Warhammer: Bretonnia / Characters

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"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

"What is a knight without his steed? But what is the steed without his knight? Knight and steed, noble and peasant; on such relationship is Bretonnia built."
—King Louen Leoncoeur

Bretonnia is a feudal kingdom situated to the west of The Empire and separated from the latter by the Grey Mountains. The country was founded nearly a thousand years after the Empire when Gilles le Breton united the people of the land and drove the orcs away; since then the Bretonnians have never abandoned their chivalric ways and the worship of their goddess, the Lady of the Lake. ^note However, it is implied that Bretonnia may have been created by the Wood Elves to create a buffer state against their enemies and it was eventually revealed that the Lady is the Elven goddess Lileath. Their current leader is Louen Leoncoeur of Couronne.

The pride of Bretonnia are its knights, noblemen donning armor and lance and riding their steeds to battle. All knights from the young and eager Knights Errant to the blessed Grail Knights who found the Grail and drank from it, form fast and hard-hitting cavalry units with devastating charge. Those knights riding in battle are moreover supported by Damsels, the only magic-wielders of the realm, and poor units of low-born serving as Men-at-Arms, bowmen, or manning the trebuchet. Indeed the honor-bound knights of Bretonnia look down on shooting weapons of any kind and hate all magic that doesn't come from the Lady.

The country's populace is split in two. First, the powerful high-born knights and ladies rule the lands and fight to protect their territories, sometimes going on quests to prove themselves or find the famed Grail to honor their goddess. In contrast to the knights, the peasantry of Bretonnia are downtrodden and mistreated, with heavy taxes levied upon them.

