Sir Daniel Fortesque

Sir Daniel Wigginbottom Fortesque IV, often shortened to Sir Daniel Fortesque, is the protagonist of the games in the MediEvil series. Formerly a knight of Gallowmere, the King's Champion and Head of the Royal Battalion, Daniel would be slain during the Battle of Gallowmere during the first volley. Despite his failure, he was declared the Hero of Gallowmere (purely to save King Peregrin the embarrassment) and laid to rest. A hundred years later, he'd be accidentally resurrected by the sorcerer Zarok, and would get the chance to atone for his previous failure.

Appearance
Daniel is a skeleton without a left eye and lower jaw. His upper jaw is misshapen and has crooked teeth. His eye has been depicted in different colours with each game, though as of the 2019 remake, it is blue. He is usually wearing silver/grey plate armour with gold hints, a red and gold doublet, and brown leather gloves. In life, Daniel had a square jaw, pale skin, a thick shock of black hair and crooked teeth.

Life
Dan was born in the kingdom of Gallowmere in 1254, the eldest son of Lord Cedric Forteque. A spoiled and bratty child who would later grow up to be a lazy, arrogant teenager, Daniel's sole motivation for becoming a knight was so that he could impress the maidens. Despite training with the best weapons masters in the land and showing a degree of natural talent, the young Fortesque's laziness prevented him from ever achieving his true potential. He rose through the ranks of the king's army, not on his own merit, but on his father's financial backing. The king's champion would die sometime later, his horse spooked by a toad and throwing him head-first into a well where he soon drowned. King Peregrin, listening solely to a new advisor, would appoint Daniel as his new captain of the army. In 1286, an undead army would march on Castle Peregrin. Unbeknownst to the king, this army was led by his very own court magician, Zarok; the same man who advised the king to appoint Sir Dan as his new champion. Daniel was called on to lead the King's army against Zarok's undead horde, where he would die within the first seconds of the battle, struck in the eye with the very first arrow fired. Realising that the people needed to feel safe and embarrassed by Dan's poor show, King Perefrin declared that Sir Daniel Fortesque had died in mortal combat, and had Dan's corpse interred in a hero's tomb, the history books edited with false tales of valor.

The First Resurrection
A hundred years later, in the year 1386, Zarok would return to try and take over Gallowmere again. Using a spell within an ancient book of black magic, he made the dead rise from their graves to form a new legion of undead warriors. Unfortunately for him, he also unwittingly awakened Sir Dan. Daniel was able to retain his free will, making him the only one who could stop Zarok. Awakened from his "eternal rest," Sir Dan would embark on a quest to destroy Zarok once and for all.

During his quest, Daniel would face down many of the sorcerer's allies, including the Stained Glass Demon of the hilltop cathedral Dan's crypt, the Pumpkin King and the captain of a band of undead pirates. Finally, he, with his own army of souls liberated from Zarok's control, would lead the charge on the sorcerer's undead army. His victory against Zarok's army would lead Dan to have to face the resurrected Lord Kardok, serving once again as Zarok's champion, and then the sorcerer himself, who would take the form of a large, wingless dragon. Victorious over both of these, Sir Dan would finally be granted permanent access to the Hall of Heroes, an afterlife exclusively reserved for the greatest heroes of history.

The Autumn of Death
In 1886, Daniel's remains would be put on display in an old museum in Kensington, London. At the same time, a man seeking world domination would find Zarok's spell book, casting the same spell that Zarok used twice before to attempt to take over Gallowmere. Once again, Sir Dan was resurrected, and this time, he was met by a ghost named Winston, who led him to Professor Hamilton Kift. The Professor would task Dan with discovering who was responsible for casting the spell and collecting as much magical energy as possible to help in fighting the crisis. Along the way, Dan would also release an Egyptian princess by the name of Kiya from her tomb.

Together with Kiya and Professor Kift, Sir Dan would identify the current owner of Zarok's spellbook as Lord Palethorn, an ambitious industrialist. After discovering that Palethorn was missing a few pages of the spellbook, which he required to obtain full control of his undead subjects, the three of them decided to find the missing pages before he could. Along the way, he and Kiya would come to love each other, their bond strengthening after Kiya was killed by Jack the Ripper and Dan, using a time machine, went back in time to save her.

Eventually, Daniel would confront Lord Palethorn atop Cathedral Spires. Palethorn would've succeeded in finding all the pages, and would use them to summon a demon to slay Fortesque. After Daniel defeated the demon, Palethorn would use a time bomb to destroy them all. Whilst Palethorn didn't survive, Dan did, and was last seen walking with Kiya into the time machine.

MediEvil: Fate's Arrow
Daniel and Kiya would end up separated, with Dan returning to 1286, a day before his death during the Battle of Gallowmere. After spying on a meeting between his past self and King Peregrin, Sir Dan would encounter his fellow hero, Canny Tim, and a fairy by the name of Griff. The two of them enlisted his help in preserving the flow of history, starting with an attack on the castle by the Jabberwocky. With Griff's help, Dan stole his living self's armour and leapt out of the castle, slaying the rampaging Jabberwocky in his living counterpart's name.

The night before the battle, Dan was captured by Zarok's henchmen, Boris and Merek. They took him to The Mystic Maidens to kill him, but were killed themselves by Lupo, Dan's dog from when he was alive. Later, Dan helped Wartilda the With brew a Body Swap Potion so he could take his living self's place in the upcoming battle. After realizing that Dan, being a skeleton, would be unable to drink it, they turned the potion into an ointment which they rubbed on both the undead and living Dan. Come morning, Dan found himself in his living body, and he and Canny Tim made their way to the castle to prepare for the battle. This time, before the battle started, Dan revealed Zarok's betrayal to King Peregrin. He then gave the army a rousing speech, before heading into battle, dying again in the first volley of arrows, thus completing his journey and unwittingly dooming himself to reliving that same journey for all eternity.