Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow

Name: Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow

Age: 36

Gender: Male

Race: Hylian (Geat)

Place of Origin: Northern Hills

PWC: 3/1/3 (Hyrule Castle Soldier)

Treasures:
Spin Attack
Sense

Custom:
Original (Idarian)- Unique Skill
Offense/Defense

Dragon Shout: War Cry
Cost:

C5--40 Rupees
C4--60 Rupees
C3--80 Rupees
C2--100 Rupees
C1--120 Rupees

Effect: Your hero can feel the power of a dragon dwelling within him. Unleash this dragon magic in the form of a battle cry in the ancient tongue of dragons. Those bestowed with this dragon power will know the tongue in their souls, and will sound this cry in battle. A blue shockwave will seem to ripple from the jaws of the zealous user and fan out in a 45 degree arc, affecting all foes within 20 meters. The morale of the user's enemy will crumble, and closer foes will be staggered and thrown off balance.

Any lingering effects of this spiritual blow will last a maximum of five seconds, but physical affects such as loss of balance may, depending on the courage and resolve of the afflicted, return more quickly. This attack may stun foes, but only by causing those vulnerable to lose heart and become hesitant in battle.

This shout is weak, to be sure, but can be a useful tool in battle.

Height: 5'10"

Weight: ~180lbs

Equipment: As a primary weapon, Beowulf carries his father's old sword, Naegling, which, while mainly a family heirloom, is a deadly weapon, to be sure. Measuring approximately 3'6", Naegling is an exquisitely crafted steel longsword with a cruciform hilt plated in bronze. The bronze hilt is further inlaid with gold designs, and the handle wrapped with fine, blackened leather fastened with silver studs. Furthermore, a polished stone of obsidian glass is set in the center of the heavy iron and bronze pommel.

In addition, Beowulf carries a long combat knife, with a polished, steel blade measuring 12 inches in length. The handle of this knife is made of ivory and is inlaid with bronze.

For protection, Beowulf carries a large, round shield crafted in the style of his ancestors. Measuring around 3 feet in diameter, this heavy shield is carved from a large piece of wood, with the convex frontal surface featuring carvings of warriors and dragons twisted in an infernal battle. The shield itself bears a bronze skin, while the inner surface features a leather sleeve for the arm of the wearer, plus a leather-wrapped wooden handle on the edge of the inner surface for extra stability. The shield also has a long, fine leather strap for wearing when not in battle.

Beowulf's armor comprises a helm, a haubergeon, and steel greaves. His helm is of the Spangenhelm variety, with an inner lining made of solid leather fastened to a tough steel skin. The frame, brow, and noseguard of the helm are made of solid bronze added onto the steel layer, and the cheek flaps are extended to cover the mouth and chin, providing full facial protection. The face mask portion of the helm is plated with bronze and gold designs. The back of the helm is made of layered extensions of thick, hardened leather to protect the neck and base of the skull. Finally, from the very top of the helmet, there streams a plume of black horse hair.

Other than his decorative blade and helm, really, Beowful's armor is nothing more than well-polished steel. He wears a scale-mail haubergeon that extends to mid-thigh level and has short, armored sleeves. In addition, each forearm is protected by a polished, steel bracer shielding the outer surface of Beowful's arms. Similarly, his steel greaves protect his shins, and also feature a curved extension to provide some defense for his knees without restricting movement.

Appearance: Beowulf is, quite honestly, the very image of the ideal Geatish warrior. He stands proudly at around 5'10", with a very solid, muscular build. His face is a proud, stern visage with a chisel jaw with a wooly, blond beard hugging his chin, cheeks, and mouth, and a scar from combat running down the left side of his face. He has almost shoulder-length, blond hair, the front of which he wears back in a sort of ponytail to keep hair out of his face. Along with blond hair, Beowulf boasts sharp, blue-green eyes.

Under his armor, one would see a black mark, almost like a tribal tattoo, covering his right shoulder, shoulder-blade, and upper arm. This is the mark of Volvagia, which will be explained in Beowulf's backstory.

