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Agrael
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Agrael is a fictional character in the Heroes of Might and Magic V video game. He was a Demon Lord under the command of Kha-Beleth, the Demon Sovereign. He later defected from the Sovereign and was purged from his influence by Tieru, an ancient Dragon Knight. Character biography Early days Agrael was originally a dark elf and a demon cultist, presumably of the Soulscar clan of Ygg-Chal. At one point, he became a servant of Kha-Beleth, becoming a demon lord — and wearing red armor that gave him an appearance of a demon, so distinct that everyone who met him mistook him for one. At some point after the War of the Gray Alliance, the Demon Sovereign entrusted Agrael with a mission to spy for Isabel Greyhound, future fiancée of King Nicolai Griffin of the Holy Griffin Empire and future Queen of said Empire. Somewhat complicating was the fact that he grew an affection towards Isabel. The demon invasion During Queen Isabel's War, when the demon hordes of Sheogh reappeared in the Empire, Agrael was tasked with capturing Isabel and bringing her to the Sovereign, although, predictably, Kha-Beleth did not tell him what exactly he needed the Queen for. To accomplish his mission, Agrael had to kill abbess Beatrice, one of Isabel's closest friends since childhood, and set a trap for Isabel herself with the help of his ally, succubus Biara, who had assumed Beatrice's form. He tried to convince Isabel to run from the Demon Sovereign together, but she refused, enraged with Beatrice's death. Agrael put Isabel into a prison near Dunmoor and prepared to transport her to Sheogh. Unfortunately for the demon lord, Godric came to the rescue, freeing Isabel and driving Agrael from Dunmoor. While trying to recapture her, Agrael ran into Nicolai himself, whom Godric summoned from the borders of the Griffin Empire to help Isabel. The King tried to get rid of him using the Heart of the Griffin — an artifact that banished demons in Ashan back to Sheogh — and was astonished when it, predictably, had no effect on Agrael. The dark elf in demon disguise killed Nicolai, but his army was defeated when Isabel arrived with reinforcements. Standing by her love's body, the Queen swore to avenge him and destroy the demons — and Agrael, the murderer, among the first. Exile Pursued by Godric — not Isabel herself, as she had left to mourn Nicolai — Agrael, left without an army, had no choice but to flee back to Sheogh, despite knowing that Kha-Beleth would offer him little mercy for his failure. There, he was met by Erasial, a loyal minion of the Demon Sovereign, who was preparing to depart to the Empire himself to collect two objects: the Heart of the Griffin and Agrael's head. Before he could get the latter, Agrael destroyed Erasial's forces with whatever he was scarce followers he had left. Kha-Beleth, annoyed, blasted Erasial and warned Agrael that he would be the next. Agrael realized that the Sovereign had somehow heard of his plans to claim the throne of the demon realm, deposing Kha-Beleth himself; while clueless who could have spied on him, he still told the plans to Biara. Believing that the Heart of the Griffin can truly destroy demons, instead of just teleporting them from Ashan to Sheogh, he set off to find the Heart, which was kept with Nicolai's body in his mausoleum. He had to race with another demon lord, Veyer, sent by Kha-Beleth himself to bring the Heart to Sheogh. In the chamber where Nicolai's body rested, the two — Agrael and Veyer — dueled for a while, but Agrael was the first to reach the Heart, and when he pointed it towards Veyer, his opponent was apparently incinerated. Immediately, an elven ghost appeared out of nowhere; it was Tieru, wondering how a demon could be unaffected by the power of the Heart — after all, Tieru created the artifact in the first place and knew how it worked. Then he recognized Agrael; realizing that the former demon lord abandoned his master, Tieru told Agrael to meet him at Dragonmist Island in the Irisus Sea. Unfortunately for Agrael, the path to the sea led through the elven kingdom of Irollan, and he was forced to cut his way through the homeland of his remote brethren, who — from Gilraen to King Alaron himself — did their best to stop him. Despite heavy losses, Agrael managed to capture the port town of Erewel and set sail for the Twilight Archipelago, wherre, eventually, he found Tieru. The old elven sage, actually a Dragon Knight, explained to Agrael that the Demon Sovereign needed Isabel to create the Demon