Specter Knight

[Specter Knight]

[ S P E C T E R     K N I G H T ]

>CHARACTER HISTORY
Long ago, The lands were untamed, and roamed by legendary adventurers. But although the land is peaceful... for some, there is a price to pay for greed. Donovan, thief and adventurer extraordinaire, was enlisted for a harrowing expedition to the Tower of Fate by his long-time partner and closest friend, Luan Seatlan. Luan believed that there existed a powerful amulet within the tower that could protect his son, Reize Seatlan. Donovan believed it to be a mere legend, not worth the risk of scaling a tower filled to the brim with monstrosities and traps. However, the thief was motivated by a personal debt he owed to Luan. His boy was shaping up to be a promising adventurer, but his reckless nature could end up causing more pain than pride in his father. For all that Luan did for Donovan, the humble father only asked that, if he ever met his end early, Donovan would look after Reize like he was his own. Motivated by this promise. Donovan joined Luan on his journey and the two men set off for the Tower of Fate. After scaling the base of the tower and cleaving through countless monstrosities patrolling within, they then find the amulet within the main sanctum. Right before taking it, a heavily armored woman wielding a massive shield barges in and introduces herself as Shield Knight.

Shield Knight warned the two adventurers about the dangers of the amulet, moving to protect it with her life. Donovan believed that Shield Knight was trying to take the amulet for herself, and urged Luan to just take the amulet. Luan reconsiders about taking the amulet because of Shield Knights warnings, which prompts Donovan to curse Luan for being a coward. Shield Knight then attacks Donovan, causing a brief battle between the two warriors. The knight was a figure of legend in the business of adventurers, but the thief was powered by an unprecedented ferocity borne of the amulet's corrupting influence. Donovan violently struck down Shield Knight and rushed to grab the amulet, the tower beginning to destabilize and crumble around the sanctum. Luan knew that the amulet wasn't worth leaving his son fatherless, but he wasn't prepared to leave Donovan either. The man tried to convince Donovan that the amulet wasn't worth it. Without much hesitation, Donovan sliced Luan across the chest and shoved him aside, leaving a 'coward' to bleed out. Before Donovan could kill Shield Knight as well, the floor of the sanctum collapsed.

Donovan would fall to his death into the gaping chasm beneath the sanctum, his last sight being Shield Knight watching him from above.

When Donovan awoke beneath the rubble of the tower, he was nothing but a corpse. His body was torn, his flesh flayed and his bones shattered. In the limbo between life and death, he met the Enchantress - a powerful sorceress that emerged from the depths of the tower. She offered the dying thief a proposition; she would resurrect the thief as a powerful undead revenant shackled to her will, and give him the task of recruiting an invincible order of eight knights that would serve as the enforcers and lords of a burgeoning regime. Upon completing this harrowing task, the thief would be given his humanity once more, coupled with boundless power and freedom. Another chance at life, at the cost of temporary bondage.

It seemed like it was Donovan's only option. It was a chance to wash away the great sin he had just committed and keep the promise he had made to Luan. Donovan agreed to this unholy deal, and the Enchantress imbued his ragged corpse with insurmountable power, and created a scythe that befitted the title of her new undead servant:

Specter Knight. And so began the events of Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment.

Specter Knight embarked on a journey through the Plains of Passage, Pridemoor Keep, the Lich Yard, the Explodatorium, the Lost City, the Iron Whale, the Stranded Ship, the Clockwork Tower and the Flying Machine to recruit an order of powerful, invincible knights. Predictably, none of the greedy knights were willing to bend a knee to the Enchantress so easily - they had to be convinced by scythe. Specter Knight tore through King Knight, Plague Knight, Mole Knight, Treasure Knight, Polar Knight, Tinker Knight and Propeller Knight. Each was powerful in their own right, but they were all easily defeated as Specter Knight grew in power with each encounter. When it seemed as if his task was almost complete, a ghost had emerged to test Specter Knight's humanity; Luan's now-aged son, Reize Seatlan. Reize didn't recognize Specter Knight as Donovan, but Specter Knight immediately recognized the boy and urged him to run far away from the Tower of Fate. The Enchantress emerged and was amused by this development and chose to turn the boy into Specter Knight's own 'apprentice' - by showering him in unholy magic and turning him into a deranged undead servant.

Specter Knight could do nothing against the Enchantress as it was her magic that was binding his flesh together, but the contempt he harbored for his maker reached the boiling point. Another ghost from Donovan's past chose to resurface as well; Black Knight. Black Knight stormed the Tower of Fate upon his mighty steed Terrorpin, chasing after a fools errand. When Specter Knight came to stop his advance up the Tower of Fate, the Enchantress appeared to confront the Black Knight herself. It was then that Black Knight recognized who the Enchantress truly was;

Shield Knight, who had taken the amulet for herself and was twisted into the Enchantress.

Specter Knight realized this as well, and his broiling hatred came undone. Shield Knight was the one who had interfered with Luan's journey, and ultimately caused Donovan to accidentally kill Luan. She was the one who started the fight, and caused the tower to collapse. She was that essentially gave Donovan a choice between bondage or death, and used him as a tool to effectively subjugate the land. And now, she's gone and threatened to claim the life of the boy whom Donovan had promised to protect.

Without hesitation, Specter Knight did a heel-turn and sought to kill his creator at any cost. The Enchantress forced 'dark' Reize to fight for her, and Specter Knight couldn't bring himself to kill the boy, even if it meant he'd have his revenge. The Enchantress needed an eighth knight for her Order of No Quarter, and she had no qualms about eradicating Specter Knight herself and using Reize as her final knight. It was at this point Specter Knight realized that the Enchantress' power was too much to test his own strength against. It wasn't worth the cost of Reize's freedom - 'it isn't worth it' became the theme of his tragic circumstance. Specter Knight then demanded that he himself would become the eighth knight as opposed to Reize. To prove his loyalty to the Enchantress, Specter Knight sacrificed the keepsake locket that would've given him his humanity and gave it to Reize instead, ultimately resulting in Specter Knight being cursed with permanent undeath and bondage to the Enchantress' will.

The Enchantress was amused by her servant's paltry display of loyalty, so she allowed Specter Knight to return Reize to a village far away from the Tower of Fate. Specter Knight was shackled to the Lich Yard, becoming it's baleful guardian, as well a warden to it's undead inhabitants. The last living being Specter Knight would speak to was Black Knight, who urged him to fight back against the Enchantress. Specter Knight called it a fool's errand - there was no stopping the Enchantress, and the lands will never be free from her regime. He knew firsthand the power of the Order that he himself recruited, and there was no hero in existence that could hope to get past them.

Black Knight left without much else to say.

The Lich Yard fell to deathly silence once more, and Specter Knight was doomed to wander it's lonely moors for all eternity.

That is, until he vanished overnight.