King Ottmar speaks with Kain about what has befell his daughter.
"King Ottmar: The only hope to defeat the Legions of the Nemesis. King Ottmar, paralyzed by the his princess' malaise. King Ottmar, the useless!" |
King Ottmar, the Mighty Lion of Willendorf was the then-current monarch of Willendorf and the Lion Throne and by extension most of Nosgoth during the Blood Omen era. The necromantic vampire Kain needs his Army of the Last Hope to defeat the opposing Legions of the Nemesis in a desperate hope to save Nosgoth.
Background[]
"Ottmar slumped on his throne like a rag doll, his beard matted with the tears of his own self pity. In my court, he would have long since been usurped by one stronger, but in Willendorf they worshipped him, even in his weakness. I wondered what Willendorf would do when Ottmar’s death finally arrived." |
Wise and widely respected, he was adored by his people even into his old age. In fact, Kain of Coorhagen before his murder and subsequent transformation via necromantic manipulations by Mortanius had been a knight in service to Ottmar. However when his young daughter reached an unspecified age, the king announced a doll-making competition with the promise of a royal favor to the individual who wins with the finest doll in the land. Despite hundreds of dolls being submitted, the clear winner was the elderly Elzevir the Dollmaker. When asked what prize he desired, he simply asked for a single lock of the princess' hair, which he was given and he left with. Unbeknownst to Ottmar, Elzevir plotted to use this hair in a ritual to magically induce a lifeless coma upon the princess, having stolen her soul from her body, presumably to trap inside one of his magic dolls. This threw the king into a melancholic depression and undermined both his faith in his own ability to lead his army and fight in his war against the Nemesis, and he pulled his soldiers back while he sat on his throne and wept for his offspring's fate. Instead of having his soldiers keep back the Legions, he instead instructed them to search for Elzevir. With his army, the Army of the Last Hope being the only force at the time that could stand toe-to-toe against the Legion and possibly resist its takeover, the Nemesis used this retreat to encroach ever deeper into Nosgothic territory.
Although Ottmar's court was always considered to be open to everyone, a vampire is not considered to be among his subjects. As such, Kain used his beguile spell to enter the city and meet with the king. Desperate, the king allowed anyone to try and retrieve his daughter's soul and thus Kain was brought into the search. It would be Kain alone that would locate and slaughter the perverse dollmaker, and he successfully returned with the doll that held the princess' soul trapped within. Instantly elated, the king even offered the kingdom itself to his savior knight but having no desire to rule, Kain asked for the army instead, convincing Ottmar to return to battle against the Nemesis. Now seeing Kain as a friend, Ottmar immediately rallied his troops and they marched on Stahlberg to meet the Legion on the southern plains for the Battle of the Last Stand.
"The Nemesis and his Horde fall upon us, my friend. I fear I can defend Nosgoth no longer. The Nemesis must be destroyed. For my daughter, Kain; for the world..." |
Unfortunately despite all their efforts, the defense is a failure with the Legions proving far more formidable than the Lion Throne had anticipated and King Ottmar is slain in battle. Kain rushes to his side but can do nothing. The Soldiers of Hope flee into the surrounding forest, leaving Kain as the last man standing. Knowing that Nosgoth would now be overtaken by the Nemesis. Finding himself surrounded, he steels himself to use the time-streaming device he had collected from the slain pillar guardian Azimuth the Planar from Avernus Cathedral to leap back in time to attempt to stop the Nemesis before he ever even began to form his dark army.
Now fifty years in the past, Kain hunts down the boy-king who would become the Nemesis, William the Just, and uses the Soul Reaver on him before returning to his own time. However he finds himself in a worse timeline, with the Army of the Last Hope being replaced with vampire hunters and his ally Vorador being slain before his eyes, making himself the final vampire in Nosgoth. It is here that he realizes that the oracle has manipulated him and was no ally at all as he sics the hunters upon Kain. In truth, the oracle had been the corrupted guardian of time, Moebius the Streamer all along.
What has become of Ottmar in this timeline is not known.
Media appearances[]
- Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (First appearance)
Notes[]
- Despite being a major character in the original Legacy of Kain title, he never appears again in any subsequent timelines. However, Amy Hennig has stated that she considers the malaise of the Princess to occur across all timeline deviations, but is only an important event in the storyline of the first game.