Kardas

So, the honor of opening the line of the illustrious heroes of Gothic falls to the necromancer Xardas.

And it's no coincidence...

Let's briefly go through his biography.

Before the creation of the barrier, Xardas was the most powerful mage of the Circle of Fire. After the failure to create the magical dome, Xardas renounces his service to Innos and seemingly (as it appeared to everyone) shifts to the dark side, to Beliar's camp.

In the first part of the game, he monopolizes dark magic as he is the only mage who understands anything about it.

Having switched sides, Xardas retreats to the lands of the orcs, closely cooperating with the local inhabitants. His main task at this stage becomes investigating the reasons for the anomalously grown barrier; the other mages under the barrier were generally engaged in the same task, but the old necromancer worked more productively.

In the colony camps, there is a stifling smell of fear and hatred for Xardas, which the newly minted hero should pay attention to, as we still need to meet this very uncle and try to stay on the list of living prisoners.

When the time comes, we set off, cutting through countless hordes of various fiends on the way. We arrive at the tower, enter, and receive a refreshing charge of stench and foulness from the silent mouth of the telepathic demon.

After a monologue with the demon, it turns out that Xardas doesn't care about his guests and currently has no intention of killing us, but to reach him, we must solve a riddle. After some quick reflections, we swiftly solve all three tasks and receive a revelation about the true nature of the sorcerer.

Xardas is not an anti-hero, but a very useful person (as he will repeatedly prove later), and while the fire-water mages tried to undermine the magical barrier, he found the right means to explain the failure in constructing the dome and offers a way to eliminate this flaw of nature. The sleeping, sweet, and funny creature, which with its radio-magic background demolished all of the mages’ architectural calculations, turned out to be a very ill-mannered demon and, in addition, the cause of everything. It was because of him that the innocent venture turned into a cruel failure.

Xardas explains the solution to the problem, advises where and how to find suitable equipment for the lone hero, blesses, kisses on the cheek, and sends him off to certain death — to the temple of the Sleeper.

Yes, it's cruel, but who are we compared to Xardas — a man playing on equal terms with the gods? He thought we were nothing. Perhaps this is his only mistake, which turned out to be vital for the hero.

But all ended well: the dome was broken, the details were sold. Everyone is free, everyone is happy.

Xardas is a tower maniac. Already in the first part, he has two of them. One, the first one, is already flooded and contains a culture of zombies necessary for the ambiance of the old tower of the necromancer.

In the second tower, Xardas lives throughout the first part, and at the very beginning of the second, we appear in the third tower. In the chronology of events, Xardas, or his servants — the dark builders of towers, rebuilt the tower in three weeks, and within the same period, he furnished and aged it.

Honestly, I didn't like the location of the third tower — too close to the city, but that was a necessity — a weak hero wouldn't reach the city across the entire map.

In the third part, we have to find Xardas. We, already experienced necromantologists, search for the tower and find it in the north, in Nordmar. This fourth, by the way, tower stands in an ideal place — away from onlookers.

By the end of all three existing parts of Gothic, we acquire four towers. Yes, the mage lived high on the hog.

But let's return to our sheep.

The hero was pinned down in the temple of the Sleeper, but he did his job. Having done the deed — he can gallivant freely, this is where everyone forgot about us. Even Xardas. We lie here, dying in magical armor, and suddenly bam — we wake up in an unfamiliar tower, and over us is already working a familiar character.

It turns out that the Nameless isn't so easy to bury; he needs to pull off one more task — to take down five or six dragons, a bunch of lackeys, and traditionally save the world from dark forces. To the perfectly logical suggestion to flee, we receive a refusal and reluctantly begin all over again.

Xardas again leads the Hero along the plot path, mentally supporting and threatening at all times, and in the end, eats the soul of the most-principal-of-all-dragons and drops into the third Gothic. That's it, the necromancer has abandoned us again, but at least we remain alive — progress. We run after him and unexpectedly land in the third Gothic. We were in a hurry, and Xardas has already done things and built a tower.

Without Xardas, the developers would have faced a lot of headaches, as they needed to somehow connect the first and second parts. We cannot just start the second Gothic with an pumped hero in magical armor and with Uriziel on his back. And who would he be in the second part? A representative of which camp, as there were three?

It's simple — amnesia. Even without it, who would have pulled the hero out? In general, the necromancer smoothens the rough transition.

As for his dealings with rune magic, which he ruthlessly destroyed at the beginning of the third Gothic, it is again about tying different parts together. What if you finished the second Gothic as a fire mage? The characteristics were sorted out without any problems, but the magic was like a nail in a well-known place.

That's when Xardas saved the developers once again.

Upon completing the game, one might wonder: what to become? I would go to be a king, let them teach me! But who is going to teach me? Innos or Beliar?

I chose Adanos, as a journey with this old man promises extraordinary adventures, and we clearly won't have to be bored, wiping our pants on the throne. ;)

In conclusion, it can be said that Xardas saved everyone just as much as the hero. Only the necromancer also managed to save the hero. And yet he didn't rush for fame and public recognition.

Besides in-game activities, he has been noted for helping the developers, which also speaks to his merits.

Xardas is neither good nor evil. He is smart. In the first part, we were a pawn to him, and he sacrificed that piece without a hint of regret. When it turned out that the Nameless was not so easy to dispose of and he was still needed, the mage began to treat him with more respect, and after the merits in the third part, he takes him along.

Cunning and intellect are the necromancer's main weapons. After all, if we remember, he is not a servant of Beliar, as he deceived him and simply took away tremendous power from the dark God.

At first, Xardas served Innos, later — Beliar, but all his actions reveal in him a lover of harmony and balance.

=====

When copying, please indicate the author.