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Cheradenine Zakalwe (SPOILERS!)
Cheradenine Zakalwe
A soldier who was born outside of the Culture but was recruited into it by Special Circumstances agent Diziet Sma to work as an operative intervening in less advanced civilizations.
- 10-Minute Retirement: Has tried to leave Special Circumstances behind at least three, if not more, times, but this never lasts due to him getting tangled up in local problems, being haunted by his Dark and Troubled Past, being contacted by Sma as he's The Only One who can complete SC's latest mission, or all of the above.
- The Ageless: Has been implanted with retro-ageing biotechnology by the Culture as part of the 'payment' for his services — while most Culture citizens prefer to live an extended lifespan of just under five centuries before dying naturally, he chooses full biological immortality on the basis that his work means he could die at any moment. He manages to reverse-engineer this, and offers the corrupt rulers of a planet he takes refuge on immortality in exchange for being nicer to their subjects. And if that doesn't work, he kills them.
- The Atoner: Zakalwe tries and fails to be one of these. Although the ending of Surface Detail suggests that he is still trying and has, to an extent, succeeded.
- Berserk Button: Chairs. Zakalwe can barely stand to be in the same room as one without smashing it apart, which is linked to incidents in his Dark and Troubled Past... Namely that his cruel half-brother Elethiomel had sex with his sister on a chair, before killing her and making a chair out of her remains as the brothers fight on opposite sides of a civil war... But this too turns out to be a massive twist — "Zakalwe" is Elethiomel, with the chair-phobia now making even more sense - every time he sees one, it reminds him how much of a monster he had become.
- Beyond Redemption: The only people who know exactly who he is and what he's done are Liveuta and himself. And she, quite justifiably, wants absolutely nothing to do with him.
- Byronic Hero: Zakalwe seems to more or less check all the boxes. First of all, he's handsome, extremely intelligent, an accomplished soldier, commander and lover but with a Dark and Troubled Past which constantly haunts him and renders him unable to find peace. Furthermore, he's more than willing to commit acts of shocking violence and brutality, but at least tends to direct these towards those that deserve it, and finally, he's totally disconnected from any sort of friends or family, being constantly dropped into strange new planets to help the Culture play God, then extracted just as fast, with his functional immortality allowing this cycle to continue over and over and over again. And then, of course, The Reveal makes him a rather interesting example — it's not exactly difficult to argue that Elethiomel still is a Byronic Hero, just a very dark one. He's somehow decided that he no longer wants to be a monster, but he's committed an act of such utter evil that this epiphany comes with utterly debilitating guilt. This leads him to throw himself into danger in his work for Special Circumstances chasing a redemption that he knows he doesn't deserve.
- The Casanova: It's pretty much guaranteed that he'll seduce a new lover on every single planet he visits. It's not exactly unsurprising given who his employers are, but he behaves much more like a stereotypical "love 'em and leave 'em" lothario given to stormy affairs rather than a polyamorous Ethical Slut as is the norm in the Culture.
- Decoy Backstory: The novel alternates between the present story and Zakalwe's past missions, and both are interspersed with flashbacks to Zakalawe's past. The earliest flashbacks deal with Cheradenine's cousin/adopted brother Elethiomel, showing that Cheradenine was originally a jerk to Elethiomel, but over time, Elethiomel became increasingly evil, and eventually sent armies against the increasingly heroic Cheradenine. At the very end of the novel, it is shown that the real Cheradenine was Driven to Suicide after Elethiomel murdered his sister (and Elethiomel's lover), and sent Cheradenine a chair made of her body. After this, Elethiomel went mad from guilt and convinced himself that he was the heroic Cheradenine.
- Four-Star Badass: Often ends up in the highest ranks of military organisations during his missions, while he's still probably capable of kicking more ass than any of the frontline troops.
- Heel Realization: Appears to have had a rather extreme one offscreen — Elethiomel was a ruthless monster who would kill and horrendously mutilate his own cousin to get another cousin to kill themselves. He would then begin experiencing such an extreme level of guilt about it that he assumed the identity of his victim, went on a 100-year Sleeper Ship voyage to a distant planet to get away, has spent the rest of his life trying to atone, and cannot ever find peace. This is possibly due to the vicious hate-fuelled rivalry between himself and Cheradenine suddenly disappearing and leaving no motivation for his evil.
- Hired Guns: Zakalwe is an extremely talented, high-command-level, centuries-old mercenary.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Possibly. He shot a fighter jet out of the sky with his Plasma Cannon, but it's difficult to tell just how much this was due to his own reflexes, instead of being the result of Bio-Augmentation or the weapon itself.
- Ladykiller in Love: Normally given to taking and discarding at least one new lover during every mission, but he falls hard for the beautiful poet Shias Engin. It's not clear exactly what happened to their relationship, but he will later claim (via his internal monologue at least) that he only "thought" he loved her, while it's clear he's still at least slightly heartbroken.
- Plasma Cannon: Favours a plasma rifle. It's big and bulky, being almost a thousand years out of date by the Culture's standards, but Zakalwe retains a fondness for it — for one thing, it looks cool, and he also enjoys the copious number of explosions its use tends to result in.