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General Tropes

Aristocrats Are Evil: The characterisation of Bretonnian aristocrats tends to Zigzag across editions. Bretonnians were at their worst in the earlier editions, embodying every negative stereotype about the Middle Ages turned up to eleven. The peasants were superstitious, powerless morons who had 90% of their harvest taken by a decadent, arrogant, hypocritical nobility. Later, from around 6th Edition onward, Bretonnia's depiction became more mixed, with some knights (particularly Grail Knights) actually being as brave, chivalrous, selfless, and noble as they say they are. They're still highly traditionalist and are against any peasants rising above their station, mostly looking down on them with paternalistic condescension, but they do genuinely look after them and protect them. There are still plenty of rotten apples, but Bretonnia as a whole isn't the hilarious medieval hellscape it was at the start.
Army Scout: Yeomen are peasant scouts doing the very dishonorable work of simply trying to watch for the enemy army and gather information. Despite their important work, they cannot ride on a proper Bretonnian warhorse and must make do with the peasantry's horses, and it takes years of unappreciated service plus an exceptional feat to be elected to this relatively privileged position in the first place. In game, they form a unit of fast cavalry made for harassing.
Badass Creed: Among the different knightly vows, the Grail vow is particularly badass.
"... That which is sacrosanct I shall preserve.
That which is sublime, I will protect.
That which threatens, I will destroy.
For my holy wrath will know no bound..."
Battle Cry: In battle, Bretonnians traditionally bellow out "For the Lady!"
BFS: It's Bretonnian tradition that, when a Knight of the Realm gives up his position and takes the vow of a Questing Knight, they discard their lance in favour of the time-honoured weapon of the Quest, a large two-handed greatsword that the knight wields with expert proficiency.
Blue Blood: The knights of Bretonnia all belong to the nobility of the country. Going back to the companions of Gilles le Breton, the ruling class is the only one allowed to become real warriors defending their kingdom and are expected to be very good at it. Of course, being nobles, they benefit from all the luxury they can grab though.
But Now I Must Go: A core part of a Grail Knight's vows is that he cannot sleep in the same place two nights in a row until he finds the grail. As such, whenever he completes a quest, he is obliged to leave in search of a new one within a day.
Cool Helmet: Bretonnian knights will typically adorn their helms with colourful and ornate crests, often referencing a part of their personal heraldry.
Cool Horse: Bretonnian Warhorses are specially bred to bear knights and full armour, possessing higher than average endurance. They receive no penalty for being barded and thus combine armor with swiftness on the battlefield.
Crapsaccharine World: Bretonnia is the bucolic picture of a medieval kingdom, with soft rolling green hills, quaint villages and majestic Disney-esque castles, all protected by chivalrous knights clad in colourful regalia. Bretonnia is also a picture of oppressive feudal brutality, where stuck-up nobles who enjoy almost total infallibility can tax their peasants for up to 90% of their farm yields and kill them for basically any perceived affront. It's also home to a secretly sinister state religion that worships a Lovecraftian "Lady of the Lake" and kidnaps children with magical potential to be trained as priestesses or, for the young boys, implied to be gifted to the neighbouring elves for some nefarious secret purpose.
- However the Duchy of Mousillon is more a Crapsack World via Campbell Country. On top of the Bretonnian state religion and class system, there's also near-endless swampland and forests infested with bloodthirsty monsters, man-eating giant frogs, restless dead who refuse to stay in their graves, a presiding Lord who was a bit mad and possibly not even human, and locals who are all inbred snail-catchers and grave robbers. It's telling that in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, the entry for the "Mousillon Peasant" career notes that players shouldn't put much thought into their character's reason for adventuring because anybody would seize any chance to leave Mousillon behind if they had even a whiff of it.
Crystal Dragon Jesus: Between its chapels, monasteries, codes of chivalry and female modesty, heavy use of stained glass and association with a pseudo-French kingdom of wandering knights, the faith of the Lady of the Lake is essentially medieval French Catholicism with a coating of Arthurian imagery.
Decade Dissonance: Despite living right next to the Renaissance/Holy Roman Empire with added Steampunk-themed Empire, Bretonnia is perpetually stuck in a medieval Arthurian setting, a state of affairs that is perpetuated by the Bretonnian nobility and, it's implied, the manipulation of their Wood Elf neighbours. While the Empire is considered the more powerful nation of the two, the technological and cultural dissonance isn't too much of a disadvantage for the Bretonnians due to their magic and their close relationship with their deity.
Deconstructive Parody: With its theme park knights of the Chivalric Romance alongside exaggerated flaws of actual feudalism, many fans of Bretonnia find the crapsack lot in life of the peasants to be absurdly grim to the point of hilarity. To wit, a noble takes 90% of his peasants' harvest (which was later clarified that they redistribute enough of that later at least so the peasants do not starve to death), and peasants are generally portrayed as genuinely being so pathetic and stupid that the knights' complete lack of concern for them is understandable to a degree.
Doesn't Like Guns: The knights of Bretonnian all have a cultural hatred of bows, guns and such. Their founder and greatest hero Gilles Le Breton was killed by an anonymous arrow and the undignified death of such a man made his surviving companions hate all shooting weapons. As a result, guns are nonexistent to the Bretonnian armies and bows are restricted to units of poor-quality bowmen, as knights do know the utility of the weapon without wanting to approach the damned bows.
Dragons Versus Knights: Bretonnia is heavily based on Arthurian myth and chivalric romance, and the theme of the heroic knight laying low a fearsome monster is consequently often used. Naturally, the archetypal foe of its wandering knights, and the most coveted by ones seeking to earn a name, is the dragon. Gilles le Breton, Bretonnia's first king, rose to fame when he fought and killed the legendary dragon Smearghus, who had been ravaging his land's countryside. His descendant, Duke Bohemond Beastslayer, himself slew a dragon in his younger years and crafted his mace's shaft from its thighbone. Jasperre le Beau, also called Jasperre the Dragonslayer, is particularly skilled at this; he killed the dragon Malgrimace while rescuing the king's daughter, and in his wanderings since then has killed many other dragons in addition to other monsters.
The Dung Ages: Most definitely, at least for the commoners — Bretonnia is firmly planted in a social model where nobles hoard the wealth and power and peasants are ignorant, inbred, deeply impoverished and stuck living in flimsy huts in crude villages.
Enemy Mine: Bretonnia often joins forces with the Empire against the Greenskins, the Skaven, Chaos and other mutual threats, despite the two nations otherwise being rivals.
Empowered Badass Normal: Grail Knights are Questing Knights who were blessed by the Lady and granted a sip of her Grail. As a result, they are fully blessed by her, possessing a better mystical protection, and the water of the Grail multiplies their lifespan.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Largely medieval France and Britain, what with the faction name coming from Britannia along with many Arthurian references and Expies in their fluff.
Fantasy Gun Control:
- From the 5th Edition of the game onwards, gunpowder weapons are said to be illegal, with the knights themselves further being banned from using other ranged weapons by their rules of honour.
