Before he was Vortigern the Usurper, the man who would one day challenge Britain’s king and threaten to plunge the country into an eternal dark Mystery, he was Vortigern Pendragon, older brother of Uther Pendragon, and heir to the throne.
Not long after their eldest brother took the throne, Hengist and Horzsa, the leaders of the Saxons, came to Britain under a banner of peace. However, their intentions were anything but peaceful, having an armed force set outside the city while they were greeted as guests. Upon meeting Constans, they killed him, their forces attacking in tandem with their act to allow them the freedom to do so. Fearing that they too would be next, Vortgern managed to sneak himself and his remaining brother out of the city and, eventually, to Brittany.
There, hiding amongst the forests and struggling to keep himself and his brother alive, Vortigern began to find his love for the natural world while his brother would grow to value humanity, being their face in the towns and selling the goods they hunted to survive.
Still, they never forgot what had forced them to Brittany. Uther continued to hear news of the rule of Hengist and Horsa, how they treated their subjects and had created enemies of the Picts and Scots. Though they fervently wished to return and save their people, they simply were not yet ready to face them.
Then, one day, Uther returned from town with a beautiful woman. Initially believing he may have just discovered his brother had a weakness for them, he was instead told she was Rowena, daughter of Hengist. Aware of the obvious trap, Vortigern and Uther listened as she listed what had happened in their time away.
Hengist and Horsa, in their two years away, had been building their army further to the detriment of their subjects. While doing so, they began attempting to form peaceful relations with the surrounding Scots and Picts, the majority of which failed due to concerns related to the aforementioned army and the manner in which they obtained Britain. Rowena went on to say these concerns were well founded, as it was her father and uncle’s plan to conquer them as well.
When asked why she cared so much, as it was her family pushing for this, they expected her to say they would fail if they continued on this path. Instead, she told them she had no doubt her family would succeed in their plans. The reason she had sought them out was that she hated all the destruction and death war brought, and she knew her family wouldn’t be satisfied with just conquering the surrounding areas. They’d keep going, and they eventually would fail, leaving a swath of death and destruction as their legacy.
Therefore, stopping their rule before the bloodshed could begin was the solution she came to, but she knew it wasn’t something she could do alone. Even if she were to kill her father and uncle, something she apparently had no qualms with, her brother Oisc would simply continue what they started.
To further prove her sincerity, she revealed to them she had stolen her father’s sword, a weapon once wielded by Hnæf called Hildeleoma, for them to use both as a symbol of authority as well as a means to incense her father.
Neither Vortigern nor Uther were fully convinced by this convenient occurrence. However, they also realized that, if this actually was a ploy to coax them out of hiding and then kill them, there were easier ways to do so.
Deciding they would need time to consider what she said, they told her to come back in a week for their answer. Rowena asked them where she would go, considering she is now likely a hunted woman. So, against their better judgement, Rowena stayed with them for the next week as they thought over her offer.
Rowena spent the next seven days helping the brothers in their daily activities, more often spending time hunting and in nature with Vortigern than in society with Uther. Slowly, as she shared more about herself, Vortigern came to believe her care for those under her father and uncle were genuine and discovered the other reason for her betrayal. Neither she nor her mother had ever meant anything to Hengist, being nothing more than tools he utilized for his ambitions. His wife for producing an heir and her to eventually be married off. When her mother died, her father simply sighed, saying that at least she had given him an heir before she keeled over.
When Vortigern asked what she would do after they had driven out the Saxons, she simply said it was her hope to be allowed to stay in Britain. By the time the week ended, Vortigern and Uther were in agreement. Not only was she genuine, but she was also someone they owed for taking these risks. Promising she would have a home in Britain when the battle was over, Vortigern took up the sword, and they began their journey back to their homeland.
Returning to their kingdom, careful not to alert their enemies to their presence, they began gathering the scattered remains of their supporters and preparing for their revolt. During that time, both Vortigern and Uther asked Rowena multiple times if, should they be forced to take her father and uncle’s lives, she could accept that. She reminded them that, while father and uncle in name, she could barely describe either of them as such, citing her previous willingness to poison them.
After two weeks of preparation, they assaulted the castle, Vortigern and Uther at the lead.
After a grueling battle they arrived in the throne room and battled the Saxon brothers. Together, he and Uther slayed the false rulers with Uther, without discussing with Vortigern, declaring his brother as king.
Though he was uncertain of his new role, Vortigern refused to let it show as he drove out the invaders and took the throne. Knowing that, while Uther might be more suited, he was still perhaps too young to be king, Vortigern worked to act as he believed a proper king should. He ruled that way for three years, Britain slowly recovering from the wounds the Saxons had inflicted as well as helping Rowena settle into life in Britain.
As he settled into his role and Uther went on quests with Merlin, a young but powerful magician who had offered his services to the crown, Vortigern found himself growing closer to the woman who had helped them reclaim their kingdom. By the end of his first year as king, he had already found his queen.
Life was peaceful in Britain. Until the day came when Merlin called the Pendragon brothers to speak with him.
Merlin told them he had long ago seen a vision that he believed was now beginning to unfold. Sleeping beneath Mount Emrys were two dragons, one white and one red. He told them that those dragons would fight each other upon waking, a battle that would end with the red dragon killing the white but succumbing to its wounds soon after.
When asked about the meaning, Merlin told them that the white dragon represented Vortigern, but the red dragon represented one yet to come. Before they could ask about that, Merlin continued by saying to Uther that his child would become king during a time of great war. Upon hearing these words, Vortigern believed he realized what Merlin was saying. The red dragon was Uther’s child, and he would end up fighting them. What further compounded his worry was his wife and their child, Vortimer, being swept in in whatever battle may come from such conflict.
He had never felt comfortable ruling over Britain, often fondly remembering his days in the wilderness seeing creatures both mortal and magical. After discussing with his queen, Vortigern came to a decision. To avoid conflict with his brother’s child and place the one he always believed better suited to be the ruler, he would abdicate the throne to Uther. Though he attempted to convince her to remain in the city, saying the wilderness was no place for a child, she rebuked his concerns, saying that wherever he went, they would go to, a stance she was immoveable on.
And so, Vortigern relinquished his claim to the throne alongside the weapon he had used to claim it, suggesting to his brother to reforge the weapon into one he could call his own. Then, after one final talk with Uther, he left, hoping he had prevented the dark fate Merlin had prophesied.
Unfortunately, fate is not so easily changed, and Vortigern had unwittingly played directly into its hands.
This is the story the world had worked to conceal after his final battle. Becoming an object of hate and treachery, Vortigern’s role was changed from one of Britain’s saviors to the very threat he fought against. He was replaced as Uther’s brother by another, and years of gentle rule were overwritten and forgotten.
Thus, Vortigern Pendragon was killed, and Vortigern the Usurper was born.
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Originally Posted by DelRey
