Post by malorian on Sept 18, 2008 12:55:24 GMT -6
I can't help but re-share my thoughts on my favorite WoT character. I have a high opinion, not necessarily of myself, but of most anything I take time to write, so I have a tendency to save most of it. It's about Chel Vanin, and my reasons for enjoying his so much.
testament to why I enjoy Jordans epic fantasy, lies in the fact that he created the greatest character in all of fiction not in any of the first 5 books. He wrote 337 pages of book 6 before finally introducing us to the true hero of the story. Everything from before page 337 is what most refer to as BC. Before Chel.
The following paragraphs are taken right from Lord of Chaos.
I could keep putting in whole blocks of how cool Chel is, but instead I'll just list things.
- Mat seems to be the peoples favorite. Vanin is Mats go-to-guy. The only person that I actually recal Mat defering to. Mat lets Vanin hold his spear. Only other person to touch it that I recall is Tuon, but Mat has to trust her.
- He is capeable of sneaking into and out of Salidar, past full on warder sentries.
- Siuan, former Amyrlin didn't realize she could be more subtle in her playing the Game of Houses when Chel was in the house.
- He's a bad ass, wrapped in bacon Yet Mat has him tend his wounds. The healing hand of a surgeon.
- Nalesean gets killed in Ebou Dar. He was tired. Mat thinks to himself he should have let him sleep. Vanin lives because he's a bad ass, even with the Gholum, but also because he belives in getting sleep where and when ever possible.
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- He's kind of a cross between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt. I can hear him saying in reference to Elayne "Still, she’s gotta lot of spirit. I don’t know, whaddya think? You think a princess and a guy like me"
ooh, I can only dream of the adventures of Han the Hutt and Gordo Fett...
testament to why I enjoy Jordans epic fantasy, lies in the fact that he created the greatest character in all of fiction not in any of the first 5 books. He wrote 337 pages of book 6 before finally introducing us to the true hero of the story. Everything from before page 337 is what most refer to as BC. Before Chel.
The following paragraphs are taken right from Lord of Chaos.
Dripping sweat, Chel Vanin reined his dun gelding in before Mat. In a rough gray coat that fit his balding bulk like a sack, he sat his saddle like a sack, too. Vanin was fat, and no getting around it. Yet improbable as it seemed, he could ride anything ever born, and he was very good at what he did.
Long before they reached Maerone, Mat had surprised Nalesean, Daerid and Talmanes by asking for the names of the best poachers and horse thieves among their men, the ones they knew were guilty but could not prove anything against. The two nobles in particular had not wanted to admit having any such men in their commands, but after a little prodding they came up with the names of three Cairhienin, two Tairens and, surprisingly, two Andorans. Mat had not thought any of the Andorans had been with the Band long enough to make themselves known like that, but apparently word got about.
Those seven men he took aside and told that he needed scouts, and that a good scout used much the same skills as a poacher or horse thief. Ignoring fervent denials that they had ever committed any crime whatsoever—more from each than from Talmanes and Nalesean combined, and just as eloquent if far coarser—he offered pardons for any thefts done before that day, triple pay and no work details as long as they reported the truth. And a hanging for the first lie; a lot of men could die from a scout’s lie. Even with the threat they leaped at it, probably more for less work than for the extra silver.
But seven was not enough, so he asked them to suggest others, and to keep in mind what he said about the needed skills, as well as the fact that whether they lived to collect their triple pay would depend in large part on the abilities of those they named. That caused a lot of chin-scratching and edgy looks, but between them they produced eleven more names, emphasizing all the while that they were not implying anything about those fellows. Eleven men, good enough poachers and horse thieves that neither Daerid nor Talmanes nor Nalesean had suspected them but not good enough to avoid the notice of the first seven. Mat made those the same offer, and asked for names again. By the time he reached a point where no more names were to be found, he had forty-seven scouts. Hard times had put a lot of men to soldiering instead of the craft they would rather have followed.
