Eamon Valda
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A similar entry appears in the Wheel of Time Companion. Other information about the character is also included in the Companion, but we did not use it in the TarValon.Net Library.
Atarah al'Norahn
AY-mon VAHL-dah
Contents
General
Eamon Valda is a high-ranking officer in the Children of the Light. He started out the series as a Lord Captain; after Pedron Niall was murdered, he was raised to the position of Lord Captain Commander (ACoS, Prologue).
Valda has a dark complexion and a hard face, and is not as tall as Omerna (ACoS, Prologue).
He is a merciless man who believes that proof of guilt when there is no way to obtain it is simply a nicety. Pedron Niall thinks to himself that Eamon Valda is always in a fury. Niall also comments to himself that while Valda is a fair battle commander, he is better suited to rousing mobs; his idea of both tactics and strategy is of charging; Valda always wants to use an axe, even when a poniard is best for the task at hand. Niall also mentions that Valda considers thinking of tomorrow planning ahead, but that he never considers the next week or month (LoC, Ch. 31). Galad considered him extremely devious, the sort of man who would set up an elaborate charade to get someone to trust him (ToM, Ch. 41).
He is a blademaster, judged so by five other peers over twenty years previously, but despite this, has a flaw in his technique, tending to strike at the left and to make people bleed rather than going for a quick kill. He is quick as a snake, however (KoD, Prologue). Galad is able to exploit this flaw, tricking Valda into thinking he is more tired than he is and slicing him open with the form Reaping the Barley. After Galad learns Morgase is alive, he says he will release a statement that Valda was innocent of murder, but deserved death for his other crime (ToM, Ch. 41).
Timeline
- Eamon Valda and his troops go to Tar Valon, following Elayne (TGH, Ch. 5).
- Eamon Valda returns to Amador (LoC, Ch. 9).
- Eamon Valda kills Omerna, who killed Pedron Niall, and is named Lord Captain Commander (ACoS, Prologue).
- Morgase gives in to Eamon Valda (ACoS, Ch. 26).
- Eamon Valda escapes Amador when the Seanchan attack and heads east (WH, Ch. 1)
- Eamon Valda is in northern Amadicia (CoT, Prologue).
- Valda makes a deal with the Seanchan and receives a manorhouse, formerly belonging to the king, as a reward (KoD, Prologue).
- Valda is killed in a Trial Beneath the Light by Galad Damodred.
Relationships
Pedron Niall despised Eamon Valda (ACoS, Prologue). Eamon Valda thinks that Pedron Niall has turned old and soft (LoC, Ch. 31).
Sebban Balwer makes Eamon Valda itch (ACoS, Prologue).
Morgase lay with Eamon Valda once in order to escape Rhadam Asunawa's torture. She is thoroughly ashamed of herself, and thinks that Eamon Valda has brought her to the true edges of her courage (ACoS, Ch. 26). Eamon Valda thinks that he will teach her to leap when he says leap (LoC, Ch. 31).
Eamon Valda thinks that Geofram Bornhald was soft (LoC, Ch. 31).
Eamon Valda does not like Rhadam Asunawa (CoT, Prologue; KoD, Prologue).
Quotes
"The question is not whether I will be Lord Captain Commander when the sun sets today, but who will guide the Hand of the Light in its digging for truth." (Eamon Valda to Asunawa; A Crown of Swords, Prologue).
"Carry this message to each Lord Captain in the Fortress. Tell them the Lord Captain Commander has been murdered, and I call for a meeting of the Council of the Anointed. Whether Omerna was bought by the witches or the Prophet, I mean to see Pedron Niall avenged." (Eamon Valda to Balwer; A Crown of Swords, Prologue)
He had managed to kill some of that filth, at least, though it was hard fighting foes who melted away more often than they stood, who could blend into the accursed streams of refugees, and worse, of brainless wanderers who seemed to think al'Thor had turned all order on its head. He had found a solution, however, if not a completely satisfactory one. The roads behind his legion were littered now, and the ravens fed to bursting. If it was not possible to tell the Prophet's trash from refugee trash, well then, kill whoever clogged the way. The innocent should have remained in their homes where they belonged; the Creator would shelter them anyway. As far as he was concerned, the wanderers were added plums on the cake. (Eamon Valda thinks to himself about the Dragonsworn; Lord of Chaos, Chapter 31)
With enough tame witches, he could drive al'Thor out of Andor, out of Illian and everywhere else he had settled like the Shadow itself. He could better Hawkwing himself! (Eamon Valda thinking about the Seanchan damane; (Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue).
