Four Heroes

This article or section contains information from Lori and Corey Cole’s (Transolar Games) extended Hero Universe (Hero-U Canon and/or Apocrypha).

Details may include information from Hero-U and Summer Daze, other published sources (pre-QFG & later) including books, comics, documentation and DnD supplements. It may also contain information from unreleased novels (and games), notes, concept materials, and developmental ideas from Quest for Glory outside of the original series canon.

The Four Heroes is the archtype representation of the four hero siblings created for How To Be A Hero novels (and one potential backstory for Hero-U). The greatest among them being Hawk the Warrior who became King of Silmaria (see Four Heroes timeline). They were the displaced royalty of Silmaria whose parents had been murdered by a pretender to the throne (Justinian's father)...

Heroes

• Hawk the Warrior (The great Hero, King of Silmaria, and husband of Elsa von Spielburg)
• Falcon the Paladin (Member of the Paladin Tribunal, twin brother of Hawk, husband of Erana).
• Owl the Wizard (Member of the Wizard's Council, middle child, husband of Katrina.)
• Wren the Rogue (Youngest sibling, sister of Hawk, disguised as a boy, never married, formerly the great Chief Thief of Silmaria, and King of Thieves, now leader of the Rogue's Guild of Silmaria).

Falcon the Paladin

Background

The four siblings were the four heroes destined for greatness. Including the twins Hawk the Warrior and Falcon the Paladin, the middle brother Owl the Wizard and their younger sister Wren the Rogue. The came to be known as the 'bird children' or the 'children of the birds'.

They were the sons and daughter of royalty of the southern land of Silmaria by the sea. Destined to great things, as children (toddlers and babes really) they barely escaped (with some help of the Wizard Erasmus and some Gypsies) when their parents were murdered. They were taken to be raised in a village to the North (Alpendorf west of Siegburg in Kriegsland/Germania) where they were raised, until they decided to leave for Siegburg (Spielburg) to become heroes (in their early teens).

Over the course of the next several years they travel from Siegburg (Spielburg), to Shapeir, to Tarna, to Mordavia, and finally Silmaria saving the world, growing from young children into their adulthood, and marrying and have children of their own.

Note: While the By the Book places events in Siegburg (other details about the heroes still usually reference Spielburg (Hero-U)) in reference to their backstories.

Default Hero

Hawk is treated as the default Hero in most materials related to and from the How To Be A Hero School/School For Heroes materials (novels and website), and even Hero-U to some degree.

When the Cole's talked about the 'Hero' or the King of Silmaria this is the character they usually brought up.

In much of the material related to How To Be A Hero and School For Heroes his other siblings are not brought up directly, or even in the context of being his family. Falcon is mentioned but unless one was to be reading his description closely they might not know he was related to the hero in some way, and it never specifically mentions that he is related the hero. This might have even lead some to think that Falcon is both the Marete King and a Paladin. Hawk's specific name doesn't even seem to have come up in the materials in that period.

He only is mentioned under titles like Hero, King of Silmaria, Marete King, Prince of Shapeir, etc. Largely hiding the fact that he has siblings, and they were involved as well. Nor is his class directly discussed, leaving room for players reading these backstories on the websites to believe its referring to 'their heros' from the single hero unvierse, rather than the full backstory related to the novels.

Even in the unreleased novels Hawk was apparently sort of the focus while his siblings joined him in his adventures, and destined to become the ruler of Silmaria (while his siblings helped him reach that position).

In fact even some of the 'backstories' synopses brought up in advertising Hero-U refer to this single hero (leaving out the details of his siblings) and discuss his journey across many lands to become King of Silmaria.

Each game in our Quest for Glory series took players into a new land with a unique society. We based these lands on real-world locations to give players a taste of different cultures. As he became more experienced, the Hero traveled from Western Europe to the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and finally to the Mediterranean.

Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption and the upcoming games in the Hero-U series all take place (or at least start) in the Hero University in Sardonia. The school is again on the Med Sea, but there is a strong influence from many different countries and cultures. While some of Shawn’s classmates are locals, others have traveled to Sardonia from all over the world - Yoruba, Arzmoor, Kriegsland, Mordavia, Marete, and many other lands.

The others were not publicly (some may have had access to or read some of the unreleased materials) confirmed until facebook/forum posts close to the release of Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption, and most likely to help put the references to Falcon and Wren in the game into context. Hawk himself appears to be represented by the statue, though his name is not mentioned.

Though she may have let slip the others in other indirect ways earlier, if people were reading between the lines...

In terms of the story world of The School for Heroes, Katrina is alive and well. However, unlike the games where the player had to make a choice between rescuing Katrina or rescuing Erana from Hades, in the world of Glorianna, both are alive. The Queen of Silmaria is none other than Elsa von Spielburg. And all of these women are quite happy with the love of their lives at the time when the school opens.-Lori Cole

Grey Area

According to Lori Cole, one plan during the development of Hero-U intentionally keeps much of character backstories vague in order to somewhat preserve stories of the QFG player audience's personal backstories and choices from the original games.

So in some references to the game she refers to him as the "Hero of Quest For Glory". She notes that the Hero of Quest For Glory's role is as such that 'many of the things he did will be referenced in the games, but that he is far away from Hero-U.'

She mentions that the Hero 'canonically' that 'one of them' may have become King of Silmaria. However, for the sake of the game, because they don't know who the player might have been in QFG, they wanted the Hero to still feel like it may still be the player's character. For example if a player was a paladin, and decided "I'm not going to be King here", or if a Thief decided to only be the King of Thieves, the Coles have chosen to stay sort of in the grey areas when it comes to 'what happened' in QFG (because they didn't want 'ever overwrite it' so that fans feel, "oh that isn't my character anymore"). She describes it as Shroedinger's story, the Hero may or may not have become King of Silmaria, and that Elsa Von Spielburg may or may not have become the King of Silmaria. She says they reference them, but they can't tell 'what actualy happened' because they don't know what the player's did. It's up to the players.

That being said the game also makes references to elements from How To Be A Hero book series, By The Book, etc. Confirming the four hero siblings, however these are written vague enough that they aren't specifically 'connected' to the character hero from the game except in vague sort of ways. Falcon is mentioned for example, but it's his role as the QFG paladin is not mentioned... Wren is mentioned indirectly, but her role as the Thief hero from QFG5 is not specifically stated. The statue of the "Hero" represents all heroes that every player might have, "The Hero in All of Us". Though the shown image portrays the fighter.

The character Mwamba (who is to appear in Hero-U 2) for example is known to have second name based on player's character's name. It could be anything from the four heroes to even Mwamba Devon (after Devon Aidendale), but the game will not specify the second name in order to avoid overwriting other player's stories.

The Coles have confirmed some of the other How To Be A Hero backstories in other interviews though. Some of it influenced content published on School For Heroes. This article covers as much of the backstory as released both in previous content, and Hero-U.

Titles

• Hero in All of Us
• The Unknown Hero
• Bird Children/Children of the Birds

See also

• The Gypsy's Tale

Behind the scenes

While they did grow up in a village to the east of Spielburg. This wasn't Willowsby.

See also Convergence concept.