Fearless

***Spoiler Warning:** Plot and/or ending details follow.*

* Adult
* Cub

## Names

* **Cub:** Swiftcub
* **Gallantpride:** Fearless Gallantpride
* **Brightforest Troop:** Cub of the Stars
* **Titanpride:** Fearless Titanpride
* **Fearlesspride:** Fearless Fearlesspride
* **Prideless:** Fearless Prideless

## Book Appearances

**Living**
*Broken Pride*, *Code of Honor*, *Blood and Bone*, *Shifting Shadows*, *The Spirit-Eaters*, *Oathkeeper*
**Dead**
*Oathkeeper*

**Fearless** was a male lion and one of the three main protagonists of Bravelands. After Titan killed Gallant, his father, and took over Gallantpride, Fearless swore an oath to kill Titan and avenge his father’s death. In *Oathkeeper*, he finally fulfills his oath and kills Titan, though at the cost of his own life.

## Appearance

Fearless is a male lion with golden fur, round ears, and brilliant golden-amber eyes. His muzzle is slightly lighter than the rest of his fur, and he has several whiskers. At the age of two, Fearless develops a mane and has grown significantly.[*citation needed*]

## Personality

True to his name, Fearless was known to be fearless. He would risk his life to help his family. Fearless had also shown to be reckless and known to get himself into trouble, acting on his impulsiveness and need to fulfill his oath, which he had grown quite passionate about, rather than give thought to what he was about to do. However, Fearless cared deeply for his loved ones and did not regret dueling with Titan as soon as he did, even after learning that wounds his adversary inflicted on him were fatal. Instead, Fearless died happily, despite his age at his time of death.

## Biography

### *Broken Pride*

Fearless, although first unnamed, is seen in the prologue play-fighting with his sister, Valor. The vulture and guardian of Bravelands, Windrider, is overlooking them. She then receives a sign - a roar that shakes the sky that only she can hear.

Fearless, then known as Swiftcub, is seen trying to pounce on a Windrider's shadow. Swiftcub follows his mother, Swift, to a patch of dry grass where Valor is trying to hunt meerkats. He attempts to mimic her but finds it very hard to keep up with her on short legs. Swiftcub springs forward, but he was not as fast as Valor, who has just missed one. His father, Gallant, comes over and laughs, reassuring Valor that it was a good attempt. Gallant tells her that one day she would be just as good a hunter as her mother. Swiftcub grumbles that he wasn't anywhere near a great hunter, and Gallant tells him that Valor was a whole year older than him. Swiftcub expresses doubt, and Gallant tells him that he would be a great leader- one that kept his pride safe and content but struck fear into the hearts of his enemies. He then begins to think that his father was right when he notices a scorpion behind his father. Instinctively, Swiftcub swiped his paw at it and threw the scorpion away into the grass. Gallant laughs, and Swift scolds him, saying that while Gallant would have gotten away with nothing more than a nasty sting, while he could have been killed. Valor sighs and calls him an idiot, but Swiftcub notes there was admiration in her eyes.

After exchanging looks with Swift, Gallant said he believed it was time for Swiftcub to receive his true name. Gallant declares to the pride that his son would no longer be known as Swiftcub but as Fearless Gallantpride. As the lions of Gallantpride exhibit their praise, other lions roar back in the distance. Gallantpride falls silent and goes to accompany Gallant. Fearless springs towards the meerkat hill to see what is happening and spots a trio of prideless lions. He asks Swift who the outsiders were, and she points that the largest one, the trio leader, was Titan, a huge and powerful male with a black mane and dark eyes. Swift explains to Fearless that Titan was the cub of a lion that was driven out by Gallant and Titan hates him for that reason. Gallant says that there was only one reason why Titan would arrive at Gallantpride uninvited: to challenge him for leadership.

After Titan kills Gallant and breaks the Code, Fearless runs away and is carried to the nest of an eagle named Highcrest. The baboons save him, and he is brought to Brightforest Troop by Stinger, and becomes known as his "Cub of the Stars."

A year afterward, we find Fearless as part of the Brightforest Troop. He is trying to help his friends, Mud and Thorn, move up in current ranks in a challenge known as the Three Feats. Due to him feeling as if a number of baboons did not yet accept him, he decides to attempt one of the Feats himself, but is tricked by Nut as a result. When he fends an attacking hyena off of their territory, he is delighted to think his bravery can count as an effort towards his Feat. He is instead hit with the opposite effect when Bark, the troop's Crownleaf, calls him forward and claims that he needs to live like a true lion. Crestfallen, Fearless believes that finding the rest of the attacking and slaughtering hyena's clan after it supposedly murdered Bark would earn him acceptance.

Fearless manages to find the hyenas, winding up in a cave, surrounded and at the brink of death, when he is saved by his sister, Valor, along with some of her fellow hunters. The two siblings are both surprised and delighted to have reunited, both of them thinking each other dead. Fearless hears of the treachery of Titan's reign, but Valor demands that he go back to Brightforest instead of staying with the pride. Reluctantly, Fearless does as he is told, but his vengeance for Titan only grows.

When he returns to Brightforest, where a newly crowned Grub overtakes the position as leader, Thorn and Mud tell him of his exile as he was away, and Fearless has no choice but to leave everything he's known behind and become the lion that Bark claimed he was. He is wrenched by sorrow and anger as he leaves the troop behind, and Thorn accompanies him out to the watering hole, where they part ways with a goodbye.

*More Coming Soon!*

### *Shadows on the Mountain*

Fearless was mentioned by Skip as one of the three heroes who has defeated Titan and brought peace to Bravelands. He is referred to as the Great Lion and resides in the stars.

### *The Venom Spreads*

Fearless is mentioned by Moth as she tells the story of the original three to Prance. As she is telling the story she mentions the "tragic romances" including Fearless and Keen in this.

### Victims

* Sleekfriend
* Slash
* Sever
* Titan

## Gallery

Fearless when he is fully grownFearless on the dutch cover of Broken PrideTeen/young Fearless (between *Thorn* and *Sky* )Cub Fearless (next to Sky)
## Trivia

* Fearless was a year younger than Valor, as stated by Gallant.
* He was chronologically the youngest protagonist among the three.
* Along with Sky and Thorn, Fearless has lost both of his parents.
* Fearless lost three parents, Loyal, Swift, and Gallant, although Gallant was not related by blood, he was his adoptive father.
* He was the only cub of his litter.
* A lion's age can be told by its mane. A mane turns black as they get older, with the lion starting with a golden mane.

## References

1. ↑ *Broken Pride*, page 6
2. ↑ Broken Pride, page 6
3. ↑ Cover of *Broken Pride*
4. ↑ Cover of *Broken Pride*
5. ↑ *Broken Pride*, pages 9-10
6. ↑ *Oathkeeper*, prologue
7. ↑ *Broken Pride*, page 9