The last, named by all three just before him, had been Chel Vanin, an Andoran who had lived in Maerone but ranged wide on both sides of the Erinin. Vanin could steal a hen pheasant’s eggs without disturbing her on the nest, though it was unlikely he would fail to put her in the sack too. Vanin could steal a horse out from under a nobleman without the nobleman knowing it for two days. Or so his recommenders claimed in tones of awe. With a gap-toothed smile and a look of utter innocence on his round face, Vanin had protested he was a stableman and sometime farrier, when he could find work. But he would take the job for four times the Band’s normal pay. So far, he had been more than worth it.
Long before they reached Maerone, Mat had surprised Nalesean, Daerid and Talmanes by asking for the names of the best poachers and horse thieves among their men, the ones they knew were guilty but could not prove anything against. The two nobles in particular had not wanted to admit having any such men in their commands, but after a little prodding they came up with the names of three Cairhienin, two Tairens and, surprisingly, two Andorans. Mat had not thought any of the Andorans had been with the Band long enough to make themselves known like that, but apparently word got about.
Those seven men he took aside and told that he needed scouts, and that a good scout used much the same skills as a poacher or horse thief. Ignoring fervent denials that they had ever committed any crime whatsoever—more from each than from Talmanes and Nalesean combined, and just as eloquent if far coarser—he offered pardons for any thefts done before that day, triple pay and no work details as long as they reported the truth. And a hanging for the first lie; a lot of men could die from a scout’s lie. Even with the threat they leaped at it, probably more for less work than for the extra silver.
But seven was not enough, so he asked them to suggest others, and to keep in mind what he said about the needed skills, as well as the fact that whether they lived to collect their triple pay would depend in large part on the abilities of those they named. That caused a lot of chin-scratching and edgy looks, but between them they produced eleven more names, emphasizing all the while that they were not implying anything about those fellows. Eleven men, good enough poachers and horse thieves that neither Daerid nor Talmanes nor Nalesean had suspected them but not good enough to avoid the notice of the first seven. Mat made those the same offer, and asked for names again. By the time he reached a point where no more names were to be found, he had forty-seven scouts. Hard times had put a lot of men to soldiering instead of the craft they would rather have followed.
The last, named by all three just before him, had been Chel Vanin, an Andoran who had lived in Maerone but ranged wide on both sides of the Erinin. Vanin could steal a hen pheasant’s eggs without disturbing her on the nest, though it was unlikely he would fail to put her in the sack too. Vanin could steal a horse out from under a nobleman without the nobleman knowing it for two days. Or so his recommenders claimed in tones of awe. With a gap-toothed smile and a look of utter innocence on his round face, Vanin had protested he was a stableman and sometime farrier, when he could find work. But he would take the job for four times the Band’s normal pay. So far, he had been more than worth it.
I could keep putting in whole blocks of how cool Chel is, but instead I'll just list things.
- Mat seems to be the peoples favorite. Vanin is Mats go-to-guy. The only person that I actually recal Mat defering to. Mat lets Vanin hold his spear. Only other person to touch it that I recall is Tuon, but Mat has to trust her.
- He is capeable of sneaking into and out of Salidar, past full on warder sentries.
-
Siuan said that man Vanin had rooted out things before she had a chance to put them under his nose
- He's a bad ass, wrapped in bacon
Vanin was the only man who had not been in two dozen scrapes already; for some reason, men looking for trouble walked as wide of Vanin as they did Nalesean. The only difference was that Vanin seemed to like it that way.
- Nalesean gets killed in Ebou Dar. He was tired. Mat thinks to himself he should have let him sleep. Vanin lives because he's a bad ass, even with the Gholum, but also because he belives in getting sleep where and when ever possible.
-
Oh, they glared at the soldiers as hotly as ever, though even the hardest flinched away from Lan after a single look. And, oddly enough, from Vanin
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“Your man Vanin is rude,” Egeanin announced
- He's kind of a cross between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt. I can hear him saying in reference to Elayne "Still, she’s gotta lot of spirit. I don’t know, whaddya think? You think a princess and a guy like me"
ooh, I can only dream of the adventures of Han the Hutt and Gordo Fett...
