He Who Holds in Thrall is a former Primordial slain during the Primordial War. In life, he was Mardukth, Who Holds In Thrall, The Mountain and the Beast Upon It, the first king of the Primordials, before he was usurped by Theion, the Empyreal Chaos. He is now one of the Neverborn.
Overview[]
He Who Holds in Thrall is the patron of both the Deathlord First and Forsaken Lion and the Princess Magnificent with Lips of Coral and Robes of Black Feathers.
After suspecting that the First and Forsaken Lion's hubris may have cost them ultimate victory when he invited the Fair Folk to finish off a Contagion-striken Creation - which is believed to have introduced chaos into the equation and give about 1/10th of humanity enough resistance to survive extinction - He Who Holds in Thrall ordered the Lion into exile far from the seat of Underworld power and fused his body into his armor (a tortuous procedure that took at least 2 weeks to be complete).
When the Princess Magnificent was tricked into retreating by the gods of Great Forks she apologized to her master but was punished by being subjected to the will of the Lion (some theorize that this was an additional punishment for the latter's sake, since the Lion apparently finds himself highly attracted to the Princess, who rejects his advances with vehemence. Whether this was truly intentional on the part of the Neverborn is unclear however).