Cahara

Cahara is a playable character and a potential party member in Fear & Hunger. A mercenary, he is known for his dirty tactics in battle and crafty ways of gaining the advantage, doing whatever brings the silver to the table.

Personality
As someone born with a soul of the endless, Cahara is a free-spirited and creative person, who is not easily bound by responsibilities. Due to his upbringing, he became an opportunistic man who is willing to use cheap tricks to survive and gain the advantage.

If the player is using Ragnvaldr or Enki as the main character and chooses to show love to Cahara, he will briefly mention past sexual experiences with men, making him bisexual according to canon.

Lore
"" Cahara, also known as The Mercenary, was born with an Endless soul, a force that drove him to constantly yearn for freedom and explore the depths of his creativity. Unfortunately, life in the capital of the Eastern Sanctuaries, Jettaiah, would prove itself to be very harsh and unforgiving for Cahara, as he was abandoned and left to fend for himself by his parents when he was just a child.

To survive in the capital, a young Cahara was forced to make a difficult decision: to become a pickpocket, a burglar or to struggle by trying to lead an honest life as a merchant. Regardless of which career path he chose, his endless soul craved more than a mundane existence and when he grew older, Cahara would abandon his previous career and join various mercenary armies, mastering the dirtiest tricks to stay alive.

Eventually, he was taken in by a notorious veteran highwayman and became a member of his small band of criminals and ex-soldiers. Together, they traveled the lands, raiding and pillaging, until Cahara found himself settling down in the Kingdom of Rondon. Now in a new land, Cahara would make a living for himself by working in the Kingdom's underworld, tempted by the promise of money and opportunity.

Fear & Hunger
During his stay in Rondon, Cahara would end up becoming romantically involved with Celeste, a prostitute who was trapped in indentured servitude at one of the kingdom's brothels. His relationship with her is what presumably made him decide to delve into the Dungeons of Fear & Hunger in search of Le'garde, as the money offered by his bouty would allow Cahara to free Celeste. The fact that Celeste was pregnant may have strengthened his determination to earn enough money to buy her freedom.

Despite feeling a sense of unease about the task from the outset, Cahara nevertheless accepted it, as he was promised a handsome reward if he was successful. In the event that Cahara is not selected as the main character, he will inevitably be captured and locked in a cell, with it being implied that he may have possibly been subjected to sexual assault by his insane captors.

Fear & Hunger 2: Termina
Whether Cahara accomplished his goals of living a lavish life with Celeste or even survived his ordeal in the dungeons remains a mystery, as there is no reference to him in Fear & Hunger 2: Termina.

However, in his S ending, he can been seen wielding a sword that looks identical to the Sabbath, a weapon that would later appear in Termina. The sword was only created in the 1700s, which is strange, considering the fact that Cahara was born in 1564 and is unlikely to have lived beyond the mid 1600s.

Gameplay Traits

 * Starts with a scimitar (+17 Attack) and a leather vest (+20 Defense) equipped.
 * Can use all weapon types except for Blunt and Dagger.
 * Has no Equipment/Armor restrictions.
 * Has an endless soul.
 * Can be chosen to form Marriages.
 * Cannot be sacrificed at ritual circles.
 * Can learn the Lockpick, Steal, Backstab/Escape Plan, and Dash skills. However, he will not have any of these skills learned if he is not chosen as the playable character.
 * Using a Book of forgotten memories will teach him the skill Steal.

Intro
Just like all the other playable characters, the skills that The Mercenary starts with are dependent on what choices the player makes during their introduction. See Intro and Best Choices (F&H1).

"You had to choose at a very young age to either become a pickpocket, a burglar or try to struggle and lead a honest life." "You could have just abandoned your comrades and kept your life, or you could have fought to your last breath." "You spent your last night in the kingdom..."
 * "Become a pickpocket.": Teaches the Steal skill, which allows them to steal items in the middle of battle that can't be found otherwise.
 * "Become a burglar.": Teaches the Lockpick skill, which allows them to open some locked doors or chests for free.
 * "Lead an honest life.": Gives you 30 silver coins.
 * "Abandon your comrades.": Teaches them the Backstab skill. Pressing SHIFT to back-stab an enemy right behind them allows the Mercenary's party to ambush them, preventing them from attacking for the first turn in combat. In Ver. 1.2.0, this skill is replaced with Escape Plan, a skill that reduces the rate of Run failing (and is functionally replaced by En garde).
 * "Fight to the last breath.": Fighting to the last breath rewards them with 30 silver coins.
 * "Go drinking and get laid at the brothel.": A Wine vial, a Bottle of whiskey, an Ale, as well as "You also get an itch in your groin area..."
 * "Stock up food for the mission.": 3 Dried meat, a Moldy bread, and a Cheese.
 * "Stock up healing items for the mission.": A Blue vial and 2 Cloth fragments.
 * "Run straight for your mission.": You learn the skill Dash.

