- “Since the beginning, the Order has always sought to protect the balance of magic and mortal, no matter the cost... but our actions only brought pain. Bellroc and Skrael believe humanity is lost, beyond correction. Now, they wish to end it all. They search... for the Genesis Seals.”
- ―Nari to the Guardians of Arcadia about the Arcane Order and their true ambitions[src]
The Arcane Order were the main antagonistic faction of the Tales of Arcadia franchise, appearing as the overarching antagonistic faction of Trollhunters and 3Below and the main antagonistic faction of Wizards and Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (except Nari).
They were a trio of primordial demigods[1] who wished to maintain the balance between magic and mortals alike. In actuality, however, their actions caused nothing but agony to both humanity and magical beings. Eventually, the Order (minus Nari) lost faith in the balance and sought to destroy both worlds altogether, and remake it as their own by consuming the entire world with raw, uncontrolled magics within the Genesis Seals and unleashing the Titans onto Arcadia and connecting them with the Heartstone, remaking the world in their own image.
History[]
Backstory[]
The Arcane Order were the beings who originally created the universe and the Earth, using the Titans as their handmaidens in the process of creation. Since the beginning of time and space, they have been dedicated to protecting the balance between magic and mortals at all costs. However, all of their actions have only caused nothing but pain and death to both worlds. For a millennia, Merlin kept their horrors at bay and protected the Genesis Seals from the Order's hands, as they possess the power to awaken the Titans from their slumber and, in the process of them connecting with Arcadia's Heartstone, unleash raw magics onto the entire world, which could consume it and wipe out all life like a flood.
At an unspecified date, Nari of the Eternal Forest encountered Arthur, Gwen, and Morgana when they were young. Gwen and Morgana was fascinated by Nari. But Arthur saw her as a threat. It was then when the Order saw Arthur as a threat as well.
Indirect Interference
Knowing they can’t interfere, resorted indirect interference.
The Arcane Order were the ones who revived Morgana after her death following her confrontation with King Arthur and made her their "champion" for their cause of restoring the balance that humans supposedly ruined, turning her into the Pale Lady. Morgana promised Gunmar that he would usher Eternal Night. This way, the Order and Morgana plot the events that would lead to the Battle of Killahead Bridge with which they watched to ensure the Gumm-Gumms would be victorious. However, as Arthur and his army overcome Gunmar and his forces, Bellroc grows impatient with the ongoing battle and, against Skrael's warnings, directly intervenes the battle to kill King Arthur themselves, aiding the Gumm-Gumms against Arthur's army. When Deya the Deliverer and her fellow trolls arrive to lock Gunmar away, Bellroc attacks the Trollhunter, believing her to be a "mundane, simple creature that was staining magic" (even though Deya's a magical creature herself), but ends up getting blinded by the Sword of Daylight.
In the aftermath of the Killahead Battle, the Order is displeased that the good trolls and humans have triumphed over the Gumm-Gumms, which they were not expecting. They now believe that the balance they sought to protect is lost. One of their members, Nari, begins to question all of their past actions; sensing so much agony and strife from those who've lost their lives in the battle. As such, this led Nari to believe that everything they've done was not worth it and made her realize that her fellow siblings cared naught for the balance of mortals nor magics; only the worlds' destruction, as she's the only one who actually came to believe in both magics and humanity, despite their flaws. Thus, she flees from the Order and sought refuge at Camelot for protection.
After Nari's defection and Morgana's imprisonment, Bellroc and Skrael lost faith and decided to end all of humanity by seeking out both Nari and the Genesis Seals. Before doing so, they visited King Arthur's Tomb, where they resurrected the king himself (the very same king they killed in the first place), rebirthing him as "The Green Knight" to replace Morgana as their new champion/enforcer. Merlin and Douxie fought Morgana briefly and ultimately imprisoned her in what would be Heartstone TrollMarket. Luckily Bular, son of Gunmar conspired with the Janus Order to rebuild Killahead Bridge to free Gunmar but his army were remaind traped in the Darklands. With further assistance from the Kuberas served as part of the GummGumms, they were able to free Gunmar. The Janus Order and the Kuberas helped Gunmar infiltrate Heartstone TrollMarket to replenish his army and to regain his full strength. Morgana called to Gunmar to relese her. Despite facing resitance and Merlin's safeguard, he relesed Morgana. Morgana and Gunmar created the Eternal Night and unleashed it to the surface. After a while the Guardians stopped Eternal Night, killed Gunmar and his army, and banished Morgana to the Shadow Realm.
Direct Involvment
Bellroc, Skrael, and the Green Knight learn that Morgana has been banished to the Shadow Realm, courtesy of Team Trollhunters putting an end to her Eternal Night. The Green Knight realizes that, in order to bring her back to use her for his superiors' apocalyptic scheme, they needed a remaining piece of her (her left hand; its essence housed within the Trollhunter's Amulet of Daylight). He sets off to New Jersey, where he ambushes Jim, Merlin, Blinky, and Claire. Knowing he needs the Trollhunter alive (to prevent the amulet from finding a new successor elsewhere), he strikes the boy in the heart with an Onyx Shard to corrupt and use him as a slave. Merlin, however, manages to retreat to Camelot with his fallen champion and the other injured Trollhunters, and places Jim in stasis to stall the shard's process.
