Gvar Barzeel

Gvar Barzeel
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Brave the Sands.jpg}}|250px]] An Abzan orc
Details
Race	Orc
Birthplace	Mardu territory, Tarkir
Lifetime	Both timelines of Tarkir
Relatives	Original timeline: Anafenza (adoptive sister), Oret (disowned cousin)
Sources

Gvar Barzeel is a Kolaghan warrior in Tarkir's alternate timeline. In the original timeline, he was an Abzan krumar, an orc who became part of Anafenza's family.

History

Original timeline

Gvar Barzeel was originally born Mardu, but after a battle that wiped out his family, he became an Abzan krumar, part of Anafenza's family. When Anafenza was thirteen, their rolling fortress was two days out of Kavah, on the way to Arashin. Gvar attempted to be friends with Anafenza, calling her cousin, but she refused to acknowledge his kinship. To her, he was simply an orc who had been part of a battle where her real cousin had been killed. So she climbed into their ancestor tree and left Gvar standing on the roof of their fortress.

The rolling fortress was attacked by a large Sultai raiding party led by four zombie mastodons and several assassins. A pair of the mastodons toppled the entire fortress, with Anafenza being flung from the Kin-tree into the sands of the desert, dazed and scraped, but alive. Gvar too, survived the fall, although he was shot in his shoulder with an arrow. As the pair ran into the desert, away from the battle around the fortress, Gvar offered her some of the grapes he had bought in Kavah. She thankfully ate them, slaking her parched throat. They struggled through a sandstorm, trying to keep their exposed skin covered, to the walls of a ruin that offered them shelter for the night.

They discovered the next day that they had been followed. Anafenza hid in a dead kin tree, while Gvar led the two Abzan traitors after him, underneath the dead branches. Anafenza dropped down and killed one of the men with her sword while Gvar threw himself over the other, pinning him down. Together, they intimidated the second man into admitting that it had been Anafenza's cousin Oret who had hired the Sultai and staged the attack.

During Anafenza's rise to power, Gvar served as her krumar commander.

Several years after Oret betrayed her, Gvar and the captain of the guard Kwaro were present at the ceremony where the clan houses swore allegiance to the newly appointed Khan Anafenza. When Oret was shown in, they waited until he recognized her. As he paled in fear, Gvar stepped up and forced Oret to his knees. Anafenza stepped down and put her sword to the throat of the man who had betrayed her, murdered her entire family, and destroyed her home. Her cousin, who had become prosperous in the ashes of their kin. He pleaded with her, saying he was the last family she had. She refuted him, and cut the side of his face with her blade. Performing a blood rite before the First Tree and the eyes of their ancestors, she disowned him. He was no longer of her blood, and she declared him her enemy. If they should meet on the battlefield, he would not leave it. His spirit would be rootless, wandering alone in agony for all time. Then she bid her brother Gvar to show the traitor out.

Alternate timeline

In the alternate timeline, Gvar's family was never killed by the Abzan, and he was never adopted by them. Gvar never knew Anafenza or her family, instead becoming a warrior of Kolaghan. He served as the dragon's whip master, punishing those too weak to fight for the dragonlord. In this timeline, Gvar attacked the Abzan, and during such an attack, he faced off against Anafenza and her loyal cousin Oret. Anafenza had tapped into the powers of spirit necromancy, and wielding this terrible power, she killed all of the Kolaghan attackers, including Gvar.

Story appearances

Title	Author	Publishing date	Set	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Bond and Blood	Ari Levitch	2014-12-03	Khans of Tarkir	Tarkir	Anafenza, Kwaro, Marrit, Oret, Gvar Barzeel, Hakrez
The Guardian	Ari Levitch	2015-04-02	Dragons of Tarkir	Tarkir	Oret, Faiso, Yeffa, Khurz, Ajuf, Taram, Anafenza, Gvar Barzeel

In-game references

Quoted or referred to:

• Defeat
• Territorial Roc
• War Behemoth