Baldur

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Profile
» Username: Baldur 
» Age: 31->33
» Gender: Male
» Height: 5'11"
» Profession: Grand Master Merchant
» Role: Tempered Glass Canon

» http://redfinchjapanese.com/img/kanji/9047.png 

http://redfinchjapanese.com/img/kanji/917.pngJason is the kind of person who will take his time to help the newbies out, who will go out of his way to help others, and to try and raise up the less fortunate and defend those who need his help. He wants to stand up for what is right, and to treat everyone fairly. He will side with what he thinks is Just, even if it isn't what is best for him. He believes in putting honor above his life, though he would never ask anyone else to by his code.

http://redfinchjapanese.com/img/kanji/7744.pngHe has one of those personalities that people feel instantly like they can trust. In fact, he is honest to a fault, and is a terrible liar. More so than telling the truth, his feelings are honest and straightforward. He is guided by his heart and his code of honor, and if they are ever not in alignment, he feels torn. His emotional depth is not deep enough to be murky as so he can often come across as transparent.

http://redfinchjapanese.com/img/kanji/1496.pngHe is a rock. Or perhaps a willow. Whatever the analogy, he is the type of person who will weather the storm, and adapt to his surroundings. His will is implacable, but he also has a 'go with the flow' manner that makes him fit into many different social situations. After years in Aincrad, he has some scars and some wear and tear showing, but where lesser men might have fallen, he will pull himself back up and move forward.

http://redfinchjapanese.com/img/kanji/782.pngBaldur loves to help people, and to that end he has also taken a few players under his wing. It wasn't a position Jason would have thought he would find himself in, but as he and therefore Baldur, are far older than most of the players, Baldur has found himself helping younger players. Not so much with his sword arts, but with coping with life and the situation they find in, and helping try to balance the mental and spiritual health of his fellow players. He didn't want the position at first, but he has grown to embrace that maybe his greatest contribution to helping escape the tower won't be the damage he deals, but the people he helps get up there and fight along the way.

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» http://redfinchjapanese.com/img/kanji/4789.png

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In spite of the fact that he is (righteous), this attitude of always standing on the moral high-ground, and being assured of the right-ness of his cause and point of view, can rub those who love to languish the the shades of gray and moral ambiguity the wrong way. He can be blind and bullheaded in the pursuit of what he feels is right, especially if he certain of it, and refuses to bend his morality to suit a situation.

http://redfinchjapanese.com/img/kanji/3197.pngPerhaps going hand in hand with being self-righteous, he is prideful, and those who attempt to demean him, his friends, or his ideals, are sure to inspire his wrath. It also means he has a hard time asking for help for himself, though not for others. He doesn't view this as pride, however, rather he does not wish to impose on others, especially if he feels that the task is something he should have the strength to accomplish himself.

http://redfinchjapanese.com/img/kanji/7758.pngAs mentioned, he is honest to a fault. He couldn't lie to save his life, and he will tell you why you're wrong and he's right. He never is mean-spirited about it, he just honestly thinks you want to know why you're wrong, and that by sharing his correct reasoning, you can see the light and become enlightened along with him. He can't see why anyone wouldn't want to be "on the same page" as him, and the fact that people would willfully disagree with his version of "common sense" is bewildering to him, and can cause him to act indelicately.

http://redfinchjapanese.com/img/kanji/833.pngAs Baldur as spent more and more time in SAO, and on the front lines, he has developed a certainty that he knows more than most other people. He won't dismiss good advice from someone he respects, but it does mean he discounts people he views as having less experience than he does, or who are out of their depth. He isn't quite obstinate, but he will err on the side of him and his friends being right, rather than someone he doesn't know or trust. This dismissiveness can be more hazardous and make him seem to come across as Blunt and Self-Righteous to others.

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Story Thus Far

» It has been years now since they have become trapped in the game. For much of the first year, Baldur and Tyger made due staying in the city. It seemed obvious to him that whatever the situation actually was, the authorities would rectify it quickly. As time wore on, however, and they were still in the game, he became confronted with the reality that they might have to take Kayaba at his word and save themselves.

It was then that he and his girlfriend from the real world, Tyger, took the stance of catching up with the others to help clear the castle. He would no longer let their lives be solely the responsibility of others now that he had to accept that this might really be their only way out. They stepped forth from the Starting City and began their adventure.

Along the way they became members of the Guardians of Aincrad under the stewardship of Lessa. They made many friends who they would fight side by side with such as Ariel, Crozeph, and Oikawa and in whom they often entrusted their lives to. They flourished in the tower, learning how to fight as a group with their friends and began to feel invincible. There was nothing the tower could throw at them which could stop them. Together, it seemed, anything was possible.

But perhaps it was not the tower they should have been the most concerned about. It never occurred to Baldur that there would be players who would actually seek out to harm others. He had seen orange players before. He had even grouped with them as a member of the Azure Brigade. Those people became orange for a reason, a grudge, a responsibility. A reason he could fathom. That there would be those ugly people who just wanted to watch the world burn... that never entered into Baldur's mind.

He won't tell anyone what happened. All that anyone can piece together is that Tyger and Baldur disappeared for almost a year. Neither of their names showed up on the Monument of Life on the first floor, but he had removed everyone from his friend list and vanished.

He won't talk about it. He doesn't even like to think about it. But he has reappeared and renewed his desire to free everyone from the cage of Aincrad.

