Tryggvi

Tryggvi is a human Hero character encountered in The Banner Saga series.

Background
"I know what they say behind my back. Tryggvi's handsome, Tryggvi's Brave."

Tryggvi is well known in his home town, for being the guy you hope doesn't sit next to you in the mead house, or is yelling loudly in the middle of the night or building a collection of spears far more numerous than most men would need in a lifetime. He spends a fair amount of time by himself.

Active Ability: Impale
The Spearmaster skewers an adjacent enemy unit doing normal Strength damage (with 100% chance to hit) before knocking it back with a kick to release his spear. Impaled characters will bleed for one round, taking 1 Strength damage for each tile of movement. This can be especially deadly against Slingers and if bleeding characters are moved against their will.

Rank 1: Bleed and Knock-back 1 tile

Rank 2: Bleed and Knock-back 2 tiles

Rank 3: Bleed and Knock-back 3 tiles

Notes: Knock-back by Impale will not push the target through other units, unlike Battering Ram or Mule Kick. Bleeding damage is not received for the tiles knocked-back by Impale's 'kick'.

Active Ability: Pig Sticker
The Slaughterer comes in low and attempts to skewer his target, attacking with a 20% chance to deal a critical strike, double damage attack. This chance increases for each ally adjacent to the slaughterers target.
 * Tryggvi gains Pig Sticker ability when promoted to Rank 6.

Unlike Impale, Pig Sticker has the same range as the Slaughterer's regular attacks, so the Slaughterer has more opportunity to benefit from adjacency bonuses.

Rank 1: +10% critical chance per adjacent ally

Rank 2: +20% critical chance per adjacent ally

Rank 3: +30% critical chance per adjacent ally

Passive Ability: Embolden
Each kill the Spearman makes encourages allies to fight harder, granting 1 Willpower to the Spearman and any adjacent allies.

Joining the Party

 * Saga 1: Tryggvi is a pre-order and Kickstarter-backer exclusive character and will always join the caravan at the beginning of Chapter 2 in Skogr. He starts with a special necklace equipped.
 * Saga 2: Even if you didn't have Tryggvi in your caravan in the first game, he will always join at the beginning of Chapter 8, in the second game.

Possible Death or Departure

 * Saga 1: Tryggvi cannot be killed, nor does he leave the caravan, in the first game.
 * Saga 2: If sent out to parley with the Kragsmen in Chapter 10, they will murder him.
 * Saga 3: He will die in Chapter 21 during the third visit to Arberrang if you wake up the drunks to fight the Warped.

Playstyle

 * Tryggvi starts with 2 Exertion, so he can greatly benefit from high Morale. He is a versatile Hero, so you can invest on either of his basic Stats (i.e. Strength, Armor or Break).
 * The Spearman's increased attack-range of 2 tiles can be used to strike 'diagonally' or while safely behind high-Armor allies. In this way, he potentially receives/grants bonuses like Shield Wall and/or Bloody Flail and is still able to attack.
 * Impale is an Armor-bypass damaging ability that can be used in conjunction with displacement abilities (e.g. Battering Ram, Malice or Mule Kick) to cause significant bleeding damage. This is useful against high Armor enemies like Dredge Stoneguard.
 * Impale is extremely efficient against Dredge Slingers owing to their Back Off passive: After any attack they will (randomly) move three tiles away, thus taking 3 bleeding damage!

Trivia

 * [Spoiler] The name Tryggvi is derived from the Old Norse tryggr, meaning "true, trustworthy".
 * The design of Tryggvi's Necklace is based on the one worn by the Techno Viking internet meme.
 * If you've missed the pre-order of the first game but still want to play with Tryggvi, you might want to check this out. Brace yourself for a bit of modding! Here is a video that explains the second method.