25. The Tragedy of Pendragon

-

 

In November 2022, the majority of the Sea of Thieves community chose to banish Sir Arthur Pendragon to an obscure corner of the Sea of the Damned. He still remains there at time of writing. When will we see Pendragon again? Will he forgive the community, or will he return with vengeance?

CONFIRMED: Pendragon is the LEAST POPULAR character on the Sea of Thieves!

In the Return of the Damned adventure last November, the community was given a choice: Side with the Servant of Flame and resurrect Captain Flameheart OR side with Sir Arthur Pendragon and keep the wannabe tyrant OUT of the Sea of Thieves.

The vast majority of the community sided with the Servant of Flame, and as a result Pendragon was banished indefinitely to the Sea of the Damned. The results were so overwhelming that, unlike Lost Sands, the first adventure where players were allowed to choose the course of the Sea of Thieves, Rare made the decision not to reveal the numbers. It must have been a landslide loss to Flameheart! 

A prophecy said the resurrection of Flameheart was inevitable, so Pendragon attempted to resurrect Flameheart himself and then immediately cast him into the Sea of the Damned through his magic sword. Unfortunately, the community sided with Flameheart instead, and Pendragon himself was sucked into the Sea of the Damned.

More recently, a talented artist on Twitter by the name of @CapnAxe, made a wheel of colors with each color representing a different character in the Sea of Thieves. The Cap'n held a vote for who would represent blue... between Pendragon and Ramsey. As you can see below, Pendragon lost AGAIN, now to the Pirate Lord!

Being a troublemaker, I decided to see just how unpopular Pendragon really was by pitting him against one of the most HATED NPCs in the history of the Sea of Thieves: the sniper skeleton! Sniper Skeletons were so despised that Rare removed them from islands and forts. Now you can only find them in the crow's nests of skeleton ships. 


As you can see, Pendragon lost even against a hated NPC like the sniper skeleton! Pendragon only garnered 33.7% of the vote, compared to the sniper skelly's 66.3%. What a disaster! Why is poor Pendragon so despised?


Why You Should Have Sided with Pendragon

Yes, you read that correctly. You should have sided with Pendragon. You made a huge mistake and you can never go back! Let me tell you why I sided with the moustache!

Those who sided with Pendragon during the Return of the Damned adventure received a "TeamPendragon" badge of honor on the official Sea of Thieves Discord server.


Reason 1: Pendragon is a Classic Rare Character!

Pendragon is one of Rare's oldest characters, dating back to the Staff of Karnath for Commodore 64 way back in 1984. The third game in the Pendragon series featured the hero's ship, the Blackwyche, which appears in the Sea of Thieves. You can observe some gamplay from Blackwyche (1985) in the video below!

The objective of the Blackwyche game is to rescue the soul of Captain Cavendish. The ship itself and Captain Cavendish's daughter both appear in the Sea of Thieves.


Reason 2: Pendragon Represents What the Sea of Thieves is All About!

In the Sea of Thieves Origins: Champion of Souls comic book series, available for free on Amazon, you can learn the history of Sir Arthur Pendragon. These comics neatly tie his old adventures on Commodore 64 to his journey to the Sea of Thieves. An aristocrat in the world outside, Pendragon is intrigued and excited by the equality of all pirates on the Sea of Thieves. As seen in the comic below, he decides to devote his life to defending equality on the Sea of Thieves.

Pendragon, an aristocrat, is quickly rebuked by local pirates when he introduces himself as SIR Arthur Pendragon. He completely embraces the egalitarian world of the Sea of Thieves.

This equality is what the Sea of Thieves is all about. What? You disagree? Perhaps you've been tricked by Flameheart and his minions. Listen to We Shall Sail Together, the anthem that called all of us picaroons to the Sea of Thieves way back in 2016.

Cloaked in folds of midnight waters
Side by side, we sons and daughters
We set forth for no king's orders
But we'll sail together

That's right. "We set forth for no king's orders." "Tools, not rules." "All crewmates are equal." These lyrics, slogans, and articles from the Pirate Code" are the basic ideas that make the Sea of Thieves FREE and FUN and CHAOTIC. The GMU, Flameheart, and perhaps (dare I say) even Ramsey have lost sight of this. But it was not Flameheart vs Ramsey in Return of the Damned. It was Flameheart (an angry bobblehead who wants to be king) vs. PENDRAGON, a man who cast away his nobility and embraced the egalitarian ideal of the Sea of Thieves.


Reason 3. Pendragon Gave Us Some of the Most Stirring Moments in the History of the Sea of Thieves

Have you played the Pirate's Life Tall Tales? If you haven't... STOP READING THIS BLOG AND GO DO THEM NOW! They are incredible, and you are doing yourself an extraordinary disservice by not enjoying them firsthand!

If you have done them, I would like to remind you about two very special scenes. The first is from Captains of the Damned. At the Tavern of the Damned, Jack Sparrow speaks negatively about the Sea of Thieves. Who stands up for the Sea of Thieves? None other than Arthur Pendragon!

