First appearance: Skypiercer Part 3 (finale)
The Dragon Knights are the masked dragonborn followers of The Shadow King, a horde that steps out of walls and shadows with blades of pure darkness in hand. They have served him since before he was a king, when he was still “just Agdrel the Shadow, a great warrior.” They first appeared in the final chapter of the Skypiercer prequel, and they returned centuries later to stand at their master’s side when he came back to power.
Story
Skypiercer Part 3
In Skypiercer Part 3 (finale), Elusia and her companions noticed that the shadows in a hall were moving wrong. When Kaja lit a bonfire, the light revealed one of them: a dragonborn with a metal mask fitted to his face, a red cloak over black garb, and two blades made of pure shadow. Elusia recognised them from her own history. They were Agdrel’s Dragon Knights, the loyal horde that had followed him long before he took the throne.
The knights fought back-to-back in a triangle and slipped in and out of the walls as easily as walking through a door. Elusia went down on her hands and knees to check the floor for traps. Kaja, who was wearing her best silk dress, got down beside her anyway: “If I’m going to die here, I’m going to look good doing it.” Elusia lit a torch from the magical lanterns to keep the knights off her. One of them still knocked her short sword away and tried to pull her into the wall.
The party fought back. Atalantos bear-hugged one of the knights clean out of the shadows so Kaja could blast it, and he branded another with the symbol of Cor’thun. Kaja made her own kill look like it was Elusia’s. Fallen knights did not leave bodies behind. Each one dissolved into shadow and left only its empty armor on the floor.
Later in the same episode, a whole troop of Dragon Knights surrounded the party. Their leader delivered a polite summons:
“My king awaits your presence.”
The companions went with them willingly.
Season 3 Finale
The Dragon Knights returned in S3E17, Season 3 Finale - Soot Mustam v Huey Leatherface, when the Shadow King came back. Dozens of them stepped out of the shadows of the pillars and walls to serve him once more.
In the chaos that followed, the Shadow King turned his hand into a blade of shadow and thrust it at Doug. The Arbiter had risen from unconsciousness, and he threw himself in front of the pug. The blade went through his chest and heart. “Run, run, Doug, run,” he told the dog. Doug yipped and scampered between the ranks of Dragon Knights and escaped through a small doggy door.
Personality and Abilities
The Dragon Knights are faceless and disciplined. Their metal masks are fitted directly to their faces, and they wear red cloaks over black garb. They fight with paired blades of pure shadow and coordinate closely, forming tight back-to-back triangles. Their defining trick is moving through shadows and walls, which lets them ambush anyone foolish enough to stand in the dark. A bonfire’s light revealed them, and a torch helped keep them at bay.
Death magic doesn’t bite deeply on them. When one of them is killed, its body melts away into shadow and leaves only its armor behind. Their loyalty to Agdrel has lasted from his days as a warrior through his reign as the Shadow King and into his return.
Relationships
- The Shadow King: Their master, whom they followed when he was still Agdrel the Shadow and who had dozens of them step out of the shadows to serve him on his return.
- Grandmaster Elusia Skypiercer: An enemy who knew them from her own history, fought them and was later escorted by them to their king.
- Kaja: Fought them in her best silk dress and took at least one of them down.
- Atalantos: Wrestled one out of the shadows and branded another with the symbol of Cor’thun.
- The Arbiter: Was struck down by the Shadow King’s blade on the night dozens of the knights returned.
- Doug the Pug: Slipped between their ranks and escaped through a doggy door.