Stoltz

A spotless white cloak, finished with a gray cloth gorget, drapes Stoltz' shoulders, and its flawless condition serves as the village's emblem of his strength. Red colors both his hair and his eyes, and he stands taller than his own father. His white tunic, edged in gray, hangs asymmetrically with a wide slit down one side held by a pair of fastenings and cinched at the middle by a golden belt. A black turtleneck lies beneath, its sleeves long enough to creep over his hands, finished with dark gray trousers and black boots that rise to mid-calf.

Beneath a gruff exterior, Stoltz holds genuine warmth for his brother. He may brand Stark a lost cause out loud, yet he still drills the boy and corrects his footing. When Stark splatters his immaculate cloak with mud, Stoltz answers not with temper but with praise for the boy's focus. Each birthday he quietly prepares an oversized Hamburg steak, a dish Eisen once explained was reserved as a tribute to warriors who pushed themselves, proof that Stoltz counts his brother among their number. Courage defines him to the last, as he holds his ground against the demon torching his home so that Stark can flee and keep living.

As the village's mightiest fighter, Stoltz drew constant praise from their father, who marveled that his son could down any foe without so much as soiling his cloak. Returning from a monster hunt, the father scolded the other warriors and held Stoltz up as the standard they should imitate. The pair then passed Stark practicing by himself, and where the father saw only a failure and headed home as the rain set in, Stoltz went over to coach him. So absorbed was Stark that his swing flung mud across his brother's cape, but Stoltz merely smiled, commended the boy's concentration, and knelt in the dirt to fix his stance, sullying the hem himself.

Stark would later remember the secret birthday feasts, the enormous Hamburg steaks that by warrior custom honored those who had earned them, a sign his brother always saw him as a true fighter. When demons eventually descended on the village, Stoltz joined the other warriors in its defense as flames swallowed the streets. Cornered alongside a few comrades by a Demon General, he turned to find Stark frozen with a wooden sword in hand. He cupped the boy's cheek, urged him to survive, and watched him run before facing the enemy one last time with a smile. He is presumed to have fallen there.