Ruffians And Roughnecks: Starting With A Ruffian
As advised last Friday, I’m kicking off a new post series to replace A Geography Of Haarth.
In it, I shall take a word that means either a “bad guy”, eg ruffian or rogue, or a “rough diamond”, eg a roughneck, and match it with a character from my books, either Thornspell, or The Heir Of Night or The Gathering Of The Lost.
The definitions will be taken from Merriam Webster Online, the dictionary I most often use when writing.
Since the series is “Ruffians and Roughnecks” I thought I’d kick-off with “Ruffian” today.
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Ruffian: “a strong and violent person (especially a man) who threatens and hurts other people”
The arrows of evidence, I feel, are clear—they point to:
Orth: a Derai warrior of the House of Swords
“Slowly and deliberately, one of the Derai walked toward the fallen warrior. His build was as massive as the bow he carried, and Jehane Mor and Tarathan exchanged a glance, recognizing Orth from the Farelle bridge. The Derai circled the fallen Darkswarm, slinging his bow over his shoulder and drawing a long, wickedly curved knife. He waited a moment longer then moved forward in one swift movement, wrenching the helmet off the fallen warrior’s head, jerking his head up by the hair and cutting his throat.
“Just to be sure,” said Tirorn. “Now, being Orth, he’ll mutilate the rest of the face and take the ears as a trophy.”
The huge Derai did just as Tirorn had predicted before letting the head fall forward again onto the pavement. He looked down at his fallen enemy for a moment longer, kicked the body, then walked back to his comrades.”
~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost, The Wall of Night Book Two: Chapter 6 — Facestealer
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