The Knight in Coven

The Knight in Coven The Knight makes Coven's war between witches and Crusaders even uglier because he doesn't need to believe in either side. He says he used to be human. Now he's a mercenary working for the highest bidder, and he's willing to help the Wizard trade a captive witch to the very people the Crusaders are supposed to be fighting. Spoilers for Coven #2–5. What stood out to me was how quickly he makes an apparently powerful character helpless. He uses inhibitor weapons against Baba Yaga and Liza, and later captures Baba after shooting Tyrea during their infiltration. Being a witch doesn't stop somebody from developing a weapon specifically meant to take that advantage away. He's also willing to turn on his own side when the deal calls for it. In the forest, he separates Dartanian and Avril from the main force, contacts Liza, and agrees to get rid of witnesses. Dartanian is still trying to understand why a Crusader would negotiate with witches. The Knight is already moving on to what needs to be done for the agreement to work. Dartanian tries to get Avril away, but the Knight comes back with a firebomb and takes her while Dartanian and Baba are fighting each other. He doesn't need their argument settled. He just needs them distracted long enough to finish his job. The reveal of what he is comes out through the damage he takes. Baba blasts him, and he leaves something metallic instead of ordinary blood behind. Later, Dartanian blows him apart with a grenade. That would look like the end of the fight if the story stopped there. It doesn't. The Senator collects his mutilated torso and takes him to a laboratory. There are other bodies or body-like forms in pods, and the conversation is about repairing him and making him stronger. Something left in that damaged body is still able to answer. I wouldn't turn that into a claim that the Knight can't die. What the scene actually gives us is stranger and more specific: the destruction that stops him in combat doesn't prevent somebody else from recovering and rebuilding him. There is an organization and a facility behind what he's become, and we haven't been given all the answers about them here. I like that distinction because it leaves the victory against him feeling incomplete without pretending the grenade did nothing. Dartanian gets him out of the fight. The people with the resources to put him back together make sure that isn't necessarily permanent. And given what the Knight is willing to do for an employer, the prospect of a stronger version isn't particularly reassuring.