Arwen Middtales

Arwen Middtales stands as a living monument – a giant forged of storm and oath. His height eclipses banners and battlements alike; his frame bears the scars of centuries, not from age alone, but from judgment endured. His armor is rune-etched stone-steel, fractured and reforged countless times, each crack sealed with memory-light rather than metal. His wrath carry the calm of distant thunder: not wrathful, but inevitable.

Origin: The Line of Stone-Bound Oaths

Arwen was born into the House of Middtales, a lineage older than the town itself. His people were not rulers by blood, but wardens by burden – giants sworn to stand where smaller folk could not.

The Middtales Line

• Eldric Middtales (Father): First Warden after the Fall of Hio. A giant who believed law must outlast strength.
• Maerith of the Deep Vale (Mother): A rune-seer, not a giant, whose voice shaped Arwen’s conscience more than his body.
• The Unnamed Sibling: A sister erased from record – her name struck from the Rune Ledger after a forbidden act during the Shadow Schism.

The Middtales family believed one truth above all:

“Strength is inherited. Judgment is earned.”

Upbringing: Raised to Endure, Not to Rule

Arwen’s childhood was not one of comfort, but of calculated hardship.

He was raised outside the town walls until adolescence, tasked with guarding trade oaths and rune-stones alone.

Taught restraint before strength – he was forbidden from lifting a weapon until he learned to wait.

His mother instructed him in the language of silence: how to hear intention in pauses, how to read fear without exploiting it.

When he finally entered Middtales proper, he was already feared – and deeply lonely.

Ascension: The Reluctant Warden

Arwen did not seek leadership.

After Eldric’s death during a storm-bound incursion, the Sacred Mailbox summoned Arwen for the first time in living memory. His invitation was brief:

"Stand where for father stood.
Do not move."

Arwen stood for three days and nights in the Hall of Heroes, unmoving, until the runes aligned. Thus, he became Warden of Storms, not by coronation, but by endurance.

The Reign of Stone and Balance

Arwen’s reign is remembered as the Age of Unbroken Gates.

His Achievements

• Reinforced the town’s wards to survive the Second Rune Famine.
• Ended bloodline rule among guilds, enforcing merit-based ascension.
• Established the Trial by Legacy, ensuring power was tested, not inherited.
• Refused to expand Middtales by conquest, despite possessing the strength to do so.

Under Arwen, Middtales prospered – but grew ridgid.

The Seeds of the Fall

Arwen’s greatest flaw was not cruelty – it was certainty.

He believed:

• That order preserved legacy.
• That exceptions invited collapse.
• That mercy must be earned, never assumed.

When whispers of forbidden rune study arose within the Council – what would later be known as the Veiled Concord – Arwen chose suppression over inquiry.

Most damningly, he refused to intervene when the Unnamed Sister was condemned by the Keeper of Flames.

He did not raise his weapon.

He did not speak.

The runes remembered that silence.

The Fall from Grace

The fall was not violent.

It was ritual.

During the Concordance Festival, the Sacred Mailbox remained closed for the first time in Arwen’s reign. The town understood.

Arwen was summoned – not to rule, but to answer.

He faced no duel. No execution.

Instead, the Council decreed:

"You shall remain Warden,
but never ruler.
You will test others,
so you remember how it feels."

His crown was never removed – it was never given again.

Life After the Fall

Arwen withdrew to the Hall of Heroes, becoming a living trial rather than a king. He trains no armies. He gives no orders. He waits.

Every challenger he faces is a mirror of his past choices:

• Those who rush.
• Those who hesitate.
• Those who believe strength alone is enough.

Each duel is an act of penance.

Relationship to Bramwell

When the Sacred Mailbox summons Bramwell, Arwen recognizes something he once was: not a ruler. Not a hero. A question.

Arwen’s challenge is not meant to defeat Bramwell – but to ensure the boy does not become what Arwen once did.

Legacy

Arwen Middtales is remembered not as a tyrant, nor as a savior – but as the weight of legacy given form.

He is proof that:

• Strength without listening becomes stone.
• Order without compassion fractures.
• And that even giants must kneel – to memory.

"I was taught to stand unbroken.
No one taught me how to bend."
-Arwen Middtales, carved beneath the Hall of Heroes.