Gunlaug

He was always clad in strange, gilded armor that covered his tall figure from head to toe, not leaving even his eyes exposed. It seemed simultaneously solid and liquid, almost flowing over his mighty muscles and broad, powerful shoulders. In the place where his face should have been, a smooth and empty expanse of polished gold reflects the room.^[6]

Without his armor, Gunlaug was surprisingly handsome. He had a short beard and long blond hair. He looked surprisingly young, no older than twenty-seven.^[4]

“	Gunlaug has done many despicable things. But I won't judge him for those. Who knows if any of us would have done any better? Keeping a thousand hopeless people alive in this hell is the kind of task that can turn a saint into a demon. No... there is only one crime he committed that I can never forgive. It's that he gave up.	”
― Nephis to Sunny about Gunlaug, Chapter 167 Unforgivable

Gunlaug was a madman but he was also somewhat of a mad genius. He was a very experienced, charismatic, and formidable fighter.^[5]
He was also very particular about people laying hands on his belongings without permission.^[1]

His Aspect Ability enabled him to breathe and move with incredible speed underwater.^[5]

None

Gunlaug arrived on the Forgotten Shore in one of the cruelest and bloody periods of time in the history of Bright Castle. The Bright Castle was without a ruler after the Second Lord led his band of followers in a suicidal raid against the Crimson Terror. There was no sense of order anymore among the humans left in the castle. It had long descended into anarchy. In that time of madness, most people had at least some level of craziness to them but he was considered mad even among them because he started hunting in the dark sea. At dusk, he would dive from the city wall into the black water to scavenge the soul shards from the monster of the labyrinth that was crushed by the flood, racing against the approaching horrors of the depths. And at dawn, he would dive into the retreating sea to scavenge meat from the remains of creatures that the dwellers of the depths had killed and left behind.^[5]

One day, he was pulled away by a current and, once the sea disappeared, stumbled onto a mortally wounded, dying leviathan. he began cutting the meat off the creature's bones with his knife but by chance, the leviathan happened to die from its terrible wounds at that exact moment. The Spell happened to give him an Echo due to killing it with his blade. A wondrous liquid metal-like golden armor that no human weapon could even hope to scratch. A Transcended Echo.^[5][8] With this armor, he returned to the Dark City, gathered a few supporters, killed all his opposition, and took the throne of the castle. Since then, no one has been able to threaten his reign, and everyone who tried has their skulls hanging out above the gates for everyone to see.^[5]

Unlike the prior rulers of the Bright Castle, he had no desire to try to conquer the Crimson Spire or to try to find another way out of the Forgotten Shore. He was disillusioned by his predecessors' failed attempts due to the impossibility of both options. After experiencing the bliss of being a tyrant in his own world that no one can challenge, he gave up hope of returning to the real world, and even prevented anyone from trying as well.^[5]

He was later challenged by Nephis to a one-on-one duel and eventually died, which brought an end to his legacy.^[4]

• After returning from dead via Cassie's Aspect, Gunlaug traveled to the Stormsea, where he helped the River People construct floating cities.^[9]
• It was mentioned in Chapter 3035, Gunlaug rose to prominence during the worsening Stormsea conflict, fighting alongside Saints despite being only an Ascended warrior. His Aspect was particularly well-suited for prolonged, grueling battles in the depths of the Stormsea, which allowed him to stand out in large-scale engagements. He became known for his grim determination, which reminded others of his earlier reputation as the Dark Diver before he became the Lord of the Bright Castle.