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 of the Fighting Fantasy series who is featured in more than one gamebook; the other being Zagor 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 which 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, there 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 vampire 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 in line to inherit the title of count, something 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 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; towards whom he mostly acts in a scornful and sardonic way. 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
Reiner's late older brother. Siegrfried was a powerful holy knight who inherited the title of Count. He and Reiner deeply hated each other, to such extent that when Reiner usurped his place, he destroyed every painting of his brother in the entire castle. Reiner killed Siegfried 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 away, 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, Siegfried's ghost haunts the castle and provides the player with a magical sword, should he/she meet him at the beginning of his/her quest. Siegfried is later 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 her brother, she is a very powerful witch who serves as a major antagonist in Vault of the Vampire. Katarina uses dark rituals that require the blood of young maiden to retain her youth and her 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 a 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 is fought during the final battle.

Gunthar Heydrich
The last of Reiner Heydrich's siblings, Gunthar, 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 does not appear 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 realise immediately the full extent 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 mightier than the regular ones that can be found in other gamebooks. (Who are already very dangerous foes in their own right.) He is able to shape-shift at will, and is often seen under the form of a yellow cloud of mist and of a great bat to travel long distances, or the form of a wolf to attack his enemies. His strong magnetism and charisma enable him to get people to serve him (though some are malevolent enough to serve him willingly) and he can hypnotise people to control their actions, in order to bite them without resistance or to use them to do his biddings. He has also the power to control animals, to the point of binding werewolves to his will (including the player, if he or 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 to cause storms, fog and other things 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 than 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 does not 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 any other spells or magical item that affect undead creatures. He also cannot stand garlic or seeing a mirror, he cannot cross a river, and he must rest during daytime. 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 strength 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 unstoppable, 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 clouds 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 wariness, with lots of garlic on the doors and 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 everyone 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 witch 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 Nastassia, 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/she 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/her own, he/she might spend the night in the house of Snivel, the dwarf who guards the river and 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's 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 may also meet Heydrich himself, who will only taunt him/her 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, an annoying vampire ferret and a horned vampire bat that might curse the player, and by a powerful and dangerous spectre.
 * The spectre can only be harmed with a magical sword and if the player hasn't got one he/she might get killed when trying to escape. The spectre has 10 in skill (level of power) and 14 in stamina (life-points) and if it strikes the player at least once, it can cost 1 point of skill 5 in 6 times.

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 Major Thassaloss: a formidable skeleton monster before reaching the Count, who is preparing to offer Nastassia, the abducted townsgirl, to his evil sister.
 * The Major Thassaloss has 10 in skill and 15 in stamina and can shoot green rays from its eyesockets that cause nearly unavoidable additional damage. The player can destroy it immediately and avoid a dangerous battle, should he/she know the right spell.

Battle against Heydrich
Heydrich first tries to hypnotise the player, and if he/she loses a test of faith to resist or has no 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 13 in skill (one point over the regular maximum) and 21 in stamina, and whithout a magical sword the player is doomed. If the player has neither Nightstar nor the chainmail, the battle will be particularly hard. If he/she has at least one of the aforementioned items, the battle will then be much easier. Upon losing nearly all his stamina, Heydrich attempts to flee to regain some strength, before coming back and restart the fight. (It can be countered 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 will not be able to prevent him from escaping, leading to a pyrrhic victory in which Nastassia 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 lacks these items, he/she will not be able to destroy the vampire and the game will end on a similar pyrrhic victory, marked by Heydrich's sardonic 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. Katarina is a powerful enemy with 10 in skill and 10 in stamina, but is nowhere as dangerous as her vampire brother.

In Revenge of the Vampire
In the second gamebook, Count Reiner Heydrich is resurrected centuries after his demise by three witch 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.

