Guard Captain Darknell

StoryMonsterNPC

Guard Captain Darknell (Kellad)
DarknellKellad
Title	Guard Captain
Hometown	Sharenian
Gender	Male
Race	Human (formerly) Unknown (current)
Affiliations	Sharenian (formerly) Black Mage
Minions	Elite Bosses - Black Knight - Mad Mage - Vicious Hunter - Rampant Cyborg - Bad Brawler
Enemies	The Adversary Orchid
Status	Deceased (Lore) Fightable (Gameplay)
Name (Other Servers)
KoreaMS	친위대장 듄켈 (親衛隊長 Dunkel; Guard Captain Dunkel; Chinwidaejang Dyunkel) 켈라드 (Kellard; Kelladeu)
JapanMS	親衛隊長デュンケル (Guard Captain Dunkel, Shin'eitai-chō Dyunkeru) ケルラード (Kellard, Kerurādo)
ChinaMS	亲卫队长顿凯尔 (Qīnwèiduìzhǎng Dùnkǎiěr) 凯拉德 (Kǎilādé)
TaiwanMS	親衛隊長頓凱爾 (Qīnwèiduìzhǎng Dùnkǎiěr) 凱羅德 (Kǎiluódé)
MapleSEA	Commander Djunkel Kellard
Voice Actors
GlobalMS	Daman Mills
KoreaMS	Seonghyeok Kwon (Kellad)

Guard Captain Darknell, formerly known as Kellad, is a minion of the Black Mage and the leader of the Elite Bosses. Once a loyal knight of Sharenian, Kellad and his squad of knights were driven to insanity by Ergoth Dunamis, with the Black Mage taking advantage of their weakened mental state to manipulate them into swearing their eternal loyalty to him, transforming Kellad and his knights into monsters. Rechristened as Darknell, the Guard Captain and his Elite Bosses guarded their new master at Limina, facing the Adversary on their journey to stop the Black Mage.

Story

Sharenian Defense Unit

Centuries ago, Sharenian was ruled by King Sharen III, with his bastard son, Prince Sharen IV, next in line to succeed him. King Sharen suffered from madness and soon came to suspect that his son was trying to overthrow him. Consumed with paranoia, King Sharen summoned Guard Captain Kellad, the prince's teacher in combat, and ordered him to kill Prince Sharen, but Kellad refused and attempted to convince the king to see reason. Furious, King Sharen branded Kellad a traitor and attempted to have him executed. However, Prince Sharen was able to convince his father to merely have Kellad dismissed from the court. Though Kellad's life was saved, he was demoted to Commander and was ordered to lead the Sharenian Defense Unit, a squad of knights who had been rejected from becoming official Sharenian Knights. The Sharenian Defense Unit was then forced to go on menial missions, rather than hunting devils. They were frequently sent on missions to hunt small moles that were pestering the local farmers, causing them to be known as the Mole Slayers.

One day, Commander Kellad was leading his unit, composed of Hardin, Ain, Ryan, Quieg, and Ed, on a mission to hunt moles when a Sharenian Knight arrived and cryptically told Kellad that someone from the palace was waiting for him. As he returned to the palace, Kellad recalled how he used to instruct the prince in the art of battle, and how they would often gaze out upon the kingdom at sunset to take in its beauty, though it had often scared Kellad, since he knew that all things of beauty would one day fade, including Sharenian itself. Just then, he reached the kingdom outskirts and encountered the prince, who greeted his old teacher and told him that he still recalled Kellad's words about fading beauty. Kellad told him that he was surprised that Sharen had come to see him against the wishes of his father, to which the prince told him that he was only an apprentice coming to see his master. When Kellad asked if there was trouble at the palace, Prince Sharen told him that his father had lost his mind, as he had grown obsessed with the Rubian, a gem said to cure any ailment and even revive the dead.

The prince told Kellad that the king had spent years scouring the country for it while researching dark sorceries to help him in his quest. Recently, the king had even gone so far as to summon a devil to the castle. Kellad told Sharen that the king wouldn't succeed, to which the prince agreed, though he added that he couldn't stand by and watch his father's descent into madness. He then revealed that he was planning to usurp his father's throne in order to stop Sharenian from falling to ruin. He promised to come see Kellad again after he succeeded and hoped that Kellad would agree to serve as his knight when the time came. After Kellad returned back, his squad told him that they had seen him speaking with the prince and agreed to help them avert the great peril that Sharenian faced, though Kellad reassured them that nothing would happen.