This is one of the coolest scenes in the Pirate's Life Tall Tale series... We are reunited with beloved characters from the game's older tall tales.

In the final chapter of the Pirate's Life Tall Tales, it is not Jack Sparrow who shines as the hero. No. It is PENDRAGON who rallies all of the pirates for a final assault on Davy Jones' lair to defend the free-spirited Pirate's Life we all enjoy on the Sea of Thieves.


Reason 4: It Would Have Completed Pendragon's Story Arc

In his quest to save lost souls, Pendragon accidentally unleashed Flameheart upon the Sea of Thieves...

Pendragon messed up... a lot.

First, his arrogance not only led to defeat in battle and his entire crew being lost, but it also gave Graymarrow the Skeleton Lord an opportunity to get his hands on Pendragon's enchanted Sword of Souls. Graymarrow was able to learn the sword's magic (FREEING trapped souls) and reverse it to IMPRISON souls. If you play through the Tall Tales in the Sea of Thieves (especially the Morningstar tales) you will know how much trouble this caused for the Sea of Thieves.

Second, he never bothered to look into whose souls he was freeing... and accidentally freed Flameheart. Oops! Thankfully, this did lead to him reuniting with his old crew in the sequel Heart of Fire tall tale, so I guess that makes up for it... right?

If Pendragon had won the Return of the Damned event, he would have had a clean slate... and continued to be a hero in future quests. We would have had even more moments like those seen above in Reason 3! Who knows? Perhaps Pendragon would have even returned to physical form! In recent adventures, he was looking more human than ghost, so perhaps Rare was setting up for this...

The original Pendragon model (from the Seabound Soul Tall Tall) on the left looks like a typical Sea of Thieves ghost... bluish with no pupils. In recent adventures, however, Pendragon has regained pupils and even a bit of color to his skin and hair. Was Rare setting up for the restoration of Pendragon?

Reason 5: A Personal Reason

Although this reason might not speak to everyone, personally I have a soft spot for Seabound Soul Tall Tale. It was my first day or two in the game, way back in January 2021, and I got shipwrecked on Shipwreck Bay at night in a storm. I found my first tall tale on the Blackwyche. I'll never forget Pendragon jumping out of the painting and sending me on an adventure! Whenever I visit the Blackwyche on Shipwreck Bay, I remember the magic and wonder I felt during my early days in this world.

Pendragon emerges from his painting after a crew activates the Seabound Soul tall tale on his ship, the Blackwyche, which you can visit anytime on Shipwreck Bay.


My Hopes for the Future of Pendragon

Some think that in the future an adventure or tall tale will bring us to the Sea of the Damned to rescue poor Pendragon. But I think it would be more interesting if Pendragon were to become bitter and seek revenge against the Sea of Thieves. After all, the people of the Sea of Thieves chose to resurrect a self-proclaimed King rather than side with Pendragon, a former knight who devoted his life to defending the equality of all pirates... a true anti-Flameheart.

I imagine that Pendragon must be disappointed with the foolish pirates of the Sea of Thieves. I cannot think of a more fitting way to bring him back than as a world event. To be specific, I think that the ghost fleet world event should become PENDRAGON's ghost fleet.

The ghost fleet used to belong to Flameheart. The symbol for the event was a ghostly red Flameheart skull in the sky that mocked players as they worked through the encounter. The final boss was a ghostly version of the Burning Blade, Flameheart's own flagship.

Now that Flameheart has been resurrected, his ghostly visage no longer haunts the sky. It has been replaced by a blue tornado... which is difficult to see, easily confused with the final encounter from the Veil of Athena, and frankly rather dull compared to Flameheart...

I propose that the tornado be replaced with Pendragon's disappointed and vengeful face. He will chide players for not siding with him and choosing to bring a king to the Sea of Thieves instead of protecting the Pirate's Life. In lieu of the Burning Blade, the final boss would be, of course, the Blackwyche! 

To be clear: I am NOT proposing that Pendragon gets a new personality and becomes an evil villain who wants to destroy the Sea of Thieves. While that might be interesting, I think Pendragon's character is too noble for such a transformation. He's not one to give up on his values... even if everyone were to abandon him!

So far, world events have been related to Flameheart and "the bad guys," but now that the majority of the player base has actually sided with Flameheart, I think an anti-Flameheart world event would be a fitting addition to the game. Pendragon's wrath would be directed toward Flameheart himself and all of those pirates who pledged fealty to him as king. Pendragon does NOT want to destroy the Sea of Thieves. He wants to restore it.

Of course, everyone (even supporters of Pendragon) would be able to do this world event... just as Reaper emissaries often battled Flameheart and the Ashen Lords in the past. Right now, the ghost fleet event is lacking lore. This would be a great opportunity to keep Pendragon's story going AND make this world event fresh and interesting and relevant to current events on the Sea of Thieves!


Comments

Post a Comment