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| 5 | %% Spoiler tags are not permitted in character descriptions. If something cannot be said without spoiler-tagging it, it doesn't go in the intro paragraph. |
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| 9 | !![[center:[- [[Characters/VorkosiganSaga Main Character Index]]-]]] [[center:[-[[Characters/VorkosiganSagaPoliticalPowers Planets and Political Powers]]-]]] [[center:[-[[Characters/VorkosiganSagaVorkosiganHouse Vorkosigan House]] -- '''Other Barrayarans''' -- [[Characters/VorkosiganSagaDendarii Dendarii Mercenaries]]-]]] |
| 10 | |
| 11 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 12 | |
| 13 | !!Vorpatril House |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[folder:Ivan Vorpatril]] |
| 16 | !!Ivan Xav Vorpatril |
| 17 | |
| 18 | -> '''Ivan:''' You're acting just like you do when you play Admiral Naismith, except without the Betan accent. Full tilt forward, no inhibitions, innocent bystanders scramble for their lives. I suppose you'll say terror is good for me, clears the arteries or something. |
| 19 | -> '''Miles:''' Do you consider yourself an innocent bystander? |
| 20 | -> '''Ivan:''' God knows I try to be. |
| 21 | --> -- ''Memory'' |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Miles' second cousin and agemate, a handsome and clever but rather lazy young officer who is exceptionally popular with the ladies. Often answers to [[StealthPun "Ivan, you idiot!"]], and is forever getting dragged into Miles' wild schemes, or so he claims. |
| 24 | ---- |
| 25 | * BadassBureaucrat: One of the best human paper shredders in the Emperor's Service. |
| 26 | * BirthdayHater: Not surprising, given how it was usually celebrated. Since he was born an hour or so after his father died, his mother made the central event of his birthday celebration be a memorial service to the father he never knew. This was done every year that Ivan was in Vorbarr Sultana during his birthday until he was ''thirty-five''. |
| 27 | * BrilliantButLazy: Actually described as having a "sharp but lazy intellect" in ''Brothers in Arms.'' It's implied he deliberately downplays it; being pretty high up in line for the throne, it saves him from being targeted. By both [=ImpSec=] ''and'' enemies. |
| 28 | ** Miles isn’t completely fooled. He notes “I know you really work, though you pretend not to.” |
| 29 | * ButtMonkey: Is often called an idiot by his friends and relatives and tends to be the victim of humorously embarrassing circumstances. |
| 30 | * TheCasanova: He dates a ''lot'' of women, any age, for the first two decades of his sex life. However, he starts becoming a lonely bachelor when all of his former flings become married (and in one case, a man). |
| 31 | -->'''Ivan:''' ''(internal monologue)'' Nobody ever notices that lots and lots of girlfriends entail lots and lots of breakups. Enough to learn all the road signs by heart. |
| 32 | * CatchPhrase: "It's not my fault." |
| 33 | * CharacterizationMarchesOn: In his very first appearance, Ivan appears to be legitimately unkind and unintelligent, sexually harassing Elena and failing to recognize an obvious ''death order'' when he first sees it, neither of which is in keeping with his later personality. Some of this can be attributed to him growing up and becoming more worldly, but in general it feels that the writer adjusted his character after ''The Warrior's Apprentice'' to make him more likable and a better foil to Miles. |
| 34 | * ChivalrousPervert: As Miles once mused, when Ivan says charming things to a lady, he's absolutely sincere. Just like he will be with the next lady, and the one after her, and the one after her... |
| 35 | %%* TheGoodCaptain |
| 36 | * TheCharmer: Ivan thinks of himself as this, and often succeeds. However, it's telling he's willing to endure twelve "no's" to get a thirteenth "yes", as he's also openly TheCasanova. |
| 37 | * ADayInTheLimelight: ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' is focused entirely on him and his new wife, Tej. Miles only appears in two scenes in the whole book: first to inform Ivan that Gregor wants to meet Tej and Rish, and second to be present at that meeting. He miraculously plays ''no'' part in the story's resolution. In fact, [[https://spaceandsorcery.wordpress.com/2019/12/24/vorkosigan-saga-captain-vorpatrils-alliance-by-lois-mcmaster-bujold/ some versions]] of the book's cover even have the customary 'A Miles Vorkosigan Adventure' crossed out and 'Ivan Vorpatril' scribbled in as a replacement. |
| 38 | * DeadpanSnarker: Living with his cousin has turned him into one -- it's a survival/coping strategy from Miles' manipulation. |
| 39 | -->'''Miles:''' I may be panicking prematurely.\ |
| 40 | '''Ivan:''' I don't think so. I think you're panicking post-maturely. In fact if you were panicking any later, it would be practically posthumously. I've been panicking for ''days''. |
| 41 | * DrivesLikeCrazy |
| 42 | -->'''Gregor:''' So, Lord Mark, what do you think of Vorbarr Sultana so far? |
| 43 | -->'''Mark:''' It went by pretty fast. |
| 44 | -->'''Gregor:''' Dear God, don't tell me you let ''Ivan'' drive. |
| 45 | * {{Foil}}: To his cousin Miles. Ivan is tall, healthy, handsome, and has girls falling all over him without his even trying. He's also preternaturally lazy and uninterested in any kind of responsibility (including marriage, until later on when the shortage of Vor women his age becomes pressing). In ''Cetaganda'', Miles ponders whether Ivan is with him to obfuscate Miles' physical state, or if he's with Ivan to obfuscate Ivan's callowness. |
| 46 | * GenreSavvy: Ivan knows Miles entirely too well and can press his emotional buttons easily, rarely making a mistake (except one occasion that earns him a DeathGlare that actually frightens him). |
| 47 | * HandsomeLech: Tej's immediate impression of Ivan. Her smitten-but-married co-worker at the shop asks her why not take him up on his implied offer anyway? |
| 48 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: While not involved in Miles' exploits Ivan has had a fairly successful military career, usually getting promotions ahead of Miles (whose achievements are all highly classified and can't be publicly acknowledged without blowing his cover; he's also lost years of seniority in active service due to infirmary/hospital time, wounded [[spoiler:(and occasionally killed)]] in the line of duty). (In addition, Ivan reminds Miles that Ivan tends to ''follow orders''.) In ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' we find out that Ivan is in fact a brilliant staff officer, largely because he insists on organizing everything to the point where it maximizes his comfort and minimizes his effort. |
| 49 | * HiddenDepths: Ever before his CharacterizationMarchesOn kicks in, when the villain of "The Warrior's Apprentice" is threatening Gregor with a needle gun Ivan ''leads'' the charge to disarm him and actually rugby-tackles him to the floor. |
| 50 | * HistoryRepeats: Much like his maternal great-grandfather, Ivan ends up becoming a diplomat. |
| 51 | * HyperCompetentSidekick: The brief glimpses the reader sees of Ivan as an aide-de-camp to Galeni and Admiral Desplains show him as this. However, this is in part to his bring BrilliantButLazy; he does all of his tasks quickly and efficiently, giving himself more free time (see Reassigned To Riviera below.) Naturally, Miles sees this in him, as does Aunt Alys, much to his annoyance, since they constantly recruit him against his will. |
| 52 | * IdleRich: Subversion. But goodness knows he wants few things more than to be idle. |
| 53 | * InnocentlyInsensitive: Yes, he can be thoughtless, inappropriate, and about as sensitive as a brick, but he ''does'' care for his family (including his height-challenged terror of a cousin) and will go to the wall to help them. Snarking all the way, of course. [[spoiler:When Miles is missing, presumed dead, Ivan gets so totally wrecked Lord Mark has to carry him home.]] This vanishes when Ivan hits his 30's, having become a) more of an adult, and b) having had extensive galactic experience, which suppresses his Barrayaran prejudices. |
| 54 | -->'''Miles''': Ivan, one of these days somebody is going to pull out a weapon and plug you, and you're going to die in bewilderment, crying, 'What did I say? What did I say?' |
| 55 | -->'''Ivan''': What did I say? |
| 56 | * LaboriousLaziness: {{Inverted}}: He does his work ''extremely'' well...because he worked out a long time ago that doing his work efficiently was less work in the long run. |
| 57 | * LadykillerInLove: In ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''. |
| 58 | * LikesOlderWomen: Ivan has a preference for older women, such as 40-something Lady Donna. He says with body mods, Tej could be anywhere between 10 and 60 -- and Ivan states he wouldn't mind being with a 60 year old woman ''at all''. |
| 59 | * TheLoinsSleepTonight: Happens to him, to his abject horror, in ''Cetaganda'' as a result of a drink spiked with an "anti-aphrodisiac". He is in a threesome with two Cetagandan ghem-ladies when the effects take hold, but manages to avoid embarrassment thanks to some almost Miles-worthy bluffing about Barrayaran sexual customs and a couple of handy bedroom tricks taught to him by an old flame.[[note]]{{Fanon}} has assumed conclusively it was probably Lady Donna.[[/note]] Amusingly, in spite of his fears, once word of his performance gets around Ivan finds himself deluged with invitations by ''very interested'' ghem-ladies -- both his original partners and their friends... Let's just say Ivan is apparently a [[CountryMatters cunning linguist.]][[invoked]] |
| 60 | * ManlyTears: Ivan is sobbing in a gazebo when he thinks Miles is dead for good. |
| 61 | * MaternityCrisis: He was born in the poorest and dingiest part of a besieged city, tended by a half-sane (at best) soldier instead of a doctor[[note]]To be fair, Bothari was also a very experienced midwife, thanks to growing up in a brothel.[[/note]], and with a rebel Vor desperately looking for him and his mother to take them as hostages. The forces of said rebel Vor had gunned down his father in front of his mother's eyes just previously. One might say it was somewhat difficult circumstances. |
| 62 | %%* MommasBoy |
| 63 | * ModestRoyalty: Ivan is effectively the Crown Prince of the Barrayaran Empire for most of the series, as cousin to Gregor. While Aral and Miles have better effective claims, Miles's apparent genetic (actually teratogenic) damage makes him ineligible, and Aral already had enough being Regent so they would force Ivan to the throne if anything happened. People avoid mentioning this generally because either they don't want Ivan to get any ideas, or they want to use Ivan as a pawn. Ivan lacks any notable title beyond a courtesy title of Lord he inherited. Tej lampshades this when she mentions her bride price being more princely than anyone lets on. |
| 64 | * NiceGuy: And Miles takes advantage of this more then a bit. On one occasion, he tells Miles that he won't be involved in whatever scheme he's cooking up. Miles, who has nothing on his plate, tells him that's okay. Ivan promptly gets offended at the idea that Miles ''doesn't'' need him. |
| 65 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: That time on Cetaganda when he thought he was freeing a kitten from a carnivorous plant, not realizing it was part of the plant. |
