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| “ | Our love is stronger than time, greater than any distance. Our love spans across stars and worlds. I will find you again. I promise. | ” |
– Chapter 76, House of Sky and Breath | ||
Orion "Hunt" Athalar is an infamous Fallen angel, who worked for the Archangels as a personal assassin. He is Bryce Quinlan's mate.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Hunt, whose birth name is Orion, was born into a poor family, in Shahar's territory in the southeast of Pangera. His mother worked very hard to look after him but never told him who his father was. When he was old enough, he joined the army in order to support himself and his mother. Hunt would send money back to his mother, which she would store away. After hearing of this, a group of people broke into his mother's home, killing her to steal the money Hunt had sent. Days after his mother's death, Hunt made the Drop at twenty-eight years old. A sour-faced government employee had been appointed his Anchor.[1]
This led him to become a general in the uprising that sought to overthrow the Imperial Senate. Shahar was the leader of the uprising as well as Hunt's lover. Hunt was High Commander of all Shahar's legions. He spent five years with Shahar and the 18th. When the uprising failed, Shahar was killed, and Hunt became a slave along with everyone else who was part of the uprising. For the first seven years, he was tortured in the Asteri dungeons until the Archangel Ramuel became his master. Ramuel continued the pattern for two more years until he got bored with it and realized that Hunt would be more useful killing demons and doing his bidding than rotting away in torture chambers. By the time Hunt became Ramuel’s personal assassin, it had been nine years since Hunt has seen sunlight, been outside, or flown. Hatred was the only thing that fueled him enough to survive.[2] Hunt was then purchased by another Archangel. His third owner was the Archangel Sandriel, Shahar's twin sister. He had done most of the assassinating for Sandriel for the fifty-three years she'd possessed him. At first she tortured Hunt in her infamous dungeon, then she forced him to kill people, usually human rebels, in her blood-soaked arena. Sandriel had a particular hatred for Hunt for multiple reasons. It was her forces that Hunt had decimated at the Battle of Mount Hermon, and Sandriel believed that Hunt had lured Shahar into the rebellion and thus it was Hunt's fault that she had to kill her sister despite Shahar starting and leading the rebellion. Hunt flew in Sandriel's 45th Legion.
Four years ago, Archangel Micah Domitus purchases Hunt from Sandriel for eighty-five million gold marks and brings him to Lunathion as part of his triarii.[3] Micah offered Hunt a bargain: as Hunt had led the 18th Legion on Mount Hermon, he was responsible for all 2,217 deaths that he and the rebels he led took. This meant that Hunt must kill 2,217 people of Micah's choice, as Micah's personal assassin, in order to one day gain his freedom. After four years, Hunt has killed eighty-two people.
House of Earth and Blood[]
Hunt is part of Micah's triarii and serves as Isaiah Tiberian's Second. Hunt is famous around Midgard as the Umbra Mortis.
[...]
Micah orders Hunt to provide protection Bryce while she looks for the person responsible for Danika Fendyr's murder. While Hunt sees this as essentially babysitting duty, he also knows Micah gives him this job as it will give him an excuse not to be at the Comitium while Sandriel and Pollux Antonius are there.
House of Sky and Breath[]
TBA
House of Flame and Shadow[]
TBA
Personality[]
Hunt is a committed and focused male whose current mindset has been forged from the hardships and conflicts throughout his entire life. He is both highly lethal and observing with a rather imposing demeanor that causes others to feign back as a result of his reputation as "the Umbra Mortis." According to Ruhn Danaan, Hunt is relentless, single-minded, and utterly brutal when it comes to eliminating threats.[4] However, in truth, Hunt is incredibly self-loathing. Not only is his self-hatred attributed to the torture he endured at the hands of many Archangels for the failed rebellion against the Asteri, but also his status as a slave made to be a weapon for those who owned him at the time. Hunt can have a hair-trigger temper that has left entire imperial fighting units in smoldering cinders. His cool stare serves as the only warning to opponents, non surviving what happens next. Hunt cares absolutely nothing about royals and their rigid hierarchies.
