Betrand the Brigand

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Betrand the Brigand is one of the fairly large assortments of special characters for Bretonnia that appeared only in Warhammmer 5th edition and were subsequently removed when it received its more grimdark revamp in 6th edition.

Warhammer's version of Robin Hood and an inspiration for the later addition of the Herrimaults, Betrand is basically a character who can't exist anymore thanks to the lore changes as to how the Bretonnian system of knighthood works. He originally was a humble plowman and a skilled archer from the domain of Bergerac, which lay in the deep forests of Bretonnia's heartland. Unfortunately, Bergerac's Baron went off on the Grail Quest and never returned, leaving the domain in the hands of his cruel wife (who had blood ties to the cursed nobles of Mousillon), his simpering mama's boy of a son, and his good-hearted but powerless daughter. When Orcs & Goblins began to ravage Bergerac, the Baroness refused to send her son out to win his spurs or send for other Knights Errant to assist. As a result, Betrand took over, organizing the peasantry and drilling them in archery until they were skilled enough to drive off the orcs themselves. All the while, the Baroness continued demanding ruinous taxes... which were ultimately revealed to be to fuel some unknown Chaos cult when she summoned a "great flapping monster" that killed her and her son and tore the castle apart.

Betrand saved the Baron's daughter's life by blinding the monster with a single shot, and then killed it by setting the castle on fire with barrages of fire arrows, burning the creature to death inside of the ruins. Whilst the daughter proclaimed that Betrand had won her hand as per the Knight Errant tradition, the fact of the matter was that the castle was gone, the orcs were still rampaging in the countryside, there was nobody around to formally recognize Betrand as a newly appointed noble... and, frankly, not only did Betrand think the anti-archery laws of chivalry were bullshit, the rest of Bergerac's villagers had frankly had their fill of Bretonnia's feudal nonsense. So they gathered a few relics from the Grail Chapel and set off into the wilderness, pursuing a lifestyle as nomadic pseudo-outlaws who often emerged from the wilderness to aid other Bretonnian peasants in need, whether it to be drubbing greenskins and raiders, or to give a good kick in the teeth to the more spectacularly corrupt nobles.

As for the nobility of Bretonnia, roughly half of them think that Bertrand is a hero, the rest think that he is a scoundrel and outlaw. It is known that King Louen Leoncoeur greatly desires to meet him, but he has not divulged whether he intends to reward or punish him. Knights Errant are sometimes sent out to find Bertrand, but the wily Brigand keeps out of their way. Those Barons and Dukes who favour Bertrand can always count on his support in times of need. Suddenly, out of the forest, comes Bertrand and the Bowmen of Bergerac. He never asks for much reward, except for some barrels of the lord's best vintage wine for Gui le Gros, and requires that whatever lord he fights for lets his peasants off any feudal dues for an entire year. Thus, Bertrand is a very popular man amongst the common folk of Bretonnia.

Tabletop Game

Betrand is a very expensive archer hero who always comes with not just two distinctive sidekicks, Hugo le Petit and Guy le Gros, but also an entire elite unite of archers, representing the Bowmen of Bergerac.

Sources

Betrand was first covered in the 5th Edition Bretonnian armybook, but his lore was expanded in White Dwarf #204.