Luger

"If there's one thing you taught me...it's that you're never too late to turn things around."

—Luger to [[Trellis]] in Escape From Lucien

Luger is the eldest son of the Elf King. As a former warrior and Stonekeeper, he was a formidable opponent, proving his skills against Emily and Leon and defeating them with relative ease. He served under his father for many years until his initial defeat at the hands of the Resistance.

After Emily destroyed his amulet, he became more gentle and timid, as well as significantly older in his appearance. Luger currently serves somewhat as a mentor to Emily, and is shown to be very knowledgeable in the stone's power.

History

Early Life

Luger was the Elf King's firstborn, although it is unknown thus far when in particular.

When Trellis was young, Luger often took responsibility as the older brother. He advised Trellis not to listen to what others say about their father, and was careful in the presence of their uncle Virgil, believing him to be a negative influence .

Over the years, Luger excelled over Trellis in both skill and loyalty to his father, gaining more favor.

At one point, Luger's memories were taken away by Gabilan under orders by the king.

As a soldier

Following his defeat at the hands of Emily, Prince Trellis unwillingly returned to Gulfen where he appeared before the Elf King. He appealed to his father for additional assistance in hunting the new stonekeeper. Instead, much to his chagrin, the Elf King has decided to not only provide a team of foot soldiers, but one of his most trusted assistants, Luger, as well. Trellis is clearly infuriated by this, but the King ignores his refusal and orders them to continue the search. Luger rubs in his victory, telling Trellis that he will show him how to 'gain his father's trust'.

The two of them clash on and off again up until their first encounter with the primary members of The Resistance. This results in a battle through city streets, in which Emily and company are ultimately victorious. Luger later orders his troops to fire a cannon at an occupied hospital, despite Trellis' discord. However, the Resistance and the patients are able to escape underground.

Thoroughly annoyed with Trellis, Luger later decided to act further and turned on the younger elf while travelling through Gondoa Mountain, beating him to the ground, telling him that the hunt will be more successful without him. He tracked the Resistance to that of the Gadoba Trees, sentient plants with clairvoyant abilities and fruit which may supposedly heal any ailment, provided the right one is picked. Unfortunately, only the right fruit will bring healing – all others will instantly kill the user. The ground around the trees is littered with the bones and corpses of elves and men who tried the fruit in their quests to heal themselves or loved ones. Sensing that Emily is no longer present, Luger accuses the trees of murdering many of his people, and sets fire to the forest, killing everything that lives inside it.

He tracks Emily out of the forest, and is able to overcome her easily enough as most of her energy is employed in keeping her stone from gaining control over her. With Emily preoccupied, Luger duels Leon Redbeard in a swordfight and wins. Before he can cause further damage, however, Trellis arrives and stuns him with his own amulet. This enrages the older elf, who threatens him. Trellis replies with a simple reminder: The Elf King has taught him everything he ever taught Luger. Luger responds to this with an abrupt fit of maniacal laughter and the telltale phrase, "No...not everything." He then gives himself over to the complete control of his own stone. This results in an abrupt and terrifying transformation into a giant. He wastes no time in attempting to crush Trellis, and successfully drives Emily and Leon off the edge of a cliff.

Fortunately, they are saved by Navin, who is piloting the Charnon House. Navin proceeds to combat Luger, using the house as a means of somewhat equalized combat. Luger, however, quickly causes serious damage, and rips both arms off of the Charnon house. Nearly defeated, Navin cries to Emily for help. Emily, who is still grappling with her amulet, finally manages to regain control and quickly repairs the house before Luger can menace it further. In the meantime, while Navin takes the opportunity to recover, she deals the monsterous elf a heavy, shocking blow with her amulet. Dazed and disoriented, Luger falters, and Navin seizes the chance, giving him a clean, hard blow to the face that topples him and plunges him over the very cliff he tried to force them off of, presumably to his death.

After Defeat

Trellis is later seen searching for Luger, and finds him in a cave, smashing his stone with a large rock. Luger appears to have aged greatly, and seems more timid and fearful as Trellis approaches him. He claims that he destroyed his stone, but Trellis tells him that it was Emily, and that she is the only one besides the King whom he has seen destroy a stone. Luger expresses his fears for returning to the King without their mission completed, as the King will hang them for failing him. Trellis says that they won't go back, despite Luger's protests that they will be hunted. Trellis contacts his father, and tells him that he and Luger did not complete their task. The King then warns him that that if they do not return immediately, he will have them searched for and killed. Trellis ignores his threat, and breaks off the connection. He and Luger then leave to go to a town nearby, and Luger asks why Trellis is helping him. Trellis simply replies, "I don't know. I just feel I have to."