These skills give the player an advantage in gathering resources in the first choice, or a major advantage in combat in the second choice. This combined with the option to replace those skills with coins provides the player with great versatility in how playing the Mercenary gives them an advantage over other characters, at the cost of risking an arm before they even set foot in the dungeon.

Recruitment
To recruit Cahara, the player must first chose to not play as him and play the game either on "Fear & Hunger" or "Terror & Starvation" difficulty. Once both requirements are fulfilled, Cahara can be found in the upper left cell in the level 3 prisons. To open his cell, the player must either use a cell key, an item dropped by the guards, or use the lockpicking skill. Once his cell is open, he explains briefly that he's on a mission to find a man before asking to join your party. If denied or the player's party has no room, he will leave on his own and will not be seen again in-game.

However, it is not over yet, as him joining seems to be a ruse; as soon as the player transitions to a new area, he'll leave, taking some of your supplies with him. The items that he steals will be in the following order:


 * One light blue vial.
 * One blue vial, if the player has no light blue vials.
 * 20 silver coins, in case the player has no blue vials.
 * 20 bottles of whiskey, if the player has no silver coins.

After this, Cahara can be found again at the passageway from the mines to the level 7 catacombs. The player can either call him out on his trick to attack him, or let him join the party permanently (there is no prompt asking if the player wishes Cahara to join the party, as long as the party is not full and the player chooses to not call him out, Cahara will automatically join you). However, if the party is full when this interaction happens, he will leave the scene and be slain by an unknown creature on the same map.

If one aims to recruit Cahara, it is recommended to have a space on the party for him, as failing to let him join you in both of his interactions will make him unavailable for recruitment later on.

Dialogue
See Cahara's dialogue.

Special interactions
If the player happens to complete Isayah's treasure sidequest and open the last treasure chest with Cahara in their party, he will ask the player to give him the King's crown. Complying will effectively remove the item from the player's inventory, while refusing to do so will cause Cahara to steal the crown when changing maps and disappear forever for that run.

As the crown has no value, unless the player is trying to get Cahara's S ending, it is best to comply to his request, as doing so will ensure that he stays in the party.

Strategy
As one of the few recruitable party members in the game, it is recommended to simply avoid fighting against him or just let him join your party. If the player wants to outright avoid dealing with him, it is best to simply let him stay in his cell or free him from imprisonment and then reject his offer to join you, as doing either of these will prevent latter encounters. If the player does enconter him in the passageway, it is best to just let him join your party by selecting the second dialogue option. As the player can just use him as a meat shield or just cut all of his limbs if they don't want him to become a permanent member. If the party is full, Cahara will simply leave and get killed later on, although if he dies this way, he won't return your stolen items if you loot his corpse.

However, if you want to fight Cahara, either because you want your stolen items back or another personal reason, you should first cut of his sword arm before targeting the legs. Once all three limbs are removed, the head will be vulnerable for a headshot. He also takes 125% damage from the Piercing damage type, making it the preferable damage type when fighting him.

Item drops
What can be gained by searching his body will change depending on what he stole from the player and the way that he died. If Cahara does not join the player's party on the passageway, his corpse will be found later on, and the player will be able to gain 1 leather vest and 25 silver coins from his corpse.

Note: Due to a bug, the leather vest may not be available in your inventory.

Meanwhile, if the player chooses to fight and kill Cahara, his loot will be based on what he stole from the player on their first encounter. Here are the possible options:
 * 2 light blue vials, if he stole 1 light blue vial.
 * 3 blue vials, if he stole 1 blue vial.
 * 25 silver coins, if he stole 20 silver coins.
 * 2 bottles of whiskey, if he stole 20 bottles of whiskey.

If you try to steal from Cahara you will gain nothing and he will call you out on it.

Cahara has an Endless soul, which can be acquired if the player uses a soul stone on his body. Doing so will remove the need to fight the Skin Granny and accept Nilvan's offer. If the player rejects Nilvan's request, killing Cahara will become the only way to gain an Endless soul without using an empty scroll.

Endings
This character is needed or has special interactions in the following endings:
 * Ending C
 * Ending C-II
 * Ending E
 * Ending S - "Happy ending"

Etymology
According to Miro, Cahara's name is a play on the word "character". He states that this was the default name that he gave to his characters that did not have names yet, and kept this name for him because it has a "desert/bandit vibe".

The name Cahara is also very similar to the name Chara, which is a diminutive form of the English name Charlotte. Charlotte is a name of French origin that means "free man" or "petite", while Chara comes from the Latin word carus, which can be translated to 'darling, beloved, dear, loved one'. Chara is also associated with the Ancient Greek word Χαρά (khará), which means 'joy, gladness'.

Trivia

 * Cahara doesn't seem to be strongly tied to the Dungeons of Fear & Hunger. True to his title, he's just a mercenary who was hired to find somebody while a much greater scheme was taking place.
 * His dialogue when first meeting the player suggests he was victim of rape by a Prison Guard before being imprisoned, although he doesn't have the anal bleeding status effect, nor does he have his legs cut.
 * Cahara is a bottom.