Dobraine Taborwin

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Author: Melisande Arneil

doh-BRAIN Tah-BOR-wihn

General

Dobraine Taborwin is a small man, little taller than Min (TPoD, Ch. 27). He's an older man who shaves the front of his long, mostly graying hair, soldier-style (TFoH, Ch. 46, TFoH, Ch. 51; LoC, Ch. 19). He is described as a leathery man (TFoH, Ch. 51). He has stripes of blue and white decorating the front of his nearly black coat to below his waist (TPoD, Ch. 27). The stripes are worn from a breastplate being buckled over them (TFoH, Ch. 51). He is also described as solid and square-faced (LoC, Ch. 19). He wears a ruby signet ring and another ruby at his collar (WH, Prologue).

Timeline

  • He meets with Rand and other nobles, regarding the movement of soldiers to Tear (TFoH, Ch. 51).
  • Dobraine is present and watching Maringil and Meilan while Rand announces his intent to Travel to Caemlyn (LoC, Ch. 19).
  • He is very glum when asking Rand questions about his health and plans (LoC, Ch. 50).
  • He also tells Perrin of Lady Colavaere dining with guests from a number of smaller houses (Dagandred, Chulianded, Annallin, and Osiellin), where the subject was alliance with House Saighan and support for Colavaere for the Sun Throne (LoC, Ch. 53).
  • He is convinced that Colavaere had Meilan and Maringil killed (LoC, Ch. 53).
  • He offers five hundred of his men in pursuit of Rand's abductors (LoC, Ch. 53).
  • He rides out with Perrin to find Rand and his abductors, bringing along 500 men (LoC, Ch. 54).
  • He is glum about their chances of rescuing Rand successfully (LoC, Ch. 55).
  • He leads the Cairhienin charge into the battle (LoC, Ch. 55).
  • He is thrown from his horse but keeps fighting (LoC, Ch. 55).
  • He inspects the area where the Asha'man destroyed many Shaido Aiel, along with 200 of his men, and others (ACoS, Ch. 2).
  • He confides his worry about Rand's sanity to Perrin (ACoS, Ch. 2).
  • He uses his spyglass to see if Colavaere's standard is flying above the Palace in Cairhien (ACoS, Ch. 4).
  • Dobraine backs up Rand's plan of entering Cairhien with only a few men, not the entire army (ACoS, Ch. 4).
  • He rides in with Rand, Perrin, Min, and a few others into the Sun Palace (ACoS, Ch. 4).
  • He accuses Colavaere of treason, for which the penalty is death (ACoS, Ch. 5).
  • He doesn't understand why Rand is asking about farms that Colavaere had owned, after Rand stripped her of all titles, lands, estates, and possessions (ACoS, Ch. 5).
  • Rand orders Dobraine to find the smallest farm by the Dragonwall and exiles Colavaere there; this bewilders Dobraine, as Colavaere should have been hung for her crimes (ACoS, Ch. 5).
  • He mutters to Perrin that Rand should have sent Colavaere to the block (ACoS, Ch. 6).
  • When asked by Faile what he will do with Colavaere, answers that he will keep his oaths (ACoS, Ch. 6).
  • Dobraine takes Berelain's place in ruling Cairhien until Elayne can claim the Sun Throne for herself (ACoS, Ch. 18).
  • Dobraine tells Rand of whispers of harm regarding Berelain and Faile (ACoS, Ch. 18).
  • He leads the men with the banners on board the longboat that carried the entourage to meet with the Sea Folk (ACoS, Ch. 34).
  • He acts on all of Rand's letters but has little good to report (TPoD, Ch. 27).
  • He settles Toram's sister, Lady Ailil, in apartments in the palace, with trustworthy servants (TPoD, Ch. 27).
  • He begins pacing when he hears that the Atha'an Miere will retain a mile square of land at every city on navigable waters that Rand now controls or comes into control of, and Sea Folk law would supersede any other laws (TPoD, Ch. 27).
  • He is pacified when Rand tells him that the land for the Atha'an Miere did not necessarily have to be on the water at all (TPoD, Ch. 27).
  • Dobraine leaves when Rand orders Min to tell the Maidens that Cadsuane is to meet with him immediately (TPoD, Ch. 27).
  • He talks with Rand regarding what the people are saying about the Palace's ruined wing: attacked by Forsaken, or Aes Sedai, or that Rand did it himself (WH, Prologue).
  • He reports that Ailil Riatin and some high Sea Folk official have gone missing since the attack (WH, Prologue).
  • He looks dubious when Rand tells Idrien to let the inventors keep working on their projects (WH, Prologue).
  • Rand gives Dobraine two packets, one naming Dobraine Steward of Cairhien, and Dobraine is ordered to throw his full support behind Elayne when she comes forward to claim the Sun Throne (WH, Prologue).
  • Sends Dobraine off with the admonition that Rand was never at the Palace at all (WH, Prologue).
  • Dobraine grumbles about how impossible it will be to meet the Sea Folk's terms in the Bargain (WH, Ch. 13).
  • He stops Cadsuane and tells her that Darlin Sisnera has been made Steward of Tear, and is on a Sea Folk ship with Lady Caraline (WH, Ch. 13).
  • Someone tries to kill Dobraine in his room, but Samitsu Sedai Heals him, although he clings to life precariously (CoT, Prologue).
  • Narishma makes a gateway to send him to Tear (TGS, Ch. 24)

