Hanso

Hanso at the Faerie Festival.

Hanso is a Blue Ixi and a petty thief who was a hero of The Faeries' Ruin plot. He usually wears his dark blue hair in a ponytail and wears a grey trench coat. He was once a Thieves Guild member, along with Hannah and the Ice Caves characters Masila and villain-turned-hero Kanrik. Before the plot, Hanso's many attempts at thieving were often foiled by Brynn, a Brightvale guard who was also a character in The Faeries' Ruin plot.

After saving the faeries, he and Brynn began working together to stop any more faerie artefacts falling into the wrong hands.

Plot summary

The Faeries' Ruin

Main article: The Faeries' Ruin

When the plot first began it was unclear if Hanso was a villain or not, as he was at the Faerie Festival after the Faeries were turned to stone. He was busy trying to steal anything valuable from the party until he ran into a band of heroes: King Altador,a Brightvale soldier named Brynn (an old "acquaintance" of Hanso), and King Jazan. When pressed, he said that he had seen Hubrid Nox cast the curse, using a strange artefact. However, his initial statement had been a half-truth, as he later admitted selling the artefact to the culprit after stealing it from a Xweetok named Xandra.

While hunting down Nox, Hanso snuck away from the heroes and confronted Nox himself. The villain didn't seem to recognise Hanso, but before he could say more an alarm was sounded as the other heroes broke in, and Nox made his escape. Brynn found Hanso just as all the doors in the castle sealed shut. The pair followed Nox down a secret passage and were able to free the heroes still trapped in the castle using a complicated control board.

Despite saving the heroes, Hanso was accused of letting Nox escape, and was taken by Brynn back to Brightvale's prison, while the rest of the heroes fought off a horde of shadowy monsters. In Brightvale, Brynn found a book illustrating an artefact like the one Hanso stole, but as she was explaining this to him, Brightvale itself came under attack. She ran off to join the fight, leaving Hanso locked up, but he was able to make his escape and help Brynn.

Brynn told him to take the book to Altador, and then was carried off by some of the wraiths. Instead, Hanso followed the creatures who captured Brynn, and infiltrated the cave she was held in. There they found Xandra again, along with other imprisoned Neopians who seemed drained by the monsters. Together, they managed to free the other Neopets and escape the cave.

On examining the book, Xandra discovered a map to the location of a second artefact, which turned out to be one of the Thieves Guild's old hideouts. Hanso took them there and they retrieved the sister artefact of the one 'Nox' had used. Brynn, Hanso and Xandra returned to the Haunted Woods to reunite with the other heroes.

Xandra said she could use the book and the second artefact to undo the curse on the faeries. While Altador, his guards, Jazan, and the Ogrin Master held back the wraiths, Xandra gave the artefact to Hanso and Brynn to hold, and erected a shield around them. Finding the correct spells in the book, the heroes raced against time to complete the ritual before Faerieland crashed.

They were betrayed: as Xandra's final incantation completed, she petrified all the heroes outside the barrier and cowed the wraiths, and Faerieland crashed into the Haunted Woods behind her.

It was revealed that Hanso hadn't sold the stolen artefact to Hubrid Nox at all, but back to Xandra who was in disguise. She explained how she saw the faeries as selfish dictators and wanted to replace them with a new, Neopet world order. The wraiths were an unintended side effect. She offered Hanso and Brynn places in her new regime: Hanso could be treated like the hero he was, not the thief the other heroes always saw him as. Hanso agreed.

It was a ruse: immediately, he snatched the first artefact from Xandra and ran. While Brynn was fighting Oblivion, a wraith now under Xandra's command, Hanso taunted Xandra and used his artefact to absorb her attacks. In one desperate gamble, he destroyed his artefact, now overflowing with Xandra's magic, and a flash of light turned both Xandra and him to stone.

This action revived the faeries, and Fyora was able to restore Hanso to life. As they set about rebuilding Farieland, Fyora gave Hanso and Brynn a job - retrieving dangerous faerie artefacts from across Neopia before they could do any more damage.

Better Than You

Hanso has been a contestant on Better Than You once:

Date:	June 2, 2011	Some Quiggle was here a minute ago, muttering something about Purple Keys, but I'm sure Queen Fyora would be happier if I went in and looked around. I mean, some things should be left for real heroes. Help me out and you can have this classy bath tub I found lying around.
Game:	Faerie Caves II - Fyora's Quest
Score:	700
Prize:	Fyora Bath Tub

Trivia

• Hanso was added to the Gallery of Heroes on 25 February 2011.
• Perhaps a coincidence, but Hanso sounds a lot like a conglomeration of Han Solo, the Star Wars hero who also rose from petty crime to greatness in the Star Wars series.

External links

• Plot Info: The Faeries' Ruin
• Gallery of Heroes: Hanso
• Editorial: #490