As a result of this, Hunt rarely makes appearances in social gatherings and rarely shows his snarky and dry-humored side unless it's with people he truly knows. However, Hunt is far more caring than what the public perceives of him. He is shown to be understanding, and protective. He isn't afraid to speak his mind when it comes to the well-being of those he cares about. His more snarky and dry-humored behavior is more prominent when around individuals he's comfortable with such as his friends in the 33rd Legion and Bryce.
Physical Description[]
Hunt has light brown skin, also referred to as tan and golden-brown, shoulder-length dark hair, and dark brown angular eyes. He is described to be very muscular. His angel wings are a darkish grey and are "softer than velvet, and smoother than silk."[3] He has a black thorn "halo" tattooed on his forehead which originally controlled his power after he was enslaved. Even though it was temporarily removed, Rigelus branded him again. He used to have a slave's mark on his wrist, but it is now stamped with a “C” over the mark, indicating that Hunt is no longer a slave. Afterwards Hunt's appearance slightly changed, with him having cut his hair to at least the back of his neck. He is said to be extremely handsome.
Powers & Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Malakim Physiology: As an angel, Hunt has physical abilities and enhanced senses that make him far stronger than both humans and Vanir, including Fae, such as his fight with Ruhn. His physical abilities had served him well in battle - both under Shahar and Micah - and was powerful enough to contend with members of his own kind, such as when he decapitated Sandriel in the Summit, and hunt demons across Midgard.
- Helfire: Hunt has the power to create and manipulate helfire in the form of lightning. Unlike most Malakim, this ability is unheard of and unique only to Hunt so far. It's powerful enough to destroy an entire building, and scorch entire battlefields to sunders, and the ability to also produce a tornado, which Shahar and Micah have used to their advantage in the past. His lightning had also been used as a power source to heighten the full potential of Bryce's Starborn abilities.
- Energy Absorption: A sub-power of his lightning abilities, Hunt has the ability to absorb energy from different sources, acting as a living conductor of sorts. This was shown during his confrontation with the Under-King in the Bone Quarter where he absorbed the Bone Quarter's Gate to charge up his lightning to heightened proportions.
- Flight: Through his Malakh wings, Hunt is able to fly. He is also capable of carrying people in his arms while he flies.
- Immortality: Having made the Drop, Hunt is immortal which not only has granted him a far greater lifespan, but has allowed him to live through injuries that not even his accelerated healing would be able to regenerate from.
Abilities[]
- Combat Skills: Hunt has been trained in various forms of combat and self-defense to an exceedingly high level. This includes training in various types of weapons. Even with his power limited to a tenth of its full strength due to the "halo" tattoo, his skills as a warrior make up for the loss.
- Demons Expert: Due to his time hunting demons, Hunt has extensive knowledge on the various types and species of demons.
- Engineering: The lightning gives Hunt an affinity to understand how a lot of machines work. Sandriel used that ability to make him take apart several types of weapons and thus learning how to sabotage them.
Relationships[]
Bryce Quinlan[]
| “ | I've got you, Sweetheart, I've got you. | ” |
– Chapter 61, House of Earth and Blood | ||
During Bryce's investigation into Danika's death on behalf of Micah, Hunt grew close to Bryce and began a relationship with her. They have a classic enemies-to-lovers relationship: at first, they only tolerated each other due to direct orders from the Archangel Micah, but as the investigation matures, they start to form a tight friendship. They are engaged in a battle of wills. At first, Bryce finds Hunts to be "full of demeaning, condescending swagger."[5] She repeatedly refers to him as an "alphahole." She thinks he "has a stick up his ass." Hunt, for his part, wants to chuck her into the Istros River and thinks she's a brat and shallow party girl. Bryce stated that she knew Hunt was her friend ever since he pulled out Jelly Jubilee. Their romantic relationship develops, and when Hunt was on his deathbed, Bryce whispered "I love you" to him before making the Drop. Hunt feels an unconditional and unending love for Bryce.[6] Bryce feels that Hunt's strength "compliments her own, bolstering it and helping it thrive, not overpowering hers."[6]
Ruhn Danaan[]
Initially, Hunt's and Ruhn's relationship gets off to a great start. While a portion of it was attributed to both their races animosity towards one another, the duo shared a mutual attempt for each other, to the point where on one occassion, they engaged in a fist-fight that left them both severly injured. Upon their search for the Horn, they remained antagonistic towards one another, exchanging snide-remarks here and there although there was a modicum of ease growing between them. An example being Ruhn watching over Hunt's recovery after the loss of his wings. Things shifted during the events of the Summit where Ruhn kept checking up on Hunt's well-being, and they both coorperated with each other in their efforts to stop the demon invasion on Lunathion. Later, Hunt considered Ruhn as his friend which meant a lot to the latter, and through his marriage with Bryce, Hunt became Ruhn's brother-in-law.
