Count Reiner Heydrich

The signature villain of the praised Fighting Fantasy author Keith Martin, Count Reiner Heydrich is a powerful Vampire Lord, who serves as the primary antagonist of the gamebooks Vault of the Vampire and Revenge of the Vampire. Reiner Heydrich is one of the only two primary antagonists in Fighting Fantasy who is featured in more than one gamebook. (The other being Zagor, the emblematic villain of the series, who appears in three gamebooks.) Heydrich is also widely praised by fans for his charisma, his deep background, his level of power and the tremendous fight he always puts up against the player.

Background
Count Reiner Heydrich comes from an influencial family of aristocrats who exists for several centuries. The Heydrichs rule the county of Mortvania in the country of Mauristasia, located in the far north of the Old World, one of the three continents of the world of Titan. Apparently, they were several tyrants in this bloodline and even several vampires, who are represented in portraits in Heydrich's main coffin room, suggesting that the Vampire Lord holds them in high regards. This suggestion is further supported by the written mention made by Heydrich himself about one of these vampires ancestors, Count Nusfera Heydrich. This written mention also hints that Reiner Heydrich willingly became a vampire.

Reiner Heydrich was already an extremely malevolent, ruthless and ambitious person even before becoming a vampire. He was the second son in line to inherit the title of count, something that he strongly resented. One day, his elder brother Siegfried Heydrich disappeared, never to be seen again and Reiner became count. As one would easily guess, it was Reiner who murdered his brother in order to usurp his place. From then on, Mortvania fell under Reiner Heydrich's tyrany for many decades. (Some testimonies mention entire populations being slaughtered.) At some point, Reiner Heydrich became a vampire, worsening his reign of terror.

Appearance and characteristics
Reiner Heydrich is described as a typical vampire, tall and imposing, with jetty black hair, red eyes and chalk-white skin, clad mostly in black with a black and red cloak. He is a very refined person with good taste and aristocratic manners, and he is described as having been very hansome as a human. Heydrich has also a strong charisma with an imposing and dangerously attractive presence, and the narration insist on the fear and magnetism he induces on his followers, his victims and even the player himself/herself. As an aristocrat, Heydrich is also an adept hunter who exposes many (bewitched) trophies in his residences, and was likely taught swordplay and the arts of war.

Siegrfried Heydrich
Siegfried Heydrich, Reiner's older brother was a powerful holy knight who inherited the title of Count. He and Reined deeply hated each other, to the point of when Reiner usurped his place, he destroyed every painting of his brother in the entire castle. Reiner killed his brother to take his place, but surprisingly, he had his corpse embalmed and put into a vault in the castle crypt. Reiner also hid Siegfried's holy shield and magic chainmail, having them guarded by two of his strongest monsters, before sealing away Nightstar, Siegfried's powerful magical sword, as they were among the only artifacts potent enough to threaten him. In Vault of the Vampire, Siegfired's ghost haunts the castle and provides the player with a magical sword, should he/she meet him at the beginning. Siegfried is encoutered in his vault, where he helps the player to unlock his own magical sword and provides useful advices. In Revenge of the Vampire, it is revealed that Reiner's resurection triggered the return of Siegfried's ghost, as the two brothers are linked. Siegfried is trapped in a limbo (likely by Reiner himself) but should the player meet him, he will provide priceless guidance.

Katarina Heydrich
Katarina Heydrich is Reiner's younger sister. As evil, dangerous and ambitious as his brother, she is a powerful sorceress who serves as a major antagonist in Vault of the Vampire. Katarina uses dark rituals that needs the blood of young maidens to retain her youth and astonishing beauty. In Vault of the Vampire, she lives a luxury life in the castle, and gets along quite well with her vampire brother, who often gives her some of his prey for her to use. She never makes direct attempt to kill Reiner but she awaits the one who would do the work, so that she could claim the title of Countess. In Revenge of the Vampire, she is resurrected as a vampire by Reiner's servants to be his second-in-command and she is fought during the final battle.

Gunthar Heydrich
The last of Reiner Heydrich's sibling is called Gunthar. He is a talented healer and a wise and benevolent man, who is forced to endure his brother's tyrany, as he lacks the fighting skills and the will to go against his own brother. Reiner stole his book to prevent him from using his healing talents and whenever he tried to get it back, he was chased out by the countless bats and rats under Reiner's control. Gunthar is in line to become count of Mortvania, should his evil older siblings be slain. He doesn't appears in the second book.

