Not many people know much about where the man calling himself Torwynd came from as he is a man of few words and there are very few people alive who know his story. When asked, he simply replies: “No place and everywhere.”

Those rare few that caught him in his talkative moments say that when he was a young man, he had a dream in which a soothsayer predicted that he would be killed by his own dog, at the place where he was born. Not fully believing in the prediction, he told his father about the dream. Being a superstitious man, father forced him to kill the dog in order to undo the prediction and, mocking the fate, called him the “Undying”. 

Torwynd buried the dog deep in the ground and, broken, left his home to wander the snow-capped forests of the frigid north and live a life of solitude, focusing on skills of tracking, hunting, combat and survival, intending never to return again.

It is there, in secluded hideaways dotted across the wilds of the Middle Earth that he found content, saw the glory in the quiet snowfall, honor in victory earned from single combat, thrill in the perfect curve of a bow firing an arrow straight between two breaths, comfort in the sound of his lute, and peace in the crackling of a camp fire underneath the clear night sky.

Still, the words of the soothsayer from the dream never truly left the dark corners of his mind. They often come to him when the dreams do not, in the starless nights when the darkness is the thickest and the insecurity and feeling of longing for home overwhelm him. He doesn’t let this dampen his enthusiasm for life and the hunt, however, for in his belief that he cannot die unless he returns to the place where he was born, there is nothing to stop his search for an even greater prey.

When the whispers of Darkness rising in the East reached even the most secluded lands, Torwynd considered it a sign. So great a threat must this Darkness be as to endanger the entire Middle Earth and surely this would be the greatest hunt yet.

And so he left the mountains and foothills behind, only to find himself in a world different than he was accustomed to, filled with people he was unfamiliar with. Soon enough he realized that in order to pursue the gathering Darkness he needed to adjust but a few words exchanged with occasional travelers that sought his guidance in their trek could not prepare him for what he had found.

Always feeling the most at home in the wilds, he would not stay in town too long except when he needed to, and even in that instances he would make a rough camp just outside the town walls, sit by the campfire and keep to himself, hands clasped around the tankard.

***

Although strong-willed, passionate, and fiercely loyal, Torwynd comes across as cold, distant, and reserved more often than not simply because he doesn’t wish to get involved in the affairs of men more than he has to. The wilderness has taught him to be practical and independent, confident in the face of danger and perseverant in adverse situations, and gave him insight into the way of the predator who sees everyone as prey. 

His disinterest in the affairs of men he’s been drawn into stems from the fact that he’s aware that not everything is black and white as most people tend to believe, as he feels that he has seen more of the world than most and has more opinions on it than others, although he mostly keeps them for himself. He rarely speaks, which has earned him one of the nicknames, but when he does, his mind is spoken boldly in a harsh voice.

Encounters with him may make one reluctant to let him fight by their side as those who have spent time near him describe his presence as unsettling, but his skill almost makes it worth the risk.