What is wrath?
The answer to this question could be a very simple one. It is simply extreme levels of anger. But is that all there really is to wrath? Just being extremely angry?
No, perhaps it is more than that.
Perhaps it is a young boy who lived in a small town, where they hunted for game and tended to their farms, and that’s how they survived. It was the type of town where everyone knew each other across multiple generations, and the people would never leave.
The type of place where every now and then there would be a festival held in celebration of something, like the village chief’s birthday or a really good harvest. Maybe they would save up what meager funds they had to buy something cheap, but expensive and worth it to them, from one of those traveling caravans that came once in a blue moon.
Maybe that boy would go out to hunt one day, and when he came back, a sibling of his would be missing, lost in the woods. And when searching for said sibling, they found that they had been bitten by a wolf. They survived the bite, but their leg would no longer be usable.
Is the emotion that young boy feels toward that wolf wrath? Or is that still just extreme anger?
What is wrath?
Perhaps it is the story of a young Baron, who had only recently taken over from their own father as the lord of the Barony. But this was a Barony that was struggling for money. They weren’t poor per se, but they were definitely far less well-off than their counterparts.
But this Baron, in particular, served under a not so kind Count. And this was a count who kept raising taxes every single year, without seemingly any good reason. And to meet these taxes that the Baron must pay, he had no choice but to raise taxes in his own Barony, unless he went broke.
His coffers were already low and practically non-existent already. Workers had to be laid off, warriors of the family had to find new lords, and meals were no longer quite so succulent.
What does he feel toward the Count who has put him in this position? To force himself to wring dry his own Barony, his own people. To watch peasants he should be responsible for starve to death just so they could meet the taxes out of fear of committing a crime.
What does he feel toward the Count?
Is it wrath? Or is it still just anger?
What is wrath?
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Maybe it’s the story of a young woman, who was a daughter of a merchant family. In fact, she had never wanted for anything growing up. And to make it even better, she had not grown to be a vile woman. She was kind, fair, and reserved. For all intents and purposes, she was a nice young woman.
And, as a matter of fact, she was of prime wedding age. So her father and mother did what any good parents would do at this time. They arranged a husband for her, one that also came from a suitable family and had just as suitable of a reputation.
Everything was great. They had met on more than one occasion, spoken to each other plenty of times. And although she was still a little shy and perhaps nervous at the thought of being married, she had come to terms with it and was now even looking forward to spending the rest of her life with her soon to be husband.
Only to be told, just a few days out from the wedding, that it would be off. The marriage contract ripped to shreds, and all conversations with the other family cut off.
What does this young woman feel toward the man that was supposed to be her husband, but instead chose to rip her heart out of her chest and shred it to pieces?
Is it wrath? Or is that still just anger?
What is wrath?
Or better yet, perhaps it is the life of the ill-forgotten Prince. One born of a different mother, a mother that was out of favor with the King of the nation. A mother that was now dead. His only protection, his only source of hope, his only place of existing without judgment... gone.
From above and around him, he scorned by those who should be called his family, forgotten by the man who should be his father, and abhorred by the citizens he should rule. Treated like a stray dog, where life as a Prince is nothing more than a shackle meant to ridicule and mock him in place of what he really was in the eyes of his peers—a stain.
What does he feel toward these people?
Is it wrath? Or is it anger?
What is wrath?
Or maybe it is something a member of the town guard can relate to far better. Their jobs were one of simplicity, yet at the same time, consistent in its complexity and variety. They were to protect the town from intruders, stop those inside the town from causing violent problems, or capture and bring to justice those who had already crossed the line between innocence and guilt.
How would they feel if they weren’t able to do their job? Because a group of bandits raided the town, killed members of their family, killed members of the town guard, and escaped with their lives?
What would that member of the town guard feel toward these bandits?
Surely, it is wrath, and not just meager anger.
Surely the thing all of these people felt was real wrath toward those who sought to do them harm.
Wrath is not just anger. It is anger that walks hand in hand with action, ruthlessness, and the lack of mercy. It is only when all those things come together into one that wrath is formed.
Wrath is only an avenue for destruction. The type of destruction that doesn’t end until the reason for the wrath has been eradicated to satisfaction.
But if such is the wrath of a regular individual...
Then what is the wrath of a King?
Not a King who had to fight their way into power or inherited it just based on the fact that their family ancestor started a kingdom hundreds of years ago.
No.
A King through blood, blood born of the world itself.
A King by birthright, backed by the laws of existence.
What is the wrath of such a King?
How does it show itself on the world?
And who had the unfortunate fate of experiencing such a wrath?
What could they have possibly done to bring such a thing upon themselves?
To bring upon the Wrath of a King.
A Goblin King.
What is wrath?
