Years before Siegfried's birth, opressed German peasants revolted
against the Holy Roman Empire. The Empire's forces had been weakened by the
Italian Wars, and this was finally the peasant's chance for freedom. One of
their champions was Sir Frederick, a brave knight who led the peasants'
forces into battle. While on one campaign, Frederick met a lovely young
woman named Margaret and spent the night in her arms. After nine long months
of battle, Frederick returned to find that Margaret had given birth to their
son. They named their son Siegfried, after a legendary hero, and then the
two were married. As Siegfried grew, his father taught him swordsmanship.
Siegfried loved his father, but the "gentle knight" had many duties to
perform. Frederick embarked on a foreign crusade, promising to return soon.
Without his father's gentle hand to guide him, young Siegfried fell
into the wrong crowds and soon joined a band of outlaws. His strength grew
and he formed his own band of theives known as the Schwarzwind (Black Wind).
One day, Siegfried hatched his master plan. The Schwarzwind could hunt down
the knights who had run away from the crusades and steal their armor and
loot. This would make the Shwarzwind rich, and Siegfried a very powerful
man.
That night, a group of war-weary knights approached, and the
Schwarzwind ambushed them. The knights, fatigued from battle and the long
march home, were no match for the theives and were defeated easily.
Siegfried hunted down and killed the knight's commander himself, and chopped
off his head with his proud Zweihander. He held the decapitated head up in
triumph for the rest of the band to see, and it was then that Siegfried
finally got a good look at the commander's face. It was his father!
Siegfried let out a horrified scream, and his mind snapped. He fled into
the forest in grief and fear.
He spent days in solitude, grieving for his father. His insanity
grew, and in denial he was able to convince himself that someone else slew
his father. He grew determined to find the killer and avenge his father's
death. When he emerged from the woods, he heard a tale of the invincible
sword, Soul Edge, and he came to believe that his father's imaginary killer
could only be defeated by this weapon. Thus, he pledged to never rest until
he found the sword and avenged his father.
His first lead was the legendary sword of Sir Stephan, which was
quite well known in the region. In order to get closer to the sword,
Siegfried traveled to Ostrheinsburg castle and became the commander of
Stephan's mercenary knights. During his time as commander, the forces of
Marquis Andre layed siege to the castle. The castle was nearly destroyed
by Andre's cannonfire, but Siegfried and his army held off the invaders.
During the final battle, however, Siegfried saw that an opportunity had
arisen. Stephan was alone in his chambers, so Siegfried went and slew the
powerful knight. He then escaped from the castle undetected with Stephan's
legendary sword Grimblade. He ran far into the Black Woods so that no one
would find him and connect him with Stephan's murder. Holding Grimblade
high, he asked the sword to grant him invincible power. Nothing happened,
and Siegfried realized this was not the right sword. In disgust, he
discarded the sword and resumed his search.
Siegfried spent weeks searching. The longer his search continued,
the more manic he became. He finally found a trace of the real Soul Edge
and tracked it to a port town in Spain. As he entered the town, he witnessed
a female ninja carrying another female warrior away from the docks. Going in
the direction that they had come from, Siegfried came upon the dead body of
the pirate Cervantes and one of the twin blades
of Soul Edge laying beside him.
His search was finally over! With this sword, he could find and
defeat his father's killer. He reached to pick up the sword but was stopped
when Cervantes' body became enveloped in hellfire. The burning corpse rose
up as the essence of Soul Edge consumed Cervantes'
body. With a flash, Soul Edge and Seigfried began a savage battle. With
madness in his eyes, the determined Siegfried emerged victorious and claimed
the remaining sword as his own. The
instant he touched it, the history of massacre within Soul Edge traveled
into Siegfried. Siegfried felt his flesh being seared away as Soul Edge
devoured his emotions. He realized too late that the sword was merging
with him. He screamed as his body turned red as blood and the sword
exploded with evil energy. A massive column of evil power shot up into the
night sky and rained the Evil Seed down on all humanity. It was in this
instant that Siegfried ceased to exist and his body became Nightmare.
The next three years were spent in a dream-like state. He was
vaguely aware of his alter-ego harvesting hundreds of souls to refuel the
depleted Soul Edge. Little did he know that his own desires had been driving
the demonic creature: Nightmare was making his way to Ostrheinsburg castle
to return to the spot where his journey had begun.
Once his minions had collected enough souls, Nightmare used the
power of the Soul Edge to resurrect Siegfreid's father Frederick. When his
"father" asked Siegfried to pierce him with his sword, Siegfried knew it was
nothing more than an illusion created by his weak mind. His father
admonished Siegfried for his evil actions. This finally broke Siegfried from
the mental control the Soul Edge had over him. He found himself under attack
by three warriors, Kilik,
Xianghua, and Maxi. Their battle did not last
long, as the weakened Nightmare was easily defeated by the warriors. The Soul
Edge was knocked free from Nightmare's grasp, and Siegfried's body was returned
to normal. As he had done many years ago, he once again fled the
castle while a battle raged out front. Feeling like he had been given a
second chance, Siegfried set out to make right all of the things that he as
Nightmare had done.
He first returned home to visit his mother, Margaret. Her life had
became completely barren in the three years since she lost her husband and
son. This was the first time Siegfried had been home since he murdered his
father. He made his way up the walk and prepared to knock on the door
when he heard his mother praying inside. He froze as he heard her pray that
her son's soul may find peace. He realized that he was unworthy to see his
mother at this time, that he must make peace with his soul before he could
ever face her. Not wanting to leave without saying goodbye, he spoke a
farewell to her and ran away before she could notice.
Siegfried had now grown into a man, and he left his childhood
home refreshed. With renewed vigor, he set out to put out the flames of
unholy hellfire that he had spread throughout the world. He gathered
together a new Schwarzwind, one devoted to the destruction of demons. The
path that lay before him was uncertain, but Siegfried knew that now because
his cause was truly righteous that he would prevail. |
