Sir Owen

Sir Owen Sonde is a Temple Knight, and one of the seven Signature Heroes. Born in the Asgarnian capital Falador into the noble Sonde family, he soon became a White Knight, fighting against mainly the Kinshra in several battles, before being sent on various missions after joining the Temple Knights. Owen is in his early thirties and has short, black hair. His face has a large scar that is a result of a Kinshra raid on his home in his youth.

Personality
Sir Owen is a devout and courageous Saradominist and a Temple Knight. He takes a harsh view of stealing or other criminal activities, even for noble purposes. Although a classic "knight-in-shining-armour" type, he is not above using stealth or subterfuge to achieve his goals. He is entirely confident that his actions are made with Saradomin's approval, and is willing to use any means to achieve his goals, a reason why he prefers the Temple Knights' modus operandi to the White Knights', who have a strict code of honour and chivalry.

Capabilities
Sir Owen is a proficient melee fighter, and is also implied to have a decent ranged experience. In the Fremennik Saga, Three's Company, he has a Constitution level of 30 and a Mining level of at least 50. He is also implied to have a high Strength level. Due to the image of Sir Owen wielding a Saradomin Sword in the new Troll Warzone trailer, it is assumed that he has an Attack level of at least 75.

He does not have a high Agility level, though, and does not use Magic or Runecrafting. He uses jewellery to teleport rather than casting teleport spells. He says his lack of magical experience comes from the Temple Knights' use of various magical gadgets, such as the commorb, although he has a decent academic and theoretical understanding of magic.

By his own admission, he has experience with ranging as he was able to kill Iban with a bow.

Early life
Sir Owen was born in Falador some thirty years ago, as son of Stario and Altra Sonde, minor Faladian nobles. In his youth, his mother was captured by a Kinshra raiding party. He attempted in vain to protect her, receiving his distinctive facial scar in the process. Stario, who was in court at the time, swiftly returned, only to find his wife and the Kinshra gone. Sir Owen wanted his father to blame him, but he only responded with grief, ending their good relationship. This incident inspired him to join the White Knights. He became devoutly Saradominist, believing in the god's principles of order and fighting for the innocents in his name.

As a White Knight
After losing his mother, Sir Owen joined the White Knights as a squire and, presumably after the usual time of five years, was instated as a knight. In 163, he joined his brethren on an operation to the Ghost Town (later renamed to Edgeville) west of Varrock, where the Kinshra had launched a raid. However, one of their ranks, the extremely dangerous mage Solus Dellagar, had strayed from the mission, slaughtering hundreds of civilians, a tragedy that would become known as the Edgeville Incident.

The White Knights and Temple Knights were sent to apprehend him, but Solus singlehandedly murdered still hundreds more White, Temple and even Black Knights before being finally apprehended by the Temple Knights. A notable casualty was Shadwell, Lord of the Kinshra at the time, and he was succeeded by Lord Milton.

It is likely Owen participated in following White Knight operations as well, such as the Battle of North Falador and the various military encounters of the War of 164, most notably the Siege of Falador, a massive attack orchestrated by Milton's successor and murderer, Lord Sulla, who, in turn, was succeeded by the popular commander Daquarius and subsequently assassinated half a year later.

An unknown amount of time later, a few years at most, the White Knights launched a campaign known as the Dawn Ascent to apprehend the troops of a Black Knight called Iban, who had been mentored by Lord Daquarius himself. Despite being outnumbered, Iban refused to yield and the over-confident Sir Amik Varze proceeded to charge at him. Iban proved too strong, however, slaughtering knight after knight. Unable to bear this sight, Owen snuck away from the battlefield, drew his bow on the top of a hill and fired an arrow through Iban's skull, killing him instantly. He was criticised rather than lauded by Amik, who called his act one of cowardice and dishonour, causing Owen to further dislike the White Knights' very strict code of chivalry.

He was nearly dismissed from service, but the head of recruitment for the Temple Knights, Sir Tiffy Cashien, saw use in Owen for his intelligence and stealth on the battlefield, offering him a position within the Temple Knights, which Owen gladly accepted. From then on, he went on various missions, one of which involved the infiltration of the Black Knights' Fortress.