| 66 | * ObfuscatingStupidity: Although Obfuscating Normality is probably more accurate. He's no less intelligent than any of his relatives, but he consciously chooses to appear less exceptional than they (not that this is terribly hard, considering who his closest relatives are). It's a matter of self-preservation, when you're third in line for the Imperium and really don't want the job. (With Gregor siring an heir, it's a moot concern.) His uncle once noted that he was never sure how much of it was genuine and how much of it was an act to help protect everyone around him. Apperently it's exactly the tactic [[{{Cincinnatus}} he would have gone with himself]], but it started when Ivan should have been too young to think of it and hasn't let up since. |
| 67 | * OvershadowedByAwesome: Which is how he likes it. The [=ImpSec=] chief on Komarr notes that Ivan is only "middling" when compared to Aral, Miles and ''Emperor Gregor''. |
| 68 | * PhraseCatcher: "Ivan, you idiot!" One time, ''Miles'' is about to say it, but Ivan cuts him off, savoring having information Miles doesn't have, an ''extremely'' rare pleasure for him. Tej calls him an idiot when he's bound to a chair in ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' and is confused as to why that makes him smile wider. It's also a HistoricalInJoke to the classic Russian "idiot/fool Ivan". |
| 69 | * ReassignedToAntarctica: At the end of ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' TheEmperor (who wasn't really mad at him but wanted him off-world until the Arquas' doings were forgotten) assigned him to a consulate on an obscure planet. Since the work only takes him three mornings a week and can be done over the comconsole (computer/phone hybrid), Ivan moves the consulate from the rainy capital to a tropical island and converts his posting into an extended working vacation/honeymoon. |
| 70 | * SarcasticDevotee: To Miles. This led to an amusing scene in ''A Civil Campaign'', when [[spoiler:he says he'll not be roped into whatever Miles is up to. Miles (who isn't actually up to anything) says that's okay. Ivan assumes he's being given the brush-off and leaves, mildly offended.]] |
| 71 | * SpareToTheThrone: Ivan was this before Gregor had heirs, as the Vorkosigan clan would have backed him if anything happened to Gregor. He really, ''really'' doesn't want the job. |
| 72 | ** [[spoiler: He is openly thrilled when it's pointed out to him that having 1/4 Cetagandan children [[note]] 1/8th Ghem and 1/8th ''Haut'' no less! [[/note]] with Tej will permanently remove him and his family as serious contenders for the imperial camp stool in the event of a SuccessionCrisis; his entire reaction is [[AscendedGlitch "It's not a bug, it's a feature!"]] He's then somewhat irritated when he realizes that the person who pointed this out to him did so solely so he could judge Ivan's reaction--sure it seems like Ivan has no interest in the throne, but you can never be too careful, y'know.]] |
| 73 | * TallDarkAndHandsome: Invoked by Tej when viewing him for the first time in ''Lord Vorpatril's Alliance''. In previous books, Miles was fairly jealous of his cousin's physical gifts. However, Miles notes that it isn't just Ivan's looks that gets him dates; Ivan will endure a dozen "no's" to get to a thirteenth "yes". He's gotten over it, especially after starting a family of his own. |
| 74 | * TechnicallyASmile: Growing up with Miles has made him an expert at this, whether smiling without a hint of mirth at his cousin, or [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snarking]] with the sweetest voice he can muster. |
| 75 | [[/folder]] |
| 76 | |
| 77 | [[folder:Alys Vorpatril]] |
| 78 | !!Lady Alys Vorpatril |
| 79 | |
| 80 | Imperial Social Secretary, Miles' aunt (really a first cousin by marriage, once removed), Ivan's long-suffering mother, and a grand dame of the High Vor. Possibly more deadly than the male. (Emperor Gregor calls her "General Alys" and defies anyone to upset her plans, if they dare.) |
| 81 | ---- |
| 82 | * AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: [[spoiler: Once she hooks up with Illyan, Ivan certainly feels this way.]] |
| 83 | %%* TheCaretaker: To Simon in ''Memory''. |
| 84 | * TheConsigliere: Even officially she is the Emperor's most trusted organizer of ceremonies and his Baba ([[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage that is, matchmaker)]]. Taking her unofficial powers into account (after spending thirty years as Gregor's social secretary, she knows '''everybody''' in the government and has a way to directly or indirectly influence most of them), she is probably almost equivalent to a cabinet member or higher. |
| 85 | ** On at least two occasions (in ''Memory'' and in ''A Civil Campaign'') an intriguer underestimates her by taking into account only her official powers. It does not end well for either of them. |
| 86 | -->'''Miles:''' Richars Vorrutyer sat right there and informed me that Lady Alys held no vote in Council. The fact that she has spent more years in the Vorbarr Sultana political scene than all of us here put together seemed to escape him. |
| 87 | ** The last thing she wanted was Ivan to be part of a political plot to put him on the throne; it was a nightmare scenario for her. However, as close friends noted, if Ivan was somehow to become Emperor Ivan, she would work on overdrive to make sure he was up to speed and an effective ruler, regardless of (or ''in spite of'') her relationship to him. |
| 88 | * CoolOldLady: In ''A Civil Campaign'', it's hinted that [[spoiler: she's working with ''[=ImpSec=]'' as By's handler.]] She's also implied to be the ringleader of all of the Cool Old Ladies among the high Vor. |
| 89 | * CostumePorn: She once told Sgt. Taura that "Dresses are weapons." And by the time she's done, Taura believes it. (Her official tailor says to Tej and Rish that clothes are a language, and it is important their clothes not say something they don't mean.) |
| 90 | * DancesAndBalls[=/=]FancyDinner: She's the one who runs all of Gregor's parties. As this is both his public relations and his way of networking with movers and shakers, it's a far more important job than it sounds. Whenever something important is happening, she is in on it. |
| 91 | ** In ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'', she establishes herself as badass by stating that not even master manipulator Miles dares crash one of ''her'' parties uninvited. |
| 92 | * GrandDame: Eventually becomes ''the'' Grand Dame of Barrayar. |
| 93 | * HonoraryAunt: She is technically Miles' second cousin once removed by marriage (Her husband's mother was the sister of Miles' paternal grandmother), and is not blood related to him by any notable degree, but he still thinks of her as his aunt. |
| 94 | * IWantGrandKids: Regarding My Beloved Smother below, Cordelia notes that if Ivan ''really'' wanted Alys off his back, he should just have a grandkid or two and that would ''permanently'' distract Alys from him. |
| 95 | -->'''Ivan:''' I shouldn’t think you would be in such a tearing hurry to become the ''Dowager'' Lady Vorpatril.\ |
| 96 | '''Alys:''' My dear and only child, how did you come by that misapprehension? |
| 97 | * MoreThanMeetsTheEye: Surprisingly for such a patriarchal culture, she is one of the most politically powerful people on Barrayar. |
| 98 | * MyBelovedSmother: Ivan thinks so, but [[IWantGrandkids she just wants grandkids,]] and backs off once [[spoiler: Simon Illyan is in the picture and she no longer feels compelled to live through Ivan.]] The [[TearJerker tearjerking]] reason she's protective is that he's an only child -- and her husband died a nasty death during his birth. In ''Cetaganda'', Ivan wistfully wishes for ship duty; Miles notes Ivan ''loves'' his comfy job and working in the capitol -- and he probably wishes his ''mother'' was sent off on ship duty. |
| 99 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When Illyan is injured in ''Memory'', it's a mark of her irritation at not being told about it that she complains that none of "you three louts" saw fit to keep her in the loop. A bemused Miles is shocked when he realizes that the three louts are himself, Ivan and... [[spoiler: Emperor Gregor]]. |
| 100 | %%zce* PoliticallyActivePrincess: Especially in ''A Civil Campaign''. |
| 101 | * RiddleForTheAges: How long had Alys and Simon been seeing each other? It's hinted in ''Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen'' that they'd been secretly seeing each other before the events of ''Memory'', and Alys had been Simon's appointed handler for intelligence agents specializing in High Vor society. |
| 102 | * SeriousBusiness: Do ''not'' fuck up one of her parties. She treats them even more seriously than clothes.[[note]]However, considering she's Gregor's consigliere, very often her "parties" are actually semi-formal state dinners.[[/note]] |
| 103 | * SilkHidingSteel: Alys is very much TheStoic, but she'd been through a SuccessionCrisis and survived being hunted by the usurper. She may be the epitome of upper class taste and manners, but she's not averse to getting down and dirty. |
| 104 | * TheSocialExpert: She's Cordelia's guide during her early years of Barrayar. Luckily, she's related to Aral, so she was more than happy to escort Cordelia through the land mines that pepper High Vor society. |
| 105 | * TheSpymaster: She's the handler for [=ImpSec=] agents who keep tabs on High Vor, like Byerly. |
| 106 | * TechnicianVersusPerformer: She and Simon have a symbiosis at court events, with her being the performer providing the splendor, and Simon as the technician providing the security. |
| 107 | [[/folder]] |
| 108 | |
| 109 | [[folder:Count Vorpatril]] |
| 110 | !!Count Falco Vorpatril |
| 111 | |
| 112 | Kinsman and Liege of Ivan who in judges and refuses Ivan's petition to be released from a CitizenshipMarriage after having established that the ceremony was proper -- if hurried -- and that neither party is guilty of concealed mutation, adultery, neglect, physical abuse, denial of contact with kinfolk, denial of children, and certainly not [[UnusualEuphemism denial of marital rights]]. |
| 113 | ---- |
| 114 | * CoolOldGuy: Comes off as one during Ivan and Tej's divorce suit. |
| 115 | * GoodOldWays: Most definitely. And to him they are the [[HonorBeforeReason good]] old ways. In a succession suit he changed his vote in favor of a would-be count who had had a sex change to make him a viable candidate -- simply because his opponent had used dishonorable means in his campaign. |
| 116 | %%zce* IGaveMyWord: Well, he's a Barrayaran. |
| 117 | * {{Nepotism}}: Averted. Possibly even inverted. It is speculated that Ivan might have gotten a more sympathetic hearing from someone unfamiliar with his [[ChivalrousPervert weaknesses]]. |
| 118 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Galactics might not think so, but he judges Barrayaran law fairly from the local point of view and has no favoritism for kinfolk. He's described as a "progressive Conservative or conservative Progressive" in ''A Civil Campaign''. |
| 119 | * [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Vor Who Actually Do Something]]: He acts as a judge in local disputes as a way to gauge what his subjects actually go through and keep abreast of their opinions and views. |
