Hireclaws

Hireclaws are lone, mercenary owls that hold no connections to any kingdom or group, but can be recruited for battle for a price (a good set of battle claws, a bag of flints, flecks (before they lost their power), rights to certain game-full territories, knaps for the crude spears some carried, coals from Rogue Smiths, etc). Many hireclaws make their homes in Beyond the Beyond and the Hrath'ghar Glacier, which subsequently makes them both veritable mines of hireable troops and, like the dire wolves, hireclaws shares many superstitions. Many hireclaws were used as back-up troops by the Tytonic Union of Pure Ones, Kielian League and League of the Ice Talons. The profession of mercenary, however, is not unique to the owl world and the similar title of hireteeth is given to wolves who follow this way of life.

History

The First Collier

In the flames of his fire, Grank beheld Lord Arrin's Army of vassals and hagsfiends, reinforced by hireclaws, massing under the leadership of Lord Pleek's lieutenants on the Firth of Fangs to attack and slaughter the ice harvesters of King H'rath mining ice there. Many hireclaws were also employed by the various clans in their wars within the N'yrthghar Straits and Grank saw various mercenaries returned from such conflicts at a grog tree between Silverveil and Shadow Forest. Among these owls was a Screech Owl named Flynn, who returned from fighting in the Firth of Fangs and bringing with him the uncertain rumours of King H'rath's fate.

The Coming of Hoole

On Siv's instructions, the messenger Joss was to muster as many veteran fighters and hireclaws he could and swiftly fly to Beyond the Beyond to join her in fighting Lord Arrin's forces, who were winging their way there to find and capture Prince Hoole. Apparently considering Siv their queen, despite their itinerant lifestyles, what hireclaws Joss could gather joined the ragtag collection of veteran owls and H'rathian troops and flew with Siv to Beyond the Beyond, armed with sharp branched and claws they proudly honed daily. The army, bar the Ice Regiment of H'rath, was asked by Siv to retain from entering the Sacred Ring of Volcanoes until she signalled them, Siv wishing to meet Grank alone. These hireclaws subsequently fought in the Battle of the Sacred Ring.

To Be A King

One of these hireclaws, a Great Gray, later appeared at a grog tree visited by Hoole, Phineas and The Snow Rose. Believing them to be gadfeathers, the hireclaw inquired if they were from further north, then engaging in conversation with Alastair, noting that he had a cousin who had told him of how the Glacier Palace had been taken by hagsfiends under the command of an insane youngster.

In the wake of Arrin's defeat in Beyond the Beyond, the Northern Kingdoms dissolved into countless splintered factions struggling for power, including several hireclaw groups fighting more for profit that power. Though never stated, the more fortunate of the warring groups might have chosen to swell their ranks with hireclaw troops that they sent to fight the opposing forces of turnfeather earls, kraals, hagsfiends and rebels. The combined forces of Lord Arrin and Elgobad also added to their army by gathering together almost every criminal and enemy of the crown to fight in the Battle of Short Night, which most likely included hireclaws.

After the Battle against Arrin's Army, several of Siv's hired owl followers had tried their luck as colliers and even become quite proficient in the art of coal diving, though were faced with the difficulties melting down and forging weapons - which to the hireclaws was more like magic - and had since employed the aid of various Rogue Smiths. However, despite their typically every-owl-for-themselves, the hireclaw colliers who once followed were fiercely committed to the memory of the late Siv, which many of them came to fight in the memory off in the Battle of Short Light, as well as out of love for Hoole.

The Journey

When the Band found the forge belonging to the murdered Rogue Smith of the Beaks, Twilight, while recalling his life of wandering and adventure, noted how he had heard of hireclaws, who he described as clever owls that lived isolated lives without mates of attached kingdoms, occasionally hiring themselves out. The four speculated the Rogue Smith might perhaps have been such an owl, later discovering he was a slipgizzle for the Great Tree.

