Boss Fight: King Charles the Fat¶
The fight with King Charles doesn’t play out like any regular boss fight. The aim is to weaken him to the point where you can decide whether to finish him off and kill him, or trap him to spare his life. To do this, you’ll first need to hit his weak points which are located on his head and his left leg. Once you’ve done this, you need to damage him in whatever way you can until his final defence bar (just above the health bar) is depleted. At this point, you can drag and throw Charles into a nearby brazier, thereby weakening him.
Charles is incredibly slow, but his attacks can be powerful. You’ll need to avoid his red rune aura attacks in particular, but this can be done easily given how slow he is. Once you successfully throw Charles into a brazier, a good chunk of his health will be depleted and the brazier will be destroyed. You’ll then need to hit his weak points on the head and left leg again before you can weaken him to the point where he can be thrown into another brazier.
You’ll need to throw Charles into a brazier at least three times before you can decide to trap him, as the room where you can trap him will be locked until then. After the second burning from a brazier, Charles will begin to throw rocks at the braziers to extinguish their fires. You can easily light them again with your torch, but you’ll need to make sure they’re lit before you throw Charles into them.
How to Spare or Kill King Charles¶
Once you’ve thrown Charles into a brazier 3 times, you’ll be able to raise the gate to the room where the tapestry of Richardis is located. Entering the room will provoke Charles to follow you there. Once he’s inside, deplete his last defence bar until he’s stunned, then run out of the room and use the lever to lower the gate. A cutscene will then follow with Richardis.
If you’d rather kill King Charles than spare him, you can simply throw him into a brazier for a fourth time. However, Richardis will not forgive you for this.
What Happens if You Kill King Charles?¶
Aside from the difference in the immediate fight with King Charles, whether or not you decide to kill him will have an impact on the ending of the main story. As previously noted, killing him will greatly upset Richardis, and she won’t forgive Eivor. However, if you told Count Odo that you would kill King Charles if you got the chance, you’ll find in the next quest that he is grateful that you followed through with your promise.
Ultimately, killing Charles results in effectively supporting Count Odo as the new king of Francia. If you spare Charles, this results in Eivor supporting Bernard as the new king, though he is not yet ready. Your decision should be based on who you trust more between Richardis / Bernard, and Count Odo.
Whatever you decide to do, once you’ve dealt with Charles the quest will end.
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