- Some older background material and Gaiden Games ZigZag the ban on ranged weapons. In these sources, Bretonnia outlaws crossbows on Bretonnian soil and while firearms aren't mentioned, extending the ban to also include black-powder weapons is generally considered to be within the spirit of the law. There are, however, some powerful mercantile groups who want the law either interpreted more literally or amended outright so the major ports can use cannon in their defense works. The Bretonnian Navy use cannons with impunity, since their cannon are never brought onto Bretonnian soil but stay on the ships.
Fictional Flag: The Bretonnian dukedoms each have traditional heraldry, used by their lords and, in modified form, by the lord's sworn knights and vassals. Examples include Parravon's gold pegasus on black, derived from its famous pegasus riders; l'Anguille's blue sea monster on white, representing the beasts that live along its coasts; and Bastonne's red dragon on gold, in honor of its founder, Gilles le Bretton, who among other things was a famous dragonslayer.
Firearms Are Cowardly: Bretonnia is famous for its disdain of any ranged weapons (especially firearms) due to the death of Gilles Le Breton to a crossbow; Bretonnian law forbids gunpowder weapons on its soil and only permits longbows to its peasant levies while the ruling class focuses on horseback combat. Thanks to the Lady giving them resistance to firearms, they can hold their own against gun-happy armies like Dwarfs, Skaven, or the Empire. Subverted with the Bretonnian navy: despite being helmed by the nobility, their ships are the most heavily-armed of any faction, as the law forbids guns on Bretonnian soil. This is a case of Retcon / Alternate Continuity as the use of siege bombards and mercenary gunners was referenced several times in the 4th and 5th edition eras.
Fleur-de-lis: A very common symbol in Bretonnia.
Foe-Tossing Charge: The knights of Bretonnia have access to one special cavalry formation named the Lance, a three-models-wide formation representing a column of knights charging at high speed and their tipped formation allowing greater penetration into the enemy ranks. If a Lance of Bretonnian Knights charges someone, all the units at the front and sides of the Lance can attack.
French Jerk: The Bretonnians are legendary for their arrogance and self-righteousness, especially amongst the nobility. Exaggerated in that they manage to be so arrogant and unshakably convinced of their own importance despite being one of the least important nations on what passes for the world stage.
The Good Kingdom: Being an actual Kingdom, Bretonnia technically DOES count as this trope though it subverts many aspects of the trope. Peasants are treated poorly and the ruling class refuses to evolve technologically.
Heroic Vow: Knights usually mark their entry to knighthood with vows of virtue and duty and the vows only become more restrictive as a knight advances in the ranks. The Bretonnian army represents this with the Special Vow rules, granting knights different bonus depending on the Vow in question. For instance the Knight’s Vow allows Knights of the Realm to ignore Panic caused by peasants while the Grail Vow makes Grail Knights Immune to Psychology and automatically grants them the Blessing of the Lady.
Hero-Worshipper: Grail Pilgrims, who worship the Grail Knights and follow them around so as to share in the Lady of the Lake's blessing. It's also deconstructed as the pilgrims loot the corpses of Grail Knights for any idols of the Lady but sometimes they even end up accidentally killing the wounded, but still alive, Grail Knights by running them over. Sometimes they even loot an entire Grail Knight's body and load him up on a Grail Reliquae.
Honor Before Reason: An enforced trope. Bretonnian nobility has a huge emphasis on honor and so its knights tend to do the most honorable thing to them according to the rules of chivalry and honor at the detriment of the sensible things. The Lady also enforces this mindset. In game, this way of life is representing in knights being practically obliged to issue and accept challenges or otherwise lose the Blessing of the Lady.
- Gilles le Breton, the legendary dragonslayer and Founder of the Kingdom of Bretonnia, was killed in battle by an ignoble missile (in some versions of the story, an ordinary Orc javelin) and the Bretonnian nobility have been very sore about that ever since. Ranged weapons of any kind — bows, crossbows and firearms, are deemed "dishonourable" and Bretonnian knights are forbidden by their code of chivalry from taking them up. However they're not total idiots about it, as peasant archers and trebuchets are fair game.
Immune to Bullets: Bretonnia may be stuck in the Middle Ages but, due to the blessings of the Lady of the Lake, many of their units have magical protection against guns, allowing them to hold their own against the Empire, Dwarves, and Skaven, all of whom use guns.
Inertial Impalement: The Bowmen of Bretonnia, being Combat Pragmatists, have taken to defend themselves against incoming enemies by raising Defensive Stakes cut out of nearby trees and planted in sharp fences to dissuade charges. In game, any model charging the Bowmen and going through the Defensive Stakes basically counts as not having charged although they can fight at close range with Bowmen. Any bonus or rule associated with charging are rendered moot.
Jousting Lance: While lances are the weapons for the heavy cavalry of many factions, the Knights of Bretonnia take their use to even greater lengths, having developed a special formation to enhance the effectiveness of the weapon. Jousting tournaments are also one of the favourite pastimes of the Bretonnian nobility, and is the primary method used to settle disputes between Knights. In-game, the special Lance Formation allows a far greater number of Knights to attack in close combat to maximise the Strength bonus lance armed cavalry gain when they charge.
Knight Errant: There are the actual Knights Errant, who are just young knights eager to prove themselves in battle, but the Questing Knights, who discard everything they own in search of the Grail, fit the trope better. However, should they successfully drink from the Grail, they can take back the lands and titles they gave up before, although most choose not to.
Knight In Shining Armour:
- The knights of Bretonnia live and breathe for the ideal, with quite a few exceptions. Their disregard and treatment of the peasantry tarnishes it however. As the Grail Knights are supposed to be all paragons of virtue (which is presumed to include the Virtue of Empathy that the vast majority of knights fail to exhibit) to become one, but Bretonnian nobles' sense of morals is a bit different from the usual person's so it tends to come down to a player's own interpretation whether the Grail Knights are genuine examples of this trope.
- The Bretonnian army has a Virtues system, Virtues representing a particular noble character trait that are available for purchase when building the army. Lords and Heroes can purchase different Virtues to represent their strength of character and granting them different bonuses. For instance, the Virtue of Stoicism allows the corresponding knight to reroll failed to break tests.
Leeroy Jenkins: The Knights Errant, young knights who are so eager to prove themselves in battle that they will often charge their foes without care and without orders.
Magic Is Feminine: Enforced. Bretonnian wizards are also overwhelmingly women, since — save for a few scions of wealthy families sent to the Empire's Colleges of Magic — magically adept children are usually taken from their homes by servants of the Lady of the Lake. The girls sometimes return years later as powerful spellcasters... but no boy has ever returned.
Medieval Stasis: Bretonnia is firmly rooted in a high medieval technology level, in sharp contrast to its far more advanced neighbors — the Empire, Kislev, and the Dwarfs all make habitual use of gunpowder weaponry, for instance. This is largely due to deliberate suppression of certain technologies by the nobility, partly because they find their use dishonorable and partly because keeping the country the way it is makes it easier to maintain control; it's also suggested that the Wood Elves are deliberately keeping Bretonnia undeveloped in order for it to act as an easily manipulated human shield.
