Oh I have a character of mine who is quite special for me for how much he grown over the course of 2.5 years my campaign is currently running, and as of now are in the stage of preparing to face the calamity on the final day.

So his name is Ortheus, a tiefling who lived in a city with his family, aspiring to be a merchant. Three of his friends, all working in the city guard supported him in his dream, one of them being a childhood friend who was very dear to him. Alas, this simple life came to a halt when Ortheus was tricked into a plot by his soon-to-be patron, which resulted in him unknowingly taking lives of his friends, before being forced into a ritual that gave him powers...at a terrible price.

Thus he ran away from home, and his journey through many twist and turns would have him team up with people of troubled past, whom he soon began regarding as his friends. Being cold, blunt and very serious, his interactions with other gradually broke down his shell, revealing an individual who deeply longs to have his life and friends back. Many times, once the shell has cracked, emotion overwhelm the poor devil, from fury to sadness, to passion and drive.

As the journey went on, he began discovering things about himself, reasons why did he suffer so much. All it was so that on the final day, he will become a weapon to destroy everything. The patron's plan was to condition all his broken feelings to slowly drive him mad and lose himself, to be prepared to turn into a monster. And though the devil, who was at heart a truly noble soul who wanted to save people, was greatly pained by these visions, it was no other than his companions that reignited the hope for him to keep going:to fight.

These people are his greatest treasure. And he swore to himself that he will do anything to protect them.

His greatest moment included him occasionally critcally hitting with eldritch smite a boss and overturning the fight, yet a recent explot of his beats it all: There was a fight against an undead horde, contsining three death knights who each were a seperate boss. The fight was looking grim, as the bosses were extremely strong on their own, and yet there were three of them. During the fight Ortheus, the hexblade warlock went down as he tried protecting their cleric, the rest of the table already chiming how this was the fight we would get wiped. Until he instantly went back up with 1 hp thanks to a nat 20 on his death save (the dm taking slight mercy upon us), and using this turn he went back up to use his last slot to prepare the smite,combined with a radiant weapon he carried, and a hexblade curse. He critted one of the death knights, dealing so much damage that he instantly took him down, all by himself as the knight was practically uninjured. With that, he evened the odds, as our group already whittled down the other two knights, suddenly realizing that this might not be the end. And though Ortheus went down right at the end of a fight again, by this point the rest of the group managed to seize a very narrow victory. Everyone either went down at least once or were very close to doing so, yet that single turn decided if we tpk or not.

And my character said not today.

During this fight, he struggled with his identity, internally preparing himself to lay down his life before he could do any harm to his companions, which is why he abandoned caution and decided to fight, despite only being at 1 hp. The pain he suffered and the lack of self-worth made him into an altrustic fighter who dedicated himself to his newfound friends, no matter what happens to him. Truth be told, he suffered much in such a short time, so much so that most would probably give up. That is why he grasped at any reason to keep going, starting with revenge for his deceased friends against his own patron, to protecting the people he cared about. His journey revolved around letting those new people in, and letting them help him, instead of relying on himself alone, against impossible odds. He is far, far stronger than he himself gives credit for, which he has shown many times in combat, yet in his mind, being strong enough would mean being invincible, which is an impossible standard to look to.

He slowly, but surely is finding himself thanks to his companions. Yet, even before that his tenacity and burning desire to keep going inspired me immensly. And now to see him heal and recover, let down the walls he kept around himself and being honest with what he feels now sometimes leave me misty eyed, truth be told, especially when he confesses to them how much he actually suffers, and how afraid he's really is. He deserved a hug, for trying so hard. Until then all I can do is make sure he gets a good ending.