| 120 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gives an epic one to Richars Vorrutyer. |
| 121 | -->'''Falco:''' There is an unwritten rule among us, Richars; if you attempt any ploy on the far side of ethical, you'd damned well better be good enough at your game not to get caught. [[EpicFail You're not good enough.]] |
| 122 | * ShipperOnDeck: He refuses to give an obviously in-love Ivan and Tej a convenient divorce, basically telling them a) come back in six months when you have ''real'' problems, and b) come over for dinner, the wife would love to meet Tej. |
| 123 | [[/folder]] |
| 124 | |
| 125 | [[folder:Simon Illyan]] |
| 126 | !!Simon Illyan |
| 127 | |
| 128 | -> "[Illyan] [[DeadpanSnarker does acerb]] better than almost anyone I know." |
| 129 | --> -- '''Miles Vorkosigan''' on his [[TheSpymaster boss]], ''Mirror Dance'' |
| 130 | |
| 131 | Miles' boss, the seemingly omniscient and implacable head of [=ImpSec=]. His mere name is enough to invoke dread in most people. Has a memory chip implanted in his head that lets him remember ''everything''. |
| 132 | ---- |
| 133 | * BerserkButton: Don't you ''dare'' falsify reports to cover your own wrongdoing! |
| 134 | * BroughtDownToNormal: Even Jacksonians heard of "the Barrayaran with the cyborg brain". Haroche's sabotage of the eidetic chip removed Illyan's instant recall -- but not his cunning. |
| 135 | * BullyingTheDragon: It's Illyan's job to take on powerful Vor and military bigwigs. When an [=ImpSec=] agent tangles with Admiral Desplains -- Chief of Ops for the entirety of Barrayar's military -- Simon approves, stating it was nice to see a Galactic Affairs agent take on someone so high ranking without fearing reprisal. |
| 136 | %%* ConsummateProfessional |
| 137 | * CrazyPrepared: |
| 138 | ** In ''Memory'', Miles castigates himself for not realizing that Illyan ''would'' have an agent in the Dendarii Mercenaries he ''didn't'' know of, which is how Simon discovered Miles falsified his report. [[spoiler:Miles had found two of Simon's agents. Simon had ''three''.]] |
| 139 | ** In the same book, he also confers with Gregor about cashiering Miles from [=ImpSec=], cutting off any nepotism Miles might attempt. He also notes that trying his father would be pointless, since ''he'' would shut him down faster than Illyan and Gregor combined. |
| 140 | * ADayInTheLimelight: ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' has him taking on a much larger role in the story than any other book, even ''Memory'', as he engineers many of the events in the book. |
| 141 | * DesperatelySeekingAPurposeInLife: Being a retired Chief of [=ImpSec=] has made Illyan profoundly bored and purposeless, which is why he ''leaps'' at the chance to make a political bet with Shiv and Udine. Ivan hints to Gregor that Illyan needs work, even if it's in an unofficial role. |
| 142 | * TheDreaded: Aside from leading what was originally the SecretPolice, the eidetic chip made him ''very'' intimidating. Miles insists that it wasn't just the chip that made Simon unnerving, however. |
| 143 | * {{Expy}}: WordOfGod states that Illyan's name, appearance and profession are somewhat inspired by Illya Kuryakin of ''Series/TheManFromUncle''. |
| 144 | * AFatherToHisMen: In a rather grim fashion, but yeah. He does know how to take care of his agents. |
| 145 | * HonorBeforeReason: He believes the opposite. He notes that the [=ImpSec=] agents who stayed at their post when HQ was sinking should be commended. The ones who fled, he recommends ''those'' are the ones to ''promote''. |
| 146 | * HonoraryUncle: Before joining [=ImpSec=], Miles called him "Uncle Simon". |
| 147 | * LoveRedeems: [[spoiler:Or at least, it helps you live a normal life after decades of being a kind of living computer.]] |
| 148 | * ManipulativeBastard: Although he seems quiet and respectable, various characters have noted that to be in charge of "weasels" like Miles he'd have to be a bit sneaky himself. [[spoiler: And so it proves in ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'', where his boredom with his retirement leads him to arrange a scam of a bet with Ivan's new in-laws.]] |
| 149 | * NeuralImplanting: [[spoiler: At least until the chip is sabotaged.]] |
| 150 | ** This adds to [[TheDreaded his]] [[ShroudedInMyth image]]. On Jackson's Whole, one of the scary stories told about him claims he's actually a {{Cyborg}}. |
| 151 | * TheNondescript: A useful thing for a junior [=ImpSec=] officer, which is how he began his career. Miles and Ivan note that his blankness makes him even ''scarier'' these days. |
| 152 | * NoteToSelf: With his eidetic chip, Simon could repeat anything anyone said ''to the letter'' decades ago. After the chip was removed, he basically was given a planner he could make quick notes into. |
| 153 | * ObfuscatingDisability: In his retirement, he often finds it useful to play up how much cognitive damage yanking that chip did to his dangerously keen mind. He had to relearn how to remember things and consciously pay attention without [[PhotographicMemory the playback option in his skull]], but ''that is it''. |
| 154 | * PapaWolf: ''Do not'' hurt an [=ImpSec=] agent. Don't even do so by accident. ''Especially'' if you then try to lie about it. He will hunt you to the end of the galaxy. |
| 155 | * PhotographicMemory: Again, thanks to a recording chip that made nine out of ten implantees go into schizophrenic madness, since basically it gave the user two sets of realities to deal with. |
| 156 | * TheQuietOne: In his [=ImpSec=] days he used the trait to terrifying effect. After his chip's sabotage and subsequent retirement it provides a good cover for any awkward memory lapses. It does cause a little trouble though, as no one had quite realized how bored he was in retirement, leading to [[spoiler:the misadventure with the Arquas and the secret bunker.]] |
| 157 | * RiddleForTheAges: InUniverse, no one is quite sure how long Illyan and Alys have been romantically linked, only making it overt after his chip malfunction. |
| 158 | * TheSpymaster: A given, as chief of [=ImpSec=]. |
| 159 | * TheStoic: See The Nondescript. Except... |
| 160 | ** OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Simon actually breaks down and shows some real emotion when he has to boot Miles from [=ImpSec=]. Aside from being the son of one of his closest friends, he was fast-tracking Miles to be head of Imperial Security. Disappointment is far too mild a word for Simon's venting. |
| 161 | [[/folder]] |
| 162 | |
| 163 | !! The Imperial Family |
| 164 | |
| 165 | [[folder:Gregor Vorbarra]] |
| 166 | !!Emperor Gregor Vorbarra |
| 167 | |
| 168 | -> "Gregor, I'm sorry, but I just don't think Mad Emperor Gregor is in the cards. It's your ''advisors'' who are going to go crazy." |
| 169 | --> -- '''Miles''' reassuring his cousin on his mental health. ''The Vor Game'' |
| 170 | |
| 171 | Emperor of Barrayar, Komarr, and Sergyar, a soft-spoken, highly intelligent man and just the sort of person you'd want running your militarized feudal space empire. |
| 172 | ---- |
| 173 | * AwesomenessByAnalysis: Gregor does his homework. God help you if you don't. |
| 174 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: "Both of my parents died in political intrigue before I was six years old, a fact you might have researched. Did you think you were dealing with an ''amateur''?" |
| 175 | * CatchPhrase: "Let's see what happens." He picked it up from Cordelia, his foster mother. Considering he's the absolute ruler of three planets, it tends to invoke horrified fascination in everyone nearby. |
| 176 | * CharacterDevelopment: Over the course of the series, goes from being used by various Barrayaran counts and politicians to out-playing them all and securing his own happiness, without losing his essential humanity or compromising his honour. |
| 177 | * TheChessmaster: Eventually becomes this, as Shiv notes at the end of ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''. |
| 178 | * ChildByRape: Almost certainly, considering who his father was. |
| 179 | * AChildShallLeadThem: He has been Emperor of Barrayar since he was five. |
| 180 | * {{Egopolis}}: The planet is named after his family's surname, Barra. |
| 181 | * TheEmperor: Is the absolute monarch of three planets (one of which he is also the legal owner of). |
| 182 | * {{Foil}}: Both he and Fletchir Giaja became Emperor at unusually early ages (Gregor took power at 20, which was when Aral stepped down from the regency, Giaja at 30, which Miles mused was ''fantastically'' young for Cetaganda), both have aristocratic female advisors (Gregor has Cordelia and Alys, while Giaja has the Star Crèche), and both are managing multiplanet empires. They each have learned to appear above concerns, but both know how to use {{Batman Gambit}}s and subtle political maneuvering. The only difference is Giaja is in his seventies while Gregor is approaching middle age, but both are just hitting their stride as rulers. |
| 183 | * TheGoodKing: Exemplifies this trope. Gregor is rigidly self-controlled, conscientious, favors quiet dignity over grandeur and sees his position as a duty to be performed to meet the incredibly high standards he sets for himself. Most people respect him because even though he expects a great deal from others, it is only because he expects even more from himself. |
| 184 | -->'''Gregor:''' By some miracle, there was no loss of life in last weekend’s disasters.\ |
| 185 | '''Shiv:''' Are you saying you wouldn’t trade in lives?\ |
| 186 | '''Gregor:''' ''(coolly)'' On the contrary. I trade in lives every day. They are the coin in which Barrayar has paid for my mistakes since I was twenty years old. |
| 187 | * GuileHero: Particularly in ''The Vor Game.'' |
| 188 | * HappilyAdopted: By the Vorkosigans, after being orphaned during Vordarian's Pretendership. |
| 189 | * HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: To a nice, smart, wealthy, sane Komarran BBW. By the latest book, they've sprogged a brood of brainy kids.]] |
| 190 | * HeroicBSOD: During the events of ''The Vor Game'', [[spoiler: he finds out his father, the supposed war hero Prince Serg, was actually a brutal, judgmentally impaired sadist whose death was possibly the best thing to happen to the Barrayaran Empire in a long time. Gregor becomes temporarily suicidal, then goes AWOL as a KingIncognito, and only starts to snap out of it when he gets tangled up in a deadly plot involving dueling mercenary fleets and a potential Cetagandan invasion.]] |
| 191 | * ItRunsInTheFamily: Given his ancestral history, he's terrified of this happening to himself or his offspring, and vetoes a lot of potential Vor brides on the basis that inbreeding would bring out the crazy. As Miles puts it, "Gregor has a well-founded paranoia about, well, paranoia." |
| 192 | -->'''Miles''': I probably carry almost as many of Mad Yuri's genes as you do, through one line of descent or another. |
| 193 | --> '''Gregor''': Is that supposed to be reassuring? |
| 194 | * LaserGuidedKarma: Gregor just loves dispensing this. He even hired Miles to focus the beam. |
