Jonathan (Son of Morgoth)

Jonathan is one of the main protagonists of the Tapestry of Dark Souls novel. To date, he has not been mentioned by name in any game products in the Ravenloft line. However, he is referred to in Brother Dominic's entry in Champions of the Mists as Morgoth's "own son" whom helped the Order of the Guardian to overcome Morgoth and the Tapestry of Dark Souls (also known as the Gathering Cloth).

History

Jonathan (718 BC-735 BC) is the son of an outlander woman named Leith. She was a mother Jonathan never got to know, as her lycanthropy and influence from Maeve led her to sacrifice herself to the Tapestry of Dark Souls following his birth. It is with this dread artifact that Jonathan's paternal origins laid, for the imprisoned warlock Morgoth had somehow reached beyond the Tapestry to impregnate Leith prior to her imprisonment.

Left in the hands of the Order of the Guardians, he was at first left in the hands of a family known to be trustworthy and seeking the care of a child, Andor Merriwite and Dirca, both residents of Linde and the caretakers of the Nocturne inn. However, the boy did not bond with his would-be foster parents, leaving Dirca greatly traumatized. The monastics took Jonathan back in, raising and giving him instruction for the first seventeen years of his life. He learned how to play the flute and the harp from Brother Peto, how to fight from Brother Hektor, and magic (if very sparingly) from the disciplinarian Brother Leo. During this time, the existence of the Tapestry was concealed from him.

At age 17 (in the year 735 BC), Jonathan set about venturing into the outside world, at the suggestion of Brother Dominic. He visited the hamlet of Linde after rescuing Sondra by inadvertently but instinctively leading some wolves to attack a band of goblins assaulting her. Jon and Sondra grew quite close, eventually marrying. In addition, he came to train under Ivar, a friend of Leo (and the other Guardians) but whom differed from Leo in how he approached tutorship. Whereas Leo was slow and reluctant to give secrets of arcane lore to Jon, Ivar hardily and proudly encouraged his development. With Ivar's help, Jon's skills in wizardry bloomed.

At the same time he was flourishing, several forces ate away at his obedience to the principles the Order of the Guardians taught him. He encountered the primal sacrifices the hamlet of Linde performed in order to generate good fortune, which began to awaken his bestial nature. Thanks to Maeve, he came into the full knowledge of his nature as a werewolf. As he drew closer to Sondra, he drew the enmity of Mishya, Sondra's jealous would-be suitor. Mishya and Jon's mutual antipathy built to the point that Mishya employed Alden and Josef to ambush Jon, beat him to near death, and leave him for the goblins to feast upon. However, with the intervention of Maeve, Alden and Josef were both themselves murdered.

By far the greatest thing that led Jonathan down the path of corruption was the influence of the Gathering Cloth, a collector and magnifier of Evil. Morgoth spoke through the Cloth, making out the Guardians as liars and deceivers, especially after Jonathan discovered the existence of the Cloth and what happened to his mother.Through the appeal of family and power , and later the coercion for the safety of Sondra, Morgoth manipulated Jonathan into performing a number of terrible acts. These included freeing Morgoth and even the murder of Brother Leo.

The tide of public opinion began to turn against Jonathan, and along with his new bride Sondra, he tried to escape from the town and break away from Morgoth at the same time. Morgoth removed his protection and imbued mystical power from Jonathan, allowing the townspeople to capture them. Jon was to be sacrificed to the spirits of the land for the benefit of the town, but Morgoth intervened, taking Jonathan by his side once again.

During Morgoth's second, final siege against the Monastery in Markovia, Jonathan seeks a final redemption by working in tandem with Ivar to destroy the Cloth and Morgoth all at once. However, this act required the sacrifice of both Jonathan and Ivar's lives.

By the epilogue of ToDS, Sondra was left despondent over the loss of her husband, but then she came into contact with spiritual entities she recognized as Jonathan and his mother, Leith.

Skills and Abilities

Jonathan showed himself to be something of a polymath and child prodigy. His skills as a performer at one point gathered the crowds for the Nocturne, and he was the best hunter-tracker in Linde. He amazed Master Leo and Brother Mattas in his schooling with the ability to almost instantly memorize entire passages of information. Although somewhat sickly and slight of stature, he bore some fighting skill from his time with Hektor.

Jonathan's skills in the arcane arts proceeded rapidly. He favored spells of fire and light, but as he became more secretive, he turned to more subtle spells. By the later half of ToDS, he knew how to throw fireballs. However, apparently much of this power depended upon his connection with Morgoth after their life forces became linked, for Morgoth could remove much of Jon's power if he wished.

Jonathan showed an almost preternatural level of innate charm despite his relative naivety regarding people. In addition, he had an innate ability to mentally sway the thoughts and opinions of those around him.