Fall of Sharenian

A few days later, Prince Sharen successfully executed his coup against his father, who shouted that he knew that the prince had been plotting against him. In his madness, he ordered Guard Captain Kellad to appear at his side, forgetting that he had dismissed Kellad from his court. The prince ordered his knights to arrest his father and find the Rubian. The king declared that he wouldn't allow Prince Sharen to steal the throne or the Rubian and summoned the devil Ergoth Dunamis to protect him. However, Ergoth coveted the power of the Rubian for himself and turned on the king. Meanwhile, the Sharenian Defense Unit watched the battle in the palace from a distance, frustrated that they were forced to remain on standby. Just then, their squadmate, Quieg, arrived from the palace and reported that all members of the armed forces had been ordered to assemble at the palace, as the king had been killed.

Upon arriving at the palace, they were shocked to find the guards dead, with one fleeing knight warning them to get far away. He told them that King Sharen had summoned a devil, which had resulted resulting in the death of the king, and possibly the prince as well, who had gone missing. Kellad's knights agreed that they needed to find Prince Sharen, though Kellad feared that he would be leading his knights to their deaths for nothing if the prince had already been killed. As Kellad's mind began spinning, his knights reassured him that they were up to the task. His resolve bolstered, Kellad ordered his knights to split up in order to search for the prince. The knights fought through the devils that had invaded the palace and attempted to rescue any survivors. As Quieg fought methodically, Ed jokingly asked if he was an Arcane Construct, an automaton that the palace sorcerers had been rumored to have built.

Quieg ignored the question and asked Kellad whether their priority was to kill the devil or save the prince. Kellad told him that it was neither and reminded his knights that their mission as Sharenian Knights was to protect the people of the kingdom. They then entered the throne room, where they found Ergoth sitting on the throne, with a mortally wounded Prince Sharen collapsed on the ground. Kellad and the knights engaged Ergoth in battle, but nearly all of them were killed. Kellad held a dying Sharen in his arms, who begged Kellad to uphold his promise to protect Sharenian before giving him the Rubian. Ergoth then cursed the knights into reliving the fall of Sharenian for all eternity, forcing them to uphold their pledge to guard the kingdom forever.

An Eternal Battle

To everyone's surprise, the entire squad was revived and sent back in time to when they had first entered the palace. Kellad reminded them that their mission was still to protect the people of Sharenian by killing Ergoth before he cursed them again. They once again split up and fought past the devil invaders. Kellad, recalling Ergoth's curse and Sharen's dying wish, began to believe that defending the kingdom forever was all that he wanted. They entered the throne room once again and managed to defeat Ergoth, though they were unable to save Prince Sharen, who once again begged Kellad to uphold his promise before giving him the Rubian and dying. Ergoth then cursed the knights once again, forcing them back in time. Kellad and his knights made a slew of attempts and tried many strategies to defeat Ergoth. However, they soon came to realize several things. First, they had to accept that Prince Sharen was beyond saving, no matter how quickly they arrived. Second, defeating Ergoth even before he cursed them wouldn't break the time loop. Finally, the longer it took them to reach Ergoth, the stronger he became.

They eventually found the body of King Sharen and learned Ergoth's name from the book that he had been clutching. Ain also learned that Ergoth's true body was in the Otherworld, and that the Ergoth whom they were facing was a duplicate formed in their world, with the original body in the Otherworld transferring its strength to the duplicate in somewhere between twelve and twenty-four hours, which was how he grew stronger the longer it took the knights to reach him. Hardin asked why their fatigue hadn't been reset at the beginning of the time loop, to which Ain explained that their physical fatigue was reset, but their mental fatigue still remained. The knights then continued through the time loop, each time defeating Ergoth and watching the prince die before going back to the beginning.

On the twenty-second day, Kellad asked Ain how far such a curse would extend, given that a devil of such power as Ergoth had cast it. He clarified his meaning and asked if the devil was turning back time for the whole world or only for them. Ain told him that it was impossible to turn back time for the whole world, no matter how powerful Ergoth was, as it would violate all the known laws of metaphysics. She suspected that Ergoth had created a bubble just for Sharenian and noted that the halo which had appeared around the sun indicated that two adjacent regions of spacetime had fallen out of sync. Ryan suggested that they simply leave, but Ain told them that Ergoth's curse kept them trapped in Sharenian, and that Ergoth would continue growing stronger if they left him alone. Ed and Hardin then suggested that someone from the outside world could enter, or that Ergoth's strength might eventually fail. Ain then wondered whether they were instead merely trapped in an illusion that made it appear as though they were in a time loop. Hardin told them that they shouldn't doubt their own eyes, as otherwise, they wouldn't trust anything, including each other.

