NPC | Enemy |
Viviana Droste the Candle Knight is an NPC in Arknights. She is mentioned in the Maria Nearl event and makes a brief appearance in Catapult's first Operator Record before becoming one of the deuteragonists of Near Light.
Backgrounds[]
Viviana is a Leithanian Grand Knight who is talented in light-based Arts which absorb ambient light for power; these are often casted using the candelabrum she holds, which is the source of her title. Both her talent and her beautiful appearance make her a prominent MVP in the Kazimierz Major. Some of her most famous matches include defeating the haughty Tytus Topola by extinguishing the L-44 Gramophones in the arena[1] and winning over the Stream Knight in the preliminaries of the current season of the Major.[2] However, her introverted character makes her reluctant to participate in the Major; even her appearance in the current season was a result of a special invitation. Most of the time, she prefers to read novels and write poems.
On the other hand, her fame and beauty have attracted numerous paparazzi, including the Red Wine News. Rumors say that she possesses a mysterious mansion named Truffle Grove Castle, has been enjoying a bathtub of wine there, and even owns more than a hundred male servants. These lead others to question about her "corrupt" lifestyle.[3] In reality, many of these are false; she has been donating most of her income to charity organizations to help build nomadic schools in rural areas of Leithanien.[4]
Not known to the public, Viviana is actually the illegitimate daughter of a certain Leithanian noble who had spent most of her childhood inside a tower. Even though her parents continued to love her, they were unable to hide young Viviana longer as years passed, fearing that other nobles will use her to humiliate them.[5] Luckily, she was brought to Kazimierz and was adopted by Ioleta Russell, the current Grand Knight, whom she learnt to become a knightess for livelihood.[6] Unlike Kazimierz's competitive knights, Viviana retains the chivalry and noble characters of a true knights thanks to both her childhood dream and the teachings of the Grand Knight.[5]
Kazimierz Major trilogy[]
Near Light[]
Viviana first appeared after McKee had a talk with Spokesman Malkiewicz at the Champion's Hall during its opening season for the Major's official match.[7] Along their way, the two discussed about the rampant rumors surrounding the Candle Knight. In turn, McKee refuted them but he was concerned that the rumors will ruin Viviana's name. On the other hand, Viviana did not considered them too much but preferred to have herself diving into poems and literature. When McKee mentioned about her match with the Radiant Knight, he related that the General Chamber of Commerce wanted her to win. Even though Viviana took the advice carefully, she wondered whether she had a chance to defeat her.[4]
When Margaret was surrounded by numerous reporters, Viviana helped her along by dismissing them and leaving the Champion's Hall together. Seeing that the two were alone, Margaret and Viviana had a private conversation where they discussed about the vanishing glory of Kazimierz's knighthood by the rampant capitalism. When Viviana met McKee and was about to leave with him, she told Nearl that she was excited for the match.[8]
As Margaret kept winning the matches and the Infected issues became worse after Olmer's incident, the K.G.C.C. began to worry about losing their face and name. As a matter of fact, they wanted Viviana to defeat the Radiant Knight with any costs. McKee even reminded her that Margaret might face danger from the Armorless Union and Viviana herself might lose her sponsorship from the K.G.C.C. Nevertheless, she rejected the aid, thinking about having a fair match with Margaret. She even praised that Margaret had truly become a real knight.[9]

Viviana, ready to brighten the dark path in the arena
The fight between the Radiant Knight and the Candle Knight can be best described as a "court dance." The fight was constantly paused by talks in which both of them admired their talents and their spirits. As for Viviana herself, she wondered how bright can she go when compared with the glory of the Radiant Knight. With that said, the two unleashed their Originium Arts and a flash covered the entire arena. To the audience's disbelief, Viviana's sword was shattered and she even humbly admitted her defeat, leading to another victory for the Radiant Knight.[10]
Even though her match was over, Viviana's story did not end here. When Sona was infiltrating the headquarter of the K.G.C.C. to steal the documents concerning Area 0 during the blackout, Viviana hid her from Roy and the Armorless Union using her Arts. At the same time, she helped her get to the Champion's Hall to have a secret meeting with Ioleta Russell the Grand Knight.[6] After Margaret's inevitable victory in the Major, she even came to stop McKee from sending assassins to kill Margaret and Dikaiopolis while the two had a historical march towards the Champion's Hall.[11]
In the aftermath, Viviana was arranged by the Nova K.C. to leave Kawalerielki as part of her punishment for disobeying the K.G.C.C., which is announced to the public as the result of her alleged embezzlement of the Nova K.C.'s budget.[12] Before her departure, she met Margaret for the farewell. Although Margaret preferred her to stay back, Viviana believed that only Margaret was able to restore the chivalry of Kazimierz's knights. After her arrival at Ognisko, an idea came into her mind and she wanted to write a poem about the town and her personal experience.[13]
Operator Record[]
Catapult[]
While Catapult was on her run from her village after blowing up her local vaults, she coincidentally met Viviana who just passed by while traveling around. She not only approached the patrols who were searching for Catapult, but also tried to distract them away when they were asking for her autograph. Although Catapult did not know what was going on, a wink given by Viviana suggested that she was trying to help her escape.[14]
References[]
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