Goran is one of the main characters for Eternalfold (a world floating about my dreams). He's the leader of a little three-beast demon hunting squad with childhood friend Oskari and Kyllikki the one-eyed wolf archer. He would be nearing the point of retirement if he hadn't been possessed by a spirit of war during a particularly violent battle in which he was the only surviving soul. The spirit is attempting to take over his mind and use his body as a vessel to travel about in the realm of mortals but Goran is too much of a stubborn SOB to give into the spirit's wishes and instead fights a constant battle to suppress it. He used to be a cheerful joker but the efforts have left him quite stoic and humorless, almost depressed. However the spirit's presence endows him with a ridiculous amount of strength and physical toughness. The kind of toughness that allows him to catch axe blades in his hands while only suffering minor cuts, pick up stones bigger than his body, and fall for hundreds of feet onto rocks and not suffer any broken bones. He originally fought with a surprising amount of delicacy and agility for a bear his size but with the spirit of war he now prefers to simply use his paws jaws and vast bulk to crush and rip his foes into unidentifiable mangled masses of metal and gore.
Goran comes from a family of crab fishermen and forest hunters. Simple but hardy people making a meager living in the cold central north of Eternalfold (sorry, I'll paint up a map someday when I have time so you won't have to struggle to decipher my sketchy maps. For now just imagine Alaska to get an idea of the climate). He was recruited into a mysterious fighter's guild by a traveling talent-seeker. The guild left on an expedition years later with every member and only Goran returned, partially possessed by the spirit of war. He refuses to speak about the guild, what they were doing, or how he became possessed without fully losing control of his mind. The power of the spirit quickly drew the attention of the church and they have tried again and again to capture and kill Goran, exorcising the spirit of war. They have become increasingly fearful of him and devote more and more resources to hunting him down. The last Inquisitor raised an army of 600 zealots and managed to corner Goran while he rested in a tiny village's inn. Goran killed most of them and the Inquisitor in a terrible bloodbath before the rest fled with the horrified villagers. Nobody knows where he went from there. Oskari and Kyllikki are currently hunting him down in hopes of finding some kind of resolution to the battle between Goran and the spirit he carries before the next Inquisitor corners Goran with an even bigger army and there's an even bigger bloodbath of relatively innocent creatures.
Eventually the spirit of war will take over his mind and Goran will become a demi-god, carrying out whatever epic plan the spirit has for this world. Goran doesn't want to lose his mind completely but the spirit won't allow him to take his own life, so he has been attempting suicide by charging into the most dangerous of battles and hunting the most powerful demons. The spirit of war enjoys violence and Goran finds a certain amount of peace (in a way) while fighting, keeping the spirit distracted and satiated.

the pose in this painting was inspired by Simon Leonard's awesome polar bear photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonleonard/1488630739/