Wilhelm II

Wilhelm II was the first King of Fatherland who didn’t suck. Possessed of his mother’s sweet, self-effacing spirit and altogether lacking his father’s poisonous bravado, Wilhelm II seemed destined from birth to be a far kinder monarch than either of his predecessors. And when he married the feisty but kind Bridget, he shored up his one weakness as a ruler: a tendency toward timidity and playing things too safe.

Born Wilhelm Wolff, Jr. in the year 141 of Eden’s Second Age, the future king grew up in the palace at Frankburg. In his very early years, he was tutored by his mother’s brilliant dwarven paramours. Later, he corresponded with the wizard Merlin and with Merlin’s pupil Albus Lepus—an old family friend. Eventually, he attended Yesterland Academy. And that is where he met his future wife.

Over the course of the seventy-six years that Wilhelm II sat the throne, Fatherland experienced a golden age. Together with Bridget, who served as his closest advisor until she died in 206 at the age of 63, Wilhelm II enacted one successful policy after another. These included:

• The establishment of a democratically elected head of government to serve as the monarch’s decision-making equal
• The modernization of trade routes to each of Fatherland’s neighbors and the establishment of economic alliances with all of the sovereign nations of Eden
• Funding the development of Frankburg’s first-of-its-kind strudel pipe network
• A guarantee of religious freedom throughout the kingdom
• The restoration and reopening of the Foundry of the Seven, a factory founded by the Seven Dwarves

His life was not without its challenges, however. Wilhelm II’s second-born, a daughter called Fiona, was particularly fond of raising a ruckus. Rebellious to a fault, Fiona pushed her too-kind father at every chance she got—forever hoping to see if she could get him to crack. He never did, though. At least not on the outside.

Only Fiona’s early death, in 199 at age 32, would bring an end to her trouble-making. It was tragic blow for the royal family and eventually drove a grief-stricken Queen Bridget to drink, but Wilhelm II held things together until the very end—even after his wife passed in 206.

For three quarters of a century, he brought stability and prosperity to his kingdom. Even when the goddesses threw everything they had at him, Wilhelm II would not break. And that is why he remains one of the most popular rulers in Edenian history to this day.