unswervingcompanion: (By your command)
Hendrik ([personal profile] unswervingcompanion) wrote in [personal profile] groundrules 2021-05-02 11:35 pm (UTC)

Hendrik | Dragon Quest XI

PLAYER NAME: Lynn
CONTACT: PM this journal, Plurk: [plurk.com profile] raistlynn
INVITE STATUS: Mentioned to me by Solar (player of Eleven/The Luminary from DragonQuest XI here)

CHARACTER: Hendrik
CANON: Dragon Quest XI Definitive edition
CANON POINT: Post act 2, defeat of Mordegon dropping everyone off with Cetacea, before time is turned back.

BACKGROUND: Written out here. This is another reference, as is this.

ABILITIES | POWERS: - He's a tank, 6'6 and built like one. He's a warrior and a knight first and foremost, able to wield axes and shields. He does have the ability to use swords as well.

Spells -

Midheal - Restores hp

Buff - Significantly raises the defense of a single party member -

Kabuff - Slightly raises defense of all party members -

Magic Barrier - Raises the magic resistance of the whole party.

More heal - Mid level healing spell

PERSONALITY: Hendrik was born a son of a knight in the kingdom of Zwaardsrust. But an attack leaves him the lone survivor of the attack, losing his family, friends, home and everything. So he brought out of there to be raised as a knight of Heliodor which instills his loyalty because of being rescued. This childhood attachment is seen as he has a painting of the windmill there.

As a knight of Heliodor, he is given orders to capture the Luminary who at that time is referred to as the Darkspawn. So no matter what happens or what obstacles get in his way, since he was told to capture the Luminary that is what he'll do no matter what it takes to succeed. Hendrik dauntlessly and steadfastly follows orders and will carry them out no matter what since he is a sworn knight to the King of Heliodor. In his duty, Hendrik is both serious and unfailing and it's been said that he doesn't know when to give up, being called both pig headed and stone headed due to this.

As a boy Hendrik won most of his fights with Jasper through 'brute strength'. But even in victory there was mercy because Hendrik always offered a hand to help the other boy up off of the ground. So when the two separated, with Jasper learning military strategy and Hendrik had gone off to Puerto Valor to train to be a knight, when he'd come back, the two sparred again with the same results of the blonde falling and Hendrik offering a hand up.

Hendrik himself said that he always followed in Jasper's wake and that Jasper was the one who spurred him on and was the light that guided him. If it wasn't for his friend, Hendrik wouldn't have become who he did. And of the two in a race, he would definitely be the 'tortoise' and Jasper would be the 'hare'. And even after they find themselves on opposing sides, he still has kind words for his friend, marveling at his old friend's brilliant tactics at one point and says that the day Dundrasil fell, Jasper was brave and valorous. Then he takes on all of the blame and responsibility once he's had plenty of time to reflect and the self recriminations begin. He stands wondering why he didn't see what the King of Heliodor had become, and why he didn't see the darkness consuming Jasper's soul.

Though Hendrik has suffered the loss of his home and family when he was a boy, he rose up through the ranks and earned his knighthood through dedication and hard work. Sylvando later remarked that it took the man quite a bit of work but eventually he became what he had worked so hard for. Don Rodrigo who trained Hendrik called the man 'a lump of meat' when he'd first met the knight as a young boy. And this man has been known to be the type of person to 'train' in his down time when he's supposed to be resting up at camp.

Hendrik simply takes others at their word if he respects them so in this he can be blind and ignorant. There is no doubt, question or even hesitation, because Hendrik will accept it as law. If he is told something, then that is the way that it is and he expects others to keep their word as he does. The night Dundrasil fell and unbeknownst to him, King Carnelian had been possessed by Mordegon. The king accused the Darkspawn's father of being mad and just suddenly attacking him, and the knight took it as the absolute truth. For reasons like this, he is referred to as a 'simple boy'.

And once Hendrik gives his word, he won't go back on it so he's loyal to a fault. He has sworn his fealty to the King of Heliodor and to the people therein. He even faces off against Princess Jade of Heliodor, not realizing it's her at first but even when he does, he doesn't let her get away (though she does) just because she's the Princess. He coldly informs her that he's a sworn knight and that she's been away from home too long if she thinks he'll let her go due to that fact. He will also show respect such as bowing to Princess Jade when he realizes it's her, bowing or kneeling before the king as well as Don Rodrigo who trained him as a boy.

Gemma tells the Luminary the story that instead of facing death after being rounded up by Hendrik's childhood friend and fellow knight Jasper, (though she didn't know the man's name) their lives were spared. The only thing she recalled about him was that 'his eyes were cold.' However, Hendrik had intervened, sparing the lives of the villagers of Cobblestone and locking them up in the dungeons below the castle in Heliodor instead of outright killing them as would've been their fate otherwise. Death would have been their 'punishment' for raising the 'Darkspawn'.