Wilhelm Heydrich
There is also Reiner's cousin, Wilhelm Heydrich, who only appears in the first book. He is an insane young man who lives in the castle and who can either welcome strangers warmly, ignore them or attack them out of the blue, depending on the result of a dice roll. He knows much more about his evil cousin's secrets that one could suspect, but given his madness, the player may not realize immediately the full extend of his revelations. If the player kills him, it triggers the wrath of his pet raven.

Powers
The Count is a higly powerful vampire, much stronger than the regular ones that can be found in other gamebooks. (Who are already very dangerous foes in their own right.) He has complete control over his vampiric power, being able to shapeshift at will. As such, he is often seen under the form of a yellow cloud of mist and of a great bat, which he uses for travelling, or the form of a wolf to attack his enemies. His strong magnetism and charisma enable him to corrupt people and make them serve him (though some are malevolent enough to serve him willingly) and he can hypnotize people to brainwash them, so that he can bite them without resistance or use them to do his bidings. He has also the power to control animals, to the point of exerting his evil influence to bind werewolves to his will. (Including the player, if he/she succumbs to the curse.) He controls mostly wolves, rats and bats which he uses as guards and "watchdogs." Heydrich can also influence the weather, for example to cause storms and fog at will.

More importantly, Heydrich is insanely strong. His physical strength is enough for him not to need any weapon but his fists in battle, and he concentrates his blows on his enemies' head. In the second book, depending on the conditions, his blows can be so strong that he can either deal much more damage that a regular blow or even kill the player outright. He also has sharp nails and fangs, but if it cause greater wounds using his fangs in battle doesn't come in handy for him.

Moreover, Heydrich is well versed into dark magic, as he sealed Nightstar, Siegfried's magical sword inside a book and protected it with a counterspell potent enough to cancel his sister's powerful magic. He mostly uses magic to create demonic golem-like beings and to set magical traps. He is also immensely intelligent and scheming, preparing many hideouts or safe retreat points, carefully hiding his true goals and calculating his schemes flawlessly.

Weaknesses
Being a vampire, Heydrich is vulnerable to holy water and to any other spells or magical item that affect undead creatures. He also cannot stand garlic or seeing a mirror, and he must rest during daytime or cannot cross a river. Heydrich cannot be harmed by normal means, attacking him with a regular sword would only lead to a painful demise. The player needs a magical sword to be able to face him in battle, but vanquishing him merely knocks him out and he must be fully destroyed immediately after, before he starts regenerating. Heydrich has huge regenerative abilities, and can regain a great deal of strenght and stamina by merely resting for a short while.

Increase of power in Revenge of the Vampire
In Revenge of the Vampire, Heydrich becomes invulnerable to anything that can usually destroy a vampire, like being beheaded, impaled through the heart or even exposed to sunlight. This is due to the Red Crystal Heart crafted by the three witches who resurrected him. As long as the accursed jewel exists, nothing will harm him, and the only way to destroy the Crystal Heart is to place it on the amulet that Heydrich wears around his neck after defeating him in battle.

During the final confrontation of the second book, Heydrich absorbs vampiric energies to increase his own and his power skyrockets. He would have become all-powerful hadn't the player reached him before he could absorb all the energies Heydrich gains strength way over the normal maximum level and becomes able to generate illusions, to raise magic barriers, to teleport and to attack with flames or a cloud of frost. If the player defeats Heydrich without killing him, he loses all these newfound powers in the next battle.

In Vault of the Vampire
When the player arrives in Mortvania, appealed by legends about wonderful treasures hidden in the snowy mountains of the far north, he or she only sees poverty and weariness, with lots of garlic in the doors and the windows. In the village's inn, the player is quickly told about Count Reiner Heydrich, the Vampire Lord who rules Mortvania with an iron fist and makes the life of anyone in his domain a living nightmare. The Castle Heydrich, which was once a safe haven is now filled with monsters, undeads and demonic spirits under the Count's orders, and regularly, his black coach led by a headless coachman comes in town to fetch young people, leading them to a dire fate. Heydrich usually drinks his captive's blood but he sometimes gives them to his sister, the dreaded sorceress Katarina. In all cases their horrible screams of agony are often heard back in town.

An old lady suddenly begs the player to go to the castle and rescue her granddaughter Natacha, who was abducted the day before, as none in town is capable of such a feat. Immediately after, the headless coachman storms into the inn and orders the player to follow him into the carriage. If the player does so, he will be attacked by a spectre under Heydrich's command, and might fall in the forest where a werewolf must be fought, at the risk of being infected by its curse.

If the player ignores the headless coachman and heads to the castle on his own, he/she might spend the night in the house of Snivel, the dwarf that guard the river, who is a servant of the Count. If he/she does so, Snivel warns Heydrich, who attacks the player under the shape of a wolf, forcing him/her to flee. It must be noted that a violent storms breaks out when someone praises the late Siegfried Heydrich.