Later, Emily, Leon, and Miskit go into a bar, looking for a pilot to take them to Cielis by airship, when elf soldiers enter the drinking hole, and search the premises for two fugitives, which are revealed to be Trellis and Luger. The elf soldiers capture them, but Emily uses her stone's power to help them escape. While they are on an airship, piloted by Enzo, on their way to Cielis, Luger states several times that he can't remember much about his life. Navin assures him, when he says that he can't recall the days of his youth, by saying, "That's okay. Old people forget things all the time."Gabilan, who is on board the ship, hears him, and smiles, possibly a sign of him recalling taking Luger's memory (there hasn't been dirrect confimation of this, though it is very possible that Gabilan did this, as well as taking Trellis's memory alongside Luger's).

Later, when they find a beacon temple, Gabilan, an assassin hired by the king to kill Emily and her companions, attempts to attack them. Luger recognizes Gabilan as the one who made him forget everything. Gabilan tells him that he was following his father's orders, and Emily realizes that the Elf King must be Luger's father, and asks Trellis if Luger's his brother. However, as both Trellis and Luger have lost their memories they are unable to answer.

Characteristics

Appearance

As the older brother of Trellis, he is shown to be considerably taller. His features are chiseled and his face angular. As a commander, Luger wore black, metallic armor, typical to high-ranking officials in Gulfen. Following his defeat, his features appeared more gaunt, however, and he appeared to had aged significantly and his back hunched over. Also what seems for him to become much shorter than before.

Personality

Prior to his redemption, he was shown to be a cunning and powerful warrior, nearly crushing the fledgling Resistance during his introduction. In battle, he has proven to be an excellent strategist and seemed to maintain a calm demeanor throughout, but was also willing to take extreme measures in his pursuit of Emily. He was willing to detonate a hospital clinic that he knew was fully occupied in his attempt to kill Emily and her companions, despite Trellis' desperate desire for a less violent method. Luger simply responded with the statement, that sacrifices must be made for the greater good, despite the risk being unnecessary considering that he had many other options for defeating them at his disposal.

His personality has fluctuated from cruel, proud, and overbearing, to subdued, gentle, and timid following his initial defeat. He is currently somewhat of a mentor to Emily and Trellis, and appears to be quite knowledgeable in the stone's power. He is more soft-spoken and when Emily's mother says that Trellis should be more like his father (to which Trellis storms off) he defends Trellis, saying that she must understand that he isn't his father.

Relationships

Elf king

The Elf King is Luger's father. He places great trust inside Luger, and the relation between the two were good until the third book.

Virgil

Virgil is Luger's uncle. It is seen that the two had a nice relation, but it seemed that Luger was a little jealous of Virgil's attention to his younger brother.

Trellis

Trellis is Luger's younger brother. It was seen that Luger and Trellis got along when they were young, but kept having squabbles after both growing up, as shown in the second book. They now enjoy being together, Trellis going to the point of caring for Luger, despite not knowing at the time they were brothers. It can be assumed that both of them had their memories wiped by Gabilan.

Powers and Abilities

As a stonekeeper, Luger was a formidable opponent, taking on Emily, Trellis, and Leon at Demon's Head Mountain with relative ease. It is shown that due to his superior skill over Trellis, the Elf King favors him greatly and immediately recruits him following Trellis' failure. Also, possibly thanks to his way of looking at the larger picture than at smaller details, Luger was less occupied by smaller battles, leading to an overall better success rate than Trellis, who usually ran head-first into battle. The fact that Luger succeeded at his tasks more than Trellis, made their father (the Elf King) favor him more. Luger also demonstrates a vaster knowledge in regards to the stone's powers and limitations, as he was able to catch Trellis by surprise when he used its power in order to transform himself into a towering giant (also called Colossal beasts).

In this form, Luger becomes a vast, grossly disproportionate being, presumably identical to the ones depicted in the memories of various character. He now lacks the power of speech, and seems to be primarily animal in nature, more of a force of mindless destruction than a living being.

Later on, after his defeat by Emily, he is shown to have fairly good cooking skills, instructing some of the house's resident machines on how to cook properly.

Luger is also shown to be an excellent player of the game Othello.

Featured

Trivia

He is apparently skilled at the game, "Othello".