Untitled

Lord Harondus Einfasen is an oddball when it comes to the Sundered Houses. He’s a nephew, not even an heir, but arguably one of the people most involved in the noble politics and schemes in Dol-Makjar. He and Lady Cormoray are similar in that regard, and I might make a post for her whole deal once I get enough info. 

What makes Harondus particularly interesting, I think, is how closely he’s been working with the Halovars. Romina, in her conversation with Hal in the Seven Stars, specifically mentioned that relationships between Einfasen (Harondus, as she was specifically working at the Stalhkeep) and the Halovars were positive. Yanessa came to him about Wick going missing, and he and Filoneus might as well have each other on speed dial the way they talk together so much. When it comes to Halovar business in Dol-Makjar, Harondus is almost always involved. Out of all the Sundered Houses, Einfasen and Halovar are the most dialed into the city. 

The Upheaval Revolutionary Guard 

When Harondus came into authority over the Guard, he almost immediately fired over half of them because, supposedly, that money could be better used elsewhere in the city. Immediately filling this vacant role in the city were both Einfasen soldiers and a large amount of Halovar mercenaries: the Sons of the Dawn. In King of Cards, Romina commented that she overheard Filoneus and Harondus discussing the Sons of the Dawn, and that “there was to be a delay on one of Lord Einfasen’s plans” until the Halovars could get enough money together to pay for all the mercenary contracts. With this maneuver, Harondus and the Halovars effectively control the majority of the city’s “law enforcement”, aka Sundered House henchmen. 

Where’s Wick?

When Yanessa came to Harondus about the frustrations about Wick’s disappearance, Romina said how it registered to her as “honest” rather than the typical Sundered House Special of going “heyyyyy can you help us with this :))) promise we won’t backstab you after.” This doesn’t confirm that Yanessa was being truthful (I doubt she 100% was), but given Romina’s experience working under the Einfasen, it’s worth noting her judgement. Yanessa trusts Harondus enough to discuss Wick’s disappearance, before it was revealed to anyone, even as a lie, publicly. 

The Hallowed Round

In The Vanishing, Harondus ordered that Azune keep a strict eye on Hallowed Round, specifically Halandil’s adherence to the licenses and the company’s use of magic. He was told to handle them with extreme prejudice. This aligns with what we’ve seen from the Halovars, the benefactors of the Hallowed Round, who’ve been looking to control and censor both the Round’s materials and use of magic beyond the power of “the Light.” There’s also something to be said with Harondus’ focus on monitoring usage of magic in the city, with him being involved in investigations involving the Arcane Marshals and having them double their efforts in searching for “arcane threats.”

The Assassination of King Gus

Both the Halovars and Harondus were in attendance for the gala, and we can assume that they were involved together in the assassination attempt. Harondus hosted the Argosian envoy who followed Gus to Dol-Makjar, and it was one of the Argosian delegates in Harondus’ entourage that was responsible for mind controlling Gus’ druid. It’s clear that the Halovars wanted Gus gone, or at least place him in danger, and Harondus helped to facilitate that via hosting the Argosians. Harondus also had Azune and his team look at the crime scene, people he trusts are in his pocket. I’m unsure who they’re gonna try to solidly pin the assassination attempt on, because there’s the idea that it was the Lana Strossa, but even then there’d still be a strong connection to Argosia. That might be me looking at through a meta standpoint, though. I think the attempt on Yanessa as well was to dissuade the idea that this was fully an Argosia vs Gus thing? Not sure.

Do I think Harondus is 100% with the Halovars? No, absolutely not. I’m pretty sure it’s a means to an end kind of thing. When he asked Azune if he was a member of the Candescent Creed and was told no, he said “Very Good” in the most smug scheming voice ever, and encouraged that lie to continue. Azune told Filoneus that he was a member of the Creed, and Filoneus saw fit to share that to Harondus immediately. Harondus cornered Azune about it less than 24 hours later. If they were 100% allies, I don’t see why Harondus would be concerned if Azune was a man of faith. Unless, ofc,  he wanted to make sure his loyalties lied solely with him. Having Azune as a double agent benefits him, as he can continue collaboration with the Halovars while still being able to check them.  

