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ULRIC
One of the seven main characters in the Chronicles series.
BACKGROUND - Ulric has been raised in the small village of Del, situated in the south of the Kingdom of Lionossus. His family are all dead, apparently from disease, excepting a single auntie, who has raised him as a mother. Ulric is inordinately fond of her, and speaks of her a lot, though rarely by name.
Ulric has spent most of his life hunting game in the vast forests around his home, preferring to sell what he catches in the small market at Del to support both himself and his auntie. He is proficient with a bow, and knows how to use a blade to gut and skin an animal, but has little knowledge of how to use his weapons offensively against people, which causes problems for him later when he teams up with Dalathos.
As Ulric reveals later, he was married at the age of sixteen, but a year later his young wife, Lucira, died in childbirth, their daughter Mairir stillborn in the process. After burying both in the house he had built for them, Ulric has since been left feeling troubled. He has therefore left home to discover his place in the world. His auntie worries for his safety and has therefore armed Ulric with a small and rounded iron chest plate, and a sword, neither of which is of appreciable quality.
As a point of note, Ulric also carries a second name, being Silverwolf, a totemic symbol of the Thos, although those tribes no longer have a separate identity in the Corianth Empire.
Ulric also has a poetic memory.
GATHERING - Ulric is present in the small cave when Sirath arrives with the horses he claims to have won in a game of cards. Later during that same scene, Jerith, and then Erin appear. It is not until Nel's Tavern that Ulric meets with Dalathos, forming an immediate friendship after Dalathos intervenes to prevent Wallam from stabbing Ulric in the back during a confrontation at the bar.
RELATIONSHIPS - As just stated above, Ulric forms a particularly close bond with Dalathos, in part for having his life saved by him, and partly because both men are considering hiring themselves to an army. However, this causes Ulric to become too easily led by Dalathos, especially with reference to Dalathos' insistence on both of them fully arming and purchasing crossbows with their reward money. Totally unused to this weapon, Ulric fails to get to grips with it, and in a moment of extreme danger all he manages to hit with it is his own horse. Ulric does actually also get along with Sirath, and though somewhat disapproving at times, especially with regards to Sirath's attitude to Erin, for the most part Ulric is prepared to accept Sirath's faults freely. Although not particularly close to either Jerith or Tilrion, Ulric is very respectful of both, though he is unsure of how to deal with Ezebekial. Ulric also is protective of Erin, and constantly supports and reassures Erin whenever Sirath makes his characteristic snide remarks.
ANTI-CHARACTER - Ulric's anti-character is Lord Nomron. Both become resigned to carry out roles they would prefer to have avoided, both being reluctant warriors, and both seeking some form of peace for themselves in the world. |
