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The angel is the Hawk of Darkness. The master of the sinful black sheep, the king of the blind white sheep.
– The prophetical description of Griffith's leadership of the reborn Band of the Hawk
The Band of the Hawk, named after its original namesake,[citation needed] is an army founded by the White Hawk Griffith following his reincarnation into corporeal form,[citation needed] comprised of both humans and apostles.
The band acts as Midland's primary resistance force during the Kushan invasion, beginning their campaign against the foreign invaders by liberating key holds throughout the kingdom[citation needed] and eventually rescuing Princess Charlotte from her Kushan captors.[citation needed] As Midland's sole regular army,[citation needed] the band mounts a successful defense against the Kushan in Vritannis and soon after defeats Emperor Ganishka himself during the Battle for Windham. With the ultimate destruction of the ancient royal city in midst of the latter struggle, Griffith erects his own utopian city of Falconia atop the land which Windham once sat.[citation needed] The reborn Hawks currently act as Falconia's imperial guard[citation needed] and as escorts for travelers seeking refuge through the treacherous lands birthed by the Blast of the Astral World.[citation needed]
History
Conviction Arc
Zodd kneeling before Griffith in servitude, the first of the reborn band to pledge allegiance to the White Hawk.
The reborn Band of the Hawk owes its beginning to the metaphysical reunion between Griffith and Nosferatu Zodd prior to the Incarnation Ceremony. As the apostle sits atop a hill musing over his desire for the "absolute strongest", Griffith appears before him in his consciousness as the Hawk of Light and wounds him into servitude, afterwards instructing the Immortal to seek out the refugee city of St. Albion, where his desired one would in time arrive.[citation needed] At St. Albion, by way of the city's manifested sacrificial malice in a mock-Eclipse, Griffith is reincarnated in corporeal form and whisked away by Zodd.[citation needed]
Falcon of the Millennium Empire Arc
The Band of the Hawk reborn anew following Griffith's resurrection.
Griffith and Zodd set out for the Hill of Swords, where Griffith reunites with Guts and Zodd does fierce battle with the Black Swordsman.[citation needed] With an abrupt ending to their reunion, Griffith sets out with Zodd to fulfill his dream of acquiring his own kingdom.
In the process of liberating the western Midland city of Shet from Kushan occupation alongside Zodd, Griffith is met and assisted by the formidable apostles Locus, Grunbeld, and Raksas, all of whom recognize him as the Hawk of Light and pledge their allegiance to him.[citation needed]
Liberation of Midland
By way of Locus and Irvine's diversionary assault on Windham, Griffith and Zodd are able to rescue Princess Charlotte.
The Band of the Hawk continues liberating holds throughout Midland from Kushan occupation, acting as the kingdom's most preeminent resistance force. Soon after, Griffith recruits the young seer Sonia, who acts as the band's medium,[citation needed] and the Midland noble Mule Wolflame,[citation needed] the former due to her gifts of telepathy and battlefield-wide surveillance and the latter for the addition of his remnant resistance force to the band's human cavalry.
At a later point, after being granted entry by Raksas, Locus and his lancer unit, accompanied by an archer unit led by Irvine, lead a diversionary charge on Windham, drawing out the apostle Emperor Ganishka. Griffith and Zodd then use the opportunity to rescue Princess Charlotte from the Tower of Rebirth and fly away with her in tow. With the successful rescue of the princess, the Band of the Hawk retreats.[citation needed]
Defense of Vritannis
The Band of the Hawk arrives to defend Vritannis from Kushan invasion.
Amid the Kushan siege of Vritannis, just as Emperor Ganishka and his large invading forces begin to decisively overwhelm the Holy See Alliance armies, the Band of the Hawk intervenes and launches a sneak attack on the Kushans' flank, swiftly turning the tide of battle.[citation needed] As his forces continue to dispatch the Kushan, Griffith makes his way into Ganishka's mobile palace, where he is able to bring the emperor to heel before agreeing to have their final showdown in Windham, allowing his adversary to withdraw.[citation needed] After the battle, Griffith's authority comes into question by Holy See Alliance officials,[citation needed] but with Charlotte's bestowal of the title "Supreme Commander of the Midland Regular Army" to her betrothed White Hawk and the entranced pontiff's recognition of Griffith as the prophesied Hawk of Light, all suspicions are assuaged and the Band of the Hawk is granted peerage in the Holy See Alliance.[citation needed]
Battle for Windham
Humans and apostles, united as one under the Band of the Hawk flag, combating Ganishka's spawn.
