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[windowpain]

Player name: Beren
Age: 21+
Personal Journal: None, pm this one

Character name: Kevin Regnard
Age: 24
Height: 177.5 cm (~5'10")
Canon: Pandora Hearts
Canon point: After being spat out of the Abyss; rather than falling at the Rainsworth gate, he winds up in Eachdraidh. This is approximately 75 years after the fall of Sablier. Of note, he is presently unaware that he made things worse by changing the past.

Background: here

Personality:

A knight, by birth and training, Kevin Regard was tasked with the protection of the noble Sinclair family. He failed. His hubris, his self-recrimination, his desperate attempt to change fate, his despair when he fails again, and his final search for meaning are the defining traits of his character.

Kevin's self-recrimination is unyielding and unmerciful. After his lord is murdered, he blames himself, asking himself over and over again why he hadn't done more to save his family: why hadn't he stayed closer to his lord's side, why hadn't he been more aware of the political situation? When his efforts to change the past fail, he blames the Intention of the Abyss, at first. As a result of his attempt to change the past, the Sinclair family lived four more years; but they all died in the end, including the family's youngest daughter, who would have survived otherwise. Later, however, he realizes that the fault was his own; he'd been headstrong and foolish, interfering with time and fate, matters too great for him to understand. He blames himself for the girl's death, and continues to do so for the rest of his life. He accepts no excuses: in his mind, he murdered little Lady Sinclair just as surely as if he had slain her with his own sword.

Kevin wallows in his misery, allowing himself to be consumed by despair. He is vulnerable to manipulation by a Chain specifically because of his anguish. Afterwards, at the Rainsworth estate, he cries constantly; he is pitiful. The young Vincent Nightray finds him sitting outside in the snow, weeping. He actually self-harms, picking at the empty socket of what had been his left eye. When Reim Lunettes (then a teenager) tries to stop him, he reacts angrily: "Shut up, don't pay me any mind. Don't come near me, so much as look at me!"

He is socially awkward, and a loner. He was a serious child, indisposed to smiling. When he arrives at the Rainsworth estate, he is openly hostile to all overtures, antagonizing and rejecting everything. Reim says that he seemed "just like a wounded beast." Gradually, the influence of Shelly Rainsworth's serene personality has an effect upon him; and he becomes able, slowly, to open up. But he still fights with the teenaged Reim constantly; and has difficulty connecting with Shelly's daughter, Sharon Rainsworth, who adores him like an older brother. This social ineptitude is something he never entirely outgrows. He is able to make only one friend after ten years at Pandora. Even when he has become a middle-aged man, Sharon calls him, "My awkward, lonely older brother."

Despite all of this, he is a man of skill, resolve, and mental fortitude. In his misguided attempt to change the past, he contracts with a Chain and allows it to murder 116 people. During that time, he manages to avoid capture by the authorities, despite a vigorous manhunt. The Intention of the Abyss tells him that he is unusual in that he didn't succumb to madness during his time with his Chain; most people can't bear it and lose their minds. He is massively traumatized when she plucks out his eye, screaming in agony and believing himself about to die vainly, without saving anyone. Yet it's the thought of Lady Sinclair ("I'll be all alone") that moves him to resist, to resolve that he "cannot die yet." Even after witnessing the fall of Sablier and the madness of Alice, he continues to beg her to grant his wish. He is willing to offer her everything - his other eye, his body - in exchange for the opportunity to change the past.

Ultimately, he becomes aware of the depths of his folly. He realizes that his faustian contract with a Chain and his torment in the Abyss were not for the benefit of his lord and family, though he'd done it "for their sake." In truth, it had been only to assuage his own sense of guilt. When he finally emerges from his despair, it's with a sense of purpose, a reason for living. He chooses to live neither for himself, nor for anyone else, but to fulfill that mission with which he had been entrusted: to grant the wish of the Intention of the Abyss.

Abilities:

Trained as a knight, he is an excellent swordfighter. Fifteen years later, he becomes known as the "strongest man in Pandora." He is also apparently very good at stealthy assassination.

He is a "Child of Misfortune," which have a role that is... complicated (also a massive spoiler). In short, they are able to connect directly to the Core of the Abyss. Prior to the events leading up to the Tragedy of Sablier, they were associated with bad luck and shunned by society. As someone born later, Kevin escaped that fate.

Court alliance: Seelie

With respect to character alignments, good and evil are difficult to pin down, as all characters in Pandora Hearts are morally grey. Indeed, a belief in absolute moral relativism is stated by the main protagonist of the series.

However, the distinction between Seelie and Unseelie is Order versus Chaos. Again, most characters in Pandora Hearts do not strictly fall into either category. Thus I'll be discussing selfishness (Chaos) vs. selflessness (Order); and freedom (Chaos) vs. following rules (Order).

We learn about Kevin Regard through the man he becomes, Xerxes Break. Superficially, Break seems selfish. He's rude. He teases other people and makes jokes at their expense. He steals food. He won't do his paperwork, forcing his direct superior to chase after him. However, these are all subterfuges, intended to keep people at a distance, so that he can continue to shoulder all his burdens without help, alone.

In admitting to his past as Kevin Regard, Break insists that his actions in trying to change the past were selfish: what he'd done wasn't for the sake of his master, but to assuage his own grief.

However, on a deeper level, Kevin Regnard's actions were not so simply a matter of self-interest. He was despairing and grief-stricken, and thus was vulnerable to the vile influence of a Chain. Even in the Abyss, after he had been mutilated and was in agony, his thoughts were of the youngest Sinclair daughter. He offered the Will of the Abyss everything, his other eye, his body, his life, if she would only change the past. He was willing to sacrifice himself to bring back the people he loves.

Kevin Regard goes to great lengths to tamper with fate and undo the past. This seems the opposite of how someone who strictly follows rules would act. However, he did this in extremis. It was out of character for him, which is one of the many reasons the aftermath drives him to despair. Also, his motivation for wanting to change the past was not only grief, but guilt. He came from a family of knights, and (as told by Xerxes Break) felt that he should have been able to recognize the signs and take precautions to protect the family he served against political assassination. Thus Kevin believed it his duty to protect and serve: a chivalric code. Later, as Xerxes Break, he becomes the sworn servant (a knight in all but name) of Duchess Sheryl Rainsworth, whose orders he follows to the letter. Mostly.

In Kevin's perfect world, he would have been a good knight, the pride of his family, and prevented the Sinclairs from being assassinated or died trying. He would have followed a chivalric code. Thus his core alignment is Lawful Good(ish), and his court is Seelie.