Isaiah Tiberian[]
Isaiah is Hunt's commander in the 33rd Legion and longest friend who had fought with him in the 18th Legion's rebellion against the Asteri. Having shared the same fate as part of the fallen, Isaiah was Hunt's closest confidant for the longest of times. He was often by his side to not only act as the mediator between intense situations but also restrain him if he went out of line. He would try to provide Hunt with a different perspective of things and isn't afraid to call him out for his mistakes.
Shahar[]
Hunt and Shahar were lovers, even though he later realized that Shahar had never confessed her love to him. For a long time, he didn't believe that he could love anyone else after her demise, and his love for Shahar had clouded his judgement often, causing him to make wreckless decisions on many occassions. However, through his relationship with Bryce, Hunt began to realise the cracks in their relationship and that Shahar never truly saw him as her equal but rather as another tool for her to use.
Baxian Argos[]
Hunt and Baxian were enemies for a very long-time, having both served in Sandriel's Triari, and Hunt being responsible for the scar he gave to the Hellhound. Although Baxian hadn't done anything personal to Hunt, Hunt's animosity towards him was still prevalent when he joined the 33rd Legion. When Hunt was made to chaperone the Hellhound, Hunt still made his distaste towards Baxian known at any chance he got, sighting him as a nuisance more than anything. And while there were moments where he tolerated his presence (such as playing video games with each other), Hunt didn't trust Baxian and believed for a while he would sell him and his friends out during their search for Sofie. Upon both their capture in the Asteri dungeons, Hunt and Baxian, for their own survival, were forced to work together, and eventually considered each other as allies.
Gallery[]
See more here.
Trivia[]
- Hunt's true name is Orion, given to him by his mother who began calling him hunter as a nickname, which was eventually shortened to Hunt.
- In Greek Mythology, Orion was a hunter who, according to certain iterations of the myth, went mad, or was driven mad, and was killed by the gods after going on a hunting spree. His likeness was placed amongst the stars as a constellation.
- The name Orion is of Greek origin, meaning "Heaven's Light."[7]
- Hunt's name is a nod to Apollion giving him some of his essence, with Orion being the master of Sirius, just like Apollion, who killed the Asteri of the same name.[8]
- Orion is one of the constellations in Midgard.[9]
- Hunt owns a sunball hat, which has a high sentimental value to him. It was the first thing he bought when he came to Lunathion, with the first paycheck he ever received from Micah.[citation needed]
- He smells of rain-kissed cedar.[10]
- When acting as the Umbra Mortis, Hunt often wore a special helmet, which the Asteri temporarily used as a trophy in their throne room.
- Hunt had never had a phone until he came to Lunathion.[2]
References[]
- ↑ House of Earth and Blood, Chapter 27
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 House of Earth and Blood, Chapter 30
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 House of Earth and Blood, Chapter 20
- ↑ House of Earth and Blood, Chapter 16
- ↑ House of Earth and Blood, Chapter 15
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 House of Flame and Shadow (Bryce & Hunt Exclusive Bonus Scene)
- ↑ Orion. The Bump.
- ↑ House of Flame and Shadow, Chapter 61
- ↑ House of Flame and Shadow, Chapter 17
- ↑ House of Earth and Blood, Chapter 20