Parn from Record of Lodoss War

Been a long time since I did an origin post for a character, but this one has been a long time coming.  Delvin Cunningham is a scourge to my spellchecker because Word refuses to believe it’s a name.  This really cements a part of this character where people don’t always pay attention to him.  When teamed up with acrobatic Luke, fire-hurling Nyx, seductive Sari, and powerful Timoran, the ‘standard’ warrior gets overshadowed in terms of combat potential.  Too bad that’s a wrong move with him.

Delvin is a protege of Selenia Hamilton and demonstrates some amazing physical resilience, but his strength is that he’s a thinker.  While Luke is spontaneous, Delvin is a tactician and a quick-witted one at that.  This is why the two of them will typically fight to a draw.  Yet, the sword and shield is rather common, which is why people see Delvin as uninteresting.  His laid back nature doesn’t help even though that gets cracked a few times in the tenser situations.  Especially when Nyx is involved, which neither confirms nor denies what you’re thinking.

Now, Delvin was played by a friend in the D&D game that the series is based on.  The character dove into the role and was part of the group within one session.  Not much resistance since he was a warrior looking for adventure.  Sadly, we never got to explore much of his background, but the origin of ‘Book Delvin’ is very similar to that of ‘Game Delvin’.  Abandoned on a chunk of ice as a child, miraculously stayed alive, and eventually became Selenia’s prized pupil.  The mercenary thing came when I needed to play around with his origin to give him experience and some meat.  Again, I was never told what the original plan was.

The biggest change between game and book is his personality.  Delvin and Luke were very similar in that they were noble and loyal heroes.  In the game, I couldn’t play Luke with stunts because die rolls aren’t controllable.  So, he was a lot more strategic like Delvin, but I left that trait more with the mercenary.  This has turned him into a cautious thinker and fighter, so his fight scenes are a lot more block and counter heavy.  He is very precise in most of what he does and has adopted a high sense of responsibility.  Yet, he rarely lets his more intense emotions out, which is different than most of the others.  Timoran has him beat, but Delvin is quick to find a rational explanation.  In fact, I’ve come to find that he can figure out several scenarios in the time it takes others to think of one.  Most of the character conversations with him, you can get the feeling that he lets everyone else contribute even though he could plan it all himself.  This is why I see him as more of a leader than the others.  He wants everyone to feel like they’re part of a team and tries his best to foster friendships.

A final note with Delvin is that he spent a lot of time as a main/side character.  I never investigated his origins, which led to him being the only hero without a past.  Every other character has something interesting that they face or that built them up.  Delvin had nothing aside from a tale of abandonment, which is what sparked the idea for Book 9 of Legends of Windemere.  I felt bad that he had moments to shine, but was the one hero to never get his own book to shine.  So I get to really explore his mentality, evolution, and past in the next book.  Personally, I can’t wait because it will also reveal the true power behind him.