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Ritterstahl

Ritterstahl
Real name
Ritterstahl
Aliases
Rubezahl; Jan Grimm; Jack-In-The-Grey; Adam Brass; Metzlacatl; Amun-Thoth; Centurius
Alignment
Affiliation
Relatives
Anna Kohl (occasional wife)
Universe

Characteristics
Gender
Eyes
Hair
Unusual features
He's a robot
Status
Marital status
Occupation
Warrior
Origin
First appearance
Last appearance

History[]

The solar-powered robot knight Ritterstahl is a character in the 2000 AD strip The Order. As a member of the Order he is charged with protecting Earth from supernatural enemies in order to ensure that human history proceeds as it should. Who made him and gave him this task is currently unknown, but he seems to be able to view the course of history sub specie aeternitatis, and to be a time traveller of some sort.

When fighting the monsters known as 'wurms' in Prague, Ritterstahl gained a new, wurm-created body. Before that his entire operating system and hardware appeared to be contained in a metal cylinder resembling a knight's helmet. A loyal friend and a courageous fighter, Ritterstahl was totally committed to saving the population of a Europe full of peasants and religious fanatics who mostly scream and called him a devil when they saw him. He fought alongside Anna Kohl, Blazen, Schmidt and Iron John.

In 1580 AD, Ritterstahl's wurm-made body was finally falling apart and he was dying in a torture chamber in London. He injected his personality matrix into Daniel Calhoun, who was mopping the blood from the chamber's floor. Calhoun fled, was rescued by the Elizabethan incarnation of the Order, and had Ritterstahl's personality extracted from his body by the South American princess Iztaccihuatl, who viewed Ritterstahl as a type of deity.

Ritterstahl was uploaded into a new robot body and reunited with Anna Kohl, who had aged extremely slowly because she was a member of the techno-mystical 'black seedline'. Readers learnt that Anna and Ritterstahl were deeply in love with each other and had, in the time between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, got married. The newest version of the Order, which included Taras Sich and Intuitor Browne, successfully defeated the monstrous 'Wyrmqueen' which had been hiding in Somerset House. However, Ritterstahl's body was destroyed during the battle, reducing him once more to a talking head for which another body had to be built.

In 1641 AD, Ritterstahl and Anna's relationship suffered a serious setback when she was erased from time and space because the wyrms had been meddling with the history of humanity. Ritterstahl was heartbroken. When Intuitor Browne eventually managed to reset the timelime (by merging his body with that of a wyrm 'super-string' which was altering space-time with its vibrations), Anna reappeared. However, the Ritterstahl to whom she reappeared was a version of the robot who had never met her and had no idea who she was. From the point of view of their relationship, this wasn't much of an improvement.

Powers and abilities[]

Powers

Solar-powered.

Abilities

'Hijacking' a decapitated human body by attaching his head to it.

Strength level

Probably superhuman.

Weaknesses

Vulnerable to wurm infestation.

Paraphernalia[]

Transportation

Gyro-rotor (ye olde helicopter); has been known to ride a horse.

Trivia[]

Ritterstahl's name literally means 'steel knight'.

Links[]

Discover and Discuss[]

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