The Hero King (also known as the King of Heroes) is the protagonist of Project Windless and the player character. He is a Rekon (a towering humanoid bird warrior standing approximately seven feet tall) and is considered the greatest warrior of his age. The game follows his rise from warrior to the founder of the Arajit Kingdom, the first and only kingdom ever established by a Rekon.
Weapons
The Hero King wields twin star-forged blades called Baragi and Dalbari. These weapons were crafted of stariron, a metal exclusive to the Rekon race, at the legendary Final Forge (also known as the Last Blacksmith). According to the source novels, after a battle in which a Nhaga severed his sword-arm, the Hero King had the Last Blacksmith forge both swords into a single double-bladed weapon called Hope, which became a symbol of royal authority for the Arajit Kingdom.
Character
What makes the Hero King unusual among Rekon is his sense of obligation. Rekon are individualistic by nature. Each carries a personal Calling that drives their existence, and most dismiss responsibility toward others. The Hero King is an anomaly: he felt compelled to protect his people, build a kingdom, and establish order in a time of chaos. This contradiction between Rekon nature and the Hero King's choices is central to his legend.
He is described as possessing raw physical dominance and overwhelming combat prowess. In gameplay, this translates to enhanced reach, strike weight, and environmental impact. The Hero King does not just fight enemies, he demolishes them.
A Mythical Figure
Patrik Méthé has described the Hero King as a mythical character, one whose deeds are remembered in the novels' present-day setting but who lived long enough ago that no one is still alive to remember him directly. Méthé framed this distance as a design advantage: it gave the team flexibility to tell a new story about the founding era without contradicting what the novels later establish. The Hero King's ambiguous past lets players experience a story that feels like one they shaped while preserving the way the mythical Rekon is remembered centuries later.
Combat Scale
Méthé has given concrete numbers describing how the Hero King differs from an average Rekon in combat. Where an ordinary Rekon can fight toe-to-toe with about a dozen enemies, the Hero King can stand his ground against fifty or more. Realizing this in-game requires both new technology (Mass Entity AI driving the surrounding crowds) and careful balance: carving through dozens of enemies must feel earned rather than trivial.
In addition to brute force, the Rekon is by orders of magnitude stronger and faster than a human. He can jump higher and run faster, which the design treats as a baseline mobility advantage rather than an unlockable skill.
Player-Driven Storylines
The Hero King's main arc is the founding of the Arajit Kingdom during the First Great Expansion War. Méthé has confirmed several additional storylines that players can pursue at their own pace alongside the main arc:
How the legendary Rekon handles being seen as a leader despite his solitary inclinations.
Fulfilling his life wish, the Rekon Calling that drives every Rekon's existence.
Investigating sky rays, massive flying creatures connected to the legacy of a vanished elder race that predates the four currently inhabiting races.
Méthé summarized the approach as letting each player adapt their play to whatever they're more interested in, rather than steering them along a single track.
The Arajit Kingdom
The Hero King founded the Arajit Kingdom, which in the novel's lore lasted for 700 years and was symbolized by the black lion. After the Hero King's death, his human subordinates inherited the throne because his biological children (true to Rekon nature) abandoned the kingdom to pursue personal ambitions.
Drink Tears
KRAFTON has been asked whether the Hero King is the eponymous bird that drinks tears from the title of the source novel series. Méthé clarified that the phrase is a metaphor for the responsibility of being a leader. The bird is not literally drinking tears, and there is no tear-drinking mechanic in the game. As Méthé put it, the answer in the metaphorical sense is yes: the Hero King will drink tears as he carries the weight of leadership.
In the Game
Players assume the role of the Hero King during the founding era of the Arajit Kingdom. The game places the player in the center of overwhelming battles. Cutting through dozens of foes simultaneously, confronting massive creatures, and leading allied forces when battles escalate to epic scale through Mass Technology. The Hero King's personal story is intertwined with the fate of a continent divided by war between the four races.
In the Novels
The Hero King is a legendary historical figure in The Bird That Drinks Tears novels, set roughly 1,500 years before the main storyline. His feats include overthrowing countless Rekon warriors, defeating the formidable entity known as the Douokusini, and building a watchtower to monitor Nhaga movements. The game explores the era of his life that the novels only reference in legend.