Oji alon gar Kaggawa never gets a point of view, even in the Interlude chapters, because he dies in the first chapter of Jaeth’s Eye, setting in motion the events of the entire trilogy.
Why do I call him a hero, then, and not a plot device?
Because, like all the characters that I define as heroes in this novel, he represents an ideology, sacrifices that goes beyond one’s self. This has always been the hallmark of heroes in epic fantasy, I think, and it would be a downright shame not to recognize Oji’s own heroic deed.
Before the events of the trilogy, Oji left his hometown after his mother’s suicide in an effort to help his family rise from ruin. They had been a well-off merchant family before that, with a thriving business and even a ship to their name. Oji journeyed to Kago, a free country, where he hired himself out as a mercenary.
He didn’t want to.
He detested the characters of many of the men he worked with–men who would do anything for money, and he detested that he had to compete with them for jobs. He detested what poverty and desperation can do to a man, even himself. His one desire was to earn enough money so that he could return home and restart their business. Though young, he quickly grabbed the attention of the higher officers, even securing a job with one of the Boarshind’s best clients–one that took him and some of the Boarshind’s most trusted men all the way to Lon Basden in Dageis.
Here, he threw all of that away to save the life of a slave boy, whom he promptly renamed Kefier. Having lost all respect, Oji became no better than a pariah, scrabbling with the other lower-ranking men for the lesser jobs. It was on one of these lesser jobs, while having his wages held hostage, that he dies.
Even afterwards, Kefier continues to hold Oji in high regard and remains faithful to his memory, beliefs, and values. This keeps Oji as a strong driving force in the background, despite his death. Not all heroes have to wield giant swords while facing giant armies.
“I still see his blood on my hands every time I close my eyes. It made me sick, sinking that knife. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, if he had a family, what he did for a living. I wanted to say I was sorry. I was doing this for my family, too. Someday when you get older you might ask me if there were other options, and why I didn’t take them. And I’ll tell you, it’s because I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t risk your lives against my pride.”
-Jaeth’s Eye
Read the The Agartes Epilogues. It won’t take too much of your time.