Not much later, the Order attacks Camelot in search of Nari as they need her to break the Genesis Seals and Jim to take his amulet and use it to bring back the Eldritch Queen. Their attack ended with Douxie, Claire, Jim, and Steve traveling to the past (and returning like they've been gone for only a minute) and Camelot shot out of the air. After a confrontation with the Guardians of Arcadia, the Order finally captures a corrupted full-troll Jim in order to take the Amulet of Daylight and free Morgana from the Shadow Realm (to the latter's dismay) and turning Jim into a brainwashed monster while trapping his human soul in the Shadow Realm.
They begin searching Merlin's hiding places around Arcadia in search of Nari and the Genesis Seals. They finally manage to follow the reformed Morgana to Hex Tech, where they confront and kidnap everyone present (minus Krel). Douxie and Krel manage to use the Seals to trick the Arcane Order into a time loop long enough to rescue everyone from their fortress. However, Bellroc and Skrael manage to escape with the Seals and are confronted by Douxie, who manages to allow Nari to escape and then confront them until their entire fortress is grounded. Meanwhile, Claire is able to free Jim from Arthur and the Arcane Order's control, restoring him back to his original human form.
In the end, even though the Order now has the Seals in their possession, they still require Nari to unleash the raw magic and destroy all of humanity, and now their dark champion has fallen once again. Due to Merlin and Morgana's demise at the hands of the Green Knight, Douxie becomes Nari's new protector and they flee from Arcadia together to hide from Bellroc, Skrael, and the seals.
Little do they know, Bellroc has found them blending within Metro City. They eventually found Nari with the Gaurdians of Arcadia
Bellroc and Skrael attack the Guardians of Arcadia and capture Nari. Douxie changes bodies, but the Order found out and was able to reverse the spell. They put Nari under their control and break open the Genesis Seals to awaken the Titans and converge to the Center of the Universe and connect to the last primordial Heartstone. The Titans face resistance on the way. Nari kills Nomura and Strickler kills himself trying to kill Skrael. But Nari falls out of control and starts fighting Skrael until both their deaths. According to the Grimoire, all 3 elements are not required to connect. If one element connects, that element will be in which Earth will be reborn. Bellroc was able to summon the Heartstone and connect to it, but the Trollhunter interrupted the process and scales up the Titan and kills Bellroc with Excalibur. With all the members gone, the Arcane Order is rendered defunct.
Members[]
- Bellroc, Keeper of the Flame (leader) †
- Skrael of the North Wind (second-in-command) †
- Nari of the Eternal Forest (third-in-command, defected) †
- Morgana le Fay, the Eldritch Queen (champion, formerly) †
- Arthur Pendragon, the Green Knight (enforcer) †
Allies[]
- Jim Lake Jr. (unwillingly, briefly)
- Shadow Mephits †
- Goblins †
- Titans †
- Gunmar (unknowingly) †
- Angor Rot (unknowingly) †
- Gumm-Gumms (unknowingly) †
- Changlings (unknowingly) †
Enemies[]
Trivia[]
- "Arcane" means to be mysterious and secretive, or something that is understood by few.
- According to Morgana in "Dragon's Den", all of the original members of the Arcane Order are, in fact, demigods (most likely the physical gods type).
- Since Skrael mentions sharing a grand vision of the future with Bellroc in "Wizard Underground" and shows frustration over Nari being freed from their control in Rise of the Titans, it's implied that Bellroc and Skrael already planned to brainwash Nari into rebirthing the world with them and to kill her if she broke free and rebelled again before remaking the world on their own, given that it's revealed that the three didn't have to unite together to remake the world, but only with a primordial Heartstone. If only one were to succeed in doing so, the Earth would be reborn into that element alone:
- For Bellroc, the Earth would turn into a burnt fiery lava land, completely devoid of life.
- For Skrael, the Earth would turn into an cold windy glacial land, also devoid of life.
- If Bellroc and Skrael rebirthed the planet without Nari, the Earth would turn into a desolate world where Skrael's ice and Bellroc's fire would constantly clash against each other, incapable of forming any life.
- For Nari, the Earth would turn into an endless plant-like jungle land, presumably having more chance of having life than the last two.
- Bellroc was the main antagonist of the entire Tales of Arcadia franchise because they were the ones responsible for the series of events, as their desire to end all of existence would lead to many events in the trilogy:
- Their influence corrupted Morgana into unleashing the Eternal Night upon Earth, with Gunmar freeing her from her prison so she could do so. They revived her, turned her into the Eldritch Queen, and used her as their pawn so they could get what they want.
- They caused the death of King Arthur, revived him as well, and turned him into the Green Knight as another pawn of theirs.
- Morgana's Eternal Night attack, due to her corruption by Bellroc and Skrael, would give time for Zeron Alpha and the first Omen bot to help General Morando hack into the Mothership and try to steal the royal life cores.
- The video of the start of the Eternal Night that Colonel Kubritz showed Morando helped him on how he can enter Trollmarket without a horngazel so he can claim Gaylen's Core for himself.
