Tamal Kundu
The Disney+ fantasy adventure series ‘Willow’ is based on and the sequel to the 1988 film of the same name, starring Warwick Davis and Val Kilmer. Davis reprises his role as the titular Newlyn sorcerer in the Disney+ show. Several years have passed since Willow, mercenary Madmartigan (Kilmer), and warrior Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) defeated the Demon Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh). But as evil is prophesied to return to the world and with the chosen one, Elora Danan, hidden away for her own safety, it becomes imperative for the forces of good to find an alternate path. The Kymerian Cuirass is meant to be just that, an alternative way to deal with evil. Here is everything you need to know about it. SPOILERS AHEAD.
What is the Kymerian Cuirass?
After Bavmorda’s defeat, Willow returned to his home among the Newlyns, but things didn’t end there. He had a dream where he saw the re-emergence of an ancient and Elora’s destruction. Although Willow warned them against such an action, Sorsha and other people in power decided to hide Elora as a kitchen maid named Brünhilde in the castle of Tir Asleen. Even Elora herself didn’t know who she was. A few years later, Willow visited Tir Asleen, hoping to teach Elora magic, and learned that Sorsha was still disinclined to reveal Elora’s new identity. She even questioned Willow’s ability as a sorcerer.
Sorsha revealed to her old friend that she had sent her husband Madmartigan on a quest to find the Kymerian Cuirass in the hopes that it would be enough to fight against the incoming evil and they would have no need to use Elora. It is revealed that Madmartigan took a squire with him on this journey, and that squire happens to be Thraxus Boorman (Amar Chadha-Patel), the treasure hunter and swordsman imprisoned at the start of the series. After her son Airk’s abduction by the Gales, Sorsha forces Boorman to accompany her daughter Kit in her rescue quest.
As Boorman was the last person to see Madmartigan before his disappearance, Kit asks him about her father’s fate. Although Boorman didn’t see Madmartigan die, he is certain that the legendary mercenary isn’t alive.
Boorman also tells Kit the story behind the Kymerian Cuirass. Even though she interrupts him, asking him to tell her what happened to her father, the said story is bound to play an important role later in the narrative.
In Boorman’s story, Kymeria was an empire ten thousand years ago. Its heir to the throne, Thuul, had been sick since he was a child. Following the death of his father, his younger brother, Tiberius, decided that he would be a better and stronger ruler and rebelled against Thuul. For forty days, Tiberius laid siege on the capital, starving the very people he wanted to rule.
Eventually, their mother, Annabel, a fay of the grove, created a magical cuirass or breastplate made from pure Khromium. Annabel then proceeded to assemble the Lux Arcana, which served as the key for the Cuirass, only activating it for users who are worthy to wield its great power. Thuul would go on to use the Cuirass to single-handedly defeat Tiberius and his army of Death Dealers.
Toward the end of episode 3, Boorman and Kit visit a graveyard where an inn called The Slaughtered Lamb once stood. Boorman convinces Kit to stay by telling her that the innkeeper was a friend of her father. He jumps into a well and finds the Lux Arcana but doesn’t tell Kit about it.
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