Hogg Baruch

Hogg Baruch is the impoverished patriarch of the ancient Dragonblood Warrior clan and the father of Linley Baruch and Wharton Baruch. His stern instruction, financial sacrifices, and devotion to the Baruch inheritance give his sons the foundation from which they restore the clan. His hidden search for his abducted wife Lina leads to his mortal death, but his soul survives in the Undead Realm, allowing him eventually to regain his memories, reunite with his descendants, and resume life beside Lina. (Chapters 1–5, 33–35, 46, 76–77, 112–114, 712–715, 788–790)

Biography

Patriarch of a Fallen Clan

Hogg leads a clan whose five-thousand-year history contrasts painfully with its present condition. Only he and his two young sons remain in the direct household, much of the ancestral manor has been abandoned to save money, and family possessions must be sold to meet basic expenses. He nevertheless preserves the dignity of his office as lord of Wushan township, maintains the manor and ancestral hall, and personally educates Linley in history, politics, art, and the obligations of noble lineage. (Chapters 1–5)

In the ancestral hall, Hogg teaches Linley that the Baruch family descends from the first Dragonblood Warrior and tests whether his elder son has inherited sufficiently concentrated dragonblood. His excitement turns to disappointment when the test fails, but he immediately comforts the crying child and refuses to blame him for something beyond his control. Hogg instead identifies the family's achievable goal: recovering the ancestral warblade Slaughterer, whose loss embodies the clan's decline and humiliation. (Chapters 2–3)

Hogg's responsibilities extend beyond his household. When battles between powerful outsiders devastate Wushan, he approaches an eighth-rank magus on behalf of the town, organizes the recovery of usable wealth, assists residents whose homes were destroyed, and worries over the injured even though his own finances are barely sufficient to pay the guards and the kingdom's tithe. His authority is therefore practical rather than ornamental: the townspeople later remember his low taxes, generosity, and willingness to cover public obligations from his own depleted resources. (Chapters 11–12, 17–18, 114)

Linley's acceptance into the Ernst Institute convinces Hogg that the clan has a future. He celebrates openly, gives Linley the Secret Dragonblood Training Tome, and entrusts him with the history and cultivation knowledge preserved by their ancestors. When Wharton later passes the dragonblood test, Hogg sends him to the distant O'Brien Academy despite tuition costs that could consume the value of the clan's remaining property. He accepts bankruptcy as a reasonable price for giving one son the best magical education and the other the best warrior training available. (Chapters 33–35, 46, 49)

Years of strictness conceal both parental fear and a private purpose. When Linley returns with magicite cores worth enough to secure Wharton's education, Hogg first worries about the danger his son faced and examines the scars on his body rather than celebrating the money. He then spends ten unusually affectionate days with Linley, arranges for Hillman to safeguard the family's funds, and reveals that Lina did not die in childbirth: she was abducted, and he has suppressed his need to investigate for eleven years so that his sons would not be left unsupported. Once their futures are financially secure, Hogg resolves to pursue the truth despite expecting that it may cost his life. (Chapters 76–77)

Death, Restoration, and Reunion

Hogg's death occurs off-page after his final direct early scene in Chapter 77. The subsequent account comes from Hillman and Hogg's last letter: disguised in Fenlai City, Hogg traced Lina's abductors to Duke Patterson, infiltrated the duke's household, captured and interrogated a seventh-rank warrior, and learned that another figure stood behind Patterson. The investigation exposed him before he could identify that superior; he escaped with fatal wounds, returned secretly to Wushan, and left instructions that Linley not be told until he possessed at least seventh-rank power. (Chapters 110, 112–114)

The posthumous testimony clarifies that Hogg did not abandon his sons casually. His letter entrusts the clan to Linley, warns him repeatedly to value his own safety, and admits regret for having been cold and severe. Linley returns too late to show Hogg either the recovered Slaughterer or his Dragonform, placing both achievements before his father's spirit tablet instead. Hogg's death therefore transfers leadership to Linley while making the lost parents and fallen clan inseparable parts of the son's campaign against Patterson, Clayde Boleyn, and the Radiant Church. (Chapters 112–115)

The late narrative does not reverse Hogg's mortal death by restoring his original living body. His soul survives as a Saint-level undead, and the Chief Sovereign of Death restores the memories of his previous life. Once recovered, Hogg immediately thinks of Linley and Wharton, still carries his desire to avenge Lina, and is astonished to discover what his sons and clan have become during the intervening millennia. He reunites with Linley in the Netherworld and later with the adult Wharton and generations of descendants, turning the line he once feared would end into an extended family surrounding him. (Chapters 712, 714–719)

Hogg's restored late presence becomes especially consequential when Linley locates Lina as a Twelve-Winged Angel. Hogg travels with him to identify her, recalls their life at Mt. Wushan, their home, and the night of her abduction, and accepts her even though the Angelic Resurrection Pool has erased her mortal memories. Her faint recognition of his aura gives him hope; after Linley secures her freedom, Hogg patiently rebuilds their relationship until the two can live contentedly together, care for their descendants, and plan journeys through other material planes. (Chapters 788–790, 800)

At the end of the story, Hogg and Lina return from their travels just as Linley's conflict with Augusta and Orloff places the family in danger. Hogg accompanies and steadies Lina after her memories fully return, then holds her while the gathered household believes Linley has vanished beyond recovery. His role in this final crisis is familial rather than martial: he shares the fear of losing a son, supports his wife through it, and is present when Linley reappears, completing a reunion that had once seemed impossible for every member of the household. (Chapters 805–806)

