Kipi Pendragon

Kipi is Joshua's wife, and the love of his life. They first met during Joshua's alchemy apprenticeship, when Kipi was brought on as a junior apprentice. The two quickly became close, and eventually fell in love and started dating. Their relationship has always been incredibly mutually supportive with a strong foundation of respect and admiration, and many have described them as the ideal relationship. In spite of their concern for the other's wellbeing, both trust each other in difficult situations and they have faced numerous supernatural perils together.

#### Anne Pendragon

Anne is Joshua's younger sister, and the two have been close ever since childhood. They enjoy pestering eachother for fun and banter even as adults, but they are also very emotionally supportive and open. Joshua was very proud of Anne for following in his footsteps and joining the Order of the Phoenix, but also encouraged her to forge her own identity.

#### Robin Pendragon

Joshua first met Robin when she was a teenager on the run both from her horrible birth parents and from the threats of the Dark Baron Henry. He and Kipi sheltered Robin in their concealed home, and the trio quickly became close. The couple soon offered to formally adopt Robin, which she enthusiastically accepted. Although it took some time for Robin to adjust to a kinder household, she soon relaxed and has fully embraced her identity as a Pendragon. Joshua and Robin are very close as father and daughter, and he has given her lots of advice as she has approached adulthood. At first Joshua struggled to properly help Robin with her werewolf transformations and once offered to make her a cure for her lycanthropy, but she refused and they eventually worked out a system.

### Enemies

#### Noah Pendragon

"*You and your brother were certainly entertaining to read about in the news. Lord of the Phoenixes and Dark Lord... two brothers locked in mortal combat. Classic literature in the making.*"
— Merlinus
Noah and Joshua were close growing up, and enjoyed a good friendship mixed with sibling banter. Joshua was very proud when Noah was sorted into Gryffindor like him, and he looked out for his younger brother at school. After graduating, the two began to drift apart; while Joshua was finding the ruins of Avalon and looking into his family's history, Noah was becoming entranced with the dark arts. Things came to a head after Noah joined the Dark Followers, when Joshua confronted his brother in an explosive fight. The two would clash countless times more as Phoenix and Dark Follower, and then as Lord of the Phoenixes and Dark Lord. After several conflicts and threats against his family, Joshua believes Noah is past the point of redemption and does not consider him to be his brother. After Noah's disappearance following the Battle of Gringotts, Joshua has not searched for him and is glad he is gone.

#### Merlinus

"*Conflict only brews resistance and destruction. There's far too much risk. But in times of peace, you can build. Use power to amass followers, obtain wealth and power, and then apply that to alter the rules to your choosing. War is the game of kings. Peace, Mr. Pendragon, is the game of gods*"
— Merlinus
As the man responsible for nearly wiping out the Pendragons and erasing them from history, Merlinus holds a special place of loathing in Joshua's heart. This enmity was exacerbated when Merlinus kidnapped Joshua and coerced him into opening a gateway to the Azoth. Merlinus for his part showed no outward hatred to Joshua and was very civil to him during his captivity. He had lost interest in vengeance centuries ago and merely captured Joshua due to his skills as an alchemist, and he even showed admiration towards him. Their experience in the Azoth together has left a strong impact on Joshua, and the memory of Merlinus and his death still lingers in his mind.

#### Oberon

"*I hath watched thou since thine youth now wasted. Thou are not, and hath never been, a fighter. Even if thou had the power or technique, thou lacketh the will to kill. And this is the truth of it, Pendragon: thine mercy is thine weakness.*"
— Oberon
Oberon earned Joshua's wrath by kidnapping his daughter Amelia in order to fulfill an ancient pact made by a medieval Pendragon that had gone unfulfilled after Merlinus' massacre. Upon confronting the fey king, Joshua found Oberon to be extremely arrogant, vain, and megalomaniacal. Oberon taunted Joshua, claiming he lacked the fire to kill him. Joshua responded by unleashing his Philosopher's Stone power to horribly mutilate Oberon. He was so consumed with rage at the fey king that he nearly destroyed himself just to hurt him.