National Weapon: The knights of Bretonnia have a strong cultural preference for lances — they can and do use swords, but consider the lance to be the true weapon of a knight.
Our Gryphons Are Different: Hippogriffs are huge monsters with the body of a horse, and the wings, head and foreclaws of a bird. They are a favored mount for Lords and the difficulty of raising them actually attracts the attention of many knights.
Out of Focus: Bretonnia did not receive an army book in either of the last two editions and was among the least important factions depicted in the End Times, where all of Bretonnia is ruined offscreen with next to no named characters whose story is known.
Pegasus: In the city of Parravon near the Grey Mountains, Bretonnia raises a large number of pegasi: winged horses whose strength but also intelligence and loyalty to their masters is very high. Bretonnia's Pegasus Knights act as a rare flying cavalry that can bypass unimportant enemy units to charge vulnerable key units.
Physical God: The Grail Knights are explicitly treated as such in-universe due to having been infused with some powers of the Lady. To quote Bretonnia 6e, "Grail Knights command respect and awe from all listeners, lowly peasants and mighty dukes alike... To the commoners of Bretonnia, Grail Knights form a pantheon of living deities, their names spoken as a reverent mantra throughout the land, and are often worshipped in their own right." Their actual power level is fairly modest though; their stats just about line up with the "peak human" warriors (as opposed to being flat-out superhuman like Chaos Champions) with the addition of minor buffs (namely, a 6+ ward save, having all their attacks count as magical while otherwise doing the same damage, and being Immune to Psychology). The greatest Grail Knights are a cut above the rest, occasionally being capable of killing armies on their own, but even they are far from invulnerable (case in point: Gilles was killed by an Orc javelin).
Proud Warrior Race Guy: The nobles of Bretonnia revel in battle.
The Quest: Questing Knights are knight who vow to seek the Lady and the Grail, abandoning all possessions save their weapons and horse to start Walking the Earth (a Questing Knight cannot, among other requirements, sleep two nights in the same place) to perform heroic deeds and attract the attention of the Lady. A model with the Questing Vow may ignore Panic caused by other units, reroll failed psychology tests and cannot be joined by characters with the Knight’s Vow. In addition, they cannot wield lances. Those who manage to complete that quest are blessed forever by the Lady.
Retcon: Bretonnia is a faction that got notably more morally ambiguous when its lore was revised as part of the edition change from 5th to 6th. In 5th edition, Bretonnia was actually somewhat meritocratic; any man who had the courage could invoke the right to become a Knight Errant by agreeing to undertake a quest set for them by a respectable authority figure, and if they succeeded on this quest, then they became a fully recognized knight, and thus a member of the aristocracy by default. Even peasants could benefit from this law, and frequently did. But come 6th edition, and the lore was changed; now, knighthood could only be pursued by men of the aristocracy, and membership in the aristocracy could only belong to individuals who could trace their lineage from both their mother and their father to the Peerage List drafted by King Louis the Rash, the 2nd King of Bretonnia.
Unwitting Pawn: For years, fans have theorized from hints in the fluff that Bretonnia's entire culture is the result of manipulation by the Wood Elves to control them^note and to exploit them as Cannon Fodder for any threats coming from the west. It turns out that this is exactly right, and the Lady was an Elven goddess' disguise all along.
Redshirt Army: Alongside, or rather under the knights of Bretonnia, fight the Men-at-arms, peasants selected by the local nobles to act as a much needed if expendable infantry unit. These men having the barest of training and equipment are quite mediocre, and only their cheapness may make them attractive.
Religious Bruiser: Bretonnia worships its gods a lot and none as fervously as the Lady and to a lesser degree Shallya. In game, the entire army can pray at the very beginning of the game, to gain the Blessing of the Lady, they thus relinquish initiative for a ward save for all knights.
Siege Engines: Bretonnian knights look down on siege engines but aren't foolish enough to disdain such weapons entirely. Bretonnia exclusively use the Field Trebuchet to launch rocks at the enemy. In-game, the Field Trebuchet is the only war machine available to Bretonnia. It has, thanks to its design made to lay siege to castles, a shooting attack of Strength 10 to 5 and a range going up to 60". However, its size also means that the trebuchet cannot be displaced at all.
Small Name, Big Ego: Bretonnia is one of the most primitive cultures in the Warhammer world, barring the "savage" races like Wood Elves, Orcs, Goblins and Beastmen. As a result, Bretonnia's presence in the global stage is pretty much non-existent. They have very little considered worth trading by the Empire, barring wine^note, spices and chefs, their social structure is considered absurdly backwards and archaic^note, and about the only reason they haven't been conquered by more technologically advanced or numerous forces is because they're geographically isolated by mountains and far from the centers of power of the evil races like the Badlands, Norsca, Naggaroth, the Chaos Wastes, and the Drakwald (there are also very few Skaven cities underneath Bretonnia, though huge concentrations exist in Tilea, Estalia, and the southern Empire, all of which are close by). The Empire and Ulthuan, the two Order powerhouses, respectively occupy their right and left flanks and largely insulate them from major invasions. Yet in typical Black Comedy fashion, the Bretonnians are completely oblivious to their reputation as a joke beyond their own lands and tell themselves that every other nation in the world envies them for their clearly superior military and culture. The only positive thing that can be said for Bretonnia is that they have the best Knights and Calvary in the world, even surpassing the Empire's Calvary, but overall they seldom amount to much in the metaplot aside from covering the Empire's flank and occasionally supplying back-up (for example during the Storm of Chaos). They're usually kept busy by threats far smaller than what the Empire, Ulthuan, and Karaz Ankor have to deal with, such as the Orcs of Masif Orcal or the undead of Mousillon (which is a fraction the size of Sylvania).
Upper-Class Twit: A depressing number of knights are distinctly out of touch with reality, though they're officially a minority. Given that the process of inheriting a domain typically requires battling horrible monsters, which exposes the would-be heir to all manner of sanity-rending horrors and traumas (and head wounds), to say nothing of any aristocratic proclivities towards incest^note, it's quite believable that a lot of the people running the show in Bretonnia don't have all their marbles.
We Have Reserves: Knights don't really care about commoners fleeing though unusually for this trope this is more a case of Proud Warrior Race Guy disdain than simple evilness: the arrogant and elitist nobles expect peasantry to break in the face of a real fight, considering them to be on the same level as sheep.
White Magician Girl: Prophetesses and Damsels are women born with magical talents who, after being taken by the Lady and taught magic with her, return to Bretonnia and act as counselors and support in the battlefield. The Damsels exclusively wield lores related to nature such as the Lores of Life, Beasts and the Heavens. Their Aura of the Lady rule also grants them the Magic Resistance rule.