The Capture

Hireclaws are again mentioned, this time by Soren Alba, when he and Gylfie discovered Ezylryb's rusted pair of battle claws. Recalling Twilight's mentioning of the mercenary owls, Soren briefly speculated the ryb of having a hireclaw past, but was later told by Octavia the truth of Ezylryb's early life as Lyze of Kiel. Octavia also notes that, at least in her eyes, hireclaws were the lowest of the low, though her opinion might have later changed, given who she later served along with Madame Plonk.

The Siege

As the Pure Ones laid siege to the Great Ga'hoole Tree, members of the Tytonic Union made expeditions into Beyond the Beyond to buy the assistance of hireclaws, amassing an army of mercenaries which subsequent prepared to join Kludd's Army of Tytos, rumours of which reached the Tree. Reinforced by the new owls, Kludd subsequently encircled the Tree, the Pure Ones and Hireclaws diving on the Guardians normal food supplies before the owls of the Great Tree had time to take it. With the aid of a secret tunnel, however, the Ga'hoolian owls turned the tables on the Union and having sustained notable losses, retreated with their master, High Tyto Kludd, the surviving Hireclaws fleeing behind them.

The Shattering

Despite the loses they had sustained, the hireclaws of Kludd's Army, who were loyal truly only to themselves and those that paid them, mostly remained with the Pure Ones and subsequently were massed for another invasion, this time on St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. Launching a massive attack on the Canyonlands under the leadership of Kludd and his commanding officers, the hireclaws and Pure Ones conquered the alleged 'Orphanage', killing or recruiting almost all of the thugs of St. Aggie's (many of whom could have been recruited mercenaries) to the High Tyto's dark army of followers and enslaving the 'Academy' for Orphaned Owls to their will. It is possible that skilled Hireclaws belonging to the Tyto family were, like many of the St. Aggie's owls, recruited into Kludd's empire, as this would be an ideal way to recruit new members of the Tytonic Union of Pure Ones.

The Burning

Amassing his army of Tyto supremacy fanatics, conscripted St. Aggie's recruits and mercenaries from Beyond the Beyond within the St. Aegolius Canyons to launch another attack on the Great Tree, then begin to spread his power across the Owl Kingdoms, Kludd, certain that the Guardians, now knowing that the Tytonic Union controlled the greatest source of flecks on earth, would launch their own counter-invasion, began training his new followers and hireclaws for battle, as well as sending Pure Ones flying into Beyond the Beyond to bring in ever more allies. Amongst the mercenaries that answer Kludd's call to battle was one who was notably skilled as a blacksmith and, at Kludd's request, began forging fire claws for the High Tyto and his personal guard.

Gragg, curious and sensing a chance for himself and Ifghar to perhaps gain power and glory once again, followed Gylfie and Otulissa on the back of a Great Gray acquaintance of his from the old days who had once been a hireclaw, but later became a kraal pirate. Though hireclaws also populated the Hrath'ghar Glacier, it seems the main population of the community are kraals, who, due to their tactic of fighting in groups rather than the hireclaws' policy of it being every owl for themselves, were far more dreaded in the Northern Owl Kingdoms.

The hireclaws employed by the Tytonic Union subsequently fought in the Battle of Fire and Ice, battling alongside Kludd Alba's loyalists and, in the wake of their treachery, Skench, Spoorn and the few subordinates from St. Aggie's they still had left, against the owls of the Great Tree. Duelling the Ga'hoolians above the canyons that were swiftly turning to rivers of flames, several hireclaws suddenly went yeep with terror and fell towards the seething blaze upon catching sight of a flock of vultures being driven by Twilight towards them, the source of their panic being that vultures on the battlefield during the night of a wolf moon were the greatest fear of the superstitions the hireclaws held. The tide of the battle continued to turn at the arrival of the Frost Beak Division and, as word of Kludd's death reached the ear slits of the twisted owls, the surviving hireclaws, seeing the Tytonic Union begin to retreat, were scattered with the Pure Ones and fled.

