Suhuy
Adapted from Erick Wujcik
Then there was Benedict, tall and dour, thin; thin of body, thin of face, wide of mind. He wore orange and yellow and brown and reminded me of haystacks and pumpkins and scarecrows and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. He had a long, strong jaw and hazel eyes and brown hair that never curled. He stood beside a tan horse and leaned upon a lance about which was twined a rope of flowers. He seldom laughed.
Nine Princes in Amber
Benedict is a timeless warrior. He has spent aeons in Shadow, perfecting his craft, to the point where he is no longer challenged by his siblings. A lean scarecrow of a man, with few words, and fewer smiles, he does not give his trust lightly. Nor does he lightly regard the betrayal of Amber.
He has a reputation as by far the best warrior in the family. Not just with a sword. With anything. Give him any weapon, any group of fighters, any tactical or strategic situation, anything.
He'll beat the snot out of you.
Let's say the guy is obsessed. For fun Benedict fights wars. He'll find a place, somewhere out in Shadow where they're fighting a war. He joins up on the losing side, and fights until he wins. Then he finds a place, just like the first, only where the side he joins has a smaller army, and he joins up again, wins again. And he'll repeat the process with a tactical disadvantage, bad terrain, different weather, varying weapons and technology. Benedict will try every possible combination.
Face him with a sword and he'll attack until you are beaten, giving no quarter, no edge, and never, ever making a single error. Take an army against him, and he'll appear at your weakest front, at your weakest moment, attacking relentlessly, until your soldiers scream and run, and are broken for all time.
He'll win every time.
Don't bother betting on whether Benedict will win or lose. The only interesting question is how fast.
During PatternFall, a Chaos army went up against Benedict out in Shadow, after the Black Road was opened. They lost, of course. But the interesting thing was that they were led by the hellmaid Lintra, who was or became Benedict's lover. In the final battle there, Benedict waited a second too long to kill her, and she chopped off his right forearm. And then she died, of course.
Even Benedict without his forearm is just as effective a warrior as before. He nearly killed Corwin in single combat, except that Corwin knew something about the terrain he didn't.
Benedict then destroyed the entire army of the Courts of Chaos at the end of PatternFall.
Before Yvonne returned to Amber, Benedict was the eldest child of Oberon known to live. Yvonne is Benedict's elder sister, both born of Cymnea, Oberon's first wife. The relationship between them does not seem close. Finndo and Osric, the brothers in between them, died in battle many years ago.
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Tuesday, August 19, 1997 Suhuy |
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Adapted from Erick Wujcik |
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