Dances with Balrog

Dances with Balrog
Title	Warrior Instructor
Hometown	Perion
Current Residence	Perion
Gender	Male
Race	Human
Family	Crawls with Balrog (possible ancestor, unconfirmed) Wrestles the Wolves (son, Gate to the Future)
Affiliations	Maple Alliance Explorers
Enemies	Black Mage
Status	Alive (Lore)
Name (Other Servers)
KoreaMS	주먹펴고 일어서 (Stands With Open Fist)
JapanMS	コブシを開いて立て (Stands With Open Fist)
ChinaMS	武术教练 (Martial Arts Coach) 张拳而立 (Stands With Open Fist)
TaiwanMS	武術教練 (Martial Arts Coach)
MapleSEA	Dances with Balrog

World Archive

“Perion's Warrior job instructor and chief. He is highly respected among the people of Perion as a true Warrior. He values a healthy body and mind, and his people see him as a strong yet kind-hearted pillar of the community. He has a reserved personality, which may be why there are so few entertaining rumors about him.
But there are legends, passed down by word of mouth, as well as an anonymous book titled "The Perion Chronicles: Heroes of the Highlands' Records." That book includes the story of how he became the chief. If you want to learn more about his younger days, greet him with respect and say, 'I pay my respects to the legend.'”

― Chronicler Harper

Dances with Balrog is the chief of Perion and the Warrior Instructor for Explorers. Though unconfirmed, it is speculated that Crawls with Balrog, an infant refugee who lived in Altaire Camp centuries ago, is the distant ancestor of Dances with Balrog.

Story

Twilight Perion

After Lucid used her powers to send visions of the Gate to the Future in the nightmares of Maple World's citizens, an emergency Alliance conference was held to address the situation. With the people of Perion having nightmares about a ruined Perion in the future, an Alliance member was dispatched to hear Dances with Balrog's story. In Perion, the Alliance member met with Dances with Balrog, who told them that while the warriors of Perion were fearless, the nightmare continually plaguing their minds was exacting its toll on them. He explained that though he had already received Neinheart's warning about the false future, their nightmares were completely different, as they had been seeing a sunless, bleak Perion under the subjugation of the Black Mage, which was making them doubt whether such a future was truly an illusion or not. He then asked the Alliance member to help prove to their people that their nightmare of the future wasn't real.

The Alliance member then reported back to Athena Pierce and told her what they had learned from Dances with Balrog. Athena realized that the only way to put Perion at ease was to return back to the Gate to the Future and see Perion's future for themselves, as they could prove that the nightmare was false if it matched up with the illusion within the Gate to the Future. The Alliance member then traveled inside the Gate to the Future, which warped them directly into Twilight Perion. With Perion enslaved and its monsters turned into vicious creatures, Alliance member realized that it was no wonder that even the brave warriors of Perion had grown afraid of such nightmares assailing them. They then returned back to the real Perion and met with Dances with Balrog in order to assure him that the future in his nightmares wasn't real. In order to see whether Twilight Perion truly matched up with their nightmares, Dances with Balrog decided to quiz the Alliance member to make sure. After the Alliance member answered all his questions correctly, Dances with Balrog was convinced that they had indeed seen his nightmares, which finally put his fears to rest that the ruined future of Perion was nothing more than an illusion. However, he noted that even though they could be sure that the nightmare wasn't real, the fact that the nightmares were continuing was still causing anxiety throughout the town. Soon after, the Alliance was able to stop the nightmare, giving Perion's warriors back their peace of mind.

False Future (Gate to the Future)

In the Gate to the Future, Dances with Balrog was killed by the Black Mage's forces, leaving his young son, Wrestles the Wolves, to keep the town safe from the Resistance, who had sided with the Black Mage and taken over the town. In order to help the people of Twilight Perion from invading monsters, the Alliance member sought out Dances with Balrog's tribal treasure - a magic flute called Pachamama's Quena - which they gave to the townspeople for their protection.

NPC

Perion

Dances with Balrog
Function	Warrior Instructor
Quests involved	[Explorer] Path of the Warrior [Explorer] The 3 Ways of the Warrior [Theme Dungeon] Ellinel Fairy Academy [Explorer Warrior] [Explorer] Chiefs of El Nath Mysterious Strength [Explorer] Empress's Might [Temple of Time] Seeking Lost Memories [Explorer Warrior] [Twilight Perion] Public Opinion [Twilight Perion] Premonitions and Visions [Twilight Perion] Unsettling Future 6
Location	Warriors' Sanctuary

Maple Island

Dances with Balrog
Function	Warrior Job Instructor
Location	Split Road of Destiny

Gallery

• 
  NPC Sprite of Dances with Balrog (Anniversary: Victoria Cup Event)
• 
  NPC Portrait of Dances with Balrog (MapleStory Idle RPG)
• 
  Artwork of Dances with Balrog (MapleStory M)
• 
  Artwork of Dances with Balrog (Night Troupe in Omega Sector Event, C Tier)
• 
  Artwork of Dances with Balrog (Anniversary: Victoria Cup Event; Non-KMS servers only)
• 
  Dances with Balrog Card Chair (Anniversary: Victoria Cup Event; Non-KMS servers only)
• 
  Dances with Balrog's Clone (formerly used for 3rd Job Advancement)
• 
  Dances with Balrog's Clone Familiar
• 
  World Archive Illustration of Dances with Balrog

Trivia

• Dances with Balrog's name is based on the film Dances With Wolves. His name in KMS and JMS, Stands With Open Fist, is based on Stands With A Fist in the same film. Ayan's character is based on Stands With A Fist.
• Crawls with Balrog is most likely his ancestor.