Appearance and personality

Hogg usually dresses simply at home, but when conducting clan rites he wears noble, beautiful clothing and projects an ancient dignity described as something inherited through generations rather than purchased with wealth. He sits and stands ramrod-straight, and his controlled bearing reinforces the formality of his lessons. During his undead existence he appears as the armored leader of the Black Knights, dressed in blood-red armor; after his memories return, his family recognizes the same father beneath the transformed circumstances. (Chapters 2, 4, 28, 714–715)

His ordinary manner is strict, solemn, and demanding. Hogg requires Linley to memorize political and cultural knowledge, disciplines mistakes, and connects achievement to the responsibility of carrying an ancient name. That severity is not emotional indifference. He embraces Linley after the failed dragonblood test, fears for both sons during danger, and becomes considerate and openly affectionate once he knows he may soon leave. His last letter confirms that he understood his own coldness and regretted the distance it created. (Chapters 3–4, 17, 76–77, 113–114)

Pride, duty, and endurance govern Hogg's decisions. He will sell possessions, borrow money, and exhaust the clan's wealth to educate his sons, but refuses to sell heirlooms indiscriminately or abandon the dignity of Wushan's residents. His deepest weakness is also a form of loyalty: grief over Lina transforms an easygoing young man into someone who endures eleven years of private torment, then risks death when his parental obligations finally appear secure. After restoration, he is calmer and more accepting, yet his attachment to Lina remains strong enough to define his happiness. (Chapters 5, 46, 76–77, 715, 788–790)

Abilities and cultivation

During his mortal life Hogg is a warrior of the sixth rank, making him one of the two strongest people in Wushan township alongside Hillman. He is not a Dragonblood Warrior and cannot contend openly with the great powers who control Fenlai, but he possesses the sturdiness of the Baruch bloodline, enough combat ability to defend the family during Lina's abduction, and sufficient skill to kill several pursuers while escaping Patterson's forces after his investigation. The wounds from that escape, rather than age or illness, cause his death. (Chapters 46, 113–114)

Hogg's greatest practical strengths are education, administration, and investigation. He knows the Baruch archives well enough to identify high-level magic, explain the clan's cultivation methods, and preserve technical knowledge through copies of the training tome. As township lord he directs guards, relief, taxation, and household finances. His final operation in Fenlai also shows patience and ingenuity: he changes his appearance, spends a year following a single identifying mark, infiltrates a powerful noble's manor, and extracts information from a stronger captive before discovery. (Chapters 11–18, 33–34, 76, 113–114)

After death, Hogg's Azure Dragon ancestry gives his soul greater resilience than that of ordinary undead. He eventually develops into a Saint-level undead and leads Black Knights in the Undead Realm, although he does not regain his mortal memories through cultivation alone. Once the Chief Sovereign of Death restores those memories, Hogg can leave that existence and rejoin his family. His later importance does not come from approaching Linley's divine power; it comes from surviving long enough for the broken Baruch household to be made whole. (Chapters 712, 714–715)

Power progression

Relationships

• Linley Baruch: Hogg trains Linley as his heir, places the clan's future upon him, and sacrifices nearly everything to give him opportunity. His strictness creates emotional distance, but concern emerges whenever Linley is endangered. Hogg's death becomes one of Linley's central motives, while their later reunion allows father and son to replace inherited obligation with direct affection and mutual pride. (Chapters 2–5, 33–35, 76–77, 112–114, 715, 788–790)
• Wharton Baruch: Hogg protects the infant Wharton during Lina's abduction and later spends the clan's remaining wealth to send him to the O'Brien Academy after his dragonblood test succeeds. Because Hogg dies while Wharton is still young, their restored reunion occurs only millennia later, when Hogg recognizes the adult man through the eyes of the toddler he remembers. (Chapters 46, 77, 113, 717–718)
• Lina: Hogg conceals Lina's abduction so that his sons and enemies will believe she died in childbirth. He endures eleven years before investigating, loses his life following the trail, and continues to miss her after his memories are restored. When she is freed as an Angel without mortal memories, he accepts the loss and patiently rebuilds their marriage rather than demanding immediate recognition. (Chapters 77, 113–114, 715, 788–790, 800, 805–806)
• Hillman and Housekeeper Hiri: Hogg trusts these two retainers with the truth about Lina and the care of his sons. Hillman is both subordinate and brotherly confidant, receives the money for Wharton's education, and carries out Hogg's instruction to delay revealing his death. Hiri preserves the household and accompanies Wharton abroad, making both men essential to Hogg's attempt to protect the clan after his own departure. (Chapters 2, 17–18, 35, 46, 77, 112–114)

Items

• Slaughterer: The Baruch clan's ancestral warblade is Hogg's clearest symbol of lost family honor. He teaches Linley that recovering it is the clan's central unfinished duty and longs to see it returned before his death, but dies before Linley brings it back to the ancestral hall. (Chapters 3, 35, 77, 105, 112–114)
• Secret Dragonblood Training Tome: Hogg gives Linley a preserved copy after his acceptance into the Ernst Institute. He explains that it combines the clan's history with the Secret Dragonblood Training Method and related knowledge, using the volume to transfer ancestral memory and cultivation responsibility to the future patriarch. (Chapters 33–34)