Sir Worton

Sir Worton is one of the main villains of the Heroes of Might and Magic IV, throne-breaker of the kingdom of Palaedra and a cruel king for a while.

Background
Worton was born as the younger son of a Life Magic priestess Desette and the legendary sword-bearer Sir Kentaine. His brother died at the Reckoning. Worton was in contact with criminals at a young age and he was beginning to crave power. As his father was a sword-bearer of King Nicolas Gryphonheart, the young knight had many opportunities to study this noble weapon, the Gryphonheart Blade. Worton chose the path of dishonesty. He made a copy of the original blade and takes over power.

Riots
Lysander collected the remnants of the Eratian kingdom and founded a kingdom called Palaedra. Worton proclaimed himself the heir of the Gryphonheart family and considered himself fit for reign. He began manipulating a few nobles and then showed the Gryphonheart Blade what he knew was just a copy. He pulled the blade out of its jeweled pod so more and more people believed what he was saying was really true. Lysander did not believe in the knight at all, but more noblemen joined him. Worton's chances were also increased by the growing discontent among the nobles. Fearing their social position and insisting on their old values, they began to sympathize with the "Gryphonheart heir.” Most of them eventually swore allegiance to Worton, whose followers were attacked and occupied four gold mines so that their leader would begin recruiting troops. The rebels were led by two people who were Worton's criminal associates. One was a robber knight, Normic, and the other was a notorious thief, Caileen. Lysander took steps against the ever-growing threat. After the rebels launched attacks on Lysander's men, he immediately launched a counterattack. Caileen led a larger group and attacked Lysander's army. The thief was a strong and skillful warrior, but her army was quickly defeated. Lysander himself defeated the wanted thief. Caileen bragged that in the end Worton will win and he would become the king of Palaedra.

Lysander attacked Normic's army. The traitorous knight had a much more serious and powerful army than Caileen, and he was a good warlord himself. After a long battle, Normic's army was defeated and he was captured. He was certainly Worton's man, but there was no concrete evidence and Normic did not testify. Lysander imprisoned Normic, but was more severely guarded than Caileen.

Worton's rise
Lysander and his companions set off to discover the truth about their enemy. An oracle could give him the answer. Meanwhile, however, Worton began to take over power in the Palaedra. Sir Daymarc, Lysander's loyal man, directed the forces of Palaedra. Because he was the cousin of the Gryphonhearts, it was very important for Worton to remove him. But Worton had already taken care of one thing. He locked her mother behind the walls of the Glen Garrison. The captain of the guard, Captain Ferth, was a hungry man for battle and a follower of Worton. His lord ordered him to kill his mother immediately if the garrison is attacked. To the barons in the area, Worton himself gave the money to build the garrison. However, Lysander and his men crushed the barons and bypassed the garrison using an old magic portal. It was then that Worton launched a full-scale offensive and a major civil war broke out throughout the country. He captured the capital Paledon and controlled much of the country. The occupied cities were controlled by his followers and, under Worton rule, criminals and their associates were given more opportunities for looting. Sir Daymarc was defeated and imprisoned. Meanwhile, Lysander bypassed the garrison and found Worton's mother.

Worton then worked to expand his rule and secure his place, even at the cost of liquidating his parents. Alongside Paledon, Worton controlled four strategically important cities. Neutral or faithful cities were harassed with calls to surrender to it, or else the consequences would come. He used the old Gryphonheart flag as a symbol of his rule. Worton later learned that Lysander had been searching for his parents and knew that if he succeeded, his rule would end. King Gryphonheart heard rumors that his father the legendary Sir Kentaine is held captive by a chaos mage pyromancer. Worton sent troops and ordered them to kill his father. He sent a small army under the command of a general and a paladin. However, Lysander and his associates struck at them and destroyed the army. Lysander then defeated the Pyromancer Mastero and freed Sir Kentain from captivity.

The fall
Palaedra's rightful lord returned to his homeland and was eager to deal with his lying enemy. However, Sir Kentaine and Desette made one last attempt to persuade their son to stop all this. In spite of his actions, the parents expressed their love and begged him in the letter to end this before even more innocents die. Lysander sent the letter with his loyal squire Milton. He ordered the squire to observe how loyal Worton's men were. Worton's patrolmen stopped him several times, one of them hit hard because the squire did not call Worton king. Worton recruited such violent bandits into his army. However, Milton arrived in Paledon and was shocked by what he had experienced there. Worton needed a lot of money to fight against Lysander so he took away all the assets of the civilians and as a result many became poor and some greedy people benefited from it. People were terrified of Worton and the bandits, they were frustrated. Milton had to wait three days in his room. He meets Porsha, Proetho's sister, and she provides useful information. Milton only met Sir Worton on the fifth day. He was sitting on a very new, carefully carved throne, wearing a blue cloak without a crown. Milton saw the False Gryphonheart blade, but didn't know what would distinguish the two swords. He was surrounded by traitorous nobles and robbing knights. Worton was arrogant and cocky. After Milton said the two parents had written the letter, Worton tore it to pieces without reading it and started yelling. Worton attacked Milton and kicked him until he fainted. He imprisoned Milton. He was locked there, where Sir Daymarc was a prisoner.

Meanwhile, more and more people joined Lysander, Desette and Sir Kentaine convinced several cities that they were Worton's true parents. Lysander set off with his loyal warriors to recapture the four major cities. However, Worton's followers did their best to slow down the advance or even to fight back. The rebels were constantly defeated, and their strong knights and paladins were lost. Lysander was not far from Paledon. Worton barely had a powerful army, but he refused to accept his fate and the defeat. The night before the siege, he left the capital and caught a farmer's horse and escaped. Lysander took Paledon very easily, and the inhabitants welcomed the return of their former lord. Worton's throne was burned as firewood. Lysander decided to personally find the liar knight and bring him back to court. Worton with his criminal, bandit followers hid in a cave, but Lysander and Milton found him. Lysander challenged Worton to a duel, but he did not accept it and instead ordered his criminals to kill the two opponents. Milton was injured, some ribs were broken, but Lysander bravely stood up against the bandits, but his sword broke. That's when Worton came up. He was once again arrogant and very cocky. But Lysander drew the real Gryphonheart blade and attack Worton and the bandits. With his swordsman knowledge and the magic sword, he cutted into pieces the criminals. Dozens of bodies were lying on the ground. He defeated Worton and destroyed the false Gryphonheart Blade with the real one. With a magical sword, Lysander pierced Worton's helmet and armor, then got stuck in his right shoulder. He was so badly wounded that he could never carry a weapon again. Worton wanted to die, but Lysander promised the two parents to bring him back alive, so he didn't kill him. After he was taken back, Worton was likely imprisoned.

Personality
"My poor Worton!" she said. "I think he's always felt he couldn't live up to his father and brother. One day, he just started hanging out with the wrong element.  He's not really a bad person!"

- Desette about his son. As a youth, Worton felt rather oppressed, despite the fact that his parents always loved him. His personality began to change radically when he began to become friends with criminals and dangerous figures. He became more and more power hungry, cocky and cruel. He wanted to gain influence and fame through increasingly cruel and inferior means. As an adult, Worton was capable of anything for power and was well versed in manipulation. He had fooled almost entire Palaedra with a lie and would have been able to kill his own parents without regret. Keeping the False Gryphonhearth blade with him, Worton became a very cocky, cruel, greedy and arrogant evil man. He hated his past and tried to forget her parents as soon as possible. While briefly ruling over Palaedra, Worton showed the population how cruel he was. He drove the population into absolute poverty, especially Paledon, and criminals and robbers serving in his army were constantly plundering civilians without consequences.