The Hatchling

Wishing to employ the services of expert trackers in search of her runaway son, Nyroc, and his best friend Phillip, Nyra, at Uglamore's suggestion, sent the latter to attempt to recruit the Snowy Doc Finebeak, a skilled and well-known mercenary tracker, to the hunt. Despite the ragged, deteriorated state the remnants of the Pure Ones were currently left in since Kludd's demise, Finebeak, knowing that under a formidable leader like Nyra, the strange group of Barn Owl supremacists could rise to greatness once again, agreed to help, wishing to earn his way into Nyra's good graces in case she did again take power. Wearing a single black feather on the left side of his ear slit, Finebeak was respected by all crows and is given a rare permission to be able to travel during the daylight hours without fear of being mobbed by them, thus allowing them to pursue Nyroc and Phillip through day as well as night, Doc leading Nyra and her party of lieutenants around The Shredders, then to the few spill-out points, allowing her to capture Dustytuft, then Nyroc. Doc Finebeak subsequently beheld Nyroc's confrontation with her mother, then withdrawing to out of ear shot with Uglamore, Stryker, Blyrric, Gebbles and the other lieutenants.

The Outcast

In the months following Nyroc's desertion, Nyra began regrouping the Pure Ones forces to their former strength, which included hiring more followers to her cause, which was answered by flockings of hireclaws and Rogue Smiths, who's organization she apparently left to her lieutenants while she flew to the Beyond, where she intended to recruit Rogue Smiths and Colliers, "enough Hireclaws for a battalion" and dire wolves. Though none are ever clarified, hireclaws might very well have helped the Pure Ones in stealing eggs between the border of Silverveil and the Shadow Forest, then perhaps taking them to the Eggorium at St. Aggie's, the Union's current headquarters.

The near instant he arrived in the wild but beautiful landscape of Beyond the Beyond, Coryn (formerly known as Nyroc) beheld hireclaws haggling with Rogue Smiths over the price of battle claws. Hireclaws are also mentioned by The Raven as he notes how the somewhat lawless Beyond the Beyond was the home of many outcasts and owls who could not or just would not live in the civilized owl world but found sanctuary here, earning Beyond the Beyond the reputation of a land not governed by or obedient to laws, listing hireclaws amongst the criminals who made their home here. In that same conversation, The Raven notes how one could purchase hireclaws by the dozens here.

Doc Finebeak, meanwhile, deeply regretted working for Nyra and vowed to never serve her again, fleeing to his home in Beyond the Beyond. At the Sacred Ring of Volcanoes, Finebeak meets Uglamore, a deserted Pure One who, like him, escaped to Beyond the Beyond, knowing no other place to go. They witnessed, alongside dozens of other hireclaws, Coryn retrieving the Ember of Hoole, marking him as king of Ga'Hoole, which the owls and wolves beholding him hail him as. When Nyra attempted to take the Ember for herself to seal an alliance with the MacHeaths, Doc Finebeak and Uglamore helped in leading Nyra into the jaws of a sick wolf. Unfortunately, Uglamore was killed when Nyra slipped out of the way and escaped.

The Golden Tree

When telling Coryn of the 'old soldier' who had purchased the Book of Kreeth from her, Trader Mags expressed her belief that the buyer had been a hireclaw, though in actuality, it had been Stryker, Lieutenant Major of the Pure Ones, acting under the orders of Nyra.

After fleeing the Great Tree to find Coryn and tell him of the worship of the Ember of Hoole that was taking place at the Great Tree, Madame Plonk met Doc Finebeak on the shores of the Hoolemere Sea. The renowned tracker offered Brunwella his assistance in finding them and subsequently fought in the Battle of the Tunnels of Despair. Later, he and Soren went to Ambala to get the flying snakes Slynella and Stingyll to cure Twilight after the battle, then followed the Guardians to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree.

