Hreidmar

''This page is about the true leader of the Red Axe. For the chaos dwarf actors, see Red Axe director.''

Hreidmar is the villainous director of The Red Axe, a company that had positioned itself as the most powerful company in the Dwarven Consortium in an attempt to achieve dictatorship over Keldagrim, and the true heir to the throne. He follows Zamorak and is the main antagonist of the Rise of the Red Axe quest series. Hreidmar lived in Keldagrim, the dwarven capital city, until his company left the Consortium, which is when he resorted to hiding in Red Axe bases in abandoned mines. The dwarf owns a pet cat, whom he allows to roam his office freely.

Background
Hreidmar was born in 21 or 22 of the Fifth Age to the director of the Red Axe. His family were presumably rich, living in Keldagrim West, due to the large influence and wealth of the company. Hreidmar also got a pet cat for himself.

Around 149, Hreidmar somehow broke into the records chamber of Keldagrim and discovered that he was the true heir to the throne of Keldagrim, whose monarchy was abolished centuries prior due to the death of King Alvis and the Rise of the Consortium. He learnt that the long chain of Red Axe directors, a position passed on through Hreidmar's family, descended from the secret son of Alvis, whom one of the first Red Axe directors had adopted. He went to a crumbling statue in the Ancient Keldagrim ruins north of the city, where he believed he was talking to Zamorak. His hallucination told him that he should use the power of the Red Axe to take over the city and establish himself as its new king, which would become Hreidmar's sole goal.

At some point, the dwarf inherited leadership of the Red Axe from his father and, under him, the company would expand massively. Hreidmar ruled with an iron fist, eliminating opposition whenever it arose. Many small companies may well have been forced out of business by his actions, and many dwarves left unemployed. However, many dwarves flocked to his service, feeling that his method of rule was superior to that of the other companies. Before long he had gained a very significant following within the city, although his power was not so great that he could oppose the rest of the Consortium.

Formation of chaos dwarf army
However, Hreidmar secretly plotted against the city, gradually formulating a complex plot to claim what he deemed to be his birthright. He found out about the existence and nature of chaos dwarves: those dwarves who succumbed to a curse Zamorak had placed upon them in the Third Age which would turn them into mindless and dangerous monsters of chaos. The Elders of Keldagrim had worked around this curse at the cost of losing magic permanently, but Hreidmar was able to find out that the cure could be undone, allowing the curse to take over a dwarf once more and enabling him to create an army of chaos dwarves.

Towards the late Fifth Age, he forged a secret alliance with the dark gnomes of Arposandra and received special warping machines used by the Arposandrans through their cruel emissary Laneel. These would turn his victims into chaos dwarves. However, the method was imperfect, because the chaos dwarves were still unable to use magic. Hreidmar discovered a spell which would return Zamorak's curse completely, but this would turn him and everyone in the vicinity into a chaos dwarf as well, effectively becoming a suicide method. He established a network of spies in and around Keldagrim, such as Vigr, owner of a warhammer store in the palace, and Grundt and Brendt, ore traders on Jatizso. He also built a very large network of caves and storerooms to serve as the Red Axe Base in abandoned mines south of the city, using special mine cart tracks to prevent access to them. The caves covered a massive area, with connections to the old mines south of the Keldagrim mine cart tracks, Barendir and the Keldagrim south-west mine.

After the gruesome Battle of Barendir, Hreidmar took the mentally unstable Colonel Grimsson under his wing. Laneel then provided them with Grunsh, a particularly powerful ogre shaman he had brutally kidnapped from Gu'tanoth and forced to erase his own memories. On the gnome's advice, Hreidmar convinced the ogre that he had been rescued from Trollweiss Mountain, where he had been found frozen, to which Grunsh swore loyalty to the Red Axe in gratitude, wiping the Red Axe's victims' memories before their conversion to chaos dwarf.

With two new allies, Hreidmar began kidnapping dwarves from the poor Keldagrim East, knowing they would not be missed. By having Grunsh wipe their memories before warping their bodies using Arposandra's machines, he was able to create a massive chaos army, which he soon expanded with chaos dwogres, terrifying hybrids of chaos dwarves and ogres, able to use magic. Meanwhile, the Red Axe became the largest company of the Consortium, though still not large enough to outweigh the other seven. Hreidmar also used Grunsh's powers to alter Grimsson's memory on his request, making him forget his traumatising actions at the Battle of Barendir, and used them on himself to create the illusion of having talked to Zamorak himself at the ancient Keldagrim ruins, rather than a statue. He also had Grunsh erase the memory of any dwarf who would find out their plans, filling their mind with only beer and kebabs.

