Legend

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Legend</default></title>

<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>

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<label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox> Legend is the leader of the Protectorate in general and the New York Protectorate team specifically.

Personality

Legend is probably closest to the classic superhero that Worm offers, heroic noble and willing to make sacrifices for others^{[citation needed]}. As part of the leading heroes of the Protectorate Legend is seen as a paragon of what a hero should be, acting on and off the camera largely the same.<ref name="19.y">Interlude 19.y</ref><ref>Legend's other contact with Taylor was pretty fair. He had a serious situation on his hands, and he outlined options. He didn't twist her arm (though it's easy to mix up what he was saying with what Armsmaster was saying) but did push one option as it was (in his mind) the best option available.- Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref> Legend is gay, married for quite some time, and he is the reason gay rights has progressed much further in Earth Bet than our own^{[citation needed]}.<ref name="I5xc1">chassisbird:
I really love this story, but it makes me really uncomfortable that the only gay characters so far are Legend, who is a single-chapter background guy, and Amy, who is a character driven to do something awful by her love for another girl.

wildbow:
You’re downplaying how important Legend is in the setting.

Further, you’re missing two others who’ve come up and had their attraction get mentioned – it’s not blatant, but it’s there, and it does get more attention later. Considering that romantic entanglements and relationships don’t get mentioned that often, I think it’s a pretty good track record for GBLTQABBQ inclusion. - Reply to a comment on Interlude 15x</ref>

Appearance

Legend has wavy brown hair and a square jaw.<ref name="8.1">Extermination 8.1</ref> He is tall, with a lean, muscular physique.<ref name="13.x">Interlude 13</ref> He is considered noticeably attractive by Skitter.<ref name="8.1" />

He wears a skintight blue costume with white lightning/flame designs. His costume includes boots and gloves.<ref name="13.x" /> His mask is blue and silver, and leaves his mouth, chin, hair and some of his forehead uncovered.<ref>That, apparently, was enough to get Legend's attention. He rose from the street level and surveyed the scene. He'd taken off the hazmat-style mask and filter, and what little I could see of his expression was drawn. His eyes were narrowed, a vein stood out on his forehead, and he furtively looked from Vista to me and back again.
[...]
Was I suffering from brain damage? Another concussion?
[...]
I didn't know the people who were on the rooftop with me: the man who floated in the air, wearing a sturdy hazmat-style firesuit and a blue and silver mask that left only his mouth, chin and wavy brown hair exposed. - Prey 14.8</ref>

Abilities and Powers

As a member of the Triumvirate, Legend is considered one of the most powerful parahumans in North America. His powers are summarized as "flying artillery": he can fly, shoot lasers from his body, and endure strong attacks. Attacks from Behemoth, Leviathan and Siberian have all been devastating enough that they were sufficient to take him out of the fight.<ref name="I14.5" />

Legend can accelerate to a speed that exceeds the speed of sound and continue accelerating, to no hard limit. However, surviving at these speeds requires the use of his secondary Breaker ability.<ref name="I14.5">Interlude 14.y</ref> He was one of, if not the, fastest heroes alive. On one occasion, he flew halfway around the planet in an extremely short period of time, seemingly a matter of moments; arriving a full five or six minutes before even Alexandria.<ref name="25.4">Scarab 25.4</ref>

Legend has a breaker power that changes his body to living light. As he becomes more like light, he is able to fly faster and ignore most attacks, though it impairs his ability to think. While in this state, he absorbs most kinds of energy, using it to repair his human form. This transformation happens instinctively to avoid injury, usually when he is struck or when he flies too fast.<ref name="I14.5" /> It allows him to survive in time dilated environments without food or water.

As a related minor power, he has perfect, superhumanly clear vision.<ref name="14.7">Prey 14.7</ref> He took advantage of this by learning to lip read.<ref name="19.4" />

His lasers were primarily blue-white<ref>He doesn't shoot rainbows. His lasers are primarily blue-white. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>. These beams can turn corners, fork into multiple lasers, pass through walls, and freeze and/or ignite his targets. He can use different effects creating cutting, disintegration, impact, heat, focused, staccato bursts, fat lasers, and invisible lasers. He could combine these effects, but this took time to investigate and he rarely faced threats that necessitated the effort to create.<ref name="SB1">Cutting, disintegration, impact, heat, focused, staccato bursts, fat lasers, invisible lasers. The freezing laser isn't so much a 'create ice' laser as a 'this deals damage and then frost spreads out from the site of impact'.

He can combine them, but he's not typically in situations where he needs to, and it's sort of something that takes time to figure out, like putting your gun together in the middle of the battlefield when you could just whip out another gun that's bound to do the job. - Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref> The 'freezing' laser actually lowers the temperature at the point of contact close to absolute zero, damaging the target and freezing ambient moisture.<ref name="SB1" /> The 'heat ray' that ignited a target works on a similar principle.

History

Background

Legend received his powers as part of Cauldron's program, becoming a founding member of the Protectorate. He was present for Behemoth's emergence in 1992.<ref>15.z (Donation Interlude 3; Alexandria)</ref> After Hero's death, he became the leader of a smaller team based in New York.<ref>Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

When Leviathan approached Brockton Bay, Legend took the opportunity to inform every parahuman there of the odds of survival.<ref>Extermination 8.1]]</ref> This was something that he as a veteran of such engagements, was rarely able to do.<ref>Extermination 8.2</ref>

Post-Leviathan

Despite the risks to both himself and the citizens of the city, he deployed with his team against the Slaughterhouse Nine when they came to Brockton Bay.

He recognised William Manton and confronted his co-conspirators, secretly armed with a lie-detector. He discovered that they were responsible for the Case 53s.

Post-Slaughterhouse Nine

Despite knowing that his teammates had been lying to him for years he repeated the same lies to Gully and Weld given the gravity of the situation the Protectorate faced.<ref name="19.4">Scourge 19.4</ref>

Post-Echidna

Legend stepped down as leader of the Protectorate after his ties to Cauldron were revealed.

He was briefly trapped in accelerated time by Khonsu, but survived by entering his breaker state. By the time the Endbringer dropped the effect, an enormous charge of light had built up inside it. This charge was redirected by Eidolon.

Gold Morning

Chevalier asked Legend to become his second-in-command in the new Protectorate after Revel's death, and he accepted.

He served throughout the event.

Post-Gold Morning

Was a part of the Wardens when the group was announcing themselves to the city. Welcome the new member Valkyrie.

Early-Ward

Two years after the event he still part of The Wardens. Just as in the Protectorate he isn't considered one of the groups key members, and has his statue in HQs lobby.<ref name="II3.6">Inside the building, statues of key members stood off to either side of the lobby. Chevalier, Narwhal, Valkyrie, Legend, Cinereal, Stonewall, Topflight and Miss Militia.
[...]
“Is Weld getting a statue?” Tristan asked.

“Not for a while,” Sveta said. “That’s more for people who’ve put in the years, and he only just got in. He’s got a preliminary thing in the gift shop.” - Excerpt from Glare 3.6</ref>

Trivia

• According to Valkyrie, Legend is the keeper of the "Coruscant Knave" shard,<ref>Teneral e.1</ref> an example of Valkyrie's use of antiquated language.
  • Also how hard it is to describe the function of the shards.
• Like Eidolon his powers were considered highly classified.<ref name="19.y">Interlude 19.y</ref>

Fanart Gallery

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  Image by DerTodesbote on deviantart
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  Legend vs Behemoth by DerTodesbote

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  Image by pabelandnine.tumblr.com
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  Fanart by Juilian Bautista.

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References

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