Kin Tovere

Author: Atarah al'Norahn

General

Kin Tovere is a lensmaker from Cairhien who is staying at Rand's School in Cairhien. Rand found him among the refugees in Cairhien. He makes several looking glasses for Rand's use, and even creates a telescope for looking at the stars (TFoH, Ch. 41; LoC, Ch. 18).

Kin is stocky and has a bald head (TFoH, Ch. 41; LoC, Ch. 18).

Timeline

• Kin Tovere, along with his apprentices, is outside of Cairhien setting up two telescopes atop a tower. The first was completed the day before, and they are just finishing up the second (TFoH, Ch. 41).

• When Rand visits the School in Cairhien, he sees Kin Tovere. He studies Kin's sketch of a telescope to look at the stars, and approves it for building. He also gives Kin a prize of a hundred gold crowns because it looks interesting (LoC, Ch. 18).

• Kin constructs his telescope. Through it, he can see the moon, and what he claims are other worlds. He wants to build a bigger telescope (WH, Prologue).

Miscellaneous

It was finding Kin and his two assistants among the Cairhienin refugees that gave Rand the idea for his lookout tower (TFoH, Ch. 41).

Rand is impressed with Kin's work; it is better than he had hoped for (TFoH, Ch. 41).

He likes to dice (TFoH, Ch. 43).

Mat wins a small looking glass from Kin while dicing (TFoH, Ch. 43).

After the battle against the Shaido and Sammael, Rand thinks to himself that while there are not three logs unbroken of the lookout tower, Kin Tovere might be able to salvage his looking glasses (TFoH, Ch. 45).

Rand thinks to himself that Kin Tovere always wants to look at things far off (LoC, Ch. 18).

Rand likes him (LoC, Ch. 18).

Rand gives Bashere a gift, a strong, gold-mounted looking glass made by Kin Tovere (CoT, Prologue).

Quotes

"Easy with it. Easy, I said! You motherless weasels knock a lens out of alignment, and I will knock your brainless heads backward to front. Fasten it tight, Jol. Tight! If it falls while the Lord Dragon is looking through it, you both had better jump after it. Not just for him. You break my work and you'll wish you had broken your fool skulls." (Kin to his assistants; The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 41).

"Told you I would have the second finished today, my Lord Dragon." Tovere managed to get respect into his tone without making his voice one bit less gruff. "A wonderful thought, this tower. I would never have conceived it, but once you started asking how far you could see with a looking glass...Give me time, and I will make you one to see Caemlyn from here. If the tower is built high enough," he added judiciously. "There are limits." (Kin to Rand; The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 41).

"Among the teachers he knew was Kin Tovere, a stocky lensmaker who kept wiping his bald head with a striped handkerchief. Aside from looking glasses in various sizes -- "Count the hairs in a man's nose at a mile," he said; that was how he talked -- he had a lens as big across as his head, a sketch of the looking glass to hold it and more like it, a thing six paces long, and a scheme for looking at the stars, of all things. Well, Kin always wanted to look at things far off." (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 18).

"Build it," Rand told Kin. Maybe it was of no real use, not like the plow, but he liked Tovere. Idrien sighed and shook her head. Tovere beamed. "And I'm giving you a prize of a hundred gold crowns. This looks interesting." That produced a buzz, and it was close whether Idrien's jaw or Tovere's dropped farther. (Rand about Kin's telescope; Lord of Chaos, Chapter 18).