As a Temple Knight
Some time after his recruitment by Tiffy, Owen took part in the Taverley Incident. A hunter and beastmaster known as Carn had attacked the peaceful druid town of Taverley in an attempt to cause distraction, so that he could kidnap Pikkupstix and force him to teach the secrets of summoning to him. His plan worked, for nobody noticed the kidnapping due to the chaos caused by Carn's beasts. Having accomplished his mission, Carn fled, ending the attack. Owen was sent to chase him and, along with fellow adventurers Ozan, a young archer from Al Kharid, and Ariane, a sorceress from Seers' Village, tracked him down in one of the upper dungeons of Daemonheim in 169. They went after him, freeing Pikkupstix along the way, and encountered the beastmaster controlling a hypnotised behemoth in the dungeon. They defeated his minions before dealing with Carn himself and liberating the behemoth.

That same year, he controversially came to help the Imperial Guard in the Burthorpe - Troll Country War. On a trip to Burthorpe, he witnessed an attack on a building in the east of the town, performed by a massive troll named Anvil. He fought the troll and, with the help of an adventurer, defeated him.

At some point, Owen was admitted into the Champions', Heroes' and Legends' Guilds.

Saradomin's mission
A year later, he received instructions from Sir Amik, who had received a vision from Saradomin to send Owen to the Edgeville Monastery, proving Owen apparently still had ties to the White Knights. Owen complied and went there to await his contact's arrival, although they did not come. Instead, the adventurer with whom he had slain Anvil appeared and, while chatting about his mission, a manifestation of Saradomin himself, who was fighting in the Battle of Lumbridge at the time, appeared, destroying Brother Althric's cabbages and prompting Owen to kneel in awe before his god.

Saradomin revealed himself to be the contact and entrusted both Owen and the adventurer with the recovery of an ancient weapon from the God Wars - one the Kinshra, who had been raiding White Knight outposts recently, were very close to obtaining. He then proceeded to infiltrate the Black Knights' Fortress, disguised as a prisoner of the castle's overseer Captain Dulcin, who was being impersonated by the adventurer. After making their way to the third floor, "Dulcin" was informed by Lieutenant Graves that 'the ritual circle' had been damaged and 'the witch' had disappeared. The lieutenant was dealt with and the duo ransacked Dulcin's office before repairing the circle and completing a Black Knight ritual, which opened a massive red portal.

The duo were teleported to an ancient Saradominist tomb beneath the Frozen Wastes, where they found a trio of Black Knights harassing a girl locked in a suspended cage. After defeating the Kinshra knights, they unlocked the cage and freed the damsel, who revealed herself to be Dawn, ostensibly a sister from the Citharede Abbey. She claimed to have been captured by the Kinshra along with other Saradominists on her pilgrimage to the Edgeville Monastery for use in releasing the weapon, as voluntarily given virtous blood was needed. They agreed to leave Dawn in the Zamorakian camp while they would explore further. The adventurer also found a handwritten message from the real Dulcin warning the late knights that two Temple Knight infiltrants were on their way.

They proceeded into a large tomb, where they found Kinshra had raided most of the coffins. They continued downwards, where they were suddenly met by the spirit of a centaur, who introduced herself as Fern, guardian of the Wand of Resurrection, the artefact the Kinshra were looking to obtain. She told the woeful tale of how Saradomin had recruited the centaurs to fight for him in the Gielinorian God Wars and she and her mate Bree became his generals. Most centaurs were slaughtered, however, but Fern declined Bree's offer to return to the Enchanted Valley. She repeatedly asked her virtuous sister, Elora the Lifegiver, to resurrect the centaurs using her magical horn, which eventually exhausted her to death. In despair, Fern cut off Elora's horn and used it herself, but her lack of virtue resulted in the centaurs returning as mindless undead and murdering their own families, before eventually killing Fern, who, due to her immense remorse, became the wand's guardian.

Fern then explained that, to obtain the wand, only the truly virtuous could pass the barriers, and they would have to best her in combat to prove their worth as well. Owen and the adventurer defeated Fern and proceeded to the wand, around the barriers of which the bodies of several monks and Citharede sisters lay. The adventurer dispelled the second barriers by solving a mechanical puzzle, but the third barriers could only be passed by the truly virtuous. Both knights had the choice of attempting and one of them succeeded in taking it.

Death
At that point, Dawn appeared and stole the wand, now dressed in Dulcin's robes. She revealed to be a witch in service of the Kinshra, planning to use the wand to create a massive army of undead for herself. Owen and the adventurer warned her that only the virtuous would be able to resurrect the dead, otherwise they would return as zombies as had happened to Fern. She stated she desired a mindless undead army rather than a living one, which would require care, and that the total darkness of her heart would avoid them turning against her. They proceeded to attack Dawn, but she simply grinned and killed Owen with a powerful spell. The adventurer stared at Owen's dead body in horror, when Dawn resurrected him and two Black Knights as zombies.