- The Strategist: Frequently dropped into conflicts as a mysterious military adviser (who rapidly becomes the commander-in-chief) due to his keen strategic senses, being able to turn around a Hopeless War in a matter of weeks in some cases. It helps that he's got almost two hundred years of experience, though.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Frequently forced to work with aristocrats and/or incompetent General Failures that he'd much rather see dead than the people he's supposed to be fighting.
- Warrior Poet: Subverted. Once, he tried to retire and become a poet, but he wasn't any good at it.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Played with. Initially, it seems beyond laughable that Cheradenine Zakalwe, the badass mercenary, is terrified of chairs. But of course, once it's clear exactly what this represents, "no longer funny" would be an Understatement.
Diziet Sma
Diziet Sma
A Culture Special Circumstances agent who appears in both 'The State of the Art' and 'Use of Weapons.' She recruits Cheradenine Zakalwe, a non-Culture citizen, to help with aiding less advanced races with military problems to advance the Cultures goals.
- Ambadassador: Aside from her career in the espionage arm of a millennia-old, galaxy-spanning, post-scarcity humanoid civilisation, she has been living as a world-famous philanthropist, politician, and diplomat on a vaguely Earth 21st-century tech equivalent planet, quietly nudging the system in the right directions through her actions.
- Ambiguously Brown: She is described to have a tawny or fawn-colored skin with dark blue-black hair and eyes of the same color.
- Badass Bookworm: Sma is a poet and patron-of-the-arts as well as an extremely competent Special Circumstances operative.
- Do You Want to Copulate?: Was planning on slowly seducing Relstoch Sussepin, a composer from the planet she was stationed on at the start of the book. Being ordered to pick up Zakalwe means she has to cut this short, so she simply asks him "Do you want to fuck?".
- Ethical Slut: Her pursuit of casual sexual encounters in no way detracts from her status as a relatively decent person and ultra-competent operative.
- Good Bad Girl: Like many Culture citizens, she has a very healthy libido about which she feels no shame; if she wants someone, she'll say so (though she enjoys a good flirtation too).
- The Handler: She used to be an operative but has recently been operating primarily as a handler for other field agents recruited by the Culture. As an agent handler in Special Circumstances, she acts as a liaison between the agent and SC, managing the flow of information both ways, and providing assistance if needed to ensure that the mission goes smoothly. (Spoiler: it often doesn't.)
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Downplayed but she has a bit of a temper and is unwilling to suffer fools for very long, and has been known to blow her stack rather vocally when crossed.
- Really 700 Years Old: Sma was born on the orbital Codurer (orbiting the star Rasd) some 200-odd years ago. At approximately 200 years old, she's basically middle-aged; in the Culture, the average lifespan runs about 350-400 years, but physical aging is dramatically slowed and only picks up noticeable speed in the last century of one's life.)
- Sleeps with Everyone but You: She is definitely a Good Bad Girl (which makes sense, since the Culture is the epitome of Fetish-Fuel Future). That being said, the one person she won't sleep with is Zakalawe. It's hard to tell if this is because she wants to keep the relationship professional or is somewhat turned off by him. But it's not for lack of trying on his part.
- Some Call Me "Tim": Her actual name is Rasd-Codurersa Diziet Embless Sma da' Marenhide but she goes by 'just' Diziet Sma. She is also nicknamed "Dizzy" by her Robot Buddy, Skaffen-Amtiskav.
- Statuesque Stunner: In State of the Art, she describes herself as being "a good ten centimetres taller" than the average 1977 Earth human male; we can say that this translates to her being about 6' (183 cm) tall.
- Warrior Poet: Less of a Warrior than your usual examples because Sma rarely if ever uses physical force but there's no denying she has an artistic streak and a certain literary talent, which manifests primarily in poetry.
Skaffen-Amtiskaw
Skaffen-Amtiskaw
A suitcase-shaped Culture combat drone who acts as Sma's bodyguard, secretary, and valet.
- Animate Inanimate Object: Sort of. As noted, he looks like a suitcase and is sometimes forced to become one on planets which are yet to make First Contact and where the tech level is far too low for a hovering robot to be at all excusable as a local creation.
- Battle Butler: Serves as Sma's robotic valet and bodyguard, and as a Culture Attack Drone, he's far, far more than a capable match for any possible threat on the lower-tech planets where they are typically stationed.
- Deadpan Snarker: Is always quick to respond to Zakalawe's antics with numerous dry quips.
- Do-Anything Robot: Can function as a personal assistant, One-Man Army bodyguard, or even a surgeon as the need arises.
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Gained this reputation after utterly annihilating a small group of primitive bandits who were unlucky enough to menace Sma, in a fight which was about as fair as a hunter-gatherer tribe facing off against a tank battalion. He appears to regret this somewhat, especially as Sma will keep bringing it up when he's getting too lippy for his own good.
- Troll:
- After Zakalawe was beheaded by a primitive tribe and recuperating in a Culture hospital while his body is regrown, Skaffen decides to bring along a present for him. A hat.
- On transforming into his 'suitcase' disguise (which he always resents doing), he deliberately makes himself extremely heavy when Sma first picks him up.