In addition, Beowulf wears a deep red tunic with long sleeves and a long lower extension reaching just past mid-thigh level. Over his torso, he wears a dark, brown leather vest that reaches equally low over his thighs. This leather garment is entirely without sleeves, and mainly serves as padding beneath his armor.

On his legs, Beowulf wears dark, cloth leggings, but those are mainly covered by his tunics and his thick, leather and fur boots. These thick, wooly boots protect him cold, snow-covered terrain, sharp rocks and pieces of debris, and generally make travel more comfortable. Over these boots, Beowulf wears his steel greaves.

In addition, Beowulf wears a long, heavy cloak that has been dyed green. This cloak has a trim of gold lace, signifying his status as a theign of the Geats.

Personality: Beowulf can be an interesting character. At first glance, he is nothing short of purely honorable and modest. However, it will become rather easy to notice that, beneath the outer shell of the polite, respectful theign, Beowulf is still a Nordic warrior. True to his culture, he is always looking for the next fight, usually seeing every situation as something to be surpassed through skill and bravery in combat, which he is fairly good at, to be sure.

Moreover, while he may come across as very humble, never seeming to place himself above another of higher social stature (he would never hint at being better than a king, for instance), he is very confident in his own strength and skill, and therefore will always put himself out there as the man to save the day. Is there an undefeated monster you're having trouble with? No matter, Beowulf will crush this whelp.

Interestingly, he is still able to hide his confidence through his humility. He would, rather than suggest that he is the right man for the job, request the permission of a lord or what have you to try his hand at solving a problem doubtless because he believes he can surpass the poor showings of lesser men.

Residence: N/A

Pet: N/A

Backstory: Beowulf hails from a now small clan of Hylians whose story has come to fall into legend in recent years, as these people have not shown themselves much in Hyrule for nearly ten years. Some say they have left altogether, which, in a way, they have.

Long ago, several tribes of Hylians settled along the northern and southern coasts of the Eastern Sea. Some say they came from a far away continent, some say they simply lived as nomadic warrior clans until they settled their small kingdoms. These tribes included the Geats, the West-Danes, the East-Danes, the Wulfings, the Jutes, the Finns, the Swedes, and the Frisians and South-Danes*. The Geats and East- and West-Danes hailed from the mountainous terrain on the north bank of Zora's River running from Lake Hylia. The East-Danes settled in the mountains close to the river delta, while the West-Danes settled on the far side of the mountains, and the Geats held the land between them, as well as the Swedes, Finns, Jutes, and Wulfings.

The Frisians and South-Danes settled land on the coast line at the tip of the mountain range of which Death Mountain is a part. Each of these settlements grew over time into small kingdoms and principalities, though each of these "kingdoms" was rarely even as large as 20 square miles. In reality, these fiefdoms were more like city-states whose power was minor to that of the Kingdom of Hyrule. In all, these peoples numbered just a smudge over 100,000 or so in the lands north of the Eastern Sea. In the south, numbers were closer to 45,000. This meant that these particular Hylians may very well have been more influential, but given their locations in mountainous terrain and their small size compared to the populations of the rest of Hyrule's provinces, they had political power equivalent to no more than any other town or region in Hyrule. These tribes were simply just another set of Hylians, albeit a culturally different set.

To the Southern tribes, the Geats, Swedes, Finns, Jutes, Wulfings, and Danes of Northern Hyrule were Nords. To refer to those six tribes, the name stuck.

These peoples, called Nordic, though not all were technically speaking Nords, were mountain-dwellers that preferred to build their fortified cities in the mountains, shielded in valleys with strongholds in the rugged highlands. On the coastline, these people lived lives of fishermen and, in many cases, coastal raiders. Therefore, the reputation among Hylians of the Nords has always been savage viking raiders who would ravage coastal settlements, burning them to the ground. However, this is not so. Many Nordic fiefdoms did grow a habit of raiding neighboring cities, but in more recent decades and centuries, the Nords have been more docile people. However, over the ages, the Nords have developed a reputation as fearless, brutal warriors.

