Nakor

Nakor is a fictional vagrant, magician and trickster appearing in the novels of Raymond E. Feist. He first appears in Prince of the Blood, and also appears in the Krondor's Son's Saga, the Serpentwar Saga, the Conclave of Shadows and the Darkwar Saga.

Backstory

Nakor is of the Isalani, a race of Keshians from the province of Isalan, who are described as having tannish skin, and known both for mysticism and thievery. Nakor is an eclectic and eccentric character, with somewhat revolutionary views on energy, magic, and the "stuff" that makes up the universe.

Nakor left home at the age of twelve after encountering a travelling "magician"(who didn't actually perform proper tricks, but things such as sleight of hand). He chose to travel with him, leaving him after a few years following his discovery that he was much better than that man.

In Rise of a Merchant Prince, Nakor reveals to Calis that he is six times older than he is. Since Calis was 50 years old at the time, Nakor is probably around 300 years old during that book's time frame. In The King's Buccaneer, Nakor also tells Pug that he has lived for three lifetimes, which, depending on what Nakor considered a "lifetime", would probably be consistent.

Nakor's Views on Magic

Nakor's views on magic are seemingly revolutionary in the world of Midkemia.

His thoughts, though mostly abstract, have impacted the perception of magic in that world. Nakor believes that the universe is a big bubble, expanding outwards, and that rifts are bends in the bubble. As a result of his revolutionary thoughts he has split the students of Stardock into a new group, called the Blue Riders, that follow his teachings.

Nakor's beliefs have annoyed the traditionalist magicians to no end, yet he has the respect and admiration of many magicians.

Items of Value

He carries a seemingly empty rucksack, though he continually pulls oranges (or apples) from it. He is also a gambler, and a cheat. He is sometimes known as "Nakor the Blue Rider" due to his magnificent black stallion and luxurious blue robes, though he is regularly horseless and is never seen with both the blue robe and black horse in the books though he is awarded both by the Empress of Great Kesh in the end of Prince of the Blood and in Krondor at the end of King's Bucaneer.

Relationships

In the Serpentwar Saga books, Nakor reveals that he was once married to Jorna, later known as Lady Clovis, the Emerald Queen and Kahil. He was Jorna's first husband, and this marriage is explained by Nakor as having been a ploy by her to discover a secret to remaining eternally young. She later went on to marry Macros the Black and give birth to Miranda.

Introduction in the Story

Nakor is first met by Borric II, son of Prince Arutha and Princess Anita, who helps Borric and Ghuda Bule escape and helps them on the way to Kesh, calling himself Nakor the Blue Rider, Nakor's reward for saving the Empress of Kesh is a horse and a blue cloak, he then rides to Stardock after hearing the words from James "There is no magic.".

Further Roles

In The King's Buccaneer, Nakor and Ghuda Bule travel with Nicholas, youngest son of Arutha and Anita to Crydee, where he will learn and grow like Arutha did in his youth, if only for a few years and then to Novindus and eventually meets the Lady Clovis, who is Jorna, Nakor's former wife.

In the Serpentwar Saga on the trip to Novindus in Shadow of a Dark Queen meets the Isalani warrior Sho Pi who becomes his disciple.

He also starts up the first temple for the sleeping goddess of good (who, together with the other Greater Gods, imprisoned Nalar on a distant planet, and in the process, sacrificed herself), Arch-Indar. The temple was formed during the Serpentwar Saga books, when Nakor came across a woman whom brother Dominic, a priest of Ishap, assumes is the avatar of the good goddess herself.

In the Serpentwar Saga books, Nakor reveals that he was once married to Jorna, later known as Lady Clovis, the Emerald Queen and Kahil. He was Jorna's first husband, and this marriage is explained by Nakor as having been a ploy by her to discover a secret to remaining eternally young. She later went on to marry Macros the Black and give birth to Miranda.

Jorna in the form of Kahil questions Nakor as to why he remains in that body, implying that like her - he can invade other bodies and make them his own. This ability had not been attributed to any of the other 'great' magicians such as Pug of Stardock or Macros the Black, which makes Nakor an even more enigmatic character.

Nakor then kills Kahil, claiming sadly that he should have killed her a century ago, but didn't know how at the time.

In the Conclave of Shadows, Nakor takes a role in Talon of the Silver Hawk's training (later to become Talwin Hawkins) and aids him with advice, gold and various other materials and serves a mentor role.

In the Darkwar Saga books, Nakor finds a young man named Ralan Bek. Nakor feels he is important, and explains to Pug that Bek may contain a fragment of Nalar, The Nameless One (although it eventually turns out that Bek is implanted a shard of the Dasati God of War). Nakor knows this because, admittedly, he also has a fragment of one of the gods in him, though which god it is remains to be seen. It is then revealed that the god in question is Ba-nath/Kalkin, the God of Pranksters.

Though it is not known how powerful Nakor truly is it seems that the fragment of the Trickster God with in him allows him to manipulate and even out right ignore certain limitations and laws. Such as being able to know the Mad God's (Nalar) true name with out falling under his influence (he states that one can not find some thing if they are looking in the wrong place) and casting a protection spell that allowed all with in to speak of Nalar with out falling under the God’s influence, even Pug is uncertain if he could duplicate this spell. While in the company of Pug, Miranda, Tomas, Macros and Nakor a priest of Ishap thinks that of all present Nakor is the most dangerous.

Powers and abilities

Though he is a magician of considerable ability, Nakor insists that all magic is merely trickery.

A large portion of Nakor's knowledge may have been endowed to him by the Codex of Wodar Hospur, and in exchange for it, he was rendered mad for a good part of his life, which explains his eccentric nature. This artifact, thought lost for centuries, is supposed to contain every known fact in the world. He turned it over to the temple of Ishap during the Serpentwar Saga.

Most mysterious and significant of all is Nakor’s seemingly prophetic insights. Possibly due to his time with the Codex of Wodar Hospur or the god fragment with in him Nakor is very rarely wrong about any thing and has shown amazing foresight that allows him to prepare for situations to bring them to its best possible ending. Such as when he brought a male of the species of falcons that are the symbol of Keshian royalty, the imperial pen contained only females and the falcons were about to become extinct.

If it were not for his insights and meddling, characters such as Ralan Bek, Talon of the Silver Hawk, Nicholas ConDoin, Borric and Erland ConDoin, Calis, Tad, Zane, Jommy and even Pug himself would have never reached their full potential. The Conclave of Shadows was also formed on his initiative.

His most foreboding prediction given to Pug is that of all the people involved with the Conclave of Shadows (despite Miranda’s power and ability and Magnus’ potential to one day become more powerful than his father) that in the end it would be down to Pug and Tomas to set things right. He also told Caleb that even though he lacked any magical power or extraordinary ability, that Caleb in his own way is as vital and as powerful as his parents and his brother Magnus and that he only needed to have confidence in himself and trust in his judgment.

He also shows a remarkable ability to manipulate other with fragments of other god/dess' with in them including calming Ralan Bek's violent and often murderous urges, helping the unknowing fragment of the Good Goddess come into power, and most significantly when he effortlessly plucked the fragment of Nalar from Leso Varen thus killing him, a feat that even Pug and the whole of the Conclave of Shadow could not accomplish. He used this fragment to stop a Dread Lord’s raising beyond the world it was in and seal the gate to the lower plane behind it. At this time Nakor's body was dead though his spirit still animated his body. This protected him from Leso Varen's necromancy.

References

• SFF World
• SF Site