Balar the Lost

He was the Knight of the Summer Crescent Moon, the chief guardian of the old Heart Tree. Balar, now known as the Lost, was among the first to fall to the Corruption. While Praeva the Slitherer slinked to the Seed of Corruption, Balar fought the Demonspawn's coterie of warriors. He was a master bladesman and dedicated to the Heart Tree's defense, and cut down Petrifya Rockroot, but it was too late. Praeva succeeded. The Corruption spread. Balar and his weapons, including the legendary Heartshield, were entwined in the reaching, grasping, predacious vines and branches of Darkness-turned trees. As with many others who were Corrupted, Balar's mind was twisted beyond all recognition. All he cared for was spreading the Corruption and annihilating those who opposed it. He blunted his blade on the flesh of Fae, and the blood of Sylvan Elves drenched his garments. At his command, hosts of hideous Corrupted beasts, birthed from the now-malignant Heart Tree, tore through enchanted flower meadows and groves of singing trees. Balar survived the brutal, decades-long war fought between the Corrupted and the Sylvan. He was there at the final clash, the Battle of the Sacred Grove, where Skyiron Dwarves, Shadowkin Rebels, and Sylvan fought against Demonspawn, the Mikage Autocracy, and the Corrupted. He witnessed Akumori Jubokko's fall and the burning of the Heart Tree, and escaped the defeat. Balar had failed to protect the Heart Tree before its Corruption. Now he had failed to protect it in its Corrupted state. He was left numb, bereft of purpose, after evading the vengeful Sylvan pursuit-squads that chased him and his kind after the Battle of the Sacred Grove. Reduced to an instinctive, animalistic state, Balar killed and corrupted at random. He learned to hide and hunt, to slip away from a murder site undetected, and to infiltrate guarded camps. When Kurosa the Covetous began her limited scouting and recruiting efforts ahead of her invasion of Teleria, Balar stirred. He felt the Darkness of Anathraad leak into the world after her portals opened. He snaked his way through the Mistwood to the Demonspawn's agents, feeling driven and powerful for the first time in centuries. He rallied Corrupted wherever he found them, promising their time was at hand. The swirling Darkness around the Demonspawn and the wafts of energies from Anathraad breezing through open portals energized him. He was compelled, obsessed with contributing. Perhaps they could even restore the burned Heart Tree.