The knights continued fighting Ergoth over and over again, and though Kellad reassured them that nothing lasted forever, including the time loop, he and his knights felt more uncertain than reassured. As they continued fighting, some of the knights began feeling uneasy about how many times they had to watch the people of the palace die, all the while being unable to save them even once. The countless waves of devils kept them from resting, adding to their mental fatigue, with the exception of Quieg. As they grew more frustrated, the knights began fighting amongst themselves. Soon after, Hardin heard someone screaming, though no one else heard anything. Quieg suspected that they were suffering from sleep deprivation, which was causing hallucinations. One by one, all the knights, including Kellad, fell prey to those hallucinations. Kellad then recalled the memory of when he had stopped King Sharen from killing the prince. His memories of the incident were then warped into the prince asking Kellad why he had abandoned him.

Broken Spirits

Over a thousand days later, the knights had grown sick of fighting and asked if they could try leaving the kingdom. Kellad refused, claiming that they needed to uphold their oath, though Ryan asked if Kellad expected them to just keep fighting forever. As the knights argued amongst themselves, Kellad noticed that they had grown more aggressive in their fighting styles. Kellad himself was being plagued by nightmares of the prince accusing him of valuing his pride and honor over saving him. Eventually, Hardin accidentally wounded Ed, causing Ain to yell at him that the wounds that they inflicted upon each other wouldn't get healed by the time loop. However, Kellad then reminded her that Ed had been wounded several cycles ago. He explained that they had tried to let Ed leave Sharenian on his own, but an invisible barrier had kept him stuck in the palace, after which he had been slowly losing his health over the next several cycles. The knights then continued through the time-loop, but after several cycles, Ed stopped moving and finally passed away after a dozen more cycles. With his death, the other knights began to falter and slowly began losing their sanity. Nevertheless, Kellad persisted, desperately clinging onto the promise that he had made to Prince Sharen. After defeating Ergoth once again, Kellad admonished Hardin for his sloppy swordskills. Hardin then began to hear Ed's voice screaming, though Ryan kept insisting that Ed was fine. Upon remembering that Ed had died, Ain wondered if it had been her fault, though Hardin realized that the blame fell on him.

Suddenly, Ed appeared out of nowhere and told them that Ryan's loose arrow had killed him. Kellad was shocked that everyone was experiencing a shared hallucination, just as Ed told them that they could still save him, pointing out the Rubian in Kellad's hand, which Prince Sharen had given to him once again before dying. Ain begged Kellad to use the Rubian to save Ed, but Hardin argued that they should use it to save a little girl whom he had watched die from the devil attack. Ryan then suggested that they revive King Sharen, as he was the one who had summoned Ergoth, meaning that he might know how to banish him. Kellad told them that they couldn't use the Rubian on anyone, causing Ain to accuse him of wanting to save the prince, whom she claimed he loved more than his own friends. The knights then began to turn on their Commander, believing that Kellad had forced them to stay in the time loop, not to protect the kingdom, but to save the prince. Soon, even Quieg began to waver, unable to recall what his mission was. With no other choice, Kellad told Quieg that his mission was to eliminate his former comrades. Quieg then began to fight the other knights, resulting in everyone being fatally injured and the Rubian shattering before their eyes. Kellad revealed that the Rubian was a fake, merely an ordinary gemstone.

With his dying breath, Ryan asked about Kellad's mission, as he still believed that Kellad had promised Prince Sharen to return him back to life. Kellad then revealed that his promise had always been to protect Sharenian, and as part of his pledge, Kellad had been asked to destroy the Rubian somewhere all could see in order to prevent another mad king from rising to covet its power. Upon the death of Kellad's knights, Ergoth's curse was broken. Kellad then saw that Prince Sharen, who had been lying dead on the floor moments ago, had gotten up on his own. Sharen asked Kellad if he had ever seen an illusion before, and when Kellad told him that he hadn't, Sharen asked how Kellad could be sure that he, the prince, wasn't an illusion, or his allies, or perhaps even all of Sharenian. He told Kellad to look up at the sky, where Kellad was surprised to see that the halo around the sun had vanished, indicating that the spacetime of Sharenian and the outside world had fallen back in sync. Prince Sharen explained that Ergoth's curse had weakened as the subjects of Sharenian died and revealed that Ergoth's power wasn't to turn back time, but rather to create a false reality in order to imprison Kellad and his knights, entrapping them in nothing more than a mirror that he had created of the real Sharenian.