Also, side note about that particular meeting, but what was up with that perception check? When Harondus pressing Azune about his involvement in the falconers rebellion and asking him if he knew anything about the people (probably halovar) vouching for him, Brennan asked for a perception check. Luis rolled a 6, to which Brennan then also asked if he had Divine Sense up. Azune doesn’t have that ability (more sorcerer than paladin), and the conversation carried on, the perception check too low. But why would Divine Sense be relevant? They were in the Palazzo Davinos during the investigation, so it’s possible that it was just about another piece of evidence relating to the massacre. Maybe a leftover undead presence in the hall, something Tachonis related. Or, and hold onto this red string with me here, there was some kind of celestial or fiendish signature. I can think of a House that deals with both celestials and fiends, that might have also just been  implied in Harondus’ questioning. Food for thought. 

Halovar isn’t the only house I think Harondus has been scheming about. This is where I get into a bit more “hear me out” territory, now that we’re how many paragraphs in that we are. This was not meant to be this long.

Anyhow, everyone’s favorite edgelords: the Tachonis. There’s the clear connection with Harondus asking Azune to build a case against the Tachonis to present to the Einfasen House at the Stalhkeep, but that’s just it. Harondus only started pushing about the Tachonis once the rest of the Einfasen got to Dol-Makjar, and the need for a case became a sudden priority. In Council of Heroes, Harondus said: “I am afraid I must be rude to you, because the timeline for that case that I am very glad to hear you have been building has just moved up considerably.” Harondus had been planning for Azune to make a case against the Tachonis, but I don’t think it was ever meant to be this soon. The only reason Azune was as prepared as he was was because he and the Schemers had already been collecting (and planting) evidence against the Tachonis. None of that was specifically directed by Harondus, if I remember correctly. 

I believe Harondus has the goal of restricting the Tachonis, but I think he intended for that to be further down the timeline. Until then, I think he was willing to collaborate or at least be neutral with them.

The Tachonis were looking for Mara the Wing, a wild-shaped druid in the form of a falcon. They had her captured about a day and a half after Thjazi’s execution (Thjazi was executed in the morning on day 1, Davinos Massacre happened the night of day 2.) Sometime around this period, the falcons were cleared from Falcons Rest, and Romina had to clean a bunch of falcon shit out of Einfasen uniforms. It’s not confirmed if this was in search of Mara, or if they were actually trying to help the Tachonis, but there is that possibility.

Another interesting thread between Harondus and the Tachonis comes from the discussion in the Einfasen carriage. While the other Einfasens were pushing for an active push back against the Tachonis (with Azune stirring the pot by bringing up the shapers war), Harondus was actively trying to dissuade Otto from following through with it. He was alarmed by Azune’s comment, and had to do damage control by bringing up how the Tachonis’ magic and power was necessary for the alliance, and that the Einfasen didn’t currently have the strength to fight them and win.  He may agree with the idea of defeating the Tachonis, but to rush into it now would spell disaster. He’s been slowly building his own strength and stability in Dol-Makjar, and I don’t think he wants to risk that yet.

We learned in episode 2 that Harondus’ identity is built of one monolithic cube saying “of course I should be in charge” with everything else layered on that. In the convergence, we learned that he lived around 20 years thinking that he’d inherit the seat of Einfasen, as the only heir. Then that got thrown on its head, and now he’s the odd one out among his family. But he has a seat in the Chamber of Lords-Advisory, the allyship of one of the strongest Sundered Houses, and the entire city of Dol-Makjar under his watch. 

When asked about Einfasens response to the chaos among the Sundered Houses, with Wick’s disappearance and the Royce’s sudden “trip to Faerie”, she said, “In my time working with the Einfasen, responses are delayed until they can be overwhelming.” Otto wants to gather strength before they can “crush the skull,” and we can only imagine what Harondus’ plans are.