| 195 | * ParentalSubstitute: Cordelia became Gregor's tutor growing up, and essentially became Kareen's successor. Gregor had already bonded with her when they were being hunted by Vordarian, and Cordelia felt guilt over not being able to save Kareen. Cordelia, when told of her role of being his mentor before he was inducted into the military at 18, asked Aral if the Council of Counts knew how much power she was being given. Aral replied no, because the Council only saw power in terms of armament and strength. As Cordelia and Aral predicted, Gregor takes after Cordelia, and tends to have a more galactic view (though he downplays it in front of Barrayarans, to appear more traditional). |
| 196 | * PenPushingPresident: Or Emperor. As Ivan notes, many have coveted the emperor's throne, but none have coveted his ''desk''. |
| 197 | * TheQuietOne: According to Miles, "He'd be shy if he could, but he's not allowed." |
| 198 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Wants results that provide the greatest benefit to his people, and is willing to help make sure that he gets them. |
| 199 | * RoyalWe: Or, rather, Imperial. Gregor uses it very, very rarely, when he wants it extremely clear that he's speaking officially. He does say "Our" on occasion, and the "O" is capitalized. Tej {{Lampshades}} that Gregor technically wasn't a subject -- so did that make him an object? |
| 200 | * RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Has very little free time, since he actually ''runs'' his empire and makes a point to keep abreast of everything that is going on. The Imperial Auditors exist mostly to address the fact that he cannot be everywhere at once and needs proxies who are directly accountable to him making sure that his authority is applied when and where it is needed. Early in his career, he ''insisted'' he lead the Barrayaran force dispatched to prevent a Cetagandan invasion of the Hegen Hub. Aral was both horrified and proud of Gregor's initiative. |
| 201 | * SarcasmMode: Rarely gets to be a DeadpanSnarker, but Illyan gets exposed to it in a big way at the end of ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''. He surmises Gregor was enjoying finally being able to unleash some snark, especially considering who he was snarking ''at''. |
| 202 | * ShelteredAristocrat: Appears as this toward the beginning of ''The Vor Game''. Turns out to be smarter than he appears though. |
| 203 | * TranquilFury: The quieter he gets, the angrier he generally is. Miles notes that Gregor goes grey, rather than red, when furious. |
| 204 | * WarriorPrince: He graduated from the Imperial Service Academy and ordered himself aboard Aral's flagship for the battle of the Hegen Hub, using the argument that a reputation for leading from the front would reap both military and diplomatic benefits for Barrayar. Aral is forced to admit that after being opposed the idea, Gregor's analysis appears to be paying off. |
| 205 | * WarriorTherapist: Learned it at Cordelia's knee. He's even better at it than Miles, eventually a match for Cordelia herself. |
| 206 | %%* WhenHeSmiles: Tej notes that he has one of those "face-transforming smiles" in ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance.'' |
| 207 | * TheWisePrince: In private life, Gregor is a kind, complex man, but his public persona makes him come across as TheStoic. |
| 208 | [[/folder]] |
| 209 | |
| 210 | [[folder:Ezar Vorbarra]] |
| 211 | !!Emperor Ezar Vorbarra |
| 212 | |
| 213 | Gregor's grandfather, Serg's father, a highly subtle and dangerous old bastard. |
| 214 | ---- |
| 215 | * TheChessmaster: the one man Aral acknowleges as his master in politics and war, which on Barrayar are often the same thing. |
| 216 | * TheExtremistWasRight: Or else he was really lucky. In any case, his plan ''did'' work as he wanted it to. |
| 217 | * FourStarBadass: Before becoming emperor. |
| 218 | * KarmaHoudini: But only to outside observers. "The emperor spares himself nothing." |
| 219 | * LesserOfTwoEvils: See below. In this case even the "lesser" was pretty extravagantly evil. |
| 220 | %%zce* NeedleInAStackOfNeedles: See below. |
| 221 | * OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:Considering what a psycho his son Serg was, it's hard to blame him...until one considers he got thousands of Escobarans, Betans, and his own Barrayarans killed to cover the act. He was convinced it wasn't enough to kill Serg, he had to eliminate his entire political party.]] |
| 222 | * PapaWolf: When Prince Serg was becoming dangerous he [[PetTheDog protected Serg's wife from him]]. |
| 223 | * PragmaticVillainy: Ezar will do anything as long as it is expedient, but ''only'' as long as it is expedient. |
| 224 | * ShootTheDog: This and a KickTheDog, all rolled up in one: see above. |
| 225 | * ThanatosGambit: Sets Aral up for the Regency of Barrayar with one of these. Aral gripes that Ezar will somehow continue to rule even after his death. Ezar promises to haunt him for the entirety of his Regency. |
| 226 | * TheWrongfulHeirToTheThrone: He was a general from a cadet branch of the imperial family who removed Yuri when he became more than even Barrayar could tolerate. It's implied that as a direct great-grandson of Dorca (if through a female line), Aral technically had a better dynastic claim on a throne than Ezar, though being ''[[ChildSoldier eleven]]'' at the time he wasn't considered the most fittting. |
| 227 | [[/folder]] |
| 228 | |
| 229 | [[folder:Kareen Vorbarra]] |
| 230 | !!Princess Kareen Vorbarra |
| 231 | |
| 232 | Mother of Gregor and wife of Serg. [[spoiler: Is killed during the War of Vordarian's Pretendership when Gregor is only five years old.]] |
| 233 | ---- |
| 234 | * BewareTheQuietOnes: Known for being very reserved, even in stressful situations. She reaches her breaking point when [[spoiler: she learns what really happened to her son, and tries to kill Vordarian with a stolen nerve disruptor.]] |
| 235 | * DeadGuyJunior: Kareen Koudelka is named after her. |
| 236 | * DeliberateValuesDissonance: Invoked when Cordelia questions her about her relationship with Vordarian, she replies he doesn't abuse his courtesans. |
| 237 | * DomesticAbuse: Her relationship with her husband, at least until Ezar started protecting her from Serg after she became pregnant with Gregor. |
| 238 | * {{Irony}}: The town named after her on a planet named after her TheCaligula husband is situated next to a volcano that could explode at any moment. |
| 239 | * MamaBear: She protects Gregor at all costs. The only reason she allows herself to be Vordarian's partner is that she was told her son drowned, and when she finds proof Gregor is still alive -- she is given her son's other (never immersed) shoe (she held onto the other one when Gregor was taken from her forcibly) -- she becomes lethally protective of him again. |
| 240 | * QuestionableConsent: Vidal Vordarian stages a coup against Kareen's young son, holds her hostage, and tells her that Gregor is dead. She quietly goes along with his plans after that, including his public announcement of their betrothal. Later, when Cordelia, Drou, and Bothari break into the palace and find Kareen and Vordarian asleep in bed together, Drou is horrified and Cordelia reminds her of this trope. |
| 241 | --> '''Cordelia''': If you'll explain to me what power-base you imagine she has to resist the man right now, I'd be interested to hear it. |
| 242 | * SilkHidingSteel: Vordarian thought she was compliant: turns out she was just biding her time. |
| 243 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: She only speaks in two scenes of one book, and much of her story happens in the background. |
| 244 | * WomanScorned: Cordelia states that if necessary, Kareen's revenge will be to outlive everyone and spit on their graves. |
| 245 | * TheWoobie: [[invoked]] Let's see: she's first married to TheCaligula, she thinks her toddler son has been killed in a palace coup, then sleeps with the man who engineered the coup as a part of political pragmatism -- and whose only saving grace to Kareen is that he doesn't torment the women he sleeps with -- and when she finds out her son is alive, she's killed by a neural weapon to the head. |
| 246 | [[/folder]] |
| 247 | |
| 248 | [[folder:Prince Serg Vorbarra]] |
| 249 | !!Prince Serg Vorbarra |
| 250 | |
| 251 | Son of Ezar Vorbarra, father of Gregor, husband of Kareen, and demonstrably about the worst thing to hit the imperial Vorbarra line since they took Mad Yuri apart. A cruel, spoiled sadist who fell in readily with the monstrous Ges Vorrutyer and eventually, in Kareen's bitter words, "surpassed the master". [[spoiler: His father Ezar set up the entire Escobar fiasco to annihilate Serg's warmongering faction while giving his son a chance to die a warrior's death.]] RoyallyScrewedUp doesn't even start to cover it. |
| 252 | ---- |
| 253 | * TheCaligula: Invoked, and noted that he was getting worse by the day, thanks to Ges Vorrutyer. |
| 254 | %%* DomesticAbuse: Hinted at in the behaviour of his widow Princess Kareen. |
| 255 | %%* GloryHound: Unlike Miles, very much ''not'' a positive example.%%How? |
| 256 | * WarriorPrince: Wanted to be thought of like this. Unfortunately for him, it was Ezar and Aral's way of getting him HoistByHisOwnPetard. |
| 257 | * TheWrongfulHeirToTheThrone: Or would have been, if Aral and Ezar hadn't taken care of him. |
| 258 | [[/folder]] |
| 259 | |
| 260 | [[folder:Dorca the Just]] |
| 261 | !!Dorca the Just |
| 262 | |
| 263 | A legendary Emperor who united Barrayar and brought the Vor under submission. Called "the Just" for his competence but not necessarily for his gentleness. He seems to be regarded by most Barrayarans as [[FairForItsDay Fair For His Day.]] |
| 264 | ---- |
| 265 | * TheDreaded: Miles notes that he's known as "Dorca the Just" primarily because he was absolutely ruthless in dispensing rough justice. |
| 266 | * TheExtremistWasRight: His methods in unifying Barrayar were pretty much exactly as extreme as they get, but they ''did'' leave a much more stable society, and without him the Cetagandans would definitely have had a field day instead of the murderous LaResistance they encountered. |
| 267 | * FounderOfTheKingdom: Dorca turned Barrayar from a gaggle of constantly warring feudal states into a stable absolute monarchy. |
| 268 | * GoodIsNotNice: Pierre "Le Sanguinaire" was ''afraid of him''. |
| 269 | * GunboatDiplomacy: How Dorca unified the empire through AsskickingLeadsToLeadership. |
| 270 | * LongDeadBadass: You'd think so, but this trope is actually subverted since Barrayar's local history isn't all that long. In fact, Aral is just his great-grandson, and at the start of the series there are probably people on Barrayar who still remember him personally. |
| 271 | * MeaningfulName: He is called ''The Just'' for being competent, bringing peace and bringing the Vor to heel using the [[PayEvilUntoEvil Barrayaran idea of justice.]] Perhaps galactics wouldn't have called that a good reason for the title, but Barrayarans didn't really have time to be squeamish. |
| 272 | * PayEvilUntoEvil: The fate of Vor who insist on continuing banditry and private wars. |
| 273 | %%* ShroudedInMyth |
| 274 | [[/folder]] |
| 275 | |
| 276 | [[folder:Mad Emperor Yuri]] |
| 277 | !!Mad Emperor Yuri |
| 278 | |
| 279 | Predecessor to Ezar. Led war against Cetaganda but grew paranoid and ordered death squads after those he feared, including Aral's family. |
| 280 | ---- |
| 281 | * TheCaligula: He went crazy from paranoia and tried to massacre everyone who had a claim on the throne. |