When he came back from this mysterious leave of absence, he was broken and lost. He sought out the strongest connection he had: Lessa. At her side, she helped him get back on his feet, work through his issues, and build up self-confidence again. Her help in repairing his emotional state was immeasurable. He formed a bond with Lessa that to this day outweighs any other. In a moment of weakness and in trust, Baldur told Lessa one thing he had never said to anyone else in Aincrad. He told her his true name. Her, and no one else.

Lessa had her own struggles, which would at times cause her and Baldur to pass like ships at night, but the ebb and flow of their friendship always brought them back together. Not as lovers, but as two people who had found someone they could confide and trust in more than anyone else, and that bond was unbreakable.

As he became more involved, Baldur joined the front line just in time to witness the first major death in a Floor Boss Fight. Azide had been someone he had greatly admired and respected, and had things gone a different way, they might have been good friends and guild mates. The death of Azide, however, impacted Baldur severely. It would adjust his philosophy when it came to boss fights and managing the raid in its entirety. They must be prepared, and they must be as safe as they can.

Reconnecting with other old friends, Baldur discovered that the junior members before were the senior leaders now. They helped him work to get caught up to the front line at a rate he never would have expected. Very quickly, Baldur became a voice of influence in raid planning, because the people who knew their role better than anyone else, listened to Baldur. This advisory role would define Baldur's time in the front line. He was never the best at anything, but he taught those who were. His strategic influence became respected, and his voice was listened to.

Occasionally, the stress would be too much for him to bare, and Baldur would take a short hiatus from the front line to recharge his batteries, and then come back to join his friends and push the line forward. This progressed through what seemed to be years passing on the frontlines.

Eventually, Baldur would be sought out by Shield as a key member to a new Frontline guild. The first true front facing guild in a long time.The frontlines had been through a rocky time, especially after the murder of two leaders of the Azure Brigade and the destruction of that guild by supposed members of the Laughing Coffin. Baldur knew the two assassins and confronted them. OIkawa was one of Baldur's closest friends and family, and was wracked with guilt over what he had done, but the once proud paragod had found himself manipulated into the assassination by another rising star; Opal. Baldur had found a quick connection of kindred spirits with Opal, and had been hurt to be so betrayed by her. A masterful manipulator, Baldur confronted her as well on the side of the mountains of floor 7, but the woman he had known was gone. Shortly thereafter she went on a suicide mission of revenge against the Laughing Coffin and was shortly thereafter found on the Monument of LIfe.

From there, redemption became a major facet of Baldur's life and teaching. He helped his friend Oikawa work through his grief and decide to pursue redemption, even though the path would be hard and the hate would be powerful. He taught Calrex, the highest level player in Aincrad, how to use the Katana so that he could reach his wife, Teayre, another notable and infamous PKer. Then Baldur taught Teayre, a woman who had succumbed to the blood-lust inherent in the cursed blade Muramasa. She relinquished the demonic blade to him as the only one who could bear the sword without falling to its corrupting influence.

Baldur was then also sought out by Shield, a rising star of the frontlines and an unparalleled tank. Baldur factored in as a key for Shield in starting up a frontline guild, the first true one since the fall of Azure Brigade. They would learn from the folly of the past, and move forward to help the frontline. But then, floor 23 happened.

What was proceeding as perhaps one of the most well coordinated fights of the frontline devolved into one of the most ruinous. A friend of Baldur's, Hirru, ended up siding with one of the Dark Elf boss mosnters, interposing himself between the frontline players and the boss. What followed was conflict never seen before, and included PvP in a boss fight.

Afterwards, Baldur had called together a summit of the people he felt were leaders on the front. Calrex, Shield, Hestia, Jomei (who was not able to make it) and Macradon. While most of them could agree, Hestia became an agent of conflict. Someone Baldur had trusted with his life, and considered one of his closest friends and partners, threw wrench after wrench into the discussion, seeming to disagree just for the sake of disagreeing. Instead of bringing the front together, they tore it apart further. But Shield and Baldur moved forward with their plans, putting together a team that they would hope exemplified what good teamwork could do. Unfortunately, this brought them into conflict again with Hestia, who continued to be obstructionist to any progress they had on the frontlines, and culminated in a shouting match at the floor 24 boss meeting, and with Shield and Baldur's dream of a guild falling apart and the members scattering to the winds and not participating in the boss fight.

And floor 24 was a marathon boss fight, illustrating the lack of coordination and preparation that Baldur and Shield had wanted to fix.

However, slowly Baldur was drawn back to the front again, this time by a new pupil, Morgenstern, who asked Baldur to teach him the way of the sword. From here, Baldur decided he wanted to open up his own dojo, where he could teach players how to fight with the katana, how to handle themselves in combat, and how to be prepared for boss fights, as well as how to wield their sword to save others. He named his style, Katsujinken, the life giving sword; for his sword style would be to bring life back to those trapped in purgatory, and to redeem the life of those who had fallen for one reason or another and sought to use their life in pursuit of redemption to clear Aincrad.

Just as he built is dojo, Shugyosha, Student of the Way, Shield and Baldur once again got together to plan a revitalization of their guild idea. This time, under the co-leadership of Oikawa and Mari, two notable orange players who sought to earn their redemption by helping others and pushing the frontlines. This guild finally came to fruition. Jacob's Ladder, the guild that would help build a staircase form the dream world to the real world. They would help to wake the dreamers and return them home.