- For other characters with the same name, see Solmyr.
Solmyr is a character and playable hero in Heroes II: The Price of Loyalty, the protagonist of the Wizard's Land campaign.
Biography[]
Apprenticeship[]
At the age of seventeen, Solmyr was apprenticed to the Wizard Mandalis. In his first months of service at the Student Hall, he accidentally discovered the truth about his master: Mandalis took apprentices as mere fodder, drawing upon their life essence to supplement his and prevent him from aging. It was too late to renounce all ties with Mandalis, however; the Wizard had already marked Solmyr with the essence-draining spell, leaving him only a year to kill Mandalis, or perish.
Mustering ragtag mercenaries and troops from the countryside, Solmyr travelled to the northeast of the Hall, crossing the wastelands to Mandalis' lair. There, he besieged his master's fortress, narrowly defeating Mandalis. Inside the Wizard's lair, Solmyr discovered Mandalis dying—Mandalis commended Solmyr on his victory, but promised that the greed for power would eventually come to dominate his life as well. In response, Solmyr claimed he wished only to use magic for the sake of good, and finished off Mandalis with a Lightning Bolt.
The threat of Zaggath[]
Solmyr took control of the realm, renaming it the kingdom of Magistar and assuming rulership from the city of Azuras. However, discontented, he found that the duties of rule consumed his time, leaving him bitter, with little time for personal research into magic. Four years after Mandalis's death, he was magically communicated by a wild-looking man named Zaggath, the Mad Warlock—Mandalis's brother, and captor of the dragons.
Solmyr agreed to parley with Zaggath, taking a few apprentices to a border town from where he could begin a journey into the volcanic badlands where Zaggathrym lay. However, he had no intention of passing over rulership to Zaggath, and gathered a force of his own from scratch, capable of rivaling the dragons. Zaggathrym was besieged, and Solmyr claimed victory over the Warlock, freeing the Dragons and leaving him to die amidst the rubble of his castle. The event led Solmyr to rethink his ambitions, and he resolved to spend more time governing his people properly.
Reign of Peace[]
Three years after Zaggath's death, Solmyr was drawn to northern Magistar, where a powerful and wild spell gripped the icy land, forcing a magical stasis upon the realm. From the town of Northwatch, he mounted an expedition into the snowfields, quickly discovering the perpetrator's identity—Iciria, the Sorceress wife of Mandalis, bent on avenging her husband's death by toppling the kingdom. Solmyr regrouped his forces and, following several battles, attacked her ice palace.
After the success of the siege, Solmyr pursued Iciria into the great hall, discovering the Ice Queen clutching at an arrow in her chest. It had been fired by an Elven maiden held captive in her dungeon, who introduced herself as Diana. At a later point, Solmyr would marry Diana—with the last of his foes slain and Mandalis's legacy undone, their union would bring prosperity to Magistar, allowing its citizens "to live together in eternal peace".
Trivia[]
- Solmyr inspired the creation of the Wizard hero Solmyr ibn Wali Barad, who was playable in Heroes of Might and Magic III and a major character in Heroes of Might and Magic IV.
- While the character of Solmyr is non-canonical in the scope of the Might and Magic universe, elements of his portrait design were incorporated into Solmyr ibn Wali Barad's depiction in the Heroes V mod, Legends of the Ancients, such as his hair and facial structure.
- Grayson Towler, the creator of the Wizard's Land scenarios, dedicated the final scenario to Princess Diana, naming Solmyr's wife after her.