Gwaelin's Guard
| Gwaelin's Guard | |
| Dragon Quest I HD-2D Remake | |
| Japanese name | ローラ姫の側近 |
| Romaji | Rora-hime no sukkin |
Gwaelin's Guard is the knight assigned to be the personal bodyguard of Princess Gwaelin in Dragon Quest I HD-2D Remake. She is the daughter of the Captain of the Tantegel knights, and the two journey through Alefgard to rescue the kidnapped princess.
Appearance and Personality[edit]
Gwaelin's Guard dresses in a cuirass with matching pauldrons, but eschews the horned helmet typically worn by knights. She is a tall woman with blue hair done in a side-ponytail with uneven bangs. She is a spearswoman and carries a large poker with a triangular head instead of the standard-issue sword.
Gwaelin's Guard deeply respects her father, and she took up her spear to follow him into knighthood. She keeps a formal relationship with him when on duty and exclusively refers to him as Captain during these times. She also adores Princess Gwaelin and takes her role as her guardian with the utmost seriousness. Prior to Gwaelin's kidnapping her bodyguard attempted to also maintain a professional relationship with her and addressed Gwaelin as befitting her status―but the laid-back princess put a stop to this and insisted she drop the formalities to speak casually with her, however.
Unfortunately Gwaelin's Guard succumbs to severe survivor's guilt over being the only knight left alive by the Dragonlord during the abduction of Gwaelin, in addition to her retired father being forced to take up his sword to lead the search expedition for the missing princess. This misplaced guilt keeps her on edge for the majority of the game, causing her to be unduly aggressive against others. This is made apparent from her terrible first impression with the Hero, where she belittles his claim of being descended from the legendary Erdrick despite saving she and her father's lives from a horde of monsters just moments before. Gwaelin's Guard develops an inferiority complex in light of the Hero's accomplishments and she becomes very bitter towards the young man, but this gives way to immense gratitude once he saves her father from a terminal illness.
Appearances[edit]
Dragon Quest I HD-2D Remake[edit]
Gwaelin's Guard is first seen in the game's opening where she, her father, and a Royal Guard are cornered by several monsters. They are saved by the timely intervention of the Hero, but his rescue only heightens her sense of inequity and calls him a liar when he states he is a descendant of Erdrick. Her father tells her to mind her tongue, and the group journeys to Castle Tantegel so her father can arrange for the Hero to speak with King Lorik. She is next seen on the bridge to Kol, the site of Gwaelin's kidnapping some several months prior to the game. She is especially on edge here and, seeing the Hero kneeling before the corpse of a Tantegel guardsman mortally wounded by monsters, goes so far as to accuse him of murder. When the Hero explains the situation and states the guard's final words were that Princess Gwaelin is being held in the Quagmire Cave, she makes for it with her father.
In the fetid cavern she pleads with her father to press on and attempt to rescue the princess then and there, but he refuses her on the grounds that they cannot yet stand up to the dragon lurking in the depths. Furthermore, the Tantegel knights have has suffered great losses and if the two of them were to be killed by the dragon then none would be left to rescue Gwaelin. Though trembling with overwrought emotions, she concedes the wisdom in her father's words and she begrudgingly continues with him to Rimuldar in the south. Little did the pair know that they were being watched by a living black fog, which attempts to ambush Gwaelin's Guard before itself is stabbed in the back by the Hero and flees. She snidely states she didn't need his aid nor did she ask for it, but her father's illness flares up in the dankness of the cave and she shoulders the elderly man as they make way to Rimuldar. Upon making it to the village the Captain loses consciousness due to his illness, and the Hero helps Gwaelin's Guard carry him to the inn for treatment. Here she admits that the Captain is her father and explains the circumstances that forced him out of retirement. When the Priest tending to the Captains states that his illness if brought on by the miserable vapors of the swamps created in the wake of the Dragonlord's rising and that curing him is beyond his means, Gwaelin's Guard succumbs to despair.
Much later, after the Hero has obtained the sunup syrup from the faeries living in western Alefgard, he returns to Rimuldar and finds Gwaelin's Guard despondently wandering the village and blaming herself for all that has her family and the princess. The Hero asks her how her father is doing and tells her to not yet give up hope, comically pushing her along to the inn so he can administer the syrup. When she witnesses her father instantly return to full health once the medicine takes effect, she asks if the Hero's departure was to find the cure for her father. Seeing that a stranger would go so far to help her father while she lamented on her past failings, Gwaelin's Guard is overcome with shame and bursts out of the inn to wander Rimuldar once more. When the Hero catches up with her, she thanks the Hero for all he has done and apologizes for how awfully she treated him. She hands him the princess' necklace and witnesses it glow brightly as Gwaelin telepathically speaks through it to the Hero, though she hears none of what is said. Nevertheless, her faith in the Hero is now unshakable and she asks him to rescue her beloved princess.
An illusion of Gwaelin's Guard is conjured by the master of the Weirdwood alongside that of her father when the Hero ventures into the verdant depths. The pair of fakes attempt to convince the Hero to abandon his quest, but if Princess Gwaelin is present then she will instantly see through the facade as she ordered the pair to never address her as "her highness" or any other formal term.
When the princess is safely returned to Castle Tantegel, her guard keeps watch over her in the throne room. Should the player opt to take the princess along for the remainder of the quest and not return her to Tantegel, Gwaelin's Guard remains in the throne room to keep watch over King Lorik. During the game's finale she is part of the entourage that welcomes the Hero back in his triumphant return.