"Even if I were certain, even if I were everything you believe me to be, I couldn’t take the crown. The people would see me as naught but my uncle’s shadow. They would see in me the echoes of the failures that brought us this calamity. Ulthuan needs a new king to lead her, not Caledor III. I wonder if there isn’t a curse against the blood of House Tor Caled, if the Witch King’s spite hasn’t infected our souls and made us poisonous to all we hold dear."
Thoriol, called Thoriol the Silent, was a High Elf Prince, the son of Imladrik and a scion of the royal House Tor Caled. After the death of his uncle, the Phoenix King Caledor II during the War of the Beard with the Dwarfs of the Old World, he refused the Phoenix Crown of Ulthuan, content with living a quiet life.
History[]
"We do not choose our path, son. You may think you can deny your bloodline and take up a longbow, forgetting every privilege you have had, but believe me the gods will punish you for it. You were born for higher things."
- —Imladrik to his son Thoriol.[1h]
As a child, Thoriol was more interested in studying than warfare, as he was haunted by feelings of inadequacy in the face of the deeds of his great ancestors.[1b] Imladrik had hoped to mould his son into his successor, taking him to the slopes of Kor Evril where the Dragons slumbered, yet despite having been tutored in the Dragonsong, Thoriol was timid of the great beasts' might. When he attempted to awaken the Sun Dragon Terakhallia, the Dragon rejected him, much to the sorrow and disappointment of his father.[1a]
Afterwards, Thoriol retreated to a pleasure house in Lothern, drowning his sorrow in a canter of heliath. After accepting a dream-philtre from a hostess, he found himself press-ganged into the archer companies bound for Elthin Arvan, the Old World.[1b][1c] Thoriol used his military service as a means of escaping his familial obligations, hoping to assume a normal life in Tor Alessi.[1c]
During the Fourth Siege of Tor Alessi in the War of the Beard, Thoriol's company was positioned at the outer perimeter of the eastern wall.[1f] When the walls were breached, he suffered a grievous injury and his blood was smelled by Draukhain, Imladrik's Dragon, who informed his rider. Terrified at the prospect of losing his only son, whom he had believed to be safe back on Ulthuan, Imladrik abandoned restraint and eradicated the Dwarf host.[1g]
Afterwards, Imladrik took his son from his company to have him treated by his own healers. When confronted about his decision to run away from home, Thoriol told his father that for the first time in his life, he had felt of use, while Imladrik reminded him that he was the future of their house. Imladrik left, promising Thoriol to find a way to rectify the situation.[1h] When Thoriol attempted to rejoin his company, he was rejected by the survivors, who held highborn like him in low regard.[1i]
Imladrik was slain during the defence of Oeragor, his body carried back to Tor Alessi by Draukhain. [1j] Thoriol was also brought back to Ulthuan, where he took up residence in Kor Evril until his uncle called him to Lothern. Caledor II had mourned his brother bitterly and intended for Thoriol to become his successor as Phoenix King, for he had no sons of his own. Thoriol chafed at this prospect, but accepted to honour his father.[2a][2b]
The Phoenix King spared no expense to tutor his nephew, hiring the best instructors of the Ten Kingdoms of Ulthuan to teach him diplomacy, courtly custom and dance. In secret, Thoriol was also groomed by another group of Asur nobles, who wished to see the war against the Dwarfs ended and to focus instead on fighting the Druchii. Thoriol struggled with their goal, since if the Asur abandoned the lands in the Old World his father had died for, his sacrifice would have been in vain.[2c]
As the situation grew more dire in Elthin Arvan, Thoriol asked Caledor II to be allowed to return to Tor Alessi, to act as the Phoenix King's representative to the High Elf colonies. The desperate colonists were turning to Lord Ilendril, one of the Grey Lords who had experimented with spells that could subdue Dragons to an Elf's will, instead of relying on their cooperation. Thoriol was intrigued, but also appalled by the warnings from Liandra Athinol that the Druchii used similar means to control their Black Dragons. [2d]
As the High King of the Karaz Ankor prepared to lay siege to Tor Alessi, Thoriol decided, against Caledor II's wishes, to not return to Ulthuan and instead to use Ilendril's methods to subdue Draukhain, Imladrik's Dragon mount, who now rested at Dragon's Lament. In this way, he hoped to become a true Dragonirder and turn the tide of the conflict. Yet once upon the island, he found that he could not betray Imladrik's vision and instead scoured the rock for any scales or teeth of the Dragon so that no one else would bind him. The old Dragon, moved by this gesture, revealed himself and told Thoriol the reason that no other Dragon would bear him: Thoriol had been destined to ride on Draukhain, having inherited his fathers' bond with him. With Draukhain, Thoriol returned to defend the remaining High Elf colonies.[2e]
At Sith Rionnasc'namishathir, Thoriol and Draukhain joined the army of Prince Yverian that was facing off against that of Morgrim Ironbeard, the Dwarf who had slain Imladrik. Thoriol survived the destruction of the city and managed to retreat back to Tor Alessi, when the Dwarfs destroyed the dam that held back the River Reik. [2f] As Morgrim was given command over the besieging forces, the Yverian and Thoriol attempted to slay him to avenge Imladrik. Yet Draukhain was torn from the sky by a bolt thrower and Thoriol had to fight against the encroaching Dwarfs, among them Forek Grimbok, the former ambassador to the Phoenix Court whose beard Caledor II had shaved, setting off the conflict.[2g]
The crazed Slayer managed to deal Thoriol a grievous wound, but the High Elf slew Grimbok in the same moment that he had come close to his own death. As Morgrim approached the wounded Elf, the pain from his wound overwhelmed Thoriol and he fell unconscious, with Draukhain protecting him from the Dwarfs until the Dragon met his own death. In a rare show of respect, Morgrim ordered his standard bearer to bind Thoriol's wounds afterwards, gave him back Ifulvin, the magical sword Imladrik had once carried, and sent him back to Tor Alessi.[2g]
The news of Thoriol's injury spurned Caledor II into action. Refusing to see another relative die at the hands of the Dwarfs, he sailed froth to Tor Alessi to teach them a lesson.[2g] Tired, Thoriol tried to convince his uncle to end the cycle of retribution and vengeance between the Elder Races, yet the Phoenix King was too proud and too enarmoured with the legacy of his bloodline to listen.[2h]
Caledor II gave Thoriol the task of leading a High Elf contingent to attack the Dwarf army from behind, hiding his troops amidst the refugee ships to Sith Remora. When his forces attacked, the Phoenix King planned to sally forth, catching the Dwarfs between the two High Elven armies and crushing them. Thoriol accepted his role in the plan, yet the opportunity for the planned attack never came. The Dwarfs had tunnelled under the walls and stomed Tor Alessi itself, with Caledor II meeting his end in a duel with High King Gotrek Starbreaker.[2i]
Rather than risking more lives, Thoriol chose to return to Ulthuan, where Caradryel, the regent of his uncle, informed him that the Druchii had begun a large-scale invasion of the island-continent. When confronted by Caradryel over the issue of succession, Thoriol refused the crown, stating that Ulthuan needed a king that could unite, not one that could simply win battles. Instead, he put his support behind Caradryel, who became the fifth Phoenix King of Ulthuan following the vote of the Council of Princes.[2j]
Legacy[]
Through Thoriol, the bloodline of Caledor Dragontamer would continue. While the legal status of House Tor Caled during the Age of the Seafarer is unknown, one of his descendants, Prince Imrik, shares the affinity for Dragonsong that was the hallmark of that line.