The Righteous Champions of the Lady

Dukes of Bretonnia

Louen Leoncoeur

Louen Leoncoeur, Duke of Couronne and Royarch of Bretonnia

The ruling king of Bretonnia.

Animal Motifs: His heraldry features a golden lion on a field of red and blue. This references the first duke of Couronne, who hailed from Lyonesse and at a young age, alongside his brother, slew the last lion in Bretonnia. Also one may not need to look further than his name, Leoncoeur, which means "lion heart".
Anti-Magic: His shield has been enchanted to protect him from magic.
Badass Army: Downplayed. However, when the King of Bretonnia goes to war, he does so accompanied with the finest knights of the country. In game, if he is present in an army, in order to represent how it is mostly composed of the crème de la crème of Bretonnia, doesn't have the restriction on Grail Knights and Men-at-arms and Bowmen become a special choice.
The Champion: Louen is The Lady of the Lake's appointed champion in the world. To represent it, he possesses The Lady's Champion rule giving him an automatic Blessing of the Lady and Regeneration to indicate just how much She protects him. However, if he flees or refuses a challenge, then he takes an immediate wound that cannot be saved.
Cool Crown: Adorned with fleurs-de-lys and blessed with a kiss from the Lady of the Lake, Louen's crown has passed from king to king since the coronation of Gilles' son. In game, the Crown of Bretonnia gives him a range of 18" for his Inspiring Presence bubble and makes units in range immune to Panic.
Cool Sword: The Sword of Couronne shines so brightly it'll blind his foes and increases the strength behind his blows as well. In game it confers Leoncoeur +1 Strength and forces any enemy model in base contact with him to pass a Leadership test, or be unable to attack and be automatically hit.
Empowered Badass Normal: Like every Grail Knight, he was a uniquely formidable and driven man before drinking water provided by the Lady of the Lake made him akin to a demigod.
Healing Factor: Having drunk from the Grail, Louen's wounds are capable of healing themselves.
Knight in Shining Armor: Regarded by his subjects as the pinnacle of knightly perfection and honor. Not that it seems to have prevented him from fathering a bastard son, like some other king you might have heard about. Additionally, despite reports of wisdom, compassion and justice from his listening to pleas from peasants that were brought to him from some sort of noble, he still keeps the rigid confinements of Bretonnia's feudalism and shows no interest in reworking it.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: His shield has been carried for many years since he first became a knight and has been reworked to protect him from magic. In game, the Lion's Shield grants him Magic Resistance as strong as the number of dice used to cast said spell.
The Magnificent: Called the Lion-Hearted for his heraldry and bravery in battle.
Named After Someone Famous: His last name, Leoncoeur, is just putting together the two words that would have made up Richard I of England's nickname translated into French.
Older Than They Look: Looks to be in his prime, but is whispered by scholars to be about 90 years old, presumably due to drinking from the Grail.
Our Gryphons Are Different: Rides the Hippogryph Beaquis into battle. It is very loyal to Louen, so if he is slain, Beaquis automatically becomes Frenzy to represent its Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
The Paragon: As King of Bretonnia, Louen Leoncoeur has become the gold standard by which knights judge themselves. In game, his Puissant Virtue allows him to reroll failed hits and wounds rolls during a challenge and he also counts as having the Virtue of Purity (making his Blessing of the Lady a permanent 5+ ward save).
Rank Scales with Asskicking: As the king of Bretonnia, he's also the most powerful fighter among them.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: The kings of Bretonnia are required to be great knights before they can take the throne. Louen's earning of Grail Knight powers came from trying to fight off a necromancer with a large undead army along with sixteen other knights, and the reason that he had to fight this army was that his father didn't like that he had initially returned from his Questing Vow empty-handed.
Throwing Your Shield Always Works: Exaggerated - he threw his kite shield by the pointed end at the necromancer Myldeon, through various ranks of undead standing between them, decapitating Myldeon at the neck. Of course, he had just become a Grail Knight when he did this.
Universally Beloved Leader: Louen Leoncoeur is the greatest king since Gilles Le Breton, and all of Bretonnia admires and loves him for his prowess and honor. His rule Beloved Son of Bretonnia makes it so if he is slain, the entire army must pass a Panic test, but also becomes Stubborn as they now want to reclaim his body.

