I was thinking of a book character last night, and just how crazy his life was. So I'm going to tell you what he went through then tell you the character's name. If you figure it out I like you.
He was the son of a leader of a clan, and as a baby his mother and half the clan were murdered by pirates while his father was off finding provision.
His father, stricken with grief, left his son in the care of the boy's grandmother. So he could go hunt down the Captain that took the life of his wife. Leaving his sword for his son to remember him by.
As a child, he was playing too far away from his clan, sword in hand. When his grandmother found him it was too late. A warlord party found the both of them and kidnapped them to be slaves. The warlord stole his father's sword.
His grandmother died as a slave.
He spent his teen to young adult years as a slave. Until he had enough and started to push back. He ended up in a prison's pit but made some friends that allowed him to escape. Meeting a young woman who was trying to save her brother from the prisoner pit.
They made a plan to return to the young woman's village and raise up an army to take down the warlord. On their journey to do this they made many friends who would also aid them in fighting this war. Slowly and quietly, he fell in love with the young woman. Wanting to spend his life with her.
Many friends were lost, he was determined to get his father's sword back.
During the final battle as the fighting raged on he watched as the warlord took the love of his life, and launched her into a wall crushing her skull, killing her. He only saw red as he leapt from the walls. Fighting the warlord and winning, retrieving his father's sword. Despite his friends' kindness and plead for him to return to the village with them he couldn't. Not without his love.
So he became a wanderer, and he stayed a wanderer into his 30s until he stepped onto another warlord's land. He was bound and taken because he was a commoner who dared carry a weapon. The warlord's punishment was to take his father's sword and break it in half, and be thrown into a prison cell for a couple of years. And he was there for a few years.
Until he met a new friend, that helped him escape. Meeting with the old leader of the lands who was forced out and hiding. She, having a small group of allies, and more rolling in, tasked him with another journey to get more support to defeat the warlord. He willingly did it again, meeting a man that fixed his father's sword, rebuilding it with meteorite metal.
He also happened upon a man who was once a friend of his from his original clan. He too had also been enslaved by pirates.
After he was able to get more recruits they journey back to their allies.
The final battle happens and he wins but is seriously injured and goes into a coma for several weeks. When he wakes up he chooses to stay with his allies and friends this time and help them build a home for themselves in the area.
Years go by and he's now in his 40 to 50s progress is being made to the village, our warrior traded his sword for a hammer. Wanting to create rather than destroy.
One day a young girl comes to the village. She is kind and sings a little tune that catches his ear. A song that tells the tale of his father. He never thought to ask his friend from his clan about him. He had already passed, years of enslavement took his life early.
So he sets out on one more quest to return to his home clan. Taking the young girl, and the friend that helped him escape with him.
They make it to his original home, and their waiting for him was one of his father's friends. He never left hoping one day his friend’s son would return.
He was able to tell the tale of our warrior's father. He was able to get his revenge but at the cost of his own life.
Satisfied with this the group returns back to the village taking the older friend with him. He never tells his new home about what happened to him as a young man, but the love he lost. They wouldn't find out until generations later.
Despite this our warriors become a hero to the village and his legacy is passed down for generation to generation. And he is still kind throughout all of it.
And the craziest thing about this warrior's story is he's a mouse.
This is Martin the Warrior from The Redwall series, one of my favorites of all time!