Upon arriving in the castle, the player might fight Heydrich's demon stallion and meet Siegfried's ghost to gain a magical sword. (Which is highly useful in a place where many foes can only be harmed by this mean.) The player must find Siegfried holy shield and magic chainmail, carefully hidden and guarded by very dangerous monsters, as well as the book in which the sword Nightstar was sealed. The player must also find and destroy at least two of Heydrich's secret coffins. The player might also meet Heydrich himself, who will only taunt him before flying away, unimpressed. (Had Heydrich attacked the player at this point of the book, finishing the game would have been close to impossible.) One of the coffins is obviously located in Heydrich's private quarters, where the player must not drink the red wine (as it is blood) or eat the cookies. (As the main ingredient is coagulated blood.) These quarters are guarded by Heydrich's pets, a annoying vampire ferret and a dangerous, horned vampire bat, and by a powerful and dangerous spectre.

When this is done, the player can head to the crypt where Heydrich is waiting for him/her. In the crypt, the player can learn some useful spells and meet Siegfried's ghost. If the player owns the book of swords, he will gain the mighty sword Nightstar, an ace card to fight the powerful Vampire Lord. The player also has to face a formidable skeleton monster before reaching the Count, who is preparing to offer Natacha, the abducted townsgirl, to his evil sister.

Battle against Heydrich
Heydrich first tries to hypnotize the player, and if he/she loses a test of faith to resist or hasn't got garlic, he/she gets bitten and the game is over. Heydrich can be harmed beforehand with holy water and a magic spell, but he might resist the spell and halve the damage taken. The Vampire Lord is a formidable enemy, with a power level of 13 skill points (when the normal maximum is 12) and 21 stamina points. (life-points) If the player has neither Nightstar nor the chainmail, the battle will be extremely hard. If he/she has at least one of the aforementioned items, the battle will be much softer. Upon losing nearly all his stamina, Heydrich will attempt to flee to regain some strenght, before coming back and restart the fight. (It can be coutered with a binding spell.) When on the verge of losing, Heydrich starts attacking with his fangs. While he loses 2 skill points in the process, he will win the fight if he manages to bite the player twice.

Should Heydrich be defeated while there is more than one of his secret coffins left, the player won't be able to prevent him from escaping, leading to a pirric victory in which Natacha is saved, but not for long as Mortvania is still under Heydrich's grasp. If at least two of the coffins have been destroyed, the player will find Heydrich resting in his last coffin, and destroy him by piercing his heart with a stake (or Nightstar) while raising a crucifix. (or the holy shield) If the player hasn't got these items, he/she won't be able to destroy the vampire and the game will end on a similar pirric victory, marked by Heydrich's sarcastic smile.

With Heydrich gone, the player will have to defeat the game's final enemy, the Count's sister Katarina Heydrich, who comes to get rid of him/her to claim the title of Countess of Mortvania.

In Revenge of the Vampire
In the second gamebook, Count Reiner Heydrich is resurrected by three witches sisters who binds his malevolent soul to a unholy relic, the Red Heart Crystal, rendering the Vampire Lord close to invincible. Heydrich leaves Mortvania, which no longer interests him, and sets out to take over the entire Old World. (One of the three main continents of the world of Titan.) Heydrich recruits many corrupted humans and monsters to help him (including the many vampires he spawned) and buys the Mortus Mansion, a manor rumored to be haunted whose awful reputation provides an excellent cover, in order to prepare his masterplan. He also leaves the Heart Crystal under the care of the witches, as he has another source of power in sight, and plans to take it back when the time comes.

In Revenge of the Vampire, the player is an adventurer who meets a blind old man named Henrick. He/she offers to escort him the following day but he/she discovers that he has been murdered during the night. The player learns about Count Reiner Heydrich in Henrick's letters and understands that Heydrich had Henrik killed because he was searching to destroy him. The player resolves to find Henrick's friend (and accomplice in the vampire hunt) Sewarth. It turns out that Sewarth is a chief monk in a religious congregation, that Heydrich himself invaded to kill Sewarth and steal his codex, in which the monk has written down everything he discovered about the Vampire Lord, his plans and his secrets. The player is powerless to prevent the slaughter of the congregation by the hands of Heydrich and his ghoul minions, and might even fight Father Endrell, a monk who serves the vampire. The player might attack Heydrich as he is about to leave in his coach, but the vampire will merely grab his sword and hit him/her in the face with the hilt.