Bohemond Beastslayer

Bohemond Beastslayer, Duke of Bastonne

The ruler of the Duchy of Bastonne, Duke Bohemond Beastslayer is far more interested in fighting mighty foes than he is in the day-to-day running of his realm. This is fortunate for Bretonnia's stability, as he is also a descendant of King Giles le Breton and could have ground to press a claim to the throne, but his disinterest in rulership and firm loyalty to King Louen ensure that he has no interest in doing this.

Carry a Big Stick: He wields the Beast Mace of Bastonne, crafted from a dragon's thighbone and a lump of meteoric iron, which grants him a strength bonus and an additional number of Wounds inflicted on a hit to represent its bone-crushing power.
Challenge Seeker: He greatly prefers fighting skilled and dangerous opponents, and ranges widely in order to find challenging foes to test himself against. He outright refuses to fight weaker enemies, simply stunning them if they persist in opposing him so that he can turn his attention to worthier challengers.
Crafted from Animals: The shaft of his weapon, the Beast Mace of Bastonne, was carved from the femur of a dragon he slew himself.
Famous Ancestor: He's a direct descendant of King Gilles the Uniter, the first ruler of Bretonnia.
Horrible Judge of Character: He's noted to be rather poor at judging the character of his stewards and justicars, whom he has to replace on a regular basis.
Hunter of Monsters: He's an enthusiastic monster-hunter, hence his popular title.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: His shield, in addition to providing an armor bonus as all shields do, has a chance of shattering his enemy's weapon when struck.
The Magnificent: He's known as "Beastslayer" due to his prowess at hunting and killing dangerous creatures.
Out of Focus: He was given tabletop stats in Bretonnia's 5th edition armybook, but was one of the characters left out in the 6th edition printing.

Tancred

Tancred II, Duke of Quenelles

Avowed enemy of the Lichemaster Heinrich Kemmler, Tancred has sworn to never rest until he has destroyed the foul necromancer. To this end, the king has allowed him to take up an enchanted sword and shield that enhance his powers at battling the undead.

Hunter of Monsters: Specifically, Undead. Tancred's priorities run, roughly: Heinrich Kemmler, any undead creature, any other monster. However, he will fight anything that threatens the good people of Bretonnia.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Tancred carries the magical Grail Shield, which repulses the undead and nullifies their ability to attack him.
Put on a Bus: The character hasn't had official rules in the game since 5th edition.

Other Knights and Nobles

Roland le Marechal

Roland is the man responsible for defending the Marches of Couronne, which mark the frontier of Bretonnia, Marienburg, and the Empire. He leads a large retinue of knights and works tirelessly to push the frontier eastward, claiming more land for Bretonnia.

Blow That Horn: Roland carries a uniquely enchanted warhorn, called simply "Roland's Warhorn"; when sounded, it forces all flying enemies to take flight and stay high above the fray until they can overcome the supernatural dread that it instills in them.
Put on a Bus: The character hasn't had official rules in the game since 5th edition.

The Knight of the Perilous Lance

A mysterious figure who attends every single tournament in Bretonnia, but has never been defeated. Nobody knows who he is.

Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Knight of the Perilous Lance is such an expert jouster that he is particulrly adept at deflecting attacks with his shield.
Mysterious Stranger: Nobody knows anything about who he is, where he comes from, or what he wants. They just know he's incredibly skilled with his lance.
Put on a Bus: The character hasn't had official rules in the game since 5th edition.

Tristran le Troubadour avec Jules le Jongleur

Despite favoring music over swordplay, Tristran still chose to take up the Grail Quest, accompanied by his faithful jester.

Combat Parkour: Jules is a poor fighter and completely unarmored, but he's such a nimble, agile figure and so adept in gymnastics that he can evade almost any attack thrown at him.
Flowery Insults: Jules' knack for insults, put-downs, mockery and jeering is so amazing that he can literally rob enemies of attacks as they stop in dumbfounded amazement at his vulgarity.
Music for Courage: Tristran can play one of three well-known Bretonnian ballards in game, granting a boost to the regiment he has joined. The Chanson de Bataille grants a bonsu to combat resolution. The Chanson de Grail can counter enemy spells. Finally, the Chanson de Gilles temporarily raises the unit's Leadership to 10.
Put on a Bus: The character hasn't had official rules in the game since 5th edition.
True Companions: Tristran and Jules have been through thick and thin together, and their bond is intense. In fact, if Jules is slain, Tristran will be unable to use his Music for Courage special rule for the rest of the battle due to being so overcome with grief.

Reynard le Chasseur

A master hunter, Reynard le Chasseur is so obsessed with hunting that he has even forsaken the use of lances in combat and instead skewers his enemies upon a boar spear.

The Beastmaster: Reynard always fights with a trained hunting hawk and his two faithful wolfhounds; Groffe et Griffe and Chien de Guerre.
Put on a Bus: The character hasn't had official rules in the game since 5th edition.
Right-Hand Attack Dog: Reynard hunts and fights with two large, powerful, and vicious wolfhounds; Groffe et Griffe and Chien de Guerre.
True Companions: Reynard loves his dogs Groffe and Griffe, and they love him back. If Reynard is slain, his dogs go berserk and will start rampaging across the countryside, attacking anything in their path. If they are killed, then Reynard goes mad with rage and develops Hatred of the enemy.

Armand d'Aquitaine

One of the youngest Grail Knights ever, Armand d'Aquitaine is the personal battle standard bearer of King Louen Leoncoeur himself and charged with bearing the legendary Banner of the Lady of the Lake, the most sacred banner in all of the realm.

