Marcus Farrar

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**Marcus Farrar** is a student at Blackcliff Academy. Marcus becomes the next Emperor of the Martial Empire.

## Personality

Marcus is cruel, sadistic, manipulative, and power-hungry. He revels in violence and has no moral qualms about raping slave girls or killing his friends and classmates in the Trials. Elias Veturius says, "telling Marcus not to cheat is like telling him not to breathe." The only person he seems to care for is his twin brother Zak. After becoming Emperor, his obsession with being respected only increases. Without Zak, he doesn't seem fully present. He appears older, harder, and perhaps most terrifyingly, wiser.

## Physical Description

Marcus has dark skin and yellow eyes. His mask has joined with him so completely that all of his features, even the thick slant of his eyebrows, are clearly visible beneath it. He has distinctly large hands.

## Biography

Marcus Farrar was born in the Empire along with his twin brother Zak. The two were chosen for Blackcliff Academy when they were six years old. They come from a Plebeian family from a village north of Silas. Their father is a smithy and farrier. Their mother is a baker.

### *An Ember In The Ashes*

Marcus is an evil but loyal Mask at Blackcliff. He delighted in tormenting both gave Helene and Elias. Helene calls him the Snake. In the dining hall, Marcus suspects Elias is planning to desert, just like their former classmate Falconius Barrius. Elias lies and says he isn't planning to run, but Marcus isn't convinced, and demands Elias say that Falconius deserved his death for deserting. Marcus is fixated on Helene. He tells Elias that Helene "belongs to him."

During the Third Trial, Marcus kills Zak. Upon winning the Trials, Marcus is crowned Emperor, succeeding Taius XXI.

### *A Torch Against The Night*

Just before Avitas Harper kills Helene, Marcus arrives and allows Helene to go. When Helene asks why, he tells her that Cain insisted to him that if he killed her, it would lead to his doom. He then tells her that her task is to find, capture, torture, and execute Elias. Helene realizes part of the reason Marcus is so desperate for Helene personally to kill Elias is because he wants her and Elias to be like him and Zak. Emperor Marcus makes Helene kill ten house patriarchs and then forces their heirs to swear fealty to him.

### *A Reaper At The Gates*

After discovering Helene's ability to heal, he breaks Livia's arm and orders her to heal it. She does. Marcus then orders Helene to heal his mind. When Helene attempts to heal him, she says stepping into Marcus' mind is "like stepping into a poisoned swamp." There is darkness, pain, rage, and a deep, abiding emptiness. Suddenly, the Nightbringer arrives. He tells Helene to stop, and even Marcus listens to him. He says that Helene cannot heal him because he suffers no ailment and that his brother's ghost is real. Until Marcus submits to its will, it will give him no peace. He tells Marcus that he will soon face the darkest moment his future holds. The Nightbringer then orders him to leave Helene and Livia and tend to his empire, "lest your brother's death be for naught."

Before the battle of Antium, Marcus and Helene go to visit the Augurs. Marcus speaks privately with Artan, the Augur who has been speaking with him since the Trials. Afterwards, he tells Helene the prophecy Artan gave him. "The strength of the butcher bird is the strength of the Empire, for she is the torch against the night. Your line will rise or fall with her hammer; your fate will rise or fall with her will."

Marcus is mortally wounded during the battle at Antium. When Helene finds him, he asks her to kill him so that he won't suffer a painful death. Helene agrees and stabs him through the heart.

## Trivia

* The name Marcus has its roots in the name of the Roman god of war, Mars.
* Marcus' sigil upon becoming Emperor is a pair of crossed hammers on a black background.

## References

1. ↑ *An Ember In The Ashes*: page 131
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *A Reaper At The Gates*: page 271-272
3. ↑ *A Reaper At The Gates*: page 323
4. ↑ https://www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name/boy/marcus