Messiah — a half-demon who would be able to stay permanently in Ashan, yet have access to the magic of Urgash. Tieru suggested that Agrael would change to get free from Kha-Beleth's influence, and to accomplish this, performed the Rite of True Nature. Biara tried to intervene, revealing herself as a traitor working for the Sovereign, and Agrael, who was told that interrupting the ritual would bring dangerous side effects, cast her away with the Heart of the Griffin — believing that he killed her, until Tieru explained to him how the artifact worked. Clanlord Agrael was changed, and after his transformation he forsook his former identity. He became Raelag, a Warlock of Malassa, the dragon goddess of the dark elves. As Raelag, he set on a quest to reunite the scattered clans of Ygg-Chal into a single powerful state, fearing that the impending war would eliminate them one by one. However, while on this mission, Raelag retained his feelings for Isabel, and was prepared to protect her if needed — now that she would not recognize the one who had killed Nicolai. An opportunity soon presented itself: the Shadowbrand clan had recently lost their chief, and a tournament for his replacement was announced; by tradition, even non-members of the clan, like Raelag, could participate, as long as they were followers of Malassa. In a surprising turn of events, Raelag, completely unknown before, won the tournament and assumed control of the clan. The Nightshard clan was the first to follow, as their land lay between Raelag and one of the Tears of Asha — an artifact he was seeking to strengthen his clan at the advice of dragoness Malsara, Malassa's daughter. With the Tear of Asha, Raelag soon conquered most of the clans of Ygg-Chal, and only the Soulscar clan — a clan of demon worshippers and his own secret origin — remained. Despite the Soulscar receiving reinforcements from their demon benefactors, the clan was eventually brought to its kness by Raelag with the help of his aide, Shadya. The new lord of Ygg-Chal looked into the Burning Mirror, a device through which the Soulscar dark elves communicated with Kha-Beleth, and learned that the Demon Sovereign was about to send Veyer to Ashan again — this time not to retrieve the Heart of the Griffin, but to capture Isabel. Marching through a magical maze separating Ygg-Chal from Sheogh, then through the harsh and unfriendly demon homeland, Raelag, Shadya, and their armies finally reached the borders of the Holy Griffin Empire — just in time to aid Isabel against Veyer. The Queen was grateful to Raelag, and the warlock asked her to come with him — as he intended to bring her to Tieru's island, repeating his journey through Irollan, and have her cleansed through the Rite of True Nature, as he himself was. However, Markal the necromancer intervened, discarding Raelag's plea as lies and telling Isabel to hurry to Nicolai's tomb, where he, Markal, intended to bring him back from the dead. Isabel, eager to be reunited with her love, followed. Raelag, who was once Agrael, was growing tired of saving Isabel's life. Now, as the Empire was about to engage in a bloody war with Irollan, the only option he had was to sit and wait. Revenge Raelag re-emerged in the Empire after Markal was overthrown by the Godric, Findan of Irollan and Zehir of the Silver Cities. While heading to Talonguard, the capital of the Empire, to capture Isabel, the trio met Raelag, who surprised them with his knowledge of the reasons of Isabel's corruption, as well as Kha-Beleth and Tieru's plans. Tieru himself was dead by then, but he had written instructions for the Rite of True Nature on a scroll he had given to Findan, and Zehir was to perform the ritual on Isabel. It was then that Raelag made his fatal mistake: when Shadya, who had been missing for some time, returned to support him in the assault on Talonguard, he did not recognize that it was actually Biara in disguise. During the ritual, the succubus assumed her true form and fled to Sheogh with the unconscious Isabel. Using the Heart of the Griffin, the four heroes followed her, and although it was now too late to prevent the coming of the Demon Messiah, Kha-Beleth's citadel fell before the combined might of the Empire, the Silver Cities, Irollan, and Ygg-Chal. Raelag, revealing himself as Agrael to the Demon Sovereign, finally had his revenge complete. Behind the scenes Even before the Heroes Of Might And Magic V ware released, some users noticed the similarity between Agrael and Raelag's names. Appearances Heroes of Might and Magic V See Also
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