Roger of Conté
From the Tamora Pierce Wiki
| Roger of Conté | |
|---|---|
| |
| Tortallan character | |
| Biographical information | |
| Nickname | |
| Aliases | |
| Born | 401 HE |
| Died | 439 HE |
| Race | |
| Nationality | Tortallan |
| Title | Duke |
| Physical description | |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | More than six feet |
| Weight | |
| Hair | Brown-black |
| Eyes | Blue |
| Gift | Orange (normal) Dark blood red (after his gift had combined with Thom's) |
| Magic | |
| Family information | |
| Ancestors | King Roger |
| Grandparents | Jasson I of Conté Jasson's wife (Naxen third cousin) |
| Parents | |
| Siblings | |
| Husband | |
| Wife | |
| Lover | Delia of Eldorne (disputable) |
| Children | |
| Descendants | |
| Other | Roald I of Conté (uncle) Lianne I of Conté (aunt) Jonathan of Conté (cousin) Unnamed third cousin |
| Affiliation | |
| Rank | |
| Position | |
| Occupation | Sorceror |
| Affiliation | |
| Bibliographical information | |
| First mentioned | ' |
| First appeared | Alanna: The First Adventure |
| Last appeared | Lioness Rampant |
| Latest appearance | ' |
Roger of Conté, born in 401 HE[1], was a Duke of Tortall. He was the only nephew of King Roald through an unknown sibling, probably a brother, and was heir presumptive of his cousin, Jonathan of Conté, until Roger's death. Roger was known throuthout the Eastern Lands as a powerful sorceror and conspired against the Crown, trying to become king himself through killing his relatives standing closer to the throne. Thus he antagonized young Alanna of Trebond, who eventually killed him.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Roger was born in 401 HE as King Roald's only nephew from an unknown sibling of the king, most probably a brother, because Roger wouldn't be a Conté if it had been a sister. Nothing is known about is mother. There isn't anything known about his childhood or education, either. However, it can be assumed that Roger went through the training for knighthood and finally got his shield, because he later took on a squire. Besides that he was also educated in the use of magic.
[edit] Life at the palace until first "death"
By the 430s of the Human Era he had already gained the reputation of a powerfull sorceror and was famous throughout the Eastern Lands. Before being called to court in 431 HE Roger had been in Carthak. From there he had sent the Sweating Sickness, his first move in trying to get the throne, because he intended the sickness to kill his cousin Jonathan. After the sickness had been defeated King Roaled called Roger to court, wanting him to teach the gifted pages sorcery and to try to find out who sent the Sweating Sickness that attacked the city. A little over a year after his arrival in the capital Roger took Alexander of Tirragen on as his squire.
Over the course of the following years, Roger made further attempts to kill his cousin without arousing anyone's suspicion, including sending Jonathan to the Black City to face the Ysandir, and placing him in the front lines during the war with Tusaine in the Drell River Valley. He also attempted to kill Alanna of Trebond, known still as Squire Alan, multiple times because he was afraid that Alan/Alanna would interfere with his plot as Alanna had made it obvious that she neither liked nor trusted the Duke.
Roger had a few major accomplices in his plot for the Tortallan throne, notably Alexander of Tirragen, his former squire, and Delia of Eldorne, his implied lover. He cast a spell to prevent key members of the court, Sir Myles of Olau, Sir Gareth of Naxen, the Lord Provost, as well as Alanna, Jonathan and King Roald from realizing what he was doing or from acting on any of their suspicions. Alanna weakened the spell during her Ordeal of Knighthood enough that she could break free and reveal Roger's true intentions to the world. After breaking into his chambers and finding evidence against him Alanna accused him in front of the whole court on the second feast of Midwinter in 437 HE. Roger challenged her to a trial by combat, in which he used illegal magic in an attempt to beat her and also accidentally discovered and revealed her true gender, but Alanna manageed to defeat him anyway.
[edit] "Second life"
While it was believed that Roger died from this duel, he did not. Instead, he was in a state called Sorcerer's Sleep, which allowed him to plan his revenge carefully. In the meantime, Delia managed to goad Thom of Trebond into bringing Roger back to life not even a year later. King Roald, ever the peacemaker, returned all of Roger's estates and titles to him before his own death. On the day of Jonathan's coronation, Roger and his supporters mounted a full-scale attack. While most of his fighters believed they were attempting to put Roger on the throne, Roger's true plan was to destroy Tortall with a giant earthquake, presumably because he had been driven mad by his time in the Sorcerer's Sleep. However, Alanna managed to permanently kill Roger before his plan could come to fruition. He died on the day of the July full moon in 439 HE.
[edit] Family tree
Alysy of Conté † - Roger II of Conté ┬ Jessamine of Conté │ unnamed son │ ? generations │ Jasson I of Conté ┬ Naxen third cousin │ Naxen ┌——————————————————┴————————————————┐ │ │ │ Lianne of Naxen ┬ Roald I of Conté unnamed brother ┬ unnamed wife │ │ Jonathan IV of Conté ┬ Thayet jian Wilima Roger of Conté │ ┌———————————————————┴———┬———————————————————————————————————┬———————————┬———————————————┬——————————————————┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Iliniat │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Shinkokami ┬ Roald II of Conté Kalasin of Conté ┬ Kaddar Iliniat Liam of Conté Jasson II of Conté Lianne of Conté Vania of Conté │ │ Lianokami of Conté Binur Iliniat
[edit] Physical description
Roger was generally considered very attractive. He was over six feet in height, with fair skin, blue eyes, brown-black hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He was broad-shouldered and muscular, with strong-looking hands, and exuded charm and confidence. Before his first "death" he dressed very well and was vain of his appearance. After his return, his hair was too long and there were foodstains on his robe.
[edit] Magical abilities
Roger's magical standing was never stated explicitly in any of the books, it is believed that he is the equivalent of a black robe mage from the university in Carthak, like Numair Salmalín and it was also said that Duke Roger was the most powerful sorcerer in the Eastern Lands in his time. Gary of Naxen stated that "[e]very sorcerer in the Eastern Lands would think twice before taking him on." Furthermore, he was able to send the Sweating Sickness to Tortall while he was in Carthak, which was at least a month's worth of travel away.
Roger got his magical gift from the non-Conté side of his family, and so the color of his magic was orange, rather than blue like Jonathan's. When Thom raised Roger from his grave, the spell left the two of them magically tied, and the color of each of their gifts changed to a dark blood red, a combination of Roger's orange gift and Thom's violet gift. Also, somehow this magical tie made it appear that Roger had no magic at all but weakened Thom considerably.
[edit] Trivia
In the original adult version of Song of the Lioness, Roger's character was bisexual and involved with Thom, as well as Delia of Eldorne. Furthermore, he hit on Alanna when he believed her to be Alan, who rejected his advances.
