Harmen came from a lowly stock, and his childhood was a true 'rags to fewer rags' story. Born as the son of a baker and a maid for the Orlovsky family, he was destined to follow his father as a servant. The one big draw his childhood had was the days spent playing with the other children of the estate. By far his most favorite playmate however was Lord Orlovsky's daughter, Samantha.
Samantha was special, despite her obvious nobility and regal pose, she never made Harmen or any of the other servant children feel inferior. In fact, she always did her best to make them feel special. As they grew older, Harmen grew more and more fond of her, despite her tasks preventing them from mingling. Then, on the night of her fifteenth birthday, he made a bold move, one that turned out to be a near-fatal error in judgment. He wrote her a note declaring his love.

He never got an answer. The next morning, Harmen and his parents were woken up by the estate’s steward and told to leave. Though no explanation was given, the order had come from Lord Orlovsky and was set in stone. Though Harmen couldn’t believe Samantha had betrayed him, her father had found out somehow, he was sure of it.

Broken, and without a reference, his father could not find another job and so the family left south into the Stolen Lands as so many had done before. It wasn’t long before they were ambushed by local bandits, and they were about to be killed when one of the bandits recognized Harmen’s father. Realizing someone who can bake and cook would be a great asset in the wilderness, the bandits brought the family back to their main camp where his father quickly made himself invaluable.

One of the older bandits, Elmoor, took Harmen under his wing and trained him to fight. It was clear early on that Harmen was a natural archer, and therefore he was out with the bandits, attacking caravans in no time. At first, he believed the Bandits' claims that ‘the rich people of Brevoy deserved to be robbed as they had treated the poor badly', but over time, Harmen realized these were simply excuses. He shared his concerns with his parents, who quickly dismissed him. After all, look at how Lord Orlovsky had treated his loyal baker.

When Harmen countered and spoke aloud his suspicions about the reason they had been sent away, Harmen’s father flew into a rage and struck his own son. Taking the blow in stride, Harmen looked at his mother and saw no help would come from her, he stood up and left them. Over the next few weeks, he tried to reconcile, but his father rebuked him. Then, one day, Harmen had enough. He picked up his stuff and headed out, northward, back to Restov. He would try and join up with the guard and remove the bandit threat once and for all.
Who knows, the romantic part of him thought, maybe he’d catch a glimpse of Lady Samantha. Surely she’d be married and the lady of her own estate by now. Well, as long as she was safe and happy.