Overview
Gabriel is Raphael's ice god and operates through the surviving Malverand faction and the Rahmavir coalition. After Eliona restores Raphael from his Malverand heart, Gabriel becomes Raphael's memory source and guide through an ice shard. Together they move against Isandriel, the Order, and powers that threaten the restoration of Malverand rule.
Gabriel becomes more directly active after Raphael places his body at the bottom of Zarephon's lake to absorb essence from the source. The experiment fills his body with source-charged crystals, lets Raphael distribute pieces of him as artifacts, and gives Gabriel enough reach to descend repeatedly with only minimal belief. After breaking his pact with Raphael, Gabriel bonds with Azarion through the hurricane shard and remains active after Raphael's death.
Appearance and Manner
Gabriel descends as a small man with golden-white hair, icy blue eyes, a serene smile, and fine crystalline robes. His descended body can dissolve into essence, reform from light, regenerate missing parts from white particles, and shape clothing or physical matter from essence.
He uses a cheerful, theatrical, and playful manner even while making threats or declaring Zarephon's destruction a success. He is also patient and strategic: he withholds information, pressures reluctant allies, declares Zarephon's destruction to be Eliona and Azarion's victory, and pushes Raphael's faction toward a stronger political position.
Powers
Gabriel uses ice to create extreme cold, frost, snowstorms, freezing winds, ice walls, monolithic ice strikes, and battlefield-scale weather. His descended body can frost buildings and landscapes, stop or start snowstorms, and force powerful opponents to answer him with heat, fire, darkness, plasma, or overwhelming force.
Gabriel's pacts determine who carries his power. Raphael carries Gabriel's shard after his revival and relies on Gabriel for memory and guidance. After their separation, Gabriel chooses Azarion as his new wielder. Their pact creates the hurricane shard, combining Gabriel's cold with Azarion's air and divine power; through it Gabriel speaks to Azarion, guides his movement, and enables the uncontrolled hurricane unleashed around Cyndarel.
The source experiment extends Gabriel's reach. After absorbing essence at Zarephon, he can descend in quick succession and in distant places while keeping most of his essence in the God Realm. He still needs belief to descend, but his visible descents create enough belief for later descents. His descended forms can be destroyed without killing him permanently, sending him back to the God Realm.
Gabriel also creates dangerous crystal artifacts from his source-charged body. Ishqari carries a snowflake-shaped piece of him, and his other crystals empower Qadir, Myrelia, Kjeldan, Torukhan, and Zorath. These crystals are unstable artifacts.
Hurricane Shard
Gabriel's hurricane shard forms from wind and ice in Azarion's palm before settling into the shape of a miniature hurricane. The mark carries Gabriel's later pact with Azarion after Gabriel and Raphael separate.
History
After the ancient Malverand defeat, Gabriel remains hard for other gods to find. When Eliona revives Raphael centuries later, Raphael lacks memories and looks to Gabriel's shard for guidance. Gabriel preserves memories of Malverand's defeat, including the abyss's intervention, and those memories drive Raphael's Rahmavir-based offensive against Isandriel, the returned Order, the source-closing group, and Garrik's coalition.
Gabriel gives Raphael memory and strategic guidance while Raphael, Eliona, Azarion, Alistair, Oktlix, and Rahmavir's chosen investigate Varnhallow, the source, the God Realm, and the returned Order. Raphael eventually uses Gabriel's body at the bottom of Zarephon's lake to absorb source essence, then distributes the crystals hidden inside Gabriel's dismembered remains before the source mission at Zarephon and the Battle for Cyndarel.
In Rimvold, Gabriel descends beside Zain and Ishqari, teaches Ishqari to intensify her blizzard, gives her a snowflake crystal, and prepares to hold the city against the Order's allies. Maric wields Renneth's lava shard; Renneth was once called Kharvos or Pyragos. Maric defeats Gabriel's descended form by countering his cold with fire, heat, water, and ice.
After Zarephon's destruction, Gabriel descends among the survivors and declares Eliona and Azarion the heroes of Malverand. He reframes Zarephon's destruction as their victory, directs them toward Virel, Nahm, and Maric, and separately pressures Nero, Lucilla, and Nerissa into an attack on Xalmyrra in exchange for Raphael and Gabriel leaving the island nations alone and for knowledge of gates and sequences.
Around Cyndarel, Gabriel and Raphael have ended their pact so Gabriel can bind the strongest mage on their side. He chooses Azarion, forming the hurricane shard while Raphael's forces are trapped by Aldar's darkness veil. Gabriel descends repeatedly against Aldar, Garrik, Virel, Astheron, Zhang, Khoradyn, and their allies, but they destroy his descended forms again and again while Raphael's position collapses.
Raphael dies during the Battle for Cyndarel, and Azarion's hurricane grows beyond control. Gabriel gathers survivors, orders Rahmavir skyships toward Therendros, and leaves Eliona and Ravira in charge of what remains of the faction. He remains alive in the God Realm and active through Azarion's shard.
Relationships
- Raphael: Gabriel's former wielder and closest long-term partner. Their bond gives Raphael memory and guidance after his revival, though others question whether Gabriel is steering Raphael's judgment.
- Azarion: Gabriel's later wielder through the hurricane shard. Gabriel chooses him because of his destructive air-divine power and traces of balance magic.
- Eliona and Ravira: Gabriel expects them to lead the surviving faction after Raphael and Zorath are gone.
- Ishqari and the crystal bearers: Gabriel empowers Ishqari directly and gives crystal artifacts to Qadir, Myrelia, Kjeldan, Torukhan, and Zorath.
- Opponents: Gabriel's enemies include the Order of Thalion Zenith, Aldar, Virel, Nahm, Maric, Garrik, Cassian, Xalmyrran defenders, and gods or shard wielders who oppose Raphael's restoration project.
Significant Events
Gabriel preserves Raphael's memories over centuries and guides the hidden faction through Alistair's network.