Put on a Bus: The character hasn't had official rules in the game since 5th edition.

Jasperre le Beau, Dragonslayer

This pegasus-riding Questing Knight is the most famous dragonslayer in all of Bretonnia, and earned particular fame for slaying Malgrimace, a dragon who had kidnapped King Louen Leoncoeur's daughter, Isabeau. He still carries the talon of the dragon around his neck as a protective amulet.

Battle Trophy: He wears an amulet made from the talon of a dragon that he slew.
The Dragonslayer: He earned great fame for slaying the dragon Malgrimace to rescue the king's daughter, earning him his current title of Dragonslayer.
The Magnificent: Depending on the situation, he's referred to as either Jasperre le Beau ("the Beautiful") or Jasperre the Dragonslayer.
Put on a Bus: The character hasn't had official rules in the game since the 5th edition.

Other Notable Figures

The Green Knight

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/green_knight_art.jpg

A mysterious knight that appears to challenge Questing Knights on their quest.

Big Damn Heroes: His specialty is arriving on the nick of time to assist beleaguered Bretonnian forces.
Cool Horse: Rides the Shadow Steed, which is as ethereal as its rider.
Cool Sword: Wields the Dolorous Blade, which burns with a strange light and effortlessly cuts through his foes. In game, the Green Knight can choose thanks to the blade to add D6 attacks or have a +2 Strength bonus.
Dramatic Unmask: Takes off his helmet to reveal himself as Gilles le Breton, before killing Mallobaude.
The Dreaded: Inspires Terror in his foes, though the Beastmen in particular speak of him with dread, the Green Knight having slain untold thousands of their kind over the centuries.
Eternal Hero: He's been around for centuries and never truly dies in battle.
Expy: Of another Green Knight.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Questing Knights who encounter him speak of how his eyes are ablaze with a fey light.
Foil: To Grombrindal. They were both kings that took on new identities after death and became powerful, supernatural warriors whose primary motivation is the defense of their people.
Intangible Man: Due to his Ethereal nature, he can pass through physical obstacles, while most physical attacks pass right through him. He can, however, be wounded if bested in combat, but will always reappear if slain. Of all these effects are transposed in game, making him a quite hard model to remove for normal infantry.
Losing Your Head: Several accounts speak of the Green Knight being decapitated and picking up his head once again.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Wields a regular shield, emblazoned with a grinning face surrounded by leaves.
Our Spirits Are Different: This one is the spirit of a knight, whose true nature is unknown. He is attached to the Lady of the Lake and protects sacred places and tests Questing Knights. As a spirits, the Green Knight doesn't fear anything, can pass through terrain as well as attacks that aren't magical too, and cannot really be slain but instead returns shortly.
Red Baron: While the Bretonnians know him as the Green Knight, the Beastmen fear him as Shaabhekh, which means the Soul-Killer.
Shrouded in Myth: Who or what he actually is is never revealed. It is popularly speculated that he is Gilles le Breton, the original uniter of Bretonnia.
You Shall Not Pass!: "None may pass!" is one of his famous phrases used in plays, typically directed at Questing Knights.

The Fay Enchantress

Morgiana, the Fay Enchantress, is the earthly representative of the Lady of the Lake and the cult's highest authority in Bretonnia.

Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: She has the Girdle of Gold, woven with powerful magic and protection spells. It thus grants her a 4+ ward save.
The Archmage: The Fay Enchantress is a very powerful wizard, the best in Bretonnia by a large margin. In game, she is a Level 4 wizard who can use any of the eight basic lores of magic, but with a bonus to cast for the Lore of Life.
Battle Aura: The Fey Enchantress exudes a powerful supernatural aura. In game, she causes Fear, and to the Forces of Destruction (excluding daemons and undead) she causes Terror.
Bewitched Amphibians: Said to turn wizards she dislikes into toads. She even carries a toad familiar around which she draws additional power from.
Court Mage: She serves Bretonnia in this capacity, along with being their highest religious authority.
Deadly Gaze: The Fay's stare is imbued with such power they will actually hurt. Her Spiteful Glance rule forces all enemy models in base contact to pass an Initiative test or take a wound that cannot be saved.
Familiar: She possesses a toad that is said to be a wizard that displeased her and was turned into this creature. It helps her by adding a dice to her power and dispel pool.
High Priest: Or priestess in this case, being the immortal, living representative of the Lady, and one of the highest authorities in the land. Her mere presence is so holy the army she is in counts as automatically having the Blessing of the Lady.
The Lady's Favour: Sometimes gives out a token of her favor to a Bretonnian knight before a battle. However, should he dishonor himself in battle, both take a wound. The rule Favour of the Lady allows the Fay Enchantress to choose a specific model who gets a bonus to hit until he flees or refuses a challenge, in which case both the model and the Fay enchantress take a wound as punishment for failure and lack of insight.
Legacy Character: Possibly. There has been a Fay Enchantress since the earliest history of Bretonnia, but it's unknown whether the position is an inherited one or if it's filled by a single, immortal being.
Multiple-Choice Past: There are many theories surrounding the origin of the Fey Enchantress. Some say that she has existed since Bretonnia's founding, while others say that when she dies she is reborn so that she can continue to serve the Lady of the Lake. There are even some who claim that she is really a Wood Elf^note.
Praetorian Guard: If she is fielded, then several Grail Knights must be bought to specifically bodyguard her.
Stripperific: Some of the artwork for Morgiana^note depict her wearing an incredibly skimpy outfit that would be more appropriate for a Dark Elf Sorceress than a noble Bretonnian lady.
Unicorn: She rides the unicorn Silvaron into battle.