The River of Wind

Doc Finebeak came to take residence at the tree and became Madame Plonk's companion. He later was requested by Pellimore to find her daughter, Bell. Eglantine and Primrose found out about a slink melf heading into the Middle Kingdom plotted Nyra. They informed Doc Finebeak of it, and he snapped his crow feather in two and gave it to them, so that they could travel day and night to warn Coryn and the Chaw of Chaws of the danger.

Meanwhile, Nyra had employed the services of a former Hireclaw Burrowing Owl named Tarn, who she was considering promoting to the position of her right-wing owl as Stryker's replacement after his successfully leading a takeover of a portion of the Deserts of Kuneer that Nyra's troops were now using as their headquarters, despite Tarn technique not being an owl belonging to the Tyto genus. Tarn assisted his mistress in her capture and interrogation of the Striga, force-feeding the blue owl a truth serum, then pointing out the River of Wind on a map of Beyond the Beyond procured during his time as a hireclaw. He then accompanied Nyra to the Middle Kingdoms, surviving a tornado the Pure Ones encountered on the way.

Doc Finebeak and Ga'Hoolian chaws were on their way to stop Nyra's slink melf at the Middle Kingdom when he encountered the Striga, a blue owl from the destination who also saved Bell's life. The Striga then led them to the Kingdom and both Doc Finebeak and Tarn fought in the Battle of the Middle Kingdom, Finebeak for Coryn, Tarn for Nyra. With the exception of Nyra, who escaped, Tarn was the only survivor of the slink melf and, assuming Nyra dead, fled for his life.

Exile

Tarn subsequently found employment as a member of the Blue Brigade, thinking to himself that though he despised having to wear the blue feather that was the Brigade's "uniform", he had to look out for his self-interests, which had taken a turn for the worst in the wake of Nyra's disappearance. Tarn spied on the Band, who looked like they were in conversation with a scroom. This information gave the Striga a chance to fake an accusation of the Band's disloyalty.

Though unconfirmed, it is a safe assumption that Tarn was not the only hireclaw recruited as Brigade members and indeed, while spying on a pair of Striga followers, Coryn overheard a Great Horned Owl reminding a Great Gray they were supposed to refuse to the Striga's plans to burn several owls alive as the Scouring, suggesting that these two owls, at least, were owl recruited into the Striga's cult rather than fanatics to the idea of purging the world of "vanities".

As the Guardians prepared to fight the Blue Brigade on Bonfire Night, Doc Finebeak was dispatched by the Parliament to go in search of old acquaintances of his, such as hireclaws, to join them.

The Keepers of the Keys

As Soren told Stellan, Jytte and their companions about the many necessitation required to fight in the war that was obviously brewing in the north, he expressed the need for more than owls to fight the enemy Timekeepers of the Ice Caps, who Soren feared would form alliances with the traitors and criminal mercenaries of any race (hireclaws, hireteeth and outclanner wolves), commenting that there shall always be those among any species who will turn on their own kind and sell themselves off as killers for their own self-interests. The risk that there already were hireclaws employing their services as slipgizzles for the Ice Clock Cult was also a prominent source of the need for secrecy as Jytte, Stellan, Froya and Third made their venture through the land to recruit allies to the war against the Grand Patek.

Whilst telling the four cubs of Rags's lack of a parent, the Rabbit told the bears that he believed her mother, Edith, to be either a hireclaw or mercenary slipgizzle. It is currently unknown if this was completely correct, as Edith was later revealed to be part of a group of birds belonging to the order Strigiformes known as the zayle vertray (known also as 'the faithless betrayers of Hoole'), but given that Edith and her compatriots were willing to volunteer their services to Rouger infiltrators stationed in Beyond the Beyond, the zayle vertray might very well had been a Routier group with no true allegiance, much like hireclaws.

Doc Finebeak, a famous Hireclaw tracker

Known Hireclaws

• Doc Finebeak
• Tarn
• Gragg's Friend
• Edith (possibly)