Leaving the Consortium
Hreidmar's plan to become king of Keldagrim required the destruction of King Alvis' statue, a massive dwarven monument that stood at the city's entrance, so that it could be rebuilt to bear his own visage. Rising up from the bustling River Kelda, the dwarves had long seen it as a symbol of their prosperity, for it had been King Alvis who, inadvertently, led them from the dark Age of Kings imto their Golden Age.

Keldagrim had only recently been opened to humans, and many dwarves did not trust them fully. Taking advantage of this, Hreidmar bribed a boatman to assist him in the destruction of the statue. The dwarf was instructed to ferry a human to the city from the mines; a common occurrence since the city's opening. When they would near the statue, the boatman was to pretend that there was something wrong with his boat and crash into the statue, with the human taking the blame. Indeed, a visiting human soon arrived and boarded the boat, which subsequently crashed into the statue. The human, an adventurer, was arrested by the Dwarven Black Guard, accused of destroying it.

However, the Black Guard's Commander Veldaban did not feel the adventurer was responsible and, instead, asked that they help reconstruct the statue. They gratefully agreed and aided Blasidar the sculptor in the creation of a new statue. When it was nearly finished, however, a debate arose amongst the Consortium directors as to whose head should be carved on it. Seizing the opportunity as planned, Hreidmar argued that, as the most powerful company director, he should have his head put atop the statue. The adventurer, who had joined Veldaban to witness the meeting, however, was given the choice as an outside party, and choss another director instead. Hreidmar was infuriated by this turn of events and promptly left the meeting, threatening the other directors.

Shortly after, the Red Axe left the Consortium altogether, and abandoned the city. They were replaced by the Orange Flame company.

Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf
During the quest it is revealed that Hreidmar is far more evil than the other dwarves had thought. He had been abducting dwarves from their homes and using brainwashing magic and machinery, converting them into Chaos dwarves. One unfortunate victim of this process was Hilda, Commander Veldaban's girlfriend. Commander Veldaban is compelled to help the dwarves of east Keldagrim, and to stop the Red Axe once and for all, however, the consortium, caring only for the wealthy dwarves of West Keldagrim, choose to do nothing, prompting Veldaban to leave the Black Guard and work on his own.

King of the Dwarves
In the King of the Dwarves quest, Hreidmar makes a speech to a group of protesters about restoring power to the king. The player and Veldaban track down Meike, the leader of the Monarchist Society. Meike is not taking part in the protests because she realises that if they succeed, Hreidmar will become king and take control of Keldagrim.

Meike, Veldaban and the player break in to the Keldagrim Records Chamber to alter the records to make it look like Veldaban is the heir to the throne. The directors of the consortium decide to cede rule of Keldagrim to the king. Hreidmar excitedly awaits for his name to be called, but instead, it is revealed that Meike altered the records to make Veldaban the heir to the throne. Meike will claim that it was the easiest thing to do as it only required one stroke to change. Hreidmar refuses to accept that Veldeban is the rightful heir and threatens to take over the city with his army of chaos dwarves. Just as he does so, a Black Guard soldier comes bearing news that the troll army have defeated the chaos dwarf army. Veldaban orders the Black Guard to seize Hreidmar, but he manages to slip away through the crowd.

Birthright of the Dwarves
During the quest the player and Veldaban finally take action against the Red Axe. Throughout the quest the player recovers theirs and some other's memories of what the Chaos Dwarves and Hreidmar have really done. In the end Hreidmar is finally killed at the hand of the player and depending on the players choice, Veldaban remains king, is killed or the city is given to the Consortium/King Drunken Dwarf III.



Trivia

 * Hreiðmarr (anglicised Hreidmar) is the king of the Dwarves and father of Otr, Regin, and Fafnir in the Völsunga Saga.
 * According to Hugi, Hreidmar showed interest in his lineage in 149 of the Fifth Age. However, his memory, viewed during Birthright of the Dwarves, suggests he was much younger when it happened.