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The Witch King of Leithanien (der Hexenkönig) is a background NPC in Arknights. He is first mentioned in Ceobe's Fungimist[1] and his dark legacy plays an important role in Rewinding Breeze and Lingering Echoes.

Background[]

The Caprinae man who would later become the notorious Witch King in history was originally a simple Lehnsmann from Urtica who was elected by the Leithanian Kurfürsten a century ago at the age of fifty. In the beginning, he was a genuine ruler as he brought prosperity to the country through his extensive knowledge of Originium Arts. His Arts talent made him the most powerful Caster in the history of Terra. However, the more he studied, the crazier he became, turning him into a monster noted by his ugly, twisted horns who hid himself inside his Spire. To make the matter worse, he began a reign of terror onto the country for the remaining sixty years, earning him such infamous title.[2][3]

The reign of the Witch King was marked by violence and atrocities. His terror was recorded in numerous stories such as the death of a whole town as a result of his Arts experiment.[4] He also actively involved in many world affairs such as harassing Columbia through Bolívar's puppet regime. He was even the perpetrator of the famed Battle of the Four Emperors when Leithanien was under the threat of the expansionist Gaulish Empire. However, his terror did not end here even after Leithanien's pyrrhic victory. The increasing dissatisfaction with him led to the Septemberaufstand of the Kurfürsten in the year 1077 and the rise of the Twin Empresses who slew him, cut off his horns, and demonstrated his corpse publicly.[5]

Even though the reign of the Witch King is already over, it is still far over to get rid of his shadow. Many commoners are still fearful of calling him directly, hence referring to him as "His Majesty" to avoid such taboo.[6] To make the matter worse, he has numerous loyal followers, nicknamed the "Remnants," who were once the Spires' attendants, and they carry on his dark legacies by studying his Arts. To them, the Witch King is viewed as the only true ruler of the kingdom. The Remnants also use all their means to search for any of the Witch King's distant relatives to continue his bloodline, especially following a bloody purge on them by the Empresses' supporters.[7] What they ultimately seek is the return of the Witch King's reign under his terror through the revival of his Arts and even an attempt to "resurrect" him.

Notable Arts[]

As the greatest Caster Terra has ever witnessed, the Witch King masters basically all kinds of Arts that makes him an almost "immortal" being. During the Battle of the Four Emperors, it is said that his Arts bears a Catastrophic power that could easily wipe out the Gaulish legions.[3] His Arts also allows him to remotely control the Originium shards within the Infected and turn them into his Arts devices by accelerating their Oripathy.[8] All these Arts are still widely studied by his Remnants despite the authorities' outright ban onto its research.

Voice of Terra[]

Der Schatten von Seine Majestät

It is believed by the Remnants that the "Voice of Terra" could recreate the haunting shadow of the Witch King

The "Voice of Terra" is a kind of musical Arts in the form of melodies. Originally an abandoned score written by him in the past, it becomes a vessel that could possess his surviving consciousness after his death, making it one of the possible ways to "resurrect" him as believed by his Remnants. The Voice possesses various tones representing the different eras and emotions of his past, and its effect varies based on the tones.[9] It could only work on those within the Witch King's bloodline, yet it is one of the easiest ways to threaten the Empresses' rule as the "resurrected" figure could become their de facto leader under his name.[10] If reawakened and completed, the "Voice" could literally recreate his power by possessing its victim and turning them into a "second" one.

Following his execution, the Remnants kidnapped some of the descendants of the Witch King's distant relatives and performed experiment on them as an attempt to "resurrect" him by forcefully implanting the "Voice" inside their mind. But due to the Voice's enormous influence, most of the subjects were dead, leaving Kreide and Ebenholz as the only survivors. Kreide was implanted with an imperfect tone that "leaks out" constantly whereas Ebenholz's was a weak yet perfect one. After the experiment was purged by the Empresses' forces, the two were in constant watch by the authorities to avoid the reawakening of their "Voices."[11]

References[]

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