King Vortimer

King of Logres
King of Escavalon
Son of High King Vortigern and Severa
Half-Brother of Cerdic
The Rebellious Son

The first-born of Vortigern by his wife Severa. Whatever he would have become, his rise to power is tied forever to his father’s ruthlessness in becoming High King.

Vortimer becomes the King of the Silures (later Escavalon) in 443, when Vortigern relinquishes his Cambrian kingdoms to his sons, in order to concentrate on being the King of Logres.

However, unlike his father, Vortimer never forgets his mother and his countrymen, the Cymri. Vortimer is groomed to become his father’s successor and the general of his armies. However, the foreign mercenary Hengest usurps the latter, and the birth of Cerdic foreshadows that the succession would not be a given, either.

He is made King of Logres by the grateful Cymri when he defeats the Saxons in 461. In his last battle, he forces the Saxons to flee from the island but is mortally wounded. His dying words, asking to be buried by the shoreside looking across the sea to forestall the Saxons from landing again, are heard only by a few loyal subjects, who do not take it as a prophecy. He is buried in a church instead, and the Saxons return.

Part of Vortimer is his love of his family and kinsmen. Proud, yet calculating of mind, he is willing to fight diplomatically and on the field for the views he holds dear. This leads him to rebel against his father not once, but twice, sacrificing filial love for the good of his people.