Throwing in my 2 clacks worth on Harrek. Dave Cake discusses whether Harrek is a 'magician' or not. He rightly points out that Harrek is not your standard 'stay off to the side and cast spells' magician.
He goes on to say:
> when Harrek massacres an army unit, I think he (after first making an
informed tactical evaluation) calls on his magical powers to make
himself very personally, makes perhaps excursions into the heroplane to
destroy their magical support, calls on other powers to weaken the unit
(perhaps dstroying the morale), and when he has made himself berserk and
outrageously powerful, he leads a terrifying wolf pirate charge.
Well, we really don't know if he needs to call upon his magical powers first or not. For all practical purposes, Harrek IS the White Bear and may automatically have such powers such as superhuman strength, invulnerable skin, changing into bear form, causing fear in all within sound range, plus his berserker rage. I don't see these as being the same as casting spirit magic.
I can see him making excursions into the heroplane, but that seems unlikely say during the midst of a battle unless someone else opens up a heroplane gate or somehow transposes the battle to the hero plane. And what other powers would he call on to weaken a unit. I don't think as a superhero he really needs anything other than himself.
> Sure, Harrek goes berserk, is extremely violent, and is regarded by
his cultured sophisticated enemies as a terrifying psychopath. He is
also extremely smart, very knowledgeable about magic, very knowledgeable
about warfare, and likes his enemies to think of him as a terrifying
psychopath. His wolf pirates respect him as a killer, but also think he
is a leader worth fighting for, and respect his other abilities, such as
his poetry and his role as a religious leader of the Ygg religion.
I agree that he goes berserk, is violent, and is a psychopath. I agree that he is smart (bears generally are and I doubt that anyone who is dumb could really become a superhero), and that he likes his enemies to fear him. How knowledgable is he about magic? I would say he is quite familiar with the heroplane and knows how to break rules (hence his conquest of the Polar Bear god). But I would bet he doesn't care one bit about spirit, divine, or sorcerous magic and probably has little respect for rituals other than in exploiting or raiding them (after all he did break the Rathori rituals).
How knowledgable is he about warfare? He's a powerful raider and can strike when and where he will. With speed, strength, and surprise, I suspect he can do alot without needing a lot of knowledge of formal warfare. His background is as a Rathori hunter, Lunar dart assassin, mercenary, and wolf pirate. I don't see him as someone who really knows the art of war--and probably doesn't need to.
I can see him saying some poetry even, though maybe this is inspired by his best friend Gunda. However, I don't believe he is a religious
leader of the Ygg religion. He doesn't hate it or seek to destroy it, but this is a person of NO gods. I think somewhere he is even called a 'mercenary for the gods'. One of the reasons he is so truly terrifying is that he has NO loyalty whatsoever. He can walk away from everything in his past repeatedly including the Rathori, his own kingdom, his wolf pirates, Argrath. The only exception seems to be Gunda and that is based solely on the best friend rules of Dragon Pass.
Basically, IMO, Harrek is a man driven solely by his own needs. What he has gained in the past allows him to meet those needs without having to do anything particularly complicated and without having to answer to any rules.
Harald
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