Then, it hit me all at once, like a quiet whisper slipping through the cracks in my mind.
I remembered something.
Something from the story.
Something that made the scene before me twist into a deeper, darker meaning.
The Fifth Orc Lord... Tharnok... he never wore his helmet.
That was the thing.
That was his signature, his arrogance, his display of superiority.
In the novel, every time he appeared, his face was bare, unafraid, unchallenged, untouchable.
He didn't need the helmet.
He was power incarnate.
That's what made him terrifying.
He believed nothing could touch him.
But during the battle with Vasper City, yeah, that one, I remember he didn't wear it then either.
He went into that war with his head held high, confident that it would be just another effortless slaughter.
Just another notch on his blade. But it wasn't.
That war... that wasn't like the others.
He bled in that war.
He almost lost.