Therefore, even before Ganon, the King of Evil, made his war on Southern Hyrule, these warrior tribes were renowned across Hyrule, and many nobles and Nordic kings and chieftains were theigns (essentially the Nordic equivalent of a knight or vassal) of the King of Hyrule. Fifteen years ago, the many kings and princes of the Geats, Danes, Swedes, Finns, Wulfings, Jutes, and Frisians were nobles under the King of Hyrule, using their armies and warrior cultures to serve as the backbone of the King's army in times of dire need.

Beowulf, himself, was born into low-level nobility as the son of Ecgtheow (translated from Old English: Sword-servant), a loyal theign under Hygelac, King of Geatland. The Geats, taking their name from Mount Götar around which their first settlements were built, were the largest of the Nordic tribes at the time. He was 21 when Ganon's armies launched their attacks against the peoples of Southern Hyrule. At this time, the King of Hyrule called upon the Nordic peoples to fulfill their pledges of allegiance to the Hylian throne. In Southern Hyrule, the warriors of the Frisians and South-Danes prepared to defend their homes against Ganon's terror. While the armies of Darkness swept across the land, the Frisians and South-Danes fought valiantly, holding back the tides of Evil for well over a year, but by the time Ganon could begin laying siege to Death Mountain, the strongholds of the Frisians and Danes were crumbling. Despite ferocity in combat, the forces of these Nordic tribes could not hold back the power of the Evil King, and so, Ganon wiped both tribes from the face of the Earth.

With their southern relatives gone in a fiery genocide, the rest of the Nords geared up to fight the ultimate battle against Ganon and his minions in an effort to defend not only themselves, but the whole of Northern Hyrule. Among the armies of the Geats and other Nords was Ecgtheow, accompanied by his son, Beowulf. During the three years of Goron resistance against Ganon's might, Hylian armies fought valiantly to keep Ganon at bay. At the head of these columns marched the Geats, Jutes, Wulfings, Swedes, East-Danes, West-Danes, and Finns. By now, for fear of amphibious raids against their homes, many of the Nords were already fleeing to rebuild strongholds in the far reaches of the Northern Hills. However, most of the warrior clans stayed behind.

In a climactic battle on the slopes of Death Mountain, as the Gorons began to falter, the soldiers of Geatland were smote by one of Ganon's greatest horrors. The mighty dragon, Volvagia, tore into the ranks of the Nords, and, for all the valor they could muster, the dragon would not back down. In the final hour, when the whole of the center of the Nordic line looked as if it would fail, Hygelac, King of Geatland, led his bravest theigns into battle against the monster. Ecgtheow and Beowulf both stood among those theigns. Hygelac never joined the battle against Volvagia, but his warriors fought bravely. However, before the endless might of the infernal beast, these theigns were powerless. Among the fallen was Ecgtheow, father of mighty Beowulf. Despite the casualties suffered in the battle, Volvagia was turned back from smashing the rest of the Hylian line.

Of the numerous champions set against the dragon, only seven of the bravest survived. Each of them, though bloodied and beaten, was bestowed with a mysterious power. Each man found a distinct black mark upon his body, appearing similar to a large, decorative char from a severe burn. These men, further in their lives, found that they had acquired mysterious powers, derived, perhaps, from the battle against Volvagia. However, none of these men ever managed to harness the full power of such endowments. These seven warriors were known as the Dovakarism, or Dragon-scarred in the old Geatish.

After the warring around the mountain, a mysterious green-clad hero challenged Ganon in his fortress within Death Mountain, ending the Dark Lord's invasion of Hyrule, it seemed. With that, Beowulf returned to his home. However, fearing proximity to the blight of Ganon's malice in Southern Hyrule, the remaining Nords left their homes and joined the refugees in the Northern Hills, where they established a small kingdom that they called Nordgard, where they built new monuments to the goddesses. Nordgard sat on the northern extremes of Hyrules frontier, masked in high, snowy peaks (located just north of the top edge of the map).

