Howard Alteisen

"Sister... Once more... Want to see..."

- Howard, upon defeat in the Wolfchev's Laboratory instance.

 is a talented apprentice of a famous Blacksmith, who dedicated his entire life to the research and production of arms.

On iRO, this character is localized as Howerd Alt-Eisen.

Story
Howard was part of the clandestine operation to find the missing king of Rune-Midgarts. Their investigations led them to the city of Lighthalzen, where they split up in order to cover more area. He later joins up with Cecil Damon, both getting little to no information for their mission. They meet up with Margaretha Sorin on the outskirts of Lighthtalzen and Cecil suspects that the city has absolutely nothing to do with their objective. Howard uses the opportunity to express his love for Cecil, which earns him a Land Mine from the sniper. After Margaretha heals up Howard, Seyren's Pecopeco runs off and the three of them are then approached by a Schwarzwald guard who leads them to an underground bunker to meet up with the rest of their group.

Howard, Margaretha, and Cecil are assumed to have been drugged with sleeping gas and taken by Rekenber scientists. Howard was implanted with a Rune Stone (imitation of Ymir's Heart Piece) and placed in a holding tank to be observed. Due to a mechanical malfunction, Howard's tank had to be transported to another examination room. On the way, Seyren kills the scientists transporting the tank and breaks Howard out. When Howard came to, he recalls being taken to a meeting room and suddenly demands to know what happened to Cecil. Seyren suggests finding a safe place to hide out first before explaining everything to Howard. As he spoke, he became enraged talking about what happened to Keyron and Howard swiftly changes the subject and assures Seyren that he can leave everything to him. He declares that the two of them will find and rescue the others, except for Eremes whom Howard always thought was creepy. He then leads the way, asserting that he "can hear Cecil's soul calling" for him. After searching through about a dozen rooms, they finally break into a room where all the scientists were killed by arrows. Seyren notes how Cecil's tank is untouched and wonders how she got out, which doesn't concern Howard as he proceeds to call out for Cecil. Seyren protests that the whitesmith is too loud and that Cecil is really good at hiding so she should be fine. Howard concedes and the two of them continue to investigate the room. Howard notices that the entire underground laboratory was built with very durable materials, indicating that the experiment was meant to involve a lot of destruction. Given the amount of rooms they've gone through, Howard is confused as to why the laboratory is built to be so isolating when laboratories are traditionally very interconnected to allow for easier sharing of tools and data.

After finishing their investigation, it was Seyren's turn to be worried about Cecil as he tells Howard how Eremes revealed there's an enemy in the area that's strong enough to defeat the assassin cross with one strike. Seyren assumes that the enemy must be another test subject like them with a core implanted and Howard rushes out to find Cecil. Soon enough, Howard and Seyren face off against Ygnizem Cenia, who proves to be too much for the two of them to handle. They reunite with Cecil and regroup in another room to recover from the battle. Howard was relieved to see Cecil alive and well and tries to hug her, but Cecil ties him up before he could touch her. After Seyren unties him, he shares what information he's collected with Cecil. Cecil then asks Seyren what's the last thing he remembered about Margaretha, which causes him to freeze up. Howard shakes him back to his senses and asks him what's wrong and Seyren doesn't realize that he went quiet for a while. Cecil explains that it's more important than anything that they send all the evidence they've collected back to Rune-Midgarts as whatever is going on in the laboratory has the potential to affect the entire world of Midgard. She proposes that Seyren is the only one who can do it since his pecopeco ran off earlier so he would be able to hitch a ride back to the kingdom. Seyren protests, saying that he can't just leave them all behind to die and that they haven't even found Margaretha yet. Cecil assures Seyren that Margaretha is fine, but Howard can tell that Cecil was hiding something.

The three of them face off with Ygnizem and were joined by Eremes, Keyron, and Margaretha. Howard's spirit was high, saying that with the six of them together, they stood a better chance of defeating the vicious mind and getting out of there. However, Cecil reveals to him that it's too late for the both of them as they were already bleeding black blood. She tells him that it's more important than ever that they help Seyren get out as it was inevitable that they will die from their cores. Howard doesn't quite understand why, but goes along with Cecil's plan and the group manages to defeat Ygnizem. They were unable to arrest Wolfchev as the scientist uses a Butterfly Wing to escape, so they used their remaining power to break through the last barrier to freedom. Cecil apologizes to Howard for not being the romantic type he desires and Howard responds that fighting alongside her is the most romantic thing she could possibly do for him. Afterwards, Cecil dies and Howard holds her in his arms as he begins to die as well. In his last moments he tells Seyren, now revealed to be a clone of the real Seyren, to not look back as he leaves the laboratory to get the evidence back to their country. Once Seyren's clone leaves, Howard dies in the laboratory.

Trivia

 * Alteisen is German for "scrap metal", referencing his job as a blacksmith.
 * Due to the spelling of his name on his in-game cards, it's possible that the character's name is supposed to be Harvard, but given how the letters v and w can be mixed up in Korean pronunciations, it's hard to determine whether his actual name is Howard or Harvard.