| 282 | * DeathOfAThousandCuts: Quite literally as his capital punishment, he was to be cut with a blade by just about every Vor who sided against him. It was later called "Yuri's Dismemberment". [[LaserGuidedKarma Aral got the first cut.]] Since he was a child at the time, however, [[VengeanceFeelsEmpty Aral found he didn't want it as much as he'd thought]]. |
| 283 | * DefiantToTheEnd: He mocked Aral just before the latter started up Yuri's dismemberment, although he soon started screaming. |
| 284 | -->'''Aral:''' He leered at me. "Strike, little boy. If you dare while you wear ''my'' uniform. My uniform on a child." |
| 285 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: He ''seriously'' miscalculated in leaving Piotr Vorkosigan off his kill list when it came to ordering the slaughter of his relatives. Aral, recalling the massacre decades afterwards, muses that "I can’t imagine what old Yuri thought he was about, to kill my mother and leave my father alive." |
| 286 | * EvilUncle: To Aral's mother Olivia Vorbarra/Vorkosigan, and as extension an Evil Great-Uncle to Aral himself. |
| 287 | * HeWhoFightsMonsters: After Dorca's death, ''he'' became the face of the LaResistance fighting the Cetagandans, and it screwed him hugely. |
| 288 | * MadArtist: He was famous for the absurd architectural projects he patronized, including the [[RunningGag infamously]] [[SoBadItsGood ugly]] [=ImpSec=] building. |
| 289 | * RebelLeader: Of LaResistance fighting the Centagandan invaders. |
| 290 | * SelfFulfillingProphecy: He sent out death squads to kill nobles he thought were plotting to overthrow him, along with their families. Funny thing about sending death squads after your nobles (and their families); after too many times, they start plotting to overthrow you -- especially when one of them is Count Piotr Pierre Vorkosigan, whom you ''didn't'' think to have killed. They eventually succeeded and then some. |
| 291 | [[/folder]] |
| 292 | |
| 293 | [[folder:Prince Xav Vorbarra]] |
| 294 | !!Prince Xav Vorbarra |
| 295 | |
| 296 | Brother of Yuri and ambassador for the resistance. Usually spoken of in a positive light even from the point of view of modern Barrayar. Miles' great grandfather through his daughter Princess Olivia and the source of Miles' (and Aral's) arguable claim to the throne. |
| 297 | ---- |
| 298 | * {{Ambadassador}}: He was Barrayar's ambassador to Beta when the Cetagandans invaded, which is why he was off-world and may explain his relatively cosmopolitan attitudes for a man of his generation. |
| 299 | * HeroicBastard: According to WordOfGod, he was a bastard son of the Emperor who was legitimized later on. |
| 300 | %%* LongDeadBadass |
| 301 | * OddFriendship: With a Betan when offworld marriages were rare. As he works offworld it kind of makes sense. |
| 302 | * PosthumousCharacter: He's long dead before Cordelia and Aral ever even meet, but his reputation and influence continue to hold weight even into his great-grandchildrens' generation. |
| 303 | * RebelLeader: Similar to his brother Yuri — he was the other face of Barrayaran Resistance, only for the wider Galactic community. Probably this was what let him remain a little more sane afterwards. |
| 304 | * TheScrounger: Much of his job was getting Betan weapons for Barrayar to fight off the Cetagandans. |
| 305 | * SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: References to him make him seem more amiable then the [[ProudWarriorRace ferocious]] and sometimes bloodthirsty Vor of his time and one could imagine him being able to better fit into Gregor's court. |
| 306 | * WhiteSheep: He objects to HonorKilling of the children of Barrayarans raped or seduced by Cetagandans. |
| 307 | [[/folder]] |
| 308 | |
| 309 | !!Koudelka Family |
| 310 | |
| 311 | [[folder:Koudelka]] |
| 312 | !!Clement "Kou" Koudelka |
| 313 | |
| 314 | Aral's subordinate and later personal secretary; wounded during the Escobar War, he uses a swordstick to get around. Happily married to Drou, he is the proud if slightly apprehensive father of four daughters. Eventually rises to the rank of Commodore. |
| 315 | ---- |
| 316 | * BoyfriendBlockingDad: Morphs into one of these when [[spoiler: Kareen and Mark are outed as a couple.]] He gets over it; helps that one of his other daughters [[spoiler: hooks up with Count Dono Vorrutyer, who is Transgender]] during the same time period. |
| 317 | * DrivenToSuicide: Cordelia's gift of a SwordCane nearly backfires tragically as Kou contemplates suicide with it. Cordelia's interruption probably saved his life. |
| 318 | * EmbarrassingFirstName: Cordelia is told by a family friend that the one thing Kou shares with Drou is that they both hate their first name. |
| 319 | * HandicappedBadass though this is downplayed in later volumes, apparently due to improving medical technology. |
| 320 | * MeatgrinderSurgery: His nervous system has to be replaced with wires, which Cordelia notes is really shoddily done. He shows no signs of disability years later; one might wonder if Cordelia paid for him to get some ''real'' nerve replacement surgery at Beta Colony. |
| 321 | * SwordCane: Cordelia gives him one in ''Barrayar'' to try and help alleviate his feelings of being "crippled" and "useless" (after a disruptor shot completely screws up his nervous system and leaves him with trouble getting around and excruciating pain). It gets borrowed back and [[OffWithHisHead re-purposed]] later. |
| 322 | [[/folder]] |
| 323 | |
| 324 | [[folder:Drou]] |
| 325 | !!Ludmilla "Drou" Droushnakovi |
| 326 | |
| 327 | Former bodyguard to Princess Kareen and then-heir to the throne Prince Gregor, Drou accompanied Cordelia on her [[UnusualEuphemism shopping trip]] to the Capital. Now married to Clement Koudelka and the proud mother of four daughters. |
| 328 | ---- |
| 329 | * ActionGirl: She was a planetary martial arts champion and Emperor Gregor's childhood bodyguard. Captain Negri recognized the need for Princess Kareen to have a female bodyguard and made sure she was given the same training as any male bodyguard. She was even a finalist in a combat competition with Aral's own soldiers, and even scored a round against ''Bothari''. |
| 330 | * EmbarrassingFirstName: She keeps Drou as a nickname after her marriage. Even her husband calls her Drou. Hell, even the ''Emperor'' calls her Drou. Of course he does. He's known "Droushie" since he was two years old. |
| 331 | -->'''Drou:''' My brothers used to call me Lud. Rhymes with mud. Also thud, blood, crud, dud, and cud.\ |
| 332 | '''Kou:''' You’ll always be Drou to me. |
| 333 | * HappilyMarried: To Kou, [[spoiler: though that doesn't mean she doesn't want her daughters to have happier, saner courtships than she did.]] |
| 334 | * NinjaMaid: To Princess Kareen. Her public title is "Servant of the Inner Chamber," but she's also on [=ImpSec=]'s payroll, and was hired specifically for her fighting skills because Kareen wanted a female bodyguard. |
| 335 | %%* RetiredBadass |
| 336 | [[/folder]] |
| 337 | |
| 338 | [[folder:The Koudelka Girls]] |
| 339 | !!The Koudelka Girls (AKA "Team Koudelka" AKA "Commodore Koudelka's All-Blonde Commando Team") |
| 340 | |
| 341 | Kou and Drou's four daughters, Delia, Olivia, Martya, and Kareen. |
| 342 | ---- |
| 343 | * ActionGirl: ''All'' of them. Their mother was Kareen and young Gregor's personal bodyguard, and she was instrumental in training them, encouraged by Cordelia; their father approved. |
| 344 | ** Delia is an essential part of Miles' notorious "Assault on Cockroach Central" (specifically the part that involves protecting the falsely accused Duv Galeni from catching a bad case of involuntary suicide). |
| 345 | ** Martya and Kareen engineer a food fight that would put Creator/BlakeEdwards to shame to protect Enrique Borgos (and their shares in Mark's company) from Escobaran law enforcement. |
| 346 | ** Olivia personally beats down a couple of armed thugs [[spoiler: hired by Richars Vorrutyer to reverse his cousin Dono's Betan sex-change surgery with a vibra-knife.]] Barehanded. Dressed in a ''ball gown''. |
| 347 | * AmazonBrigade: The girls tend to go about in a herd by their own admission, and after watching Olivia clobber the thugs Ivan speculates that the mother-daughter wisdom passed down in the Koudelka clan extended to things a lot more dangerous than baking brownies. Junior officers at HQ refer to them as "Commodore Koudelka's all-blonde commando team." Kareen is the shortest of the sisters, and she's still 5'9". |
| 348 | * AmbiguouslyBi: Kareen notes that she could have met a nice ''girl'' in Beta Colony. She'd already had experience with Betan herms, so it's possible she experimented further, though she could just be jerking her parent's chains by reminding them that there are worse romantic options (by Barrayaran standards, anyway) than Lord Mark. |
| 349 | * BewareTheQuietOnes: Proved, to Ivan's horror, when super-quiet Olivia takes down a couple of armed thugs single-handed. |
| 350 | * DeadGuyJunior: Kareen, named after Gregor's mother, the deceased Princess Kareen. Olivia is named for Miles' long-deceased grandmother, Princess Olivia Vorbarra-Vorkosigan. |
| 351 | %%* DeadpanSnarker: Martya. |
| 352 | * FourTemperamentEnsemble: Kareen is sanguine, Martya is choleric, Delia is melancholic, and Olivia is phlegmatic. |
| 353 | * GenderRarityValue: The Koudelkas went for girls after noticing that everyone else was going for boys, making their daughters about the hottest commodities on the Vorbarr Sultana dating scene -- which was the advantage they needed since they were not Vor; Koudelka's status of being the former Regent's attaché made them socially acceptable, though. |
| 354 | ** In ''A Civil Campaign'' Kou explains to Mark Vorkosigan what was apparently his master plan: "... I always figured my girls would go for the bright young officers. I expected I'd end up owning the general staff, in my old age." Mark thoughtfully reflects instead that it appears the All-Blonde Commandos that Kou fathered have inadvertently managed to divvy up the ''world'': Olivia marrying into the aristocracy[[note]]all right, the "Warrior caste", calm down Miles[[/note]] with Count Dono, Delia the military with Duv (who at that point is rapidly heading to a major staff position at [=ImpSec=], as one of the four primary heads reporting directly to the Emperor), Martya controlling the scientific sector through Enrique, and Kareen pinning down the economy with Mark himself. Mark decides the charitable thing to do is keep this to himself, however, and does not share the insight. |
| 355 | %%* LadyOfWar: |
| 356 | * NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: As mentioned before, Kareen and Olivia are named after famed princesses in Barrayaran history. Delia is named after her HonoraryAunt, Cordelia Vorkosigan. |
| 357 | * NiceGirl: "Everyone liked Kareen, because Kareen liked everyone." Cordelia noted that her charisma was her superpower. |
| 358 | * SarcasticDevotee: Martya to Enrique. She snarks that he needs a keeper then promptly snares the job (and the good doctor) for herself. Even Kareen admits that level-headed Martya can "make the brains run on time." And he writes poetry! |
| 359 | [[/folder]] |
| 360 | |
| 361 | !!Vorthys House |
| 362 | |
| 363 | [[folder:Ekaterin]] |
| 364 | !!Ekaterin Nile Vorvayne Vorsoisson |
| 365 | |
| 366 | ->"Drat." |