In recent days, however, dark beasts of Ganon's creation infiltrated Nordgard in its mountain halls. They began to wreak havoc on the Nordic peoples, killing many chieftains. As their lords were slain or removed from power, many theigns began to rise up. A civil war was sparked in the small mountain realm between two factions, those in support of seceding from the Kingdom of Hyrule, as the High King in Castle-Town was doing nothing to help, and those in support of remaining part of the greater Kingdom. In this time of cataclysm, the King of the Geats, Hygelac, bode Beowulf to flee Nordgard rather than stand and fight. Six of the Dovakarism had been slain in battle against Ganon's demons as the Dark Lord sought to remove the Nords as a threat by killing off its greatest leaders and warriors, and it was now clear that Nordgard would not stand in the face of this malice. Therefore, as Beowulf made his way south, Hygelac and his theigns made their last stand against Ganon's dark minions in the king's great hall in his Geatish capital of Kingwold.

Now, the only Nords surviving in Hyrule are refugees of this civil war, numbering merely in the hundreds, scattered across Northern Hyrule. Beowulf among them is now on his own quest to redeem the honor of the Nordic peoples, who fought against Ganon as the King's elite warrior clans, failed to preserve Southern Hyrule, and fled north to avoid their enemy. As Nordgard burns, Beowulf will travel to the town of Mido to perform the first of his acts as the last remaining Dovakarism, strongest of the surviving Geats. In Mido, he has heard, a thing named Malekor has plagued the governor and his citizens for twelve years. Every celebration carries sounds from the halls of Mido to the beast's lair in Moruge Swamp. This thing of Ganon's creation has long gone unchecked, as no local heroes have been able to stop him as he destroys the halls of Mido while its heroes sleep in drunken slumber, though by now such halls have been abandoned for quite some time.

Beowulf will make his name known across Hyrule as he seeks to restore peace and happiness to the town of Mido. He will be known across the land as Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, Last of the Dragon-scarred, Destroyer of Malekor and savior of worlds...

Starting Location: Coast of Lake Hylia en route to Mido

*Please do forgive the use of real-life tribes or references thereof. This is, as you can see, Beowulf, and these tribes all, or most of them, make appearances in the Old English story, mainly during tales of Beowulf's glorious victories in war against his neighbors as mighty King of Geatland.

Yes, it's certainly taken from Beowulf. I can't argue that, and a little bit from Skyrim, though I would argue not very much, really. But, I am wondering now, weren't the Hylians fighting in the war against Ganon. If not, then I shouldn't have included the Nords as a major part of the battle in holding the lines of Northern Hyrule, though I assume I could change that bit to have some of these particular Hylians going south to join in the battle.

I also maybe should mention their tribal numbers, since the intention is to make them comparatively very small, as opposed to Hyrule, which I assume would have at least a few hundred thousand citizens, very likely more. In any case, my main concern is with that possible backstory misunderstanding, which I will get to fixing right away. Most other things... Well, I'll have to see what happens. In any case, I've been toying with idea for another character, or maybe two others, since Idarian fell through, so, quite frankly, if this falls through because of lack of some creativity, which I admit to to an extent, I will be disappointed but not knocked out, given that any other characters I could come up with would be entirely new to Hyrule Castle.

I'm going to say this is not accepted. I don't want you making up a nation, even if its a small one. The only king in Hyrule, is the King of Hyrule. There are no Nords, no Frisians or South Danes. Have you read the History of Hyrule at all? All we want you to do is make a character that fits into the perimeters of the Lore here, please don't make up your own group of people that I did not intend to exist in Hyrule. Honestly, it shouldn't be that hard, just read over the history, take a look at the map, and don't add any towns, much less nations.

The Towns in the map are the towns of Hyrule, any mention of any other towns isn't acceptable.

No, I read it, though I fear I've still gotten on your bad side... Well, please do forgive me. My mind often takes me where I don't need to be.

I'm already moving on to another, more conventional Hylian which will be up later tonight.