He told Kellad that time had continued to pass at the same rate in the real world, meaning that it had been centuries since Ergoth had trapped them. In the real world, Sharenian had fallen the very same day that Ergoth had first been summoned. Atop the ruins of Sharenian, Ergoth had built a prosperous devil empire, though even that had fallen at the hands of a band of adventurers, leaving just Ergoth and the false Rubian that he guarded. He explained that King Sharen III had formed a contract with Ergoth to have him protect the Rubian, though Ergoth had betrayed him immediately after being summoned. Kellad then raised his blade at the prince, telling him that he wasn't so foolish as to believe such a lie. Sharen then cited how he had once asked Kellad why everything beautiful faded. He recalled how Kellad had explained that just as the beauty of a fluttering petal was because of its fall, so too did the beauty of life stem from its brevity. Sharen told Kellad that he had been right, as Sharenian and the lives of its people were beautiful because they had been fated to end. At the prince's words, Kellad fell to his knees and asked what he and his knights had even been fighting for over the centuries that they had been trapped. Sharen then reminded Kellad of the promise that he had made to protect Sharenian until the very end, so long as a single soul remained. With Prince Sharen still alive, Kellad's oath required him to remain bound to serve Sharen, the sole survivor of Sharenian. Prince Sharen then gave Kellad the Rubian and told him that he could use it to revive his comrades.

The Elite Bosses

Kellad then escaped the world of illusion, where the real Ergoth was waiting for him. Having fought Ergoth over and over for centuries, Kellad easily killed him and took the Rubian. Soon after, five Explorers - Mogg, Khalid, Juli, Coleman, and Freya - arrived at the ruins of Sharenian, intent on finding lost treasure. There, Kellad greeted them and told them his story. He then used the Rubian on the Explorers and told them to claim the treasure that they had come seeking: the treasure of eternal life. With the power of the Rubian, Kellad fused the Explorers' physical bodies with the souls of his fallen comrades:

• Mogg the Warrior Explorer fused with Hardin to become Mogadin the Black Knight.
• Khalid the Magician Explorer fused with Ain to become Khaliain the Mad Mage.
• Juli the Bowman Explorer fused with Ryan and became Jurai the Vicious Hunter.
• Coleman the Thief Explorer fused with Quieg, a robotic Arcane Construct of Sharenian, and became CQ57 the Rampant Cyborg.
• Freya the Pirate Explorer fused with Ed and became Freyd the Bad Brawler.
• Kellad fused with the fallen body of Ergoth Dunamis and became Guard Captain Darknell.

Darknell and his knights then pledged eternal loyalty to Prince Sharen, who revealed himself as the White Mage in disguise. Darknell and his knights then became known as the Elite Bosses, pledged to serve the Black Mage as his eternal servants. Some time later, Hilla and Will had a conversation about the purpose of the Elite Bosses. Hilla accepted that over the course of hundreds of thousands of battles and pledges, a soul could be refined into one of incredible power. However, by mixing in the power of a Transcendent, the Black Mage had created monsters and asked what use he could possibly have for such unthinking puppets. Will told her that given the Black Mage's ability to see the future, he had likely created such powerful monsters because he had anticipated that an enemy with similar strength would one day arise, to which Hilla told him that she could scarcely imagine such a foe. Though he didn't tell her, Will also realized that it meant that the Elite Bosses would be unimpeachably loyal to the Black Mage, incapable of betraying him under any circumstances. Soon after, Will was entrusted with managing Rhinne and her successor, for which he recreated their prison dimension into Mirror World, an imperfect replica of Maple World, which he modeled after Ergoth's ability to create a replica of Sharenian.

Limina (Post-Remaster)

Note: The Limina storyline was remastered under the KMS story team's new continuity in the NEXT Update.

During the battle of Tenebris, Guard Captain Darknell appeared to face the Adversary and Orchid in his human form as Kellad, warning them that they would not be permitted to go any further. Though Kellad appeared human, Orchid warned the Adversary to be on their guard, as she could sense the Black Mage's energy inside him. She explained that though Kellad may have once been human, he certainly wasn't anymore. Kellad admitted that it filled with him sadness to hear that, claiming that though his body and the power inside him weren't human, the emotions that he felt very much were. He then warned the Adversary to heed his words, claiming that the more they raised their blade to protect others, the more their future and everything they sought to protect would crumble before them. He added that having experienced that first-hand, he could say that with more certainty than anyone else. Suddenly, Kellad transformed into Guard Captain Darknell and told the Adversary that he would test the will in their blade. Declaring that he would stop all his liege's enemies, Darknell summoned the five Elite Bosses to face the Adversary and Orchid while he disappeared to guard the Genesis Crux. Realizing that they had little time, Orchid teleported herself and the Adversary to the top and ordered them to reach the Genesis Crux while she handled the Elite Bosses, claiming that they needed to save their strength for the final battle. She also gave them her mask, claiming that Guwaru's power would mask their presence from the Elite Bosses.