| 367 | --> -- '''Ekaterin Nile Vorvayne Vorsoisson''', ''Komarr'', after more than a decade of being married to Etienne Vorsoisson. |
| 368 | |
| 369 | ->"Miles, if you die out here, I will not be grieved, I will be pissed!" |
| 370 | --> -- '''Ekaterin''', ''Diplomatic Immunity'', [[spoiler: after less than two years of being married to Miles Vorkosigan.]] |
| 371 | |
| 372 | Unhappily married to a mid-level bureaucrat on Komarr, Ekaterin is a woman of remarkable personal strength who has been socialized by a restrictive upbringing and a true {{Jerkass}} of a husband into a shadow of herself... until she gets caught up in a dangerous case that may have interstellar consequences. |
| 373 | ---- |
| 374 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: This over-socialized stay-at-home mom [[spoiler: used a Komarran super-weapon as an anti-grav basketball while laughing in the face of certain death.]] |
| 375 | ** In "Winterfair Gifts", [[spoiler: someone tries to kill her with a toxin-laced wedding gift, a pearl necklace, and frame an old flame of Miles' for the deed. Once the toxin is detected and [=ImpSec=] cleans it out completely and marks the culprit for death, she wears the necklace to her wedding. A watching armsman decides at that point that she's going to make an excellent match for his nutty boss. When one of the guests compliments her on it, and comments that the giver must have spent a lot of money on it:]] |
| 376 | ---> '''Ekaterin:''' Yes, I expect it will cost him everything he has. |
| 377 | * CatchPhrase: "Unpack, Miles," referring to the way Miles' brain runs five steps ahead of his mouth. |
| 378 | * DeadpanSnarker: She has her moments. |
| 379 | * DomesticAbuse: Tien certainly emotionally abused her [[spoiler: and stole money from her to pay back his bad investments that should have gone to the medical treatment of their young son]], and Miles considers it verging on abuse that Tien talked Ekaterin into having her son Nikolai by body-birth when the much safer, painless uterine replicator was already widely available. (At the time Ekaterin claims that she saw it as a romantic adventure; she was twenty, Tien was ''thirty''. Considering the age difference, power imbalance, and Tien's personality overall, the abuse label holds.) At one point, Ekaterin brings up in Tien's [[spoiler: post-mortem]] defense that he had never hit her, and Miles prays to whatever god might be listening that ''his'' best beloved would have higher praise for him [[spoiler: after his own death]] than "[[DamnedByFaintPraise he never hit me]]". |
| 380 | * HappilyMarried: Eventually. [[EarnYourHappyEnding She has to wade through a lot of shit to get there.]] |
| 381 | * HatedByAll: Not Ekaterin, but Tien, whom ''nobody'' likes, even people who never met him. |
| 382 | -->'''Mark:''' From everything I've been able to gather -- between the lines, mostly, Ekaterin doesn't talk about him much -- Tien Vorsoisson was a pretty complete waste of food, water, oxygen, and time. |
| 383 | * IGaveMyWord: Takes this as seriously as Miles does, which leads to her putting up with mountains of garbage from her husband Tien. |
| 384 | * LetsGetDangerous: She is not a physical fighter, but when she feels it's a choice between risking her life or letting someone recreate the Time of Isolation, it's not even close. |
| 385 | * MamaBear: While she typically doesn't fight physically, she is more than willing to use her social connections and skills against anyone who threatens Nikki. As Alexi Vormoncrief found out when he was ReassignedToAntarctica. |
| 386 | * ObliviousToLove: She is blissfully unaware that Miles has a crush on her. Justified because she has been emotionally traumatized by marriage to Tien and is in no hurry to be tied down by anyone else. [[spoiler:She even writes off Miles' confession at the end of ''Komarr'' as a joke by the next novel.]] Better still, she is determinedly ''ignoring'' the fact that she is falling hard for Miles -- to the point of grinding her teeth in fury at a hypothetical Vor débutante insulting him and feeling like crying at the thought of never again having physical contact with Miles. |
| 387 | * ParentheticalSwearing: Coming from her, a single ''"twit"'' has the force of a ClusterFBomb from less repressed characters. |
| 388 | * ProperLady: Nearly a textbook example. No wonder KnightErrant Miles fell for her almost immediately. |
| 389 | * ResentfulOutnumberedSibling: Ekaterin has several older brothers and no sisters, and this is mentioned as being common among Barrayarans of her generation as the result of newly-obtainable sex-selection technology. She specifically mentions this as being part of the reason why she's a ShrinkingViolet. She then defies this in her own marriage to Miles with two sets of twins followed by one girl to balance her eldest son Nikki Vorsoisson. |
| 390 | * ShoutOut: |
| 391 | ** Her maiden name is a tribute to Harriet Vane, wife of Literature/LordPeterWimsey. |
| 392 | ** Her middle name comes from Nile Etland, of the ''Literature/FederationOfTheHub'' stories. It was originally planned as the name of Elena Bothari, but test readers convinced Lois that having characters named Miles and Nile in the same book was unwise. |
| 393 | * SilkHidingSteel: She appears to be the most proper of Barrayaran ladies, and yet she has the inner strength to fight Komarran terrorists at the risk of her own life. |
| 394 | [[/folder]] |
| 395 | |
| 396 | '''Lord Auditor Professor Georg Vorthys''' |
| 397 | |
| 398 | One of the eight permanent Imperial Auditors and Ekaterin's great uncle by marriage, Georg Vorthys is a Professor Emeritus of Engineering Failure Analysis at Vorbarr Sultana University and is generally regarded as the Empire's authority on the subject. He is Emperor Gregor's go-to Auditor for technical/scientific issues. |
| 399 | ---- |
| 400 | %%* CoolOldGuy |
| 401 | * TheEngineer: He specialized in failure analysis, and proceeded to use those skills as an Auditor. |
| 402 | * GeniusSweetTooth: The man loves his cookies. |
| 403 | * GentlemanAndAScholar: Well, as much as an engineer can be, it seems; he tends to prefer having his custom-tailored suits made with "nice big pockets". His wife the Professora is a better example on the Distaff side. |
| 404 | * HappilyMarried: Has been married to the Professora for decades. |
| 405 | |
| 406 | '''Professora Helen Vorthys''' |
| 407 | |
| 408 | Georg's wife, Ekaterin's great-aunt and a professor of History at Vorbarr Sultana University. A highly accomplished academic in her own right, Miles and Gregor alike have been known to employ her and her graduate students to research historical precedents. Implied to be one of Lady Alys' secret coterie of highly influential women. |
| 409 | ---- |
| 410 | * CoolOldLady: She's fairly progressive in her views, even moreso than Ekaterin in some ways. |
| 411 | * GentlemanAndAScholar: Emperor Gregor values her advice on historical precedents. |
| 412 | * HappilyMarried: Ekaterin is wistfully jealous of her aunt and uncle's relationship. |
| 413 | |
| 414 | !!Vorrutyer House |
| 415 | |
| 416 | [[folder:Byerly]] |
| 417 | !!Byerly Vorrutyer |
| 418 | |
| 419 | Town Clown, impoverished, imprudent, and impervious to put-downs, but very witty...if you care for a certain nasty type of humor. |
| 420 | ---- |
| 421 | * AgentProvocateur: Manipulates his cousin Richars into prematurely sending goons to attack his other cousin Dono so as to sabotage his case against the other. |
| 422 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: As payback for his agent provocateur antics at the end of ''A Civil Campaign'', Miles offers him a ''critique''. At length, with no opportunity for sarcasm spared. |
| 423 | * AmbiguouslyBi: Actually discussed in ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance.'' The conclusion reached was that Ivan wanted to know as little about By's sex life as possible, no matter who it was with. Rish and Tej, with their advanced sense of smell, note that By just fooled around with a guy. |
| 424 | * BatmanGambit: One of his favorite ploys as a high Vor intelligence agent who occasionally dabbles in agent provocateur-ing. It does sometimes bite him on the ass, though. |
| 425 | * ContinuityNod: In ''Memory'' an exasperated Alys complains about a "certain nameless wit, or halfwit" suggesting she should start including boys in her bride search for Gregor. In ''A Civil Campaign'' we are introduced to Byerly. |
| 426 | * DeadpanSnarker: Even manages to out-snark Miles. |
| 427 | * DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: Especially in ''A Civil Campaign'' when By [[spoiler:pretended to work for Richars when he was actually working with Lord Dono but his ''true'' loyalty was with [=ImpSec=].]] Ivan once called him out on it, threatening to rearrange his face unless he spits out who he's ''really'' working for. |
| 428 | -->'''By:''' Ah, now, that would be telling.\ |
| 429 | [[spoiler:''(Ivan nearly does a SpitTake when he sees him nodding at his mother, Lady Alys.)'']] |
| 430 | * ExcellentJudgeOfCharacter: Since many of his plots involve a BatmanGambit, By has turned out to be really good at reading people. |
| 431 | * FalseRapeAccusation: He was accused by a jealous relative of raping his own sister -- both insisted it wasn't true, but his already estranged father believed the accuser. According to Rish, that explains his choice of work: SeekerArchetype. |
| 432 | * GuileHero: For a given value of "hero". Guile AntiHero, perhaps? |
| 433 | * HiddenDepths: By's backstory, when it finally comes out in ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'', makes him a much more sympathetic character. |
| 434 | * ItsPersonal: His underlying reason why he exceeded his brief in helping Dono against Richars. He tells Ivan as much, and then reveals [=ImpSec=] was ''really'' unhappy with him taking sides, bumping him down a pay grade. |
| 435 | * ImpoverishedPatrician: Byerly is what is called by everyone (including himself) a "High Vor town clown". [[spoiler:He gets his money being a spy among High Vor.]] |
| 436 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: A self-admitted weasel who plays for high stakes...but who actually cares, deep down, about protecting the weak and punishing the guilty. |
| 437 | * MirrorCharacter: One of the reasons Rish and By are a match could that both are acclimated to and comfortable with aristocracy, and both [[spoiler:spy on them, too]]. |
| 438 | * PlayingDrunk: Byerly is a master of faking intoxication. According to Rish, when he really ''is'' drunk, he becomes serious and detached, like a doctor discussing a medical condition. |
| 439 | * TheStateless: Flees Barrayar to Jackson's Hole with the Cordonnah family. It's a cover... mostly. |
| 440 | * XanatosGambit: By never hedges his bets. He covers an op by hiring a contract kidnapper. He also recruits Ivan to make sure the kidnapper doesn't find his prey, without telling Ivan why he was recruited. No matter what, By was going to have Tej delivered to him. (His sole mistake is that he didn't know Tej had her own personal armed bodyguard, so his plan could have gone tragically wrong.) |
| 441 | [[/folder]] |
| 442 | |
| 443 | [[folder: Dono Vorrutyer]] |
| 444 | !!Lord Dono Vorrutyer |
| 445 | |