If the players succeeds in tracking Heyrdrich down to the inn where he takes shelter during daytime, having hypnotized everyone in it, he/she can enter the vampire's room and fight Heydrich's powerful bodyguard. As Heydrich is resting, he cannot prevent the player from taking Sewarth's codex, but every attempt by the player to slay Heydrich only inceases the irony in the vampire's smile. The player may also rescue Sandar, another monk whom Heydrich hypnotized to learn the congregation' secrets and exiled away under the spell of a cursed amulet.

Then, the players starts a long quest to find and to kill Heydrich before he enacts his plan. Unfortunately for him/her, Heydrich has spies everywhere and he will frequently send monsters and assassins after him/her. The player may also have to save Henrik's and Sewarth's third accomplice, Harquar, from a demonic being sent by the Count, who would stop at nothing to eliminate those who know his secret.

The player learns in Sewarth's Codex about Heydrich's hideout in the Mortus Mansion, the three witches sisters who resurrected him and their plan of raising an army of vampires to invade the Old World. The player must go to find and kill the powerful witches to take Heydrich's Crystal Heart, (one witch having been turned into stone by a basilisk) and sneak into the Mortus Mansion, which is reminiscent of the castle in the first gamebook, as it is filled with monsters and traps. The player will face Reiner Heydrich himself in the mansion's crypt. If he/she has the Crystal Heart, the Count will flee. If not, the Count will attack.


 * Heydrich is a very dangerous enemy who may decrease the player's strength by 1 skill point with his hypnotic gaze. He has 11 skill points (on a maximum of 12) and 15 stamina points, (life-points) and he can kill the player in one blow, should he gather enough attack power.

Through these investigations, the player must discover Heydrich's final hideout, the Ghoulcrypts, an ancient mine invaded by ghouls and demons, where the Great Vampire Elders of Titan and the five Thorn Knight who slew them are burried. The player must find the powerful magical sword Imperator in the Knights' vaults, gaining an ace card in the upcoming final battle.

Upon confronting Heydrich, it becomes apparent that the Count planned all along to absorb the Great Elders' power to become an all-powerful and invincible vampire, carefuly hidding this secret goal from everyone. Which explains why Heydrich took the risk of leaving the Heart Crystal in the witches' care. The player must first battle a powerful and dangerous Megaghoul, before facing the Vampire Lord at last.

Battle against Heydrich
Heydrich hasn't absorbed all the Elders' power yet, but he already gained enough might to put up a purely tremendous fight. The player may attack him at distance but the vampire counterattacks with flames that cost 3 stamina points, should he be favored by the dices. If the player crosses the bridge to reach the vampire, his/her ennemy will cast a frost spell that he/she must evade. If the frost strikes the player, he/she loses 2 stamina points and 2 skill points for the first turns of the battle.

Heydrich is highly powerful. He has 15 skill points (3 points over the normal maximum) and a base stat of 30 stamina points, no less. The Vampire Lord's stamina total can be decreased, and his skill total can be decreased by 1 or 2 points according to the way the player lead his/her quest and his total of faith points. During the first three turns of the fight, Heydrich's hypnotic gaze can paralyze the player and automatically defeat him/her. That won't work if he/she owns the sword Imperator, or if he/she uses a mirror. (Though using the mirror will decrease the player's skill by 1 point.) If Heydrich is wounded enough, he starts fighting with his fangs and loses 2 skill points, but if he manages to bite the player, he may cause a loss of 4 stamina points, and even win the fight if he isn't defeated at least 4 turns later.

If the player kills the mighty Vampire Lord, he will be attacked by his sister Katarina, who was resurrected and turned into a vampire by Heydrich's servants. The vampiress has 9 skill points and 9 stamina points.

If the player doesn't kill Heydrich, the Count will teleport away, generating an illusion to lure his enemy to a deadly trap, in order to rest in his coffin. If the player avoids the trap, he will meet Katarina, who first pretends to be a captive girl and has here 10 in skills and 11 in stamina. When Katarina is slain, Heydrich will engage an ultimate battle. Heydrich lost all his newfound powers and has "only" 11 in skills and 10 in stamina. (Though he may have more stamina, depending on the players' actions.) Despite this, he remains a deadly foe whose blows cost 3 stamina points instead of the usual 2 and can even cost 6 stamina points. If that's the case the player will have to roll three dices, if he/she gets a number above his stamina total, the blow will kill him/her outright! Considering the player's weakened state from the tremendous previous two battles, this poses a serious threat, so it's better to avoid this battle by slaying Heydrich during the first battle before getting rid of Katarina.

Trivia

 * Heydrich is named after a high-ranking nazi dignitary.


 * Count Reiner Heydrich's page on Titannica the Fighting Fantasy Wiki: http://fightingfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Reiner_Heydrich

Balthus Dire 11:51, July 15, 2010 (UTC)