Vexed by his previous act of submission, Ganishka descends into his Man-Made Beherit and reincarnates a second time, consequently assuming a sky-scraping, demonic beast form and destroying Windham beneath his feet. The Band of the Hawk's War Demons meet the emperor's newly-formed spawn, assuming their true demonic forms to properly combat the advancing enemies. With the revelation of Griffith's command over such monstrous beings, human members of the band begin to question the true nature of their commander.[citation needed] Sonia telepathically reminds them that the War Demons are the ones fighting and bleeding for their cause, as they stand idly by, and that may they be human or apostle they are all members of the Band of the Hawk, thus renewing the band's sense of unity.[citation needed] Together, human and apostle Hawks combat the spawn, as Griffith and Zodd ascend towards Ganishka's head. There, Griffith (in his God Hand form of Femto) is ambushed by the Skull Knight and uses the would-be-assassin's space-cleaving sword stroke to split open Ganishka's vast ethereal body,[citation needed] thus triggering the Blast of the Astral World and converting the emperor into the World Spiral Tree. He soon after reappears atop Zodd to usher his forces to his newly-formed city of Falconia.[citation needed]
Fantasia Arc
The Band of the Hawk acts as the imperial guard of Falconia following the Blast of the Astral World,[citation needed] and when refugees from across Midland flock to Falconia, they additional act as protective escorts for the travelers, fending them from the influx of malign astral beings now roaming the world of man.[citation needed]
Strength
The War Demons are the many "beaks and talons" of the band.
Some of the most renowned and powerful warriors of legend serve within the Band of the Hawk. Nosferatu Zodd, a veritable "god of the battlefield",[citation needed] serves as Griffith's most immediate lieutenant and mount, while also having natural command over lesser War Demons he occasionally functions with. The Moonlight Knight Locus acts as commander of the Hawk's lancers; on his own he is able to dispatch hordes of daka,[citation needed] and together with his unit of lancers is capable of carving straight into vast enemy lines.[citation needed] The fabled warrior Grunbeld has command over a unit of giants, who in their true apostle forms become behemoths capable of immense destruction.[citation needed] Acting as more peripheral offensive forces, Raksas and Irvine typically fulfill stealth and long-range functions, respectively: the former a highly-skilled assassin and the latter one of the greatest archers in the world.
By far the Band of the Hawk's most powerful asset is Griffith himself. As one unchallenged by mortal opposition, akin to the author of his own tale,[citation needed] he acts as the band's assurance of success in nearly all of their endeavors. Griffith's military genius coupled with the devotion of his Hawks has brought about the band's unparalleled might on the battlefield. His magnetic od and charisma attract people of all walks to the band and continuously inspire those under his command to fight with vigorous passion for his cause. Both humans and apostles are undyingly loyal to the White Hawk, ready to fight to the death for their commander.[citation needed] Even members of foreign origin, such as Kushan pledges, fight in the band of their own volition.[citation needed][citation needed]
Members
Trivia
- Sonia reveals that it was actually liberated Midlanders who came up with the name "Band of the Hawk" for Griffith's new army, naturally named after the original. The legendary exploits of the original Band of the Hawk are still fresh in the minds of many, and with the White Hawk's return to the battlefield, "Everyone asked Lord Griffith to name it so."[citation needed]
- During the Kushan invasion, Kushan pledges who survive the brunt of battle three times are given the choices of conciliation or death. If conciliation is chosen, they are given promotional opportunities within the band like any other Midlander. This law within the band is an improved version of the Kushans' own use of "war slaves", with the difference being the band's incentivizing of pledges' allegiance, in contrast to the Kushans' reliance on solely fear and coercion.[citation needed]
References
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