| 446 | Byerly's cousin, and another old friend of Ivan... who was once ''Lady Donna'' Vorrutyer, and more than just a friend. But when Donna's older brother dies under suspicious circumstances and she's faced with the prospect of her vile cousin Richars taking his place, she decides that extreme measures are called for. Now the new Lord Dono must engage both Richars and traditional Barrayaran society in a no-holds-barred political battle in the Council of Counts, where mutual interests inevitably lead him to ally with Miles and René. |
| 447 | ---- |
| 448 | * AintNoRule: That a Count's sister can't get a sex change to contest the succession. |
| 449 | * BehindEveryGreatMan: The rare familial variety. Ivan and By both note that Lady Donna was running her brother Pierre's day-to-day affairs as an unofficial district deputy. |
| 450 | * CaligulasHorse: There's that Lord Midnight precedent again. |
| 451 | %%* TheCasanova: As Donna or Dono, doesn't matter. |
| 452 | * TheCharmer: Several other characters -- and not all of them women -- note how dashing he is. Thanks to his knowledge of Vor society, he manages to gracefully convince Gregor not to block his claim on Pierre's countship despite the unusualness of circumstances. (That, and he and Miles both note that ''some''one was going to try this at some point, so the Council ''needed'' to vote on a precedent.) |
| 453 | * GenderBender: Only men can inherit a District Countship, so needs must when the devil drives. |
| 454 | ** FirstLawOfGenderBending: Averted. Dono tells Gregor he will remain a man even if he loses his suit for the countship. |
| 455 | ** SecondLawOfGenderBending: Also averted, surprisingly enough. Dono isn't interested in embracing masculinity so much as he's exploring the new possibilities it presents. |
| 456 | ** ThirdLawOfGenderBending: Enforced. Playing the role is important to the outcome. |
| 457 | * GrandDame: What Lady Donna was becoming, thanks to her knowledge of District countship and her intimate knowledge of other Counts. Ivan noted that she was slowly becoming much like his mother till Pierre's untimely death. |
| 458 | * GroinAttack: Since his testicles are scientifically the only XY part of his body, Richars' goons tried to castrate him. |
| 459 | * HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: To Olivia Koudelka!]] |
| 460 | * ItsPersonal: Richars tried to rape Donna at age 13, then drowned her puppy after she fought him off. |
| 461 | * LadykillerInLove: After transitioning and while campaigning for the Countship, he befriends, and then quickly falls in love with, [[spoiler: Olivia Koudelka, whom he later marries.]] Perhaps better phrased as Maneater In Love. |
| 462 | * OpenSecret: Everyone in Pierre's district knew she was in charge of day-to-day affairs of running the district. |
| 463 | * ReallyGetsAround: Before his sex change, that is. Afterwards, in at least one case he privately visits the wife of a former lover, satisfying her that the change is permanent and prompting her to influence her husband in Dono's favour. |
| 464 | * SheIsTheKing: He, now, but many on Barrayar would still consider him a she even though he is Count Vorrutyer. |
| 465 | * TranquilFury: Ekaterin muses that the sex change was backed by a ''lot'' of rage. Miles supports it, saying, "Lady Donna never suffered fools lightly." |
| 466 | * {{Troll}}: He seems to enjoy it, highlighted by him telling Ivan that had he married him when he was still Lady Donna, WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis -- pressing Ivan's CatchPhrase "It's not my fault" and telling him the entire situation is ''entirely his fault''. |
| 467 | * UndyingLoyalty: None of Pierre's armsmen, led by Szabo, wanted to see Richars take over the district as Count, and fully supported her sex change, overlooking any prejudices they might have about gender reassignment. They knew Donna was TheGoodChancellor, and Richars would get rid of them "and replace [them] with his own creatures." |
| 468 | [[/folder]] |
| 469 | |
| 470 | [[folder: Lord Richars Vorrutyer]] |
| 471 | !!Lord Richars Vorrutyer |
| 472 | |
| 473 | Dono and Byerly's cousin, and a real nasty piece of work. Suspected of murdering the previous Count Vorrutyer, and perhaps his fiancée before that. Appears to have inherited all of the Vorrutyer family's demons that somehow bypassed Byerly and Dono, only he's been sneaky enough not to get caught. |
| 474 | ---- |
| 475 | * BigBadWannabe: Richars thinks himself as a BigBad, but compared to every other antagonist in the Saga, he's a clumsy oaf. |
| 476 | * RapeAsBackstory: He's the rapist. |
| 477 | %%* ShootTheDog: His retaliation for Donna squealing on his attempted rape of her. |
| 478 | * SmugSnake / UnderestimatingBadassery: He talks down to Miles -- all he thinks is that Miles is a Vorkosigan in terms of Old Vor prestige. He forgets just ''why'' Vorkosigans became the ''de facto'' right-hand family to the Emperor. |
| 479 | -->'''Richars:''' Come on, Vorkosigan. We're both as Old Vor as it's possible to be. It's stupid of us to be brangling when we should both be on the same side. Our interests march together. It's a tradition. Don't pretend your father and grandfather weren't top party horse-traders.\ |
| 480 | '''Miles:''' My grandfather . . . learned his political science from the Cetagandans. Mad Emperor Yuri offered him postgraduate instruction after that. My grandfather schooled my father. ''(thinking) And both of them schooled me. This is the only warning you will receive, Richars.'' |
| 481 | [[/folder]] |
| 482 | |
| 483 | [[folder: Ges Vorrutyer]] |
| 484 | !!Ges Vorrutyer |
| 485 | |
| 486 | Prince Serg's crony and teacher in cruelty, Aral's former brother-in-law, a vile man whose extremely foul proclivities proved to be his downfall. [[spoiler: Killed by Bothari, though ultimately Cordelia Naismith had to take the credit.]] |
| 487 | ---- |
| 488 | * DepravedBisexual: [[spoiler: Unlike his ex-boyfriend (and ex-brother in law) Aral,]] Ges plays this deadly straight. He even starts referencing the Marquis de Sade. |
| 489 | * FingerInTheMail: Ges planned to have a long lock of Cordelia's very red hair with him during a staff meeting to taunt Aral. It never happens. |
| 490 | %%* {{Foil}}: For Oliver Jole and Aral himself. |
| 491 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Breaking Bothari and then turning him loose on Cordelia while armed was the last, if not the worst, mistake Ges ever made.]] |
| 492 | %%* IfICantHaveYou: Towards Aral. |
| 493 | %%* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Towards Cordelia |
| 494 | * SmugSnake: Is entirely too convinced he has [[WarriorTherapist Cordelia Naismith]] at his mercy because she's tied down and naked. |
| 495 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: After their marriage, Cordelia finds unsettling evidence of a kinder, gentler Ges in Aral's childhood bedroom. |
| 496 | [[/folder]] |
| 497 | |
| 498 | [[folder: Le Sanguinaire]] |
| 499 | !!Pierre "le Sanguinaire" Vorrutyer |
| 500 | |
| 501 | Warleader of Emperor Dorca the Just who brought the Vor into submission. |
| 502 | ---- |
| 503 | * TheButcher: His name in English means "Bloody Peter". |
| 504 | * TheDragon: Dorca's favorite hatchet man and most feared liegeman. |
| 505 | * TheDreaded: You don't earn the sobriquet "Le Sanguinaire" for hosting tea parties. |
| 506 | * FourStarBadass: So much so that ''Piotr Vorkosigan'', who was himself a first-rate general in everything from cavalry tactics to space-age warfare, reminisced about him with enthusiastic awe. |
| 507 | * GunboatDiplomacy: Cavalry diplomacy, rather. But yeah. |
| 508 | * HenpeckedHusband: It's said that the only one he was afraid of besides {{the Emperor}} was his wife. And some weren't sure he actually feared {{the Emperor}}. |
| 509 | * LongDeadBadass: Not quite so long, the History of Barrayar from collapse to rediscovery was actually fairly short. |
| 510 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Bloody Peter" |
| 511 | %%* ShroudedInMyth |
| 512 | [[/folder]] |
| 513 | |
| 514 | [[folder:The Mad Architect]] |
| 515 | !!Lord Dono Vorrutyer the Mad Architect |
| 516 | |
| 517 | Ancestor of Count Dono's. Famed for eccentric building styles and for building Imp Sec headquarters. A [[SoBadItsGood running joke]] of Barrayarans and the despair of Security officers who must work there. |
| 518 | ---- |
| 519 | * CrazyPrepared: His aesthetic style is questionable but from the security standpoint he is impeccable. |
| 520 | * MadArtist: All of this buildings definitely have his curious touch. For example, the [=ImpSec=] building he designed was essentially one big concrete block with no windows -- at all -- while the stairs were large and ungainly. It seems he took and ran with the idea of making the secret police's headquarters someplace no one would ever want to visit or look at; unfortunately, no one wanted to ''work'' there either, including poor Illyan. |
| 521 | %%* ShroudedInMyth |
| 522 | [[/folder]] |
| 523 | |
| 524 | !! Others |
| 525 | |
| 526 | '''Count René Vorbretten''' |
| 527 | |
| 528 | Academy classmate of Miles and Ivan, and one of Miles' stoutest allies on the Council of Counts. An upright, forthright, and diligent young aristocrat who was forced to give up a promising military career after his father's untimely death, only to discover that he's one eighth Cetagandan Ghem. On his father's father's side, unfortunately. |
| 529 | ---- |
| 530 | * TheAce: He's described as being handsome, a capable administrator, hard-working, artistically talented, and even more charming to the ladies than Ivan. |
| 531 | * CaligulasHorse: Once again, the Lord Midnight precedent. His grandfather's illegitimacy does not automatically disqualify René from succession (namely due to the fact that his father and René both were confirmed as heir/Count, and so legally were the Count). To further complicate matters, both sides claimed Lord Midnight as a precedent in their favor. He was removed from his position as the heir by a vote of the Council of Counts, establishing a precedent that an unfit inheritor could legally be ousted, making the suit against René at least worthy of official attention. |
| 532 | * LesCollaborateurs: It is believed that his Cetagandan ancestry came not from rape but from an affair with a Ghem-soldier, either because of mutual loneliness or because of an exchange of protection for sex or both. |
| 533 | * EmbarrassingNickname: He is sometimes called "Ghembretten". |
| 534 | * FantasticRacism: |
| 535 | ** He finds it quite creepy himself that he is part Cetagandan as he had grown up hating them for killing his father in battle. However, the attitude to his ancestry by others is a subversion. As several Vor including TheEmperor are already marrying off-worlders anyway, it may be that the key point was that his ancestor had an affair with an invader, not just an off-worlder, and that it has legal ramifications in a hereditary aristocracy. |
| 536 | ** He does ''not'' share Barrayar's bias against "mutants", or at least Miles. It's strongly hinted René naturally doesn't see Miles as anything abnormal, rather than just being careful around a political power. |
| 537 | * HappilyMarried: to Tatya, a classmate of Olivia Koudelka. Which pulls in the rest of Team Koudelka, and by extension, Miles, though Miles likely would have come to René's aid regardless. |