Relationships

Dobraine holds to his oaths to Rand (TFoH, Ch. 51).

He seems considerate of Min.

Not everyone is happy with his rule, according to Alanna (WH, Ch. 25).

Miscellaneous

  • He wears steel-backed gauntlets and a battered breastplate that retains remnants of once ornate gilding (LoC, Ch. 54).
  • Dobraine's con: a small, stiff square on a short staff; blue with two white diamonds (LoC, Ch. 54).

Quotes

The leathery man smiled grimly. "They are, my Lord Dragon." No more than that. Rand had no illusions that Dobraine liked him more than any of the others did, or that he would not try to gain advantage where he could, but Dobraine actually seemed ready to hold to the oath he had sworn. The colorful slashes down the chest of his coat were worn from a breastplate being buckled over them. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 51)

"You will not go alone, Ogier," Dobraine said. "I can have five hundred men I trust by tomorrow. What we can do against six Aes Sedai, I do not know, but I keep my oaths." Looking at Sulin, he fingered the scarf that he still held. "But how far can we trust the savages?" (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 53)

"It seemed a little excessive," Dobraine interrupted smoothly. "We worry for him, as you can understand. A great deal depends on him." He might look a soldier, and he was, but he was a Cairhienin Lord, too, and steeped in the Game of Houses, with all its careful talk, like any other Cairhienin. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 2)

Her tone made no impression on the fellow. And he surprised her. "The High Lord Darlin is to be the Lord Dragon's Steward of Tear, and it did seem wise to send the Lady Caraline out of the country. She has foresworn her rebellion and her claims to the Sun Throne, but others still might try to use her. Perhaps Cadsuane Sedai, it was unwise to leave them in the charge of servants. Under the Light, you must not hold them at fault. They were able to hold two guests but not to stand up to my armsmen." (Winter's Heart, Chapter 13)

Some of the servants cried out in alarm as Dobraine's body convulsed. He half sat up, deep-set eyes opening wide, long enough for what sounded all too much like a long death rattle to rush out of his mouth. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he slipped from her grasp, thudding back down onto the litter. Hastily, she readjusted the weave and delved him again, holding her breath. He lived. By a hair, and so weak he might yet die, but it would not be those stabs that killed him, except indirectly. Even through the drying blood that matted his hair, shaven away from his forehead, she could see the puckered pink line of a fresh, tender scar across his scalp. He would have the same beneath his coat, and he might be troubled by shortness of breath when he exerted himself, if he pulled through, yet for the moment, he did live, and that was all that mattered. For the moment. There was still the matter of who had wanted him dead, and why. (Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue)

"Dobraine was trustworthy, as much as any Cairhienin was, at least." (Rand; The Gathering Storm, Chapter 29)