Betrand the Brigand

A heroic Robin Hood-type figure, always accompanied by his followers; the Bowmen of Bergerac, especially his two closest friends; the massive strongman Hugo le Petit and the enormously fat Gui le Gros.

Big Fun: Gui le Gros is characterized as hugely fat but also incredibly cheery and friendly.
Booze-Based Buff: Once per game, Gui le Gros can share his huge flagon of extremely potent liquor with the rest of the unit. This makes them immune to Panic for the rest of the fight, but also afflicts them with a penalty to their attack rolls, because they're so drunk they're unable to shoot straight.
Punny Name: Hugo le Petit is an ironic name, as he's actually so massive his arrows hit like javelins (this makes him very similar to Little John). Gui le Gros, on the other hand, means "Guy the Fat", which actually describes him quite well.
Put on a Bus: The character hasn't had official rules in the game since 5th edition.

Historical Figures

Gilles le Breton

Also called the Uniter, Gilles was the first king of Bretonnia, having united the country and pushed out the rampaging Greenskins.

Animal Motifs: Gilles carried the red dragon of Bastonne as his heraldry, having earned it from slaying a dragon.
The Dragonslayer: Among his many deeds, he was also renowned for slaying a mighty dragon named Smearghus.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: To the Bretonnians; his death at the hands of an ordinary ranged weapon came as such a shock that they forever came to despise them.
Expy: Of King Arthur himself. Louen Leoncouer handled the bastard siring, though.
Founder of the Kingdom: He united the tribes of Bretonnia into one kingdom under his leadership.
King in the Mountain: Mortally wounded, he was taken away by the Lady of the Lake on a ghost ship, but is said to return in Bretonnia's darkest hour. Meanwhile, the mysterious Green Knight is popularly speculated to be him. Darkly Subverted in the End Times, as Gilles comes back in Bretonnia's Darkest Hour but finds his kingdom is beyond saving, and he just ends up leading his people into a doomed Last Stand against the Vermintide. Bretonnia falls despite all his efforts and then the world is destroyed anyway.
The Magnificent: In Bretonnia, he's often referred to as Gilles the Uniter.
Posthumous Character: He died a millennium and a half before the setting's present time.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: He earned his crown battling hordes of Greenskins and remained an active fighter after being crowned.

Repanse de Lyonesse

A legendary paladin from Bretonnia's past, Repanse used to be a peasant girl among many, if a devoutly religious one, until her hometown was destroyed by a marauding Chaos horde. In the smoke of her burning village, Repanse saw a vision of the Lady commanding her to rid her land of the invaders. Donning the armor of a fallen knight and wielding a sword from her hometown's grail chapel, Repanse rallied the knights of Bretonnia behind her banner and led them to victory against the Chaos host.

Attack Reflector: Her Fleur de Lys Banner redirects enemy magic against its caster.
Doomed Hometown: Her hometown was destroyed by a Chaos horde, catalyzing her ascension to heroism.
Jeanne d'Archétype: A humble peasant girl who saved Bretonnia in one of its darkest hours by breaking a siege and winning the favor of its underaged king, in addition to the obligatory bowl cut.
Lady of War: Her title, "Damoiselle de Guerre", means "maiden of war".
Posthumous Character: She lived and died about five hundred years before the setting's modern day.
Power Glows: The Lady's blessing was so strong in her that her eyes, sword and armor glowed with terrible light.
Rags to Riches: She was born a common shepherdess into Bretonnia's oppressed peasantry, but her deeds earned her the Dukedom of Lyonesse — notably, she's the only woman to ever hold a title that high.

Baron Odo d'Outremer avec Suliman le Saracen

Baron Odo d'Outremer was one of the most notorious Bretonnian knights who partook in the crusade against Araby to unseat the evil Sultan Jaffar, unseating the would-be conqueror's army in Estalia and then chasing him to Araby itself. He originally met Suliman, an Araby warrior, fighting under Jaffar's banner, but was so impressed by Suliman's courage that he spared his life after defeating him. As Suliman was a man of honor who hated the despot who had conquered Araby, he took to fighting alongside Baron d'Outremer and ultimately returned to Bretonnia with him.

Battle Cry: Suliman's battlecry is so terrifying that it shocks his foes, allowing him to always strike first despite wielding a two-handed weapon.
BFS: Suliman carries a massive two-handed scimitar.
Epic Flail: Baron d'Outremer carries an enchanted flail, the Morningstar of Fracasse, which was wielded by the legendary crusader known as Fracasse Langoustine, the Scourge of Araby. It has the unique ability to rip enchanted weapons from their wielder's hands.
Fire-Forged Friendship: Despite meeting on opposite sides of the battlefield, Odo and Suliman became fast friends.
Meaningful Name: Odo's surname, d'Outremer, refers to the Latin Catholic crusader states created in the aftermath of the First Crusade.
Put on a Bus: These two haven't had official rules in the game since 5th edition.
Worthy Opponent: Baron d'Outremer always honored bravery and courage in his foes, which is one of the reasons why he and Suliman became friends.

Characters / Warhammer: Bretonnia