The Bard – William Shakespeare
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:The_Bard_(Fire)
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:The_Bard_(Storm)
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:The_Bard_(Life)
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:The_Bard_(Death)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
Little Coriollama lived with his parents in Avalon. A bookish boy, the lad was taunted by his peers and unsuited for the rigors of combat. He studied the ways of Myth Magic and summoned Trolls, Medusas and bugs. The monsters of his mind fought his battles for him. Alas, with King Artorius restored to power by Your Wizard, The Bard fled to Krokotopia to enlist the aid of Khonsu in bringing about your wizard’s destruction.
“Oh, good morrow, you escaped my notice there. I? I am but a humble writer of plays. Never was there a tale of more woe than mine own. Little Coriollama lived with his parents in Avalon. He was… lost. He knew not the language or history or customs of this foreign land. The other children scorned him, and hurled such stinging epithets he burned with shame: “odd-shaped deer thing,” “Corey No-Antlers,” and “gross.” The dogs! Oh, the dogs did bark at him, sent as it seemed before his time into the breathing world. And, to tell it true… it enraged him, caused such disquiet that he lashed out with the spleen of fiery dragons!” – The Bard (Stage I)
(Stage II)
Malcontent: “The king returns! Once dragon, once lost, he is back and brings dire cost. Once this land was open, its bounty was free. We’d help ourselves to whatever we did see. But the king, the king, now that he’s back, our efforts were thwarted by knightly attack.”
The Bard: “And who was it that plucked the king from his cave and restored him to lordship over you knaves?”
Malcontent: “The Wizard, the Scion, Earthborn from beyond. Now we are here so they can be gone!”
(Stage III)
“Draconian“: “Dogs, Weasels, Corvidae – lend us your ears. We come to bury the Wizard, not to praise them! They hath bought many boons to Avalon… …But Nana says they’re ambitious and Nana is an honorable Ham…ster.”
“Grand Nana“: “The Wizard is ambitious! Ambitious, I tell you!”
“Draconian“: “Exactly. Thus we beseech you all to join us. With your arms and gold and knowledge. Let us find the weapon that Wizards cannot survive.”
“Shadow Weaver“: “Help us find the fabled Moon King, entreat his aid and his followers. Let us stand together, we few, we angry few, we band of bothered!”
“Grand Nana“: “So rouse yourselves in the name of Nana!”
The Bard: “And so to Krokotopia we came… to Khonsu… to vengeance.”
“Who am I? I am but a humble bard brought to amuse the troops who so eagerly serve you, my Lord Khonsu. What value could I have? These, my Players, my summons, my creatures are but spirits melted into air, into thin air. ‘Tis true, there is wisdom in thy speech. Myth and Moon are as one – shifting and shaping the world as a writer shapes words. Permit to serve as your Avatar. I will be your Author of Vengeance!” – The Bard (Stage IV)
William Shakespeare (c. April 23, 1564 – April 23, 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon” or simply “the Bard”. His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner (“sharer”) of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later known as the King’s Men after the ascension of King James VI of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613) he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare’s private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in English. In the last phase of his life he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) such as The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest, and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare’s plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623 John Heminges and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare’s, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare’s dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface includes a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, who hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: “not of an age, but for all time”.
The current list of all the (known) Krokotopia references can be found here.
Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references but I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.
Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages
The Bard image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment.
William Shakespeare image is borrowed from Wikipedia. It is in the public domain.
Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
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