| 538 | * [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething High Vor Who Actually Do Something]]: Though it's always offscreen, no one ever seems to mention René without complimenting his diligence, competence, or decency. |
| 539 | * InstantExpert: has an affinity for music due to his Cetagandan heritage. |
| 540 | * NothingPersonal: Distant cousin Sigur, who's gunning for René's seat, doesn't have anything against him personally, but turnover in the Council of Counts is so rare he's forced to challenge him in Richars' scheme to capture the Vorrutyer seat. He cousin Sigur shows far more grace than Richars in defeat, and the first thing he does after the lawsuit is [[WorthyOpponent congratulate René.]] |
| 541 | * SickeninglySweethearts: René and Tatya are exceedingly, abundantly, just plain ''cute'' together. |
| 542 | * TomatoInTheMirror: He's rather hostile towards Cetagandans, only to discover that he has Cetagandans in his ancestry. |
| 543 | * TragicBigot: Olivia notes that René hated the Cetagandans for killing his father, and is thoroughly spooked to learn he's part Cetagandan himself. |
| 544 | |
| 545 | '''Count Vormuir''' |
| 546 | |
| 547 | A conservative back-bencher who has hit on his own, wildly progressive scheme to improve his prospects in the never-ending demographic struggle between districts. |
| 548 | ---- |
| 549 | * AintNoRule: Half of the basis of his plan. Luckily there were other rules that could apply to the situation that he had forgotten to take into account. |
| 550 | * BabyFactory: His end goal, though not in any sense normally considered socially acceptable. |
| 551 | %%* DistractedByTheSexy: Leading to: |
| 552 | * ForWantOfANail: He's one nail, if not the nail, that undoes Richars Vorrutyer when the heroes arrange to have him occupied elsewhere during a crucial vote in the Council of Counts. |
| 553 | * GenderRarityValue: Another aspect of his plan. Given Barrayar's skewed demographics, any girl is practically guaranteed a husband if she wants one, making each a two for one deal. |
| 554 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: he's so focused on the Barrayaran tradition of paternal rights that he failed to consider Barrayar's equally strong notion of paternal ''responsibility'' that Miles and Gregor -- at Ekaterin's suggestion -- exploit to put the kibosh on his scheme. To his credit, Vormuir made sure every single daughter was happy, with a nanny assigned to every two of them, and didn't neglect his paternal duties in that regard. |
| 555 | %%* HumiliationConga: Not that he didn't deserve it. |
| 556 | * IneffectualSympatheticVillain: He's a pigheaded putz who is either blind or indifferent to the thorny emotional problems raised by the virtual-rape-by-proxy aspects of his scheme. But he does sincerely care for his many little girls, if only because unhappy badly-adjusted liege people would derail his plan... and because he knows the Emperor could terminate his parental rights if he abused or neglected them. |
| 557 | * LaserGuidedKarma: "Dowries! ''Dowries!''" -- due to one of Barrayar's many legal quirks, the Emperor is able to set a minimum dowry (bride gift) for a Count's acknowledged female bastards. Gregor takes merciless advantage of this to punish Vormuir and discourage imitators until the relevant laws can be updated. The real icing on the cake is the fact that the dowries will make all ''118'' of them attractive marriage prospects even if Barrayar's demographic trends revert to something more balanced. This means Count Vormuir will almost certainly have to pay for each and every one of his transgressions. |
| 558 | * LysistrataGambit: Countess Vormuir uses this to punish him for his extramarital activities, at least until Lord Dono convinces her to participate in their ForWantOfANail scheme. |
| 559 | * RefugeInAudacity: Gotta admit, his little plan is pretty [[{{Pun}} ballsy.]] Even more radical than Dono's, in its own way. |
| 560 | |
| 561 | '''Admiral Desplains''' |
| 562 | |
| 563 | Chief of Operations for the Barrayaran Imperial Service. Ivan's boss at the beginning of ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance''. Visiting Komarr for fleet inspections. |
| 564 | ---- |
| 565 | * DaChief: As his main job at the time is investigating for military corruption, pretty much. |
| 566 | %%* FourStarBadass |
| 567 | * DeadpanSnarker: One of the things that keeps Ivan in line is the fear that if he doesn't the admiral will use sarcasm on him. |
| 568 | * HappilyMarried: We meet his wife briefly when he returns to Barrayar with Ivan and Tej. |
| 569 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Values Ivan for the skills he uses to maintain his relatively low profile, as they make Ivan a competent adjutant. |
| 570 | * RetiredBadass: In ''Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen'' he gives Oliver the right of first refusal for his soon to be old job. |
| 571 | * TranquilFury: He calls Ivan "Ivan" when he's in a good mood, "Vorpatril" when he's neutral, and a very edged "''Captain''" when he's ''pissed''. |
| 572 | |
| 573 | '''General Stanis Metzov''' |
| 574 | |
| 575 | Barrayaran general assigned as commander of the most miserable base on the planet as punishment for suspected atrocities during the Komarr Revolt. Later gets it into his head to bully Miles, then orders a group of techs to risk unnecessary danger cleaning up [[FateWorseThanDeath gene-mutating poison]]. When they refuse, he orders them to strip naked in polar winter under the eyes of a firing squad made up of young, newly-recruited soldiers. Under the eyes of the son of the [[TooDumbToLive most powerful man in Barrayar]] (who, it must be noted, would be ''murderously'' offended by this behavior.) When he [[SarcasmMode "somehow"]] finds himself in exile, he takes service under Cavilo, only to try to murder Admiral Naismith and get captured in the process. |
| 576 | ---- |
| 577 | * BullyingADragon: He didn't know that Miles was personally a MagnificentBastard, but he ''should'' have known that he was the son of [[TheGoodChancellor the prime minister]], a foster brother of TheEmperor and a family friend of [[TheSpymaster Simon Illyan]]. |
| 578 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: Discussed. When told he was cashiered "for brutality", a rival of Admiral Naismith says "From the Barrayaran Imperial Service? That must have taken some doing." |
| 579 | %%* GeneralRipper |
| 580 | * IrrationalHatred: Of Miles. Exactly one ill-timed snarky remark on his first day at Kyril, and Metzov decides they are ''enemies for life.'' |
| 581 | * KarmicDeath: See Cavilo's Pre Mortem One Liner. |
| 582 | %%* TheNeidermeyer |
| 583 | * [[ReassignedToAntarctica Reassigned to Kyril Island]]: Except it is decided that Kyril Island is too good for him. |
| 584 | %%* StupidEvil |
| 585 | |
| 586 | !! Imperial Security ([=ImpSec=]) |
| 587 | |
| 588 | Intelligence, counterintelligence, and paramilitary police for the Barrayaran Imperium. Employer of Miles during the first part of the series. |
| 589 | ---- |
| 590 | * AlmightyJanitor: Quite literally. All employees who work at [=ImpSec=] have extensive military training, including (and ''especially'') janitors and maintenance. |
| 591 | * {{Ambadassador}}: At one time a foreign diplomat they needed to bribe demanded an elephant as his price, even though the nearest elephant was several planets away. [=ImpSec=], of course, provided an elephant. |
| 592 | * BadassArmy: They are one of the best secret services in the nexus and employ some of the scariest people on Barrayar. When Miles sees a Jacksonian crime lord viciously assassinated in ''Mirror Dance'', he muses that it was probably not [=ImpSec=] -- not because they wouldn't have done that, but because they would have been more efficient about it. |
| 593 | * BigLabyrinthineBuilding: [=ImpSec=] headquarters. |
| 594 | * {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The [=ImpSec=] building is a RunningGag on Barrayar for being [[SoBadItsGood so unconscionably hideous, it's hilarious]], a massive block of concrete with no windows, too many steps that are set too high[[note]]to discourage casual visitation from the populace -- people who ''work'' there have a discreet side entrance[[/note]], and gargoyles carved into every outer face. The gargoyles are actually made into cartoon characters and it was [[TheSpymaster Simon Illyan's]] greatest wish to be able to budget for a new building. |
| 595 | %%* ConsummateProfessional |
| 596 | %%* CrazyPrepared |
| 597 | * CreepyGood: A bunch of paranoid, conspiracy-obsessed spies with some extremely sinister methods and a disturbing history, but they're kept on a leash by Gregor. |
| 598 | %%* TheDreaded |
| 599 | * EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity: [=ImpSec=] is the personality of Simon Illyan writ large. |
| 600 | %%* GoodIsNotNice |
| 601 | %%* GoodIsNotSoft |
| 602 | %%* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction |
| 603 | * InterserviceRivalry: Between Operations, Service Security, and Komarran police. With Komarran police, it has a nationalistic tinge, and the Auditors have a rivalry with ''everyone'' because [[InternalAffairs that's their job]]. |
| 604 | * MadArtist: The building was designed by Yuri's favorite architect. Both men had extremely idiosyncratic taste. It shows. |
| 605 | * MuseumOfTheStrangeAndUnusual: The bottom floor of the headquarters contains weapons, drugs, poisons, and various and sundry nefarious things catalogued meticulously. |
| 606 | ** After it's sunken in ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'', Mark has it raised and opens it up to the public for profit. |
| 607 | * PraetorianGuard: They guard the Emperor and various dignitaries. They also train the Vorbarra armsmen. They are decidedly not to be screwed with. |
| 608 | * RecycledInSpace: Something like a more benign (if not exactly [[GoodIsNotNice nice]]) [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Okhrana]]. |
| 609 | * SecretPolice: The organization started out as such, but after Mad Emperor Yuri was deposed, it became an apolitical government police agency, a cross between the CIA and the FBI. They still maintain being TheDreaded, however, and are hyper-focused on internal security. |
| 610 | %%* ShroudedInMyth |
| 611 | * SilentPartner: Only a few of the Dendarii know who Miles is or who his employer is. |
| 612 | %%* SinisterSurveillance |
| 613 | * TortureCellar: Subverted. The lowest sub-basement was such a cellar, once upon a time. [[TheCaligula Yuri]] kept ''lots'' of people there, [[PragmaticVillainy Ezar]] kept a few, mostly those whom he had a rational reason to fear, and Aral mostly closed down its function as a dungeon. During the early part of Gregor's reign it was converted into a forensic warehouse, and a new, modern detention facility was created in the upper section. During different conspiracy panics, both Simon and Duv end up there (Simon in the old facility, Duv in the new) for a week or two until an investigation is finished. On both occasions it's commented that it does well for the perspective of a spymaster to be on the other end of the process. In Miles' time, it's mostly used to keep seized items from [=ImpSec=] missions. Once in a while, a prisoner who is too important to put anywhere else ends up there until they figure out what to do with him. |
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