Difference between revisions of "Rodel Ituralde"

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Atarah al'Norahn

General

Rodel Ituralde is a general in the army of Arad Doman. He is among the five great captains of the Westlands (TFoH, Ch. 27).

Rodel is a short man with a neatly trimmed mustache. He wears a beauty mark on one cheek in the form of a black velvet star, and a ruby in his left ear. Fingering the ruby is a well-known sign that he is angry (CoT, Prologue).

Ituralde is a man who is loyal to his oaths. He hates waiting for the enemy to make a move. Men willingly follow him into battle because he is such a good soldier (CoT, Prologue).

He is married to a woman named Tamsin (CoT, Prologue). Before Rodel there was no house Ituralde (CoT, Prologue) and as a child he played as swords with the village boys (TGS, Prologue). He is a blademaster (TGS, Ch. 6).

Timeline

• Rodel fought the Aiel at TarValon (TGS, Prologue).
• Rodel Ituralde visits Lady Basene (Graendal) (LoC, Ch. 6).
• Rodel Ituralde attends a meeting with Dragonsworn and Taraboners. He speaks to them about driving the Seanchan out of Almoth Plain. His orders from King Alsalam are to gather as many men as he can, from wherever he can find them, and to strike as hard as he can at the Seanchan. He offers a truce, and pledges in the King's name not to move against any of them in any way as long as the Seanchan remain a threat to Arad Doman, if they will help him fight the Seanchan. They all agree to work together (CoT, Prologue).
• He leads an attack on Serana destroying a supply camp. Other attacks hit at least seven major supply camps, two dozen smaller camps, twenty supply trains, seventeen small outposts, eleven patrols and fifteen more skirmishes with an estimated 10-20000 men involved (KoD, Prologue).
• Turan chases him back to Arad Doman, with most of the raken from Altara and Amadicia (KoD, Prologue). When he gets there, between 100-150000 men come out of the mountains in front of him and perhaps 200000 behind him (KoD, Epilogue). The Seanchan army has at least a hundred pairs damane/sul'dam (TGS, Prologue).
• He destroys the Seanchans but lost half his army (TGS, Ch. 6).
• He has realised the Seanchan can't be defeated but hopes to inspire future generations (TGS, Ch. 6).
• He had planned to retreat into Arad Doman, but the Aiel prevent that (TGS, Ch. 10).
• He tells Rajabi of the time he saw Thom as the bard in Caemlyn (TGS, Ch. 10).
• He expects to die, but convinces Rajabi they have a chance. He tells Wakeda that staying is bad, but leaving would be worse (TGS, Ch. 10).
• Rand offers him the throne. He refuses and Rand offers him Amidicia instead. He agrees as long as the king is already dead and agrees with Rand's plan to seize the Merchants Council. (TGS, Ch. 10).
• He believes Rand when Rand tells him he remembers the Forsaken (TGS, Ch. 10).
• He accepts when Rand offers him a hundred men who can channel including many who can travel (TGS, Ch. 10).
• He Rodel agrees to patrol the borderlands if Rand can keep the Seanchan out of Arad Doman (TGS, Ch. 10).
• He Rodel sets up camp in World's End. He tells Rand that what he is doning could be considered an invasion (TGS, Ch. 22).
• He His reports say the Blight is quiet (TGS, Ch. 22).

Relationships

He thinks it a pity he and Turan couldn't cross swords (TGS, Ch. 6).

He and Alsalam are friends (CoT, Prologue).

Rodel fights because of Alsalam's orders. The men with him fights because of Rodel (TGS, Ch. 10).

Miscellaneous

• His horse is a white gelding named Dart (CoT, Prologue).
• He is nicknamed "the Wolf", though some people call him "the Little Wolf" behind his back due to his short stature (CoT, Prologue).
• King Alsalam has been giving Ituralde orders from his hiding place. Ituralde is very confused by these orders, since they often seem to contradict themselves and make no sense. "He had commanded Ituralde to march north with all possible speed against a great gathering of Dragonsworn that Alsalam supposedly knew of from secret spies, then ten days later, with no Dragonsworn yet in sight, an order came to move south again, with all possible speed, against another gathering that never materialized. He had been commanded to concentrate his forces to defend Bandar Eban when a three-pronged attack might have ended it all and to divide them when a hammer blow could have done the same, to harry ground he knew the Dragonsworn had abandoned, and to march away from where he knew they camped. Worse, Alsalam's orders often had gone directly to the powerful nobles who were supposed to be following Ituralde, sending Machir in this direction, Teacal in that, Rahman in a third. Four times, pitched battles had resulted from parts of the army blundering into one another in the night while moving to the King's express command and expecting none but enemies ahead. And all the while the Dragonsworn gained numbers, and confidence. Ituralde had had his triumphs - at Solanje and Maseen, at Lake Somal and Kandelmar - the Lords of Katar had learned not to sell the products of their mines and forges to the enemies of Arad Doman - but always, Alsalam's orders wasted his gains." (CoT, Prologue).
• On the eve of battles, Ituralde often gives Donjel, one of his men, a letter to carry to his wife if he doesn't survive (CoT, Prologue).
• His wife has told him that if he dies, she will come after him. Ituralde thinks to himself that this would be the first incident ever of the living haunting the dead (CoT, Prologue).
• He isn't sure Rand is the Dragon Reborn, or even that the Dragon had been reborn (TGS, Ch. 10).
• He thinks Alsalam has eyes like Rand, eyes that demand obedience (TGS, Ch. 10).

Quotes

"If the White Tower truly was divided against itself, or men who could channel really were being called to Caemlyn...well, the world would have to do without Rodel Ituralde until Arad Doman was whole again. For the moment, Arad Doman was more than enough for any sane man to go on with." Rodel Ituralde thinking to himself (Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue)

"Once again he reviewed the orders he had sent, carried by the fastest riders he had, to every noble loyal to the king. Divided as they were by bad blood and old feuds, they still shared that much. They would gather their armies and ride when orders came from the Wolf; at least, so long as he held the King's favor. They would even hide in the mountains and wait, at his order. Oh, they would chafe, and some would curse his name, but they would obey. They knew the Wolf won battles. More, they knew he won wars." Rodel Ituralde thinking to himself (Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue).

"He had always been called a gambler, though he was not. The trick was in knowing what risks you (Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue).

"A wise man stops chewing when he reaches bone, but so far, the Seanchan have had their meat sliced thin before they reached for it. I intend to give them a touch shank to gnaw. More, I have a plan to make them snap so fast they'll break their teeth on bone before they have a mouthful of meat." Rodel Ituralde to the Dragonsworn and Taraboners; (Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue).

“An honourable defeat was a good thing, but the ability to keep on fighting with honor, that was a price far more precious (The Gathering Storm, Chapter 10).