As Orchid fought two of the Elite Bosses, the Adversary defeated the other three Elite Bosses as they scaled up the waterfall before finally reaching the Genesis Crux at the top. From the mask, Guwaru told the Adversary that they could still avoid the worst by destroying it before the Genesis Ritual began. Just as he spoke, however, Darknell appeared and congratulated them for reaching the top. As he struck the Adversary with his blade, Guwaru used his spirit powers to create a shield around the Adversary, blocking Darknell's surprise attack before it could reach them. With the magic in the mask fading, Darknell noted his impressment with seeing their power and walking along the path that the Black Mage had chosen, for which he offered to show them their destiny. He introduced himself as the captain of the Black Mage's personal guard and declared that out of respect for them, he would fight with all his heart without yielding. Suddenly, the Genesis Crux activated and began absorbing the Black Sun, turning the waters crimson red. As darkness fell upon them, the five Elite Bosses appeared to reinforce Darknell, who issued them their combat orders.

After a fierce battle, the Adversary managed to defeat Darknell and the Elite Bosses. As the Elite Bosses turned back into their human forms and perished, a mortally wounded Darknell warned the Adversary that they would not escape the Light of Annihilation, adding that everything transpired according to the Black Mage's will. Darknell then returned back into his human form and collapsed as Orchid arrived and realized that the Genesis Ritual had already begun. After Orchid sent the Adversary back to the White Spear and left to confront the Black Mage, a dying Darknell - now restored back into his human form as Kellad - looked around to see all his comrades fallen. With all the people of Sharenian finally dead, Kellad realized that their curse of servitude was finally broken at last. Noting that he had followed Prince Sharen's final command until the very end, Kellad noted that though nothing in the sky could last, loyalty was eternal. With that, Kellad and the Sharenian Knights scattered into Erda and disappeared.

Limina (Pre-Remaster)

During the battle of Tenebris, Guard Captain Darknell appeared to face the Adversary as the Genesis Crux activated and began absorbing the Black Sun. Darknell told the Adversary that he was impressed by how far they had managed to come, though he warned that they would not lay a finger upon his master as long as he was standing. Darknell then summoned the five Elite Bosses and his Corrupted Warriors before engaging with the Adversary, who managed to defeat him and his forces after a fierce battle. Though defeated, Darknell warned the Adversary that they would not escape the Light of Annihilation before disappearing.

Gallery

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  NPC Portrait of Kellad
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  NPC Portrait of Guard Captain Darknell
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  Guard Captain Darknell Maple Guide icon
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  Guard Captain Darknell Boss UI artwork (current)
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  Guard Captain Darknell Boss UI artwork (old)
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  Guard Captain Darknell Boss Entry UI artwork
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  Guard Captain Darknell's Soul Effect
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  Magnificent Guard Captain Darknell's Soul Effect
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  Guard Captain Darknell Soul Collector artwork
  For the Magnificent One.
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  Guard Captain Darknell Soul Collector artwork (all souls added)
  I, the Royal Guard, am very disappointed in all of you today.

Videos

차원의 도서관: 샤레니안의 기사

Kellad (Grand Athenaeum Episode 6: Sharenian Knights)

Trivia

• 친위대장 듄켈 (Guard Captain Dunkel, Chinwidaejang Dyunkel) comes from Dunkel, which is the German word for "dark", and is also the name of several types of dark German lager.
• In KMS, "오늘 친위대장은 너희들에게 매우 실망했다." (Oneul chin-widaejang-eun neohuideul-ege maeu silmanghaetda.) ("I, the Royal Guard, am very disappointed in all of you today.") is based on a South Korean meme and famous line of the webtoon HIVE, "중대장은 너희에게 실망했다!" (Jungdaejang-eun neohuiege silmanghaetda!) ("You're all a disappointment to your company commander!" (Pay))

• Ergoth's leitmotif/theme BGM was Eregos, but in Awake update, his theme changed to SubterminalPoint, the same theme as Guard Captain Darknell.