Tallard Graham

Tallard Graham is a supporting character in the Japanese fantasy light novel series The Lord Marksman and Vanadis, and a general in the in the army of Prince Germaine of Asvarre during the Asvarre Civil War, and later king of the country. Tallard is first introduced when Tigrevrmud Vorn is sent as an envoy of the king of Zchted in support of Germaine. During his time in the Asvarri city of Valverde, Germaine is assassinated on the orders of his rival, Prince Elliot.

After Germaine's death, Tallard takes command of the late prince's army and enlisted the support of Tigrevrmud, as well as his travelling companions, including the travelling Vanadis, Olga Tamm and a former soldier and ship's captain named Matvey. Tallard also hired mercenaries from the nation of Sachstein, led by a man named Simon. Tigre was intitially reluctant to join the battle, but was convinced after Tallard told him of the capture by Elliot of Zchtedi Vanadis and close friend of Tigre's Sofia Obertas.

Tallard divides his army, some of them crossing a narrow straight between Asvarre's continental territories and the main island which held the capital. Meanwhile, Tigrevrmud is sent to capture the coastal fortress of Fort Lux, whose commander, Leichester recently defected to Elliot's side.

Thanks to Tigre's skilled command of the siege, he took the fortress in spite of being outnumbered by Leichester's soldiers. After taking the fortress, Tigrevrmud and Olga discovered that Leichester was actually a shape-shifting monster named Torbalan. Tigre and Olga only barely manage force Torbalan to flee using the combined magic power of Tigre's Black Bow and Olga's battle axe, as well as Olga's superhuman strength and speed as a Vanadis.

After his capture of Fort Lux, Tigre was assaulted by an army of tens of thousands of men, mostly pirates and mercenaries, but also including a unit of 300 elite longbowmen, led by prince Elliot himself. Tigre weakened their Elliot's army in a series of daring night attacks, as well as (must to Tigre's reluctance) a scorched earth campaign, evacuating and burning villages and poisoning water supplies.

It was then that Tallard sprung his trap. Unbeknownst to Elliot, he had not been heading for the Asvarri capital at all, but rather this was a feint- Tallard turned his ships around and landed back on the mainland, and attacked Elliot's forces with elite cavalry, crossbowmen, and even lured them into the fire zone of several mangonels loaded with multiple smaller stones.

In spite of their sheer numbers, Elliot's pirates, who were mostly lightly armed with cutlasses and hatchets could not challenge Tallard's superior forces. Elliot's elite archer units fell apart when Tigre personally killed Hamish, the leader of the longbowmen.

Elliot fled the battlefield back to a port, where he intended to sell the captured Vanadis Sofia Obertas to slave traders in the kingdom of Muozinel in exchange for their support in supplies and mercenaries he needed to rebuild his army. Tigre, however, used the power of his Black Bow to fire a magic arrow which struck with about the force of modern artillery shell, destroying the ships in harbor. Tallard then personally took Elliot into custody while Tigre rescued Sofia from her captors.

After his victory in the Asvarre Civil War, Tallard married princess Guinevere, the last survivor of the Asvarre royal family, and declared himself king of Asvarre. At the same time, Tallard ordered Prince Elliot executed.

In addition to his skill in military tactics, Tallard is a shrewd politician and charismatic leader, however, he is also more than willing to sacrifice the lives of his people for the good of his nation, or even for personal political gain. Tallard is also a skilled personal combatant, being an expert archer rivaling Tigre himself in skill, and also a competent swordsman. In spite of his fact that he possesses no magical abilities, and has no underlings with such power, Tallard's strategic genius, as well as his ruthlessness and ambition that drove Sofia to predict that he may become the greatest threat to Zchted in the future- and this is in a world where few people possess magic, but both a few superhuman magic users and mysterious "demons" do exist.

In many ways, Tallard can be seen as a darker foil to Tigrevrmud Vorn- an expert archer and tactician, but a man who cares little for increasing power and territory, but considers the lives of his people to be of greatest importance. Tallard is also similar in some respects to Oliver Cromwell, as he deposed a tyrannical monarch, only to seize dictatorial power himself.