I do have one question, while I have you here, and that is: If I were to make a Hylian Guard character, were soldiers from Northern Hyrule at all involved in the war against Ganon, or was it just South Hylians and Gorons (Well, and Kokiri, Deku, Korok, and I suppose Gerudo to a small extent)? Depending on specifically who did what, my character's backstory will change.

And, I suppose I would have just one request (if I may), that being the addition of slightly more detail to the account of the war in the south in general. As you can see, I was not able to tell if Northern Hylians did, in fact, fight in the war, among other small details. All anyone really knows from the story you have, which I don't mean to bash in any way, it's very creative and well thought out, to be sure, is that Ganon emerged fifteen years ago and swiftly swept across Southern Hyrule and then spent three years trying to conquer Goron City. It doesn't seem as though he ever made an advance into the Tantari Desert, though for all I know, he may have. However, more importantly, the story never really tells much about the fighting, save at Kakariko and Death Mountain. However, for someone who might want to have a character connected to the war in a very direct way, details are scarce on where the bravest warriors fought, or maybe the most cowardly soldiers fought.

Think of it this way: Suppose HC was an RP site about World War Two. Say, then, that the RP was now taking place during the fighting in the Western Desert (Libya/Egypt) in the summer of 1941. The soldiers of the British Empire's Western Desert force have been fighting the Axis since the Italians declared war on the Allies on June 10, 1940, and subsequently attacked British possessions in Egypt and British Somaliland from Libya and Ethiopia, and since February of that year, the German Afrika Korps had fought a brutal campaign. Now, Tobruk is under siege and British forces are unable to relieve the city, though the Germans cannot advance far past it.

Now, suppose the admin of the site gave only enough detail to say there were British, Italians, and Germans involved. Technically, he would be right, but then suppose I want to make a character who is one of the Gurkhas, the elite Indian warriors that fought for the British and were the absolute best British Empire units available during the war. That admin, who did not research a detailed account of the situation might reject the character. However, a story by an admin who did research sufficient to give a detailed account would specifically say: Australians and New Zealanders held Tobruk, and other available troops in the Western Desert force were British Empire soldiers, Canadians, South Africans, Czechs, Greeks, Free French, and, indeed, Indians (among others, but you get my point).

Now, my example presents an admin who was wrong. You, obviously are not wrong in saying Beowulf does not match the lore well enough. My point here is that detail makes a difference.

Apologizing for my admittedly long-winded writings (I have a horrible habit of that, I'm afraid), I will conclude by asking that a little bit be added to the story on the conquest of Southern Hyrule, if for no other reason than I am legitimately interested in knowing more.

Edit: I'm Incredibly embarrassed. I meant to say when I first wrote this that the above was not meant to be a jab at a lack of detail you may have had. I meant in no way to be significantly critical of your story. I meant simply what I attempted to put forth in my words. If an implicit offense was delivered, I apologize. If so, it was entirely unintentional.

Its fine lol, I hardly ever get offended by anything and I appreciate you trying to explain yourself. Did you read ALL of the history? I know its long, but it does have details you may have skipped over. Tantari Dessert WAS invaded, did you miss the part about Ruto and the Eastern Caves and all that? How the hylians fled to the Gerudo there?

Also, Northern Hylians did not take part in the war in a massive way. Ganon's attack was totally by surprise and to send an army down to Southern Hyrule would have left Northern Hyrule Vulnerable. That isn't to say that Southern Hyrule didn't have its own militia force, it just wasn't as sophisticated as the North's. You have to keep in mind that Northern Hyrule had been colonized LONG before Southern Hyrule was. This all doesn't mean, however, that some Northern Hylians did not help fight in the war; but, I don't know if its plausible to have one Northern Hylian Guard to leave duty in the north to help the south, unless it was something such as his family was down there and he wanted to save them.

One thing I want you to keep in mind though, is just because there isn't detail about something doesn't mean you can create something of your own that effects the history and culture of Hyrule, such as adding in a town, or even a small army that went around liberating hylians or holding towns against the moblin invasions for a long amount of time. Just stick to whats written in the story.