Heinkel Astrea

Heinkel Astrea (ハインケル・アストレア) is the current Patriarch of House Astrea and the Deputy Commander of the Royal Guard. He is a minor antagonist first introduced in Arc 5.

Once a gentle and kind man, after his wife fell into a coma he turned into an alcoholic, causing him to neglect his son and abuse his power as Deputy Commander. Some time prior to Arc 5, he joined the Priscilla Camp in hopes that, if their camp won the Royal Selection, he can gain access to the Dragon's Blood and save his wife.

Appearance
Heinkel is a muscular man with short red hair, blue eyes and a stubble beard. He wears a black tabard with brown shoulder plates and chest armor, along with a dark cape, brown pants, gloves and black boots.

Personality
Heinkel is a slovenly, arrogant and brash man who outwardly has no care for what others think about him and is not ashamed to throw around his position to intimidate others for petty reasons. He is also willing to stoop low and resort to kidnapping if it will give him an advantage. Heinkel uses his son as a tool to safeguard his rank in the Royal Guard and has no problems making him act as a shield in times of danger at even the expense of others. However, underneath Heinkel's malicious exterior and his alcohol addiction lies a deeply depressed man. His eyes, dull and bereft of spirit, grew decadent over a period of many years. He loathes both his weakness and his own personality.

In the past, Heinkel was not always like this. He still deeply cares about his wife Louanna and became an alcoholic after she was inflicted with a condition that little is known about and the murder of her doctor. When his mother, Theresia van Astrea, was slain by the Hakugei, he was the only person to stand by his son, while everyone else blamed the latter for the Sword Saint's death.

History
Heinkel was born to his father, Wilhelm van Astrea, and to his mother, Theresia van Astrea. In his younger days, he was a much more earnest and kind man who seemed to have aspirations of becoming the next Sword Saint like his mother and worked quite hard. He became the Deputy Commander of the Royal Guards, and sometime later he married Louanna. They had a son, Reinhard van Astrea. However, things would soon begin to go awry for the Astreas, first with Louanna suddenly falling into deep sleep two years after Reinhard's birth and left in an inanimate state without any cure for such condition. In grief, Heinkel began to abuse Garitch Fabless, Louanna's doctor, due to the latter not being able to cure Louanna. Soon after Garitch's death (due to a third party), Heinkel was overcome by guilt for directing his negativity towards Garitch, and he became an alcoholic. From then on, Heinkel entirely ignored Reinhard's education and existence. Later, when the Hakugei came to the Kingdom of Lugunica, Heinkel was commissioned to lead a group of men to eliminate it, but he refused since he was too afraid. Theresia took his place at Heinkel's request but ended up being slain.

When Wilhelm returned from the search for a royal family member, he was as upset with Heinkel for his irresponsibility as he was with Reinhard for taking away the Sword Saint powers from Theresia during the battle, leading to a bad relationship between them. Heinkel continued working for the Royal Guards, with displeasure for both, and Wilhelm left them and started working for Crusch Karsten. Heinkel inherited the estate and territories of House Astrea after this. At some point, Heinkel had lost a duel to a 5 year old Reinhard. Later, unsavory rumors about the two's relationship began swell from that point in where suggest that Reinhard was being treated like a slave. However, Reinhard eventually joined the Royal Guard and earned accolades while Heinkel, dishonored, further languished and rotted in his hatred. A couple of months after the incident at the Sanctuary, he met Priscilla Barielle and formed an alliance of sorts with her in order to obtain the Dragon's Blood so that he can cure his sleep-bound wife.

Abilities
Swordsmanship: Despite being overshadowed by his more famous relatives, and his insecurity in his own abilities, Heinkel is still rather skilled with a sword. He was able to defend himself against Theresia's attacks, albeit for a short period of time, and easily dispatch assassins that outnumbered him, with Al even commenting his swordplay could be described as beautiful. To further exemplify his sword abilities, it should be noted that Heinkel easily slaughtered an entire camp of bandits.

Equipment: Heinkel is the current wielder of the Holy Sword Astrea (聖剣アストレア Seiken Asutorea), a sword given to him by his father Wilhelm van Astrea who wielded it in his youth, receiving it as a wedding gift from his father-in-law.

Trivia

 * According to the author, Heinkel's birthday is May 17.
 * Heinkel was named by Veltol Astrea, his grandfather.
 * According to the author, if he were to write a story where Subaru wasn't the main character, he'd give the protagonist role to Heinkel.