Heydrich recruits cohorts of corrupt humans, monsters and undeads to serve him (including the many vampires he spawned) and buys Mortus Mansion, a manor rumoured to be haunted whose awful reputation provides an excellent cover for his activities, in order to prepare his masterplan. He also leaves the Heart Crystal under the care of the witches, as it would be dangerous to keep it with him before his plan is completed, should he be confronted when resting. However, he 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 Henrik. 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 Henrik's letters and understands that Heydrich had Henrik killed because the blind vampire hunter was searching to destroy him. The player resolves to find Henrik'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 unable to prevent the slaughter of the congregation by the hand of Heydrich and his ghoul minions, and might even fight Father Endrell, a monk-wizard who serves the vampire. The player may attack Heydrich as he is about to leave in his coach, but the vampire will merely grab his/her sword and hit him/her in the face with the hilt.

If the players succeeds in tracking Heydrich down to the inn where he takes shelter during daytime, having hypnotised everyone in it, he/she can enter the vampire's room and fight Igor, Heydrich's powerful bodyguard.
 * Igor has 9 in skill, 11 in stamina and his sword strikes can cost 3 stamina points instead of the regular 2, making him a dangerous enemy.

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 hypnotised to learn the congregation's 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 Harquar, Henrik's and Sewarth's third accomplice, 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 witch 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 of the witches has been turned into stone by a basilisk and Shevalla and Carrolar, the remaining two can either be fought together or separatedly. When challenged one-on-one, the witches will send a monster against the player before fighting and might even try to cast a hindering spell. Fighting them without a magical weapon only leads to a game over.
 * Shevalla the eldest witch has 9 in skill and 11 in stamina. During the first two attack rounds, she casts Lighting Ball spells that cost 4 stamina points, then she fights with a poisoned dagger that costs 3 stamina points.
 * Carrolar has 10 in skill and 10 in stamina. She wields a poisoned dagger that costs 3 stamina points but she might drop it and use a regular knife instead.
 * The player can track down the dangerous basilisk if he/she strikes a deal with a witch, (who will not respect it) but he/she must win a test of luck or get turned to stone upon confronting the beast. It has only 8 in skill and 10 in stamina, but the player must fight it with a mirror or with his/her eyes closed, to avoid getting turned to stone, and loses 2 skill points for the fight.

The player must also 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 skill by 1 point with his hypnotic gaze and once again, seals the player's doom if he/she hasn't got a magical weapon. He has 11 in skill and 15 in stamina, 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 five Great Vampire Elders of Titan and the five Thorn Knights 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's real goal is in fact to absorb the Great Elders' power to become an incredibly powerful and invincible vampire, carefuly hidding this secret from everyone. Should he succeed, he would no longer need the witches to watch over the Heart Crystal and would likely get rid of them. The player must first battle a powerful Megaghoul before facing the Vampire Lord at last.
 * The Megaghoul is a dangerous enemy with 10 in skill and 13 in stamina, who uses poison and acid in addition to its infected claws, costing 2 to 4 stamina points with each blow. Just like every other ghoul, it wins the fight if it strikes the player thrice.

Battle against Heydrich
Heydrich has yet to absorb all the Elders' power, 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, as well as 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 led his/her quest and his/her total of faith points. During the first three turns of the fight, Heydrich's hypnotic gaze can paralyse the player to automatically defeat him/her. That will not 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 gets 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 is not 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. If the player does not kill Heydrich, the Count will teleport away to rest in his coffin, generating an illusion to lure his enemy into a deadly trap. If the player avoids the trap, he will meet Katarina, who first pretends to be a captive girl to catch the player offguard. When Katarina is slain, an enraged Heydrich engages the decisive 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 player's actions.) Despite this, he remains a deadly foe whose blows cost 3 stamina points 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 fight by slaying Heydrich during the first confrontation before getting rid of Katarina.

Trivia

 * Count Reiner Heydrich is heavily based on Count Dracula. The author created him in with the intent to set the Dracula mythos in the Fighting Fantasy universe. In Revenge of the Vampire, he is depicted wearing the same outfit as Bela Lugosi's famous portrayal of the Count.
 * Heydrich is named after Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking Nazi dignitary.
 * Heydrich's page on Titannica the Fighting Fantasy Wiki: http://fightingfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Reiner_Heydrich