Character from Cradle by Will Wight
An ancient sacred turtle who once served the Blackflame Empire — a cantankerous, fire-breathing mentor whose bond with Lindon pulled him back from the edge of mindless destruction.
Orthos is old, cranky, and has the temperament of a furnace that's been burning too long. Centuries of cycling Blackflame madra — the most destructive Path on the Ashwind continent — corroded his sanity, leaving him oscillating between moments of profound wisdom and episodes of mindless rage. His bond with Lindon stabilized him, giving him something to care about besides burning things. He speaks in declarative pronouncements — 'We advance or we die. There is no third option' — delivered with the absolute conviction of a being who has watched civilizations rise and fall from the back of a battlefield. He is simultaneously Lindon's bonded partner, surrogate father figure, and the most dangerous entity in any room that doesn't contain a Monarch. He would die for Lindon without hesitation and would be deeply offended if you pointed out that this constitutes an emotion.
A massive black-shelled turtle the size of a horse, with scales that glow like embers along the seams. His shell is scarred from centuries of combat, cracked and re-fused with lines of dull orange. His eyes burn with Blackflame — literal fire behind the pupils. When he speaks, smoke leaks from his jaws. In his diminished state after splitting his core with Lindon, he's smaller but no less imposing.
Also known as: Orthos, the Blackflame turtle