happy surfing to you too

— jan hus

the reason i find myself making this theory at all is because a couple of very important things are about to happen in a very close future in bohemia. among political tensions that followed wenceslaus iv with every step and the beginning of the anti-church sentiments sown by one jan hus, the next 10-20 years will turn out to be formative for the future of bohemia.

to be extremely brief, jan hus' teachings targeted the body of church as a whole, denouncing the popes, bishops, priests and the acts of paying for any kind of dissolution of sins. jan hus believed church to be leeches who got rich off of poor people and demanded the clergy to be stripped of any worldly possessions if they wanted to preach. he also believed only jesus christ and the lord could be the judges of sin; that no body of church could sell forgiveness or blessings.

— hussites

following the teachings of jan hus, the hussites emerged as soldiers from the commonfolk following the death of jan hus in 1415 (burned at stake). two prominent factions formed within hussites - the radical taborites and the moderate utraquists.

it was in the taborites that jan žižka emerged as a prominent figure, and he had made his first significant mark on history in 1419 when he participated in the first defenestration of prague.

so, as you can see, there was a significant gap between jan žižka's time as a roadside bandit in 1403 and his rise to fame in 1420s. that had been in part because it is speculated he had been serving as a king's courtier to king wenceslaus iv and his family. (funny detail; at some point wenceslaus calls žižka "faithful and beloved" in a special letter LOL)

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— and your're still reading this probably wondering "where is the part where he talks about hansry" but worry not, it is here.

if you checked hans capon's (jan ptaček) wiki you would have seen that later on, he follows the lead of his poweful neighbour petr of šternberk on the anti-hussite and pro-sigismund side. petr of šternberk was prominently pro-sigismund, had very strong anti-hussite views and was a famous hussite killer and enemy of jan žižka. hans will do this for reasons unknown to us and reasons that the game would probably improvise on.

this is where i would put the heart of henry and hans' conflict. both henry and hans have been vocally and actively pro-wenceslaus since KCD1, which would also translate into being pro-hussite in the future.

here is also where i mention the not so subtle moment in KCD2 when žižka approaches henry with the offer to join the fight by his side, because that was very deliberate and sets us up pretty well for the next installment of the game if it comes to be.

this is also the point i would consider crucial to the testament of henry's character. up to this point, henry had been following people; radzig, hanush, hans, jobst, prokop, john of lichstenstein on the side of wenceslaus. i think it would be important for henry to decisively choose a side in this conflict, not only because it was sigismund's forces that razed skalitz, but also because this is a cause he himself believes in rather than follows for the sake of loyalty or revenge. and i'll say - those are both valid motives, but i feel like it would mean a lot more and feel like a big step in his character development to choose a fight he believes in rather than feels obligated to.

thus i believe henry would join the side of jan žižka and subsequently hussites.

but wait! it gets better. henry's own father, radzig kobyla, would go on to join jan žižka in waging guerilla campaigns against the rosenbergs while in service of king wenceslaus. i believe this was happening during the years 1406—1411. so, henry running with this band would make a lot of sense to me from the perspective of both henry's motives and loyalties. so by the year 1419, which i'm naming now for malevolent reasons i will reveal further down, henry would be established as not only pro-wenceslaus but also as a hussite in the coming years.

and now you're probably wondering "but what about hans and henry kissing?" well. the story of KCD is about henry more than hans, and i believe the emergence of anti-sigismund movements that henry would be required at just as hans is about to be conveniently married off presents the story with an opportunity to separate hans and henry for a while, and sets us up with the heartbreaking promises of "i'll come back for you." while hans settles in as the new lord of pirkstein if the game lore allows it. we do not know whether warhorse will follow the timeline of wikipedia on the matters of hanush refusing to give up his estates to the rightful heir, hans capon, or whether they'll force hanush to hand the estates over to hans in the coming years when his son gets born.

if that does happen, hans would be presented with the opportunity to show what he's learned about responsibility during the events of KCD2 as a newly appointed lord of his own estate.

thus, henry is whisked off to fight for the king, father and the people as hans takes over his lordly and familial duties as a new father if we're to believe wikipedia that his son heinrich (hynce), named after his lover henry, was born in the year 1404.

so why did i mention the year 1419?

well, for reasons you're probably not going to like.

it is my firm belief that up until the year 1416-ish henry and hans would have enjoyed eachothers company often, as lovers and as envoys of the highly politically important subjects such as john II of lichstenstein, margrave jobst and prokop, radzig kobyla, jan žižka and king wenceslaus iv himself. this probably doesn't satisfy the needs of many of you for their fluffy happy ending, but i am taking into account primarily their duties to the crown/class/people and then their romantic relationship, because that was unfortunately the hand they would most likely have been dealt.

why up until 1416?

it was in july of 1415 that jan hus was burned at the stake, and the hussites movement grew stronger than ever, to the point in 1419 where the first major hussite battle happened. battle of živohošť, an event that occured in november of 1419, was fought under the command of petr of šternberk, with hans capon in tow, as he had decided to side with his powerful neighbour as mentioned earlier.

now this would present the story with a unique opportunity of putting hans capon and henry of skalitz on opposing sides.

hans, while loyal to henry and the rest of the wenceslaus + hussites, was ultimately forced to join the side of opposition, and thus had political obligations he had to fulfill owing to his duties as a lord of his estates.

it is during this battle that i could see henry getting killed off for the sake of driving the plot. poetically, two lovers find themselvese on the opposite sides of a battlefield, one fighting for something he believes in with the traitor on the other side, fighting in accordance with duty.

according to hans' wiki, it was after this one, singular battle that he switched sides and even signed a declaration in favour of the moderate hussites, even with petr of šternberk still alive at this point.

with his documented presence ceasing here, it is presumed that he had died in 1419, as his son hynce, 17 years old at the time, succeeded his father's estates in 1420.

in my tragic telling of the story of KCD3, henry's death on the battlefield is what spurs hans on to sign the declaration in support of the ideology his henry had died for, perhaps as a last gesture in favour of his dead lover.

and in true KCD2 galehaut and lancelot fashion, hans capon would perish from grief, mourning his best friend and the love of his life.

this, in fact, perfectly sets the franchise up for KCD4 if this were the case; with hans and henry both out of the picture, you emerge as the young nobleman heinrich, aka henry, named after the greatest man his father had known - the year is 1420 and the hussite wars have lit the flames of the bohemian people's revolution.

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