Beslan Quintara

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Author: Atarah al'Norahn

General

Beslan Quintara is the son of Tylin Quintara, Queen of Altara. He is about Elayne's age, 18, and is a soft-spoken youth with a mild manner (LoC, Ch. 48; ACoS, Ch. 16).

Beslan is slender with beautiful black eyes and black hair to his shoulders (LoC, Ch. 48; ACoS, Ch. 16). Mat thinks that he is a little too fine looking (ACoS, Ch. 29).

When Mat first meets Beslan, he is "blithely rakish". After the Seanchan arrive, he becomes serious (WH, Ch. 15).

Timeline

  • Tylin introduces Beslan to Mat. He has just returned from fighting a duel, which he won (ACoS, Ch. 16).
  • On the Festival of Birds, Beslan goes out with Mat and company. They are attacked, and Beslan is very pleased to engage in battle (ACoS, Ch. 29).
  • Mat and Beslan speak about Mat's relationship with Tylin. Beslan approves of it (ACoS, Ch. 29).
  • Beslan is plotting to get the Seanchan out of Altara (WH, Ch. 16).
  • Beslan overhears Mat, Juilin, and Thom working on their plan to escape and insists on helping. He says that he will start an uprising, and the other three try to talk him out of it (WH, Ch. 28).
  • Beslan arranges to have some of his friends set some fires to help Mat escape. Beslan promises to be seen at an inn getting drunk so that nobody will suspect him (WH, Ch. 30).
  • When Tylin is killed by the gholam, Beslan's coronation is planned to take place on the same day as her funeral feast (CoT, Ch. 3).
  • Tuon offers Beslan the choice of swearing fealty to the Seanchan Empire and being raised to the High Blood, or execution. She gives him information showing how crime has decreased since the Seanchan arrived, and he swears fealty (TGS, Ch. 19).
  • Beslan witnesses Elaida showing Tuon Travelling. He is now a member of the Blood and has his head mostly shaved and seven of his fingernails lacquered. Tuon explains to Beslan that there are hundreds of Aes Sedai still at the White Tower and that they need to prepare an attack to capture the Aes Sedai that were left (ToM, Ch. 47).
  • When Yulan, under the influence of Moghedien argues for abandoning Mat, Beslan argues strongly that Mat can be trusted and will have a plan (AMoL, Ch. 37).

Relationships

Tylin seems to be genuinely fond of her son (ACoS, Ch. 16). Before everything that Rand has done, she had hoped to pass on to Beslan a control of Altara that was twice what she currently has, and allies of a sort beyond that. She no longer believes she has a chance to do this (LoC, Ch. 48).

When Mat and Beslan first meet, Tylin expresses a wish for them to go to the Swovan Night dances together. Mat thinks to himself that the last thing he wants is to go anywhere with a man who fights duels and whose mother is interested in him. Mat thinks Beslan is crazy (ACoS, Ch. 16). After Tylin finally corners Mat and sleeps with him, he is afraid that Beslan will be angry, but it turns out that Beslan is completely fine with it. Beslan likes Mat (ACoS, Ch. 29).

Miscellaneous

  • Beslan admits that Tylin is becoming a bit possessive of Mat (WH, Ch. 15).
  • Beslan promises not to start an uprising until a month after Mat, Thom, and Juilin have left Ebou Dar (WH, Ch. 28).
  • Beslan considers himself to be at war with the Seanchan (WH, Ch. 30).
  • Suroth is insulted by the fact that the servants at the Tarasin Palace seem to think that deep bows and curtsies are sufficient in place of prostration, and that they look her in the eye. She thinks to herself that perhaps she should have a word with Beslan about it, but then reminds herself that he is now her equal, in law at least. She doubts that he will make his servants behave "properly" (KoD, Prologue).

Quotes

"Nevin nicked my leg on the second pass, then slipped on the third so I ran him through the heart instead of his sword-arm. The offense was not worth killing, and now I must pay condolences to his widow." (Beslan to Tylin; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 16)

"A girl or a fight, pouting lips or a flashing blade. Whichever dance you're dancing at the moment is always the most fun." (Beslan to Mat; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 16)

"Mat won't corrupt Beslan. I doubt nine feather dancers with a shipload of brandy could corrupt him. They wouldn't know where to begin." (Birgitte to Elayne and Nynaeve; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 21)

"I cannot think it is ever boring around Mat. I've never had so much fun as I did drinking with him and the Lady Elayne's Warder on Swovan Night, though truth, I remember little." (Beslan to Nalesean; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 29)

"You think I will be angry. Forgive me, I forget you're an outlander. Mat, she's my mother, not my wife. Father died ten years ago, and she has always claimed to be too busy. I am just glad she chose someone I like." (Beslan to Mat about Tylin; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 29)

"You don't understand, Mat. Mother still sits on the throne, and Suroth says she will rule all of Altara, not just what we hold around Ebou Dar, and maybe more besides, but mother had to lie down on her face and swear fealty to some woman on the other side of the Aryth Ocean. Suroth says I should marry one of their Blood and shave the sides of my head, and Mother is listening to her. Suroth might pretend they are equals, but she has to listen when Suroth speaks. No matter what Suroth says, Ebou Dar isn't really ours anymore, and the rest won't be either. Maybe we can't push them out by force of arms but we can make the country too hot to hold them." (Beslan to Mat; Winter's Heart, Chapter 16)

"Beslan's coronation. Light! How would Beslan cope with that, when he hated the Seanchan? It had been his plan to fire those supplies on the Bay Road. He would have tried an uprising if Mat had not convinced him it would only result in a slaughter, and not of Seanchan." (Mat thinks about Beslan; Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 3)

"I Beslan of House Mitsobar, pledge my fealty and service to the Daughter of the Nine Moons and through her to the Seanchan Empire, now and for all time, save that she chooses to release me of her own free will. My lands and throne are hers, and I yield them to her hand. So do I swear before the Light." (to Tuon; The Gathering Storm, Chapter 19)

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