Romeo Guildenstern



Romeo Guildenstern (ロメオ・ギルデンスターン, Romeo Girudensutān) is the antagonist in Vagrant Story. He is the pious and noble leader of the Order of the Crimson Blades, also known as the Knights of the Cross, the militia under direct orders of Cardinal Batistum. His name and surname are references to certain characters in William Shakespeare's tragedies Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet respectively.

Story
Noble in character and pious in faith, Guildenstern, as he is addressed, holds an ideal unlike no other in the folds of the Knights; he cares less of the means and more for the end. Graduating from the Academy in the highest esteem, Guildenstern achieved the Cardinal's recognition and was made part of the Crimson Blade, slowly but surely gaining through ranks to become the Cardinal's hand.

Guildenstern believes that due to the corrupt nobles and merchants who use their nobility and power to cause suffering and misery to the populace, the world is in need of cleansing. To this end, he sought a way to obtain this power. The Cardinal trusted Guildenstern and revealed to his delight of the dark powers that reside within Leá Monde: the Gran Grimoire. At the Cardinal's behest he and others within the Crimson Blades dabbled with the Dark Arts, able to use the Dark and gain immunity against it.



Searching for ways to access Leá Monde's powers, he learns that the cult Mullenkamp under command of Sydney Losstarot had sieged Duke Bardorba's manor. Despite no approval from the VKP, the Cardinal allowed Guildenstern to quell the cult's activities. Guildenstern hunts down Sydney but did not manage to find him. Tracing the cultists to Leá Monde, Guildenstern orders his army to move to the Dark city.



Along with his company and lover Samantha, Guildenstern manages to apprehend Sydney, and discover that the cult leader holds the key to access Leá Monde's dark powers; the "Blood-Sin" tattoo on his back. Blinded by power, Guildenstern literally strips the tattoo of Sydney's back, placing it on his own body. With the key, Guildenstern need only to sacrifice a person, which he found in Samantha.

Flooded with the powers of Darkness, Guildenstern face one last obstacle, the Riskbreaker Ashley Riot. Guildenstern was defeated at first, and even as he managed to transform to a grotesque winged one-horned demonic being, he was still defeated by Ashley's own will and determination. The dark powers left him to fall to the ground below, where he bursts into flames and was destroyed.

Relations
Guildenstern commands the Crimson Blades, and expects no treachery within the ranks. Constantly ordering his soldiers to action, unrelenting in his movement to apprehend Sydney, Guildenstern merely uses them as mere tools in his quest. It was so that he was surprised when the ex-Riskbreaker Rosencrantz revealed to him at the last moments that the city is in fact the Gran Grimoire. Though Rosencrantz is revealed to know Guildenstern, it was not explained how and why.

Appearance
Guildenstern appears as a refine, noble knight with elegance unmatched. His charisma and leadership is so that those under him follow his orders without question. He also shows a romantic side to his lover Samantha, and thus Samantha is smitten to bits with him. Even so, he is a cold and commanding general with no tolerance for failure. Such discipline hardens all those under him.

Guildenstern is not only a master of the sword, he is a master of magicks. It is rumored that he has knowledge of the Dark Arts, and this proves true with his immunity to the Dark powers that Sydney used on his soldiers. Guildenstern's knowledge encompasses many things, and he holds a special attraction to Leá Monde and the Dark Arts.

Name
His name, Romeo, is an obvious reference to the protagonist on Shakespeare's famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet. His last name's origin is somewhat more obscure. Guildenstern is a minor character from another of Shakespeare's tragedies, Hamlet. He is also one of the protagonists in Tom Stoppard's Waiting for Godot/Hamlet pastiche, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Selected Quotes

 * "You have the right idea, now to action!"
 * "Watch your crook, lest it be wrenched from you."
 * "Control your fear. Lest you be controlled in its stead."
 * "You are naught but a glorified sellsword. You disgust me."
 * "You are a common harlst. You were born a worm, and you will die a worm."