The adventurer was forced to fight Owen and defeated him, killing him once more. After giving him a sad eulogy, they went after Dawn and demanded that she give back the wand, to which she proceeded to attack, while summoning various undead from the tomb. After a long battle, she was killed and the adventurer took the wand from her, but was unable to resurrect Owen with it, due to him having died twice.

Saradomin then appeared and demanded the wand so that he could do it and the adventurer had the choice of giving it, keeping it or attempting to destroy it. Regardless, Saradomin got hold of the wand and used it on Owen, wishing to resurrect his knight, and he was resurrected. However, it had been an act of anger and the god was not virtuous enough, claiming it was a result of Saradomin's recent folly, and that he did what he did for the greater good, Owen's right arm became corrupted, much to everyone's shock.

Saradomin regretted his act, although Owen seemed to have full faith in his god. He admitted to the corruption in his arm clawing at his mind, for he felt an urge to destroy the virtue that was within the adventurer. Saradomin sorrowfully told Owen that he would have to go into hiding for a time in order to protect both him and them from his current state. Fern's spirit then reappeared and agreed to accompany Owen while he would go into hiding, in order to resurrect the centaur race. Currently, Owen is still in hiding, while his undead corruption remains.

RuneScape Cinematic Trailer
Sir Owen plays a part in the RuneScape cinematic trailer that can be watched here.

The trailer opens in the druidic village of Taverley, where Sir Owen and Ariane are talking on a balcony while Ozan wanders past a couple of girls in the street below.

Suddenly, a gigantic troll appears and wreaks havoc before charging straight at Ozan, who dodges the first swing of the troll's enormous axe, but the scene changes to an Ozan's flashback when he couldn't evade the second strike.

The Raptor saves Ozan by slamming into the troll's axe shield-first. As the troll attempts to grab him, Sir Owen leaps off the balcony railing and smashes its right arm to little effect, and is shoved aside into a pillar. Ariane seizes her chance and hit it with a continuous stream of ice, freezing it solid. Ozan then shoots an arrow into the creature's chest, shattering it into blocks of frozen troll.

After the RuneScape icon appears and disappears, three more trolls are seen charging.

Locations
Sir Owen can be found in many places around RuneScape. Once the quest The Death of Chivalry is completed, Owen will no longer appear in any of the places below.

Roaming
Since the 9 August 2011 updates, Sir Owen, like the other Signature Heroes, wanders around several places in RuneScape. These places include:
 * Inside the Warriors Guild
 * On Entrana
 * Near the Port Sarim Jail
 * Near the crossroads north of Falador
 * The Church north of Mudskipper Point
 * Inside the Rangers Guild
 * Entrance to Varrock Castle

Fixed
Places where Sir Owen can be found at any time include:
 * In the Champion's Guild with Xenia, Ariane, and Ozan (before completing Heroes Quest),
 * On the balcony of the Heroes' Guild with Xenia, Ariane, Ozan and Linza.(before completing Legends Quest).
 * On the first floor of the Legends' Guild with Xenia, Ariane, Ozan, Linza and The Raptor (after completing Legend's Quest, disappears after completing The Death of Chivalry).

One-Time
There are some places Sir Owen will appear only once, or until the player speaks to him there for the first time. These include:
 * Speaking with Sir Tiffy Cashien in Falador Park.
 * Entering Daemonheim with Ariane and Ozan.

Special

 * Praying to Saradomin in the Monastery.

Trivia

 * Sir Owen was originally named Sir Ewain, and originally had blond hair and no scar on the left half of his face. His full name, Sir E. Ouse, was a pun on the word "serious".
 * Sir Owen's known family is a collection of various sound-related puns: Sir Owen's full name, with title, is Sir Owen Sonde, a play on "surround sound". Likewise, his parents' names are Stario Sonde ("stereo sound") and Altra Sonde ("ultrasound").
 * Jagex previously had plans to feature him in a quest called Tome Raider, but this was later cancelled.
 * In the RuneScape cinematic trailer, Owen is "voiced" by Mod Moltare.
 * His examine text "Silent knight." is a pun on the Christmas carol Silent Night, or perhaps the music track Silent Knight, which references the same carol.
 * "A dark and stormy knight." references the often-parodied first phrase of the 1830 Edward Bulwer-Lytton novel Paul Clifford, "It was a dark and stormy night...". Among many other pop cultural references, the phrase was a recurring meme in the comic strip Peanuts, and it is the inspiration for the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.
 * Sir Owen wears an armour that is different from the initiate and proselyte ranks. Assuming that the Temple Knights use the same ranking structure as the White Knights, this would place Sir Owen at the rank of acolyte or higher.