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Emperor Eugard Volakia (born Eugard Elcanti), also known as the Thorn King and the Emperor of the Briar, is a supporting character in the 2014 Japanese dark fantasy light novel series Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World.
Eugard Volakia was an Emperor of the Holy Volakian Empire who was driven to madness by the death of his lover Iris. Referred to as the "Thorn King" due to his prominent use of powerful thorn-themed curses, Eugard was the most powerful Emperor to have ever assumed the Volakian throne. Three centuries after his death, he was reanimated by the Witch Sphinx to participate in the destruction of Volakia.
Appearance[]
Eugard Volakia was a short man with a slender build, indigo eyes, and neck-length dark-green hair that was tucked behind his ear on the right side. His face had sharp features and was considered handsome. The Thorn King wore a black crown with gold features wrought in the shape of thorns, and red and black robes.
After being revived during the Great Disaster, Eugard Volakia bore the tell tale physical features of Sphinx's undead. His eyes were radiant gold with black sclera, his skin was pallid and lacked any semblance of color, and cracks ran across his earthen body. On the other hand, his choice of apparel and his hair both remained unchanged.
Synopsis[]
Early Life[]
Eugard Elcanti was born as the nineteenth son of Radkain Volakia, the sixtieth Emperor of the Holy Empire of Volakia. The largest and southernmost of the four great nations of the world, Volakia was a meritocracy where the strong were lauded and the weak abandoned. In Volakia, rulership of the nation was decided by a competition known as the "Rite of Imperial Selection." The Rite consisted of the children of the incumbent sovereign battling each other to the death in a political/martial contest that typically spanned the whole nation. Once one child triumphed over all of their siblings, they were chosen as the inheritor of the Volakian throne.
It was traditional for the ruler of Volakia to have as many children as possible across the nation in preparation for the Rite of Imperial Selection. Eugard's father was later known as the "Sowing Emperor" because he had a high volume of offspring even when compared to his forebears, having a total of over two-hundred able-bodied children. Eugard was sired on a woman from House Elcanti, an old Volakian noble family with a large amount of political power. Being a potentially dangerous future rival to his many siblings due to his status as a scion of the powerful Elcanti family, a target was placed on Eugard from the time of his birth.
Legacy[]
Following Eugard Volakia's death, his and Iris's love story was immortalized in a tragic dramatization named "Iris and the Thorn King." The tale omitted the horrific events following Iris's demise, thereby positively influencing the public's perception of the Thorn King. Over the following centuries, the story of Iris and the Thorn King became well known all over the world. Even hundreds of years after Eugard's death, wolf and mole humans were persecuted wherever they were found for their crime against Iris. Iris herself, who continued to reincarnate endlessly, sought a way to undo the curse placed upon her so that she could finally die.
Powers & Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Magic: All human beings were born with a gate, a metaphysical apparatus within a person's body that autonomously absorbed the ambient magical energy that existed in the atmosphere and stored it in the individual's od (soul). Those who received training were capable of using their stored mana for a variety of purposes, one of which was for the casting of magic. Magic was the practice of expelling mana out of one's own gate and manipulating it to create specific supernatural phenomena. The power of a mage typically depended on the size of their gate and the level of their arcane knowledge. The Emperor was able to use curses, a subcategory of magic characterized by their more sinister nature. As opposed to regular magic, many curses directly targeted the od of their intended victim and as such, once activated, continued to function even in the event that the curse user perished.
- Reincarnation Inducement: The Thorn King was able to bestow a form of immortality on an individual using a curse called the "Binding of Thorns" that stopped a target's soul from returning to Od Laguna upon death by tethering their soul to the land in which the curse was activated. Od Laguna was the destination that souls returned to at the end of their life so that they could be stripped of their memories and reborn in a new body. By being refused access to Od Laguna, the target of the Binding of Thorns was denied their rest and instead reborn in a different body with the memories of their previous life intact. The curse stayed attached to the target's soul regardless of how many lifetimes they lived, meaning the target was forced to reincarnate eternally everytime they died until the Binding of Thorns was somehow removed.
- Pain Immunity: Eugard Volakia was born with congenital analgesia, a rare condition that resulted in its bearer not being able to feel any form of physical pain.
- Pain Inducement: In his early life, a curse called the "Curse of Thorns" was cast upon Eugard Volakia by an unknown adversary or group of adversaries. The Curse of Thorns manifested sharp, ashen-grey thorns that directly bound themselves to the od of the curse's target and caused great piercing pain that felt similar to actually having sharp thorns penetrate one's own heart. Anyone within a wide vicinity of the Thorn King was also afflicted with the curse, but only if he loved, admired, or held any other amicable feelings towards them. Unfortunately, because of the Emperor's good nature, almost everyone was affected by the curse. Unless the Thorn King hated them on a personal level, even his enemies weren't exempt. The narrower the distance between the Emperor and a collateral victim of the curse, the more intense the pain grew for them. The pain was so excruciating that even disciplined and powerful warriors could be quickly crippled. If someone were to be afflicted with the Curse of Thorns for a long period of time, their heart would corrode from the pain and they would die. Though the thorns were visible, they were also intangible and as such could not be interfered with or removed by conventional methods. The casting of the Curse of Thorns on Eugard was designed to slowly kill him while simultaneously ensuring that no loved ones could come to his aid. Ironically however, Eugard Volakia himself was immune to the affects of the curse because of his congenital analgesia. The stress placed on his heart by the curse did initially weaken the Emperor's body, though his physiology eventually acclimated.