After Yggdrasil fell, Hendrik went around the world and collected the survivors that he could find to bring them to the Last Bastion, a safe haven against the darkness. People called him the 'hero' and even a child in the Last Bastion tried to emulate him. He had found a dying child in a church in the foothills of Heliodor and rescued her, carrying her all of the way to the safe place without one complaint. And as Queen Marina of Nautica said 'he was a spark' that the Luminary needed to turn into a flame in order to rid the world of the darkness that plagued the land. The darkness was brought about by Mordegon defeating the Luminary and those that survived were in a sorry state. Without being asked, Hendrik sold his prized black knight armor for funds for the kingdom and its people. This is why you find him in the yellow shirt and blue tabard when you meet him after the Tree falling. And true to form, he never complained or even mentioned his unsung act of heroism.

Finding a wounded little girl in a church full of dead, Hendrik wordlessly rescues her carrying her the entire way to safety. And he takes this task upon himself without any fanfare or praise to collect survivors to bring them back to the Last Bastion safely. He doesn't believe himself to be the 'hero' he's referred to, and thinks himself too weak and powerless to protect them, having lost his faith and purpose.

If Hendrik gives his oath, he will stick to it no matter what so he is honour bound. He did this as a knight of Heliodor and did it when he gave his oath to stand beside the Luminary. Hendrik disagreed with the king, worrying that his absence would mean failure for the Heliodor king and the people of both that kingdom and Cobblestone. The king assured the knight that it wouldn't come to that though.

Later once a hermit has been said to have gone missing on Mount Pang Lai, he immediately offers aid even though he's a guest, going by the knight's code that a knight of Heliodor doesn't abandon an innocent in need. Since the monks of the mountains have shown kindness, he believes it's the right thing to do to return it.

King Carnelian calls Hendrik his 'ever faithful knight' because he's so dependable. Hendrik does what he is asked, even if he may initially disagree. In the end he will still be there to do what is required to follow and do his King's will regardless of anything else. And as a boy both he and his childhood friend Jasper swore fealty to Heliodor and to protect the kingdom together. The boys also received matching gold fealty token pendants from the king which are replicas of the Shield of Heliodor and they were the only two to receive them. So it's a shock and surprise when Hendrik escaped Krystalinda in Sniflheim and finds that she knows of the twin pendant to the one he always wears.

He never saw Jasper's sudden yet inevitable betrayal when the two were supposed to be on the same page and path and had met as enemies in the ruined throne room. He doesn't stop to think why Jasper did what he did, he just dealt with the outcome that the blonde knight had given himself to the darkness and demanded to know 'what of their pact' - the one they'd made as children to defend the kingdom of Heliodor together. Hendrik sentenced his friend to death and labelling the other knight a 'traitor' once he realized which side was the correct side. He also took a devastating magical hit that knocked him to his knees which had been fully intended for the Luminary, which in that act of self sacrifice could've been deadly. But the knight never seemed to give it a moment's thought as to what the outcome of taking that blow would've been. He had a job to do and that was to protect the Luminary.

As he goes around gathering the Luminary's previous companions, he is apologetic to Rab (Lord Robert) and is very protective of the Luminary. He also tells the Luminary that he was very loyal and it had cost him dearly once he learned of the events that transpired at Dundrasil the night of the Colloquy of Kings had taken place. But he insists that he will no longer be that way and will think for himself and question things.

So in battle, will take hits meant for others and will stand and fight beside them, even using himself as a shield if that's what it takes to accomplish fulfilling his oath. He also can have resting 'frowny face' due to having such a serious outlook. In battle, he becomes passionate, and his sword deals swift justice to those who oppose him. So whenever he needs to do something (such as follow Jasper's black spirit) he asks only the Luminary and seeks only his approval or forgiveness for indulgence of things or actions.

And when the party faces Jasper as a black spirit later, Hendrik says that he helped create that very darkness and he had to destroy it alone. And after there's a reconciliation of sorts, he says he should've spoken and listened to Jasper and maybe he could've saved his old friend. So in the end there is friendship and peace between them as their boyhood pact is honoured.

He takes a parental sort of role to the boy who thinks his father prizes his mother's necklace over him in Phnom Nohn and at the children in Hotto, calling them foolish for taking such a risk to try and scare people away. And he harbors a deep anger for himself when he learns of Veronica's sacrifice at Arboria, angered he hadn't been able to protect her and had been on the wrong side of things.

He does state to the Luminary after their battle with Mordegon that he knows what he must do when they defeat Mordegon and that's to stand at Princess Jade's side and restore the former glory that was Heliodor.

SAMPLE: here, others can be provided if necessary.

INVENTORY: 2 phials of magic water, a few Antidotal herbs, Sleeping Hibiscus, Medicinal herb, Strong medicine, book

Wearing:

King's axe (carved with runes)
Oath pendant/token of fealty
Full set of black armour & cloak
Shield of Heliodor -

NOTES: Hendrik harbours an intense dislike for insects and he rarely speaks in contractions.

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