- Zombie Physiology: Eugard Volakia was one of many deceased Volakians reanimated by the Witch Sphinx to participate in the Great Disaster. The Witch reanimated the Thorn King by imbuing his soul into a small red caterpillar-like insect known as a "corebug," and then creating a body made out of earth in the shape of his original form. Revived by the Witch's methods, Eugard Volakia retained all the power, skills, and intelligence he possessed in life. Additionally, because the Thorn King was made out of earth, his body didn't deteriorate with time and quickly reformed after taking any damage. The only way to permanently destroy the undead Emperor was to destroy the corebug located within him.
Abilities[]
- Master Combatant: Eugard Volakia was an exceptionally powerful warrior, so much so that, when combined with the Curse of Thorns placed upon him, he was considered the strongest Emperor in the entire history of Volakia. No one in his lifetime, including the Nine Divine Generals, were able to threaten Eugard in combat. The only time he ever experienced a true challenge was as an undead when he fought against the Admirer Halibel, one of the five greatest warriors of the modern era. Having trained diligently to protect himself, the Thorn King was an expert martial artist and a master at wielding the Bright Sword Volakia. Because it had managed to overcome the weakness inflicted by the Curse of Thorns, Eugard's body was actually highly optimized. He possessed impressive latent talent which allowed him to adapt to new phenomena quickly and grow as a combatant at an alarming rate. Even within the confines of a single fight, the Thorn King was capable of becoming exponentially stronger. Furthermore, he had excellent perception that allowed him to predict and counter the moves of his opponents.
Equipment[]
- Bright Sword Volakia: The "Bright Sword Volakia" was one of the ten magical swords of power, a set of unique magical blades said to be unrivalled by all other weapons. Since the Holy Volakian Empire's foundation, the sword had been in the possession of the Volakian Royal Family and served as the symbol of office and personal weapon of the sovereign of Volakia. The weapon took the form of a large, exquisite crimson single-handed sword that shone like a flawless garnet. The wielder of the Bright Sword could materialize and dematerialize the blade at will, and the sword was capable of producing powerful fire that could be telekinetically controlled by its wielder. The red flame produced by the blade was many times hotter than any regular blaze, and could absorb lesser flames. There was nothing the weapon could not affect, as even beings with noncorporeal bodies and metaphysical targets like souls could be cut or burned by the Bright Sword. The Bright Sword's wielder could even designate what was affected by its attacks and what wasn't, meaning the Bright Sword caused no collateral damage. Furthermore, the sword improved the physical properties of its wielder to an immense level while drawn. However, summoning the blade and using its power required a large amount of the user's magical energy. Like certain other magical swords, the Bright Sword had a will of its own. It only imparted its power on members of the Volakian Royal Family it deemed as candidates worthy of ruling Volakia, and those who were deemed unworthy were incinerated by the sword upon making contact with it. The weapon was also known to withhold its power from its wielder if they contradicted the sword's desire. It was possible for multiple Bright Swords to be summoned simultaneously by different candidates for the throne of Volakia, and the existence of multiple copies did not reduce its quality. Eugard Volakia, as the Emperor of Volakia, was able to wield the Bright Sword. He was even able to conjure the weapon after being reanimated as a zombie by Sphinx after his death.
- Fiend Sword Murasame: The "Fiend Sword Murasame" was another of the ten magical swords of power. The blade was in the possession of Cecils Segmund until the Great Disaster, at which point it was received and wielded by the reanimated Eugard Volakia. Kept in a red scabbard, the weapon was a long katana with a glowing red blade, a gold flower-shaped guard, a gold pommel, and a red grip. The Fiend Sword was immensely sharp, to the point that it was difficult to contain it within a sheath. When swung, the blade unleashed black slashes so sharp that everything in their path was bisected even if a target was dozens of meters away. Furthermore, the true power of the Fiend Sword was its ability to cut the "core" of something. Everything, whether it were a tangible object, a phenomena, or even a concept, had a conceptual core that was emblematic of its existence. By severing something's core, the sword could destroy it. For example, by cutting the core of its own scent, the Fiend Sword was able to make itself odourless. Similarly to the Bright Sword, the Fiend Sword had a will of its own in the form of an immense cruelty and bloodlust that its user needed to satiate regularly. Those nearby the weapon could detect its malevolence, though a skilled enough wielder could repress its aura. Additionally, the weapon required so much magical energy from its wielder that an average person would likely perish after swinging it only once. However, as a powerful warrior, the Thorn King was unaffected by the weapon's setbacks.
Gallery[]
List of Appearances[]
| Light Novel |
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Volume 19[]
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 Villains
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| Witch Cult |
| Capella Emerada Lugunica · Louis Arneb · Lye Batenkaitos · Pandora · Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti · Regulus Corneas · Roy Alphard · Sirius · Stride Volakia |
| Witches of Sin |
| Carmilla · Daphne · Echidna · Hector · Minerva · Pandora · Satella · Sekhmet · Typhon |
| Mabeasts |
| Black Serpent · Great Rabbit · White Whale |
| Gusteko Assassin Organization |
| Elsa Granhiert · Mama · Meili Portroute |
| Others |
| Balleroy Temeglyph · Bean Argyle · Eugard Volakia · Heinkel Astrea · Kurgan · Melaquera · Miles · Reid Astrea · Roswaal Mathers · Sphinx · Ton, Chin, and Kan · Todd Fang |