Dave Martyniuk

Dave Martyniuk is a fictional character in Guy Gavriel Kay's epic fantasy trilogy "The Fionavar Tapestry", also known as Davor amongst the Dalrei people of Fionavar. He is the star center of his university basketball team and a law student. He carries emotional scars from his Eastern European immigrant father's rough treatment of him as a child and has difficulty accepting or offering friendship. Dave is the only one of The Five to not gain supernatural abilities during his stay in Fionavar instead has to rely on his physical prowess and instincts to help his friends.

Background

Dave Martyniuk starts this fantasy adventure as a reluctant participant. His distrust of Kevin Laine and the other characters is shown early on, and his older brother Vincent referred to as an academic giant. Dave finds himself being pulled into The Five initially by Kimberly Ford, the young intern who plans to be a great doctor someday.

When Loren Silvercloak reveals that he is from another world, Fionavar, and wishes to transfer The Five to that world for the celebration of their High King's fifty years on the throne, Dave is suspicious and reluctant again. These feelings are intensified when he receives a phone call from his father, who has learned that Dave got to spend time with the guest lecturer (Loren's disguise so he could locate five people for the celebration) without inviting Vincent to join them. Dave only agrees to come along to Fionavar when Kevin promises to share his Evidence notes with Dave, which could secure Dave the grades and results he wants in the coursework he is currently struggling with.

However, when Loren does not promise to return Dave back to Earth as he begins casting the magic that would take them all to Fionavar, Dave attempts to pull away from the group. It is only when Kim holds onto him, using previously unsuspected powers of her own, that Dave is brought into Fionavar at all. Nevertheless, Dave is separated from the others, and finds himself among a group of horse-loving people known as the Dalrei.

During his time with the Dalrei, Dave finally begins to feel accepted and understood. His size and strength are appreciated by the Dalrei, who name him Davor. He is able to relax enough to almost enjoy his experiences with them, and also meets the goddess Ceinwen. When he sees Ceinwen hunting, he agrees to pay any price she might set, knowing that the usual price for a man of Fionavar on seeing Ceinwen while she is hunting is death for the man. But Ceinwen obviously sees something she likes in Dave as well, for she merely states that Dave will pay the price at some unspecified time.

Dave is reunited with Kim, Kevin, and the reborn Paul Schaefer soon after Paul has died and been restored on the Summer Tree. While Dave's relations with Kevin remain strained at times for the rest of the first book and some of the second, Dave seems willing to accept that these people are friends now.

Ceinwen gave Dave Owein's horn, meaning for him to be heartened by its marvelous note (only audible to those associated with the forces of the Light/the protagonists). But the horn also has the capability of awakening the Wild Hunt, which is led by Owein and a group of kings who must follow a child. The child is revealed to be Finn, who is related to or in contact with other important figures in the story. Dave uses the horn to wake the Hunt on the advice of both Tabor and Kim Ford. Much later, he blows on the horn to call the Wild Hunt to fight during the battle at Andein, and is sickened when the Wild Hunt strike down both the armies of the Dark and the armies of the Light. The Wild Hunt would have indiscriminately killed everyone on the battlefield if Ceinwen had not come to bring a halt to the slaughter, imposing her will on Owein despite the fact that she was a God (and therefore not supposed to interfere with the affairs of mortals and their fight against Rakoth Maugrim, the Unraveller). After that battle, she creates a mound for the dead, and magically heals Dave, then makes love with him. At the end of the story, she reveals that she is carrying Dave's child, and asks him what name he would give his son. Dave reveals that he no longer holds any jealousy or suspicion towards Kevin, and asks that Ceinwen name their son after his friend who died to stop the unnatural winter before the battle where he blew the horn. He also leaves the horn with Ceinwen, accepting that the price he has to pay for having seen Ceinwen hunt is to leave Fionavar.

Only Dave and Kim return to Earth after Rakoth Maugrim is finally defeated, and there is a suggestion that Dave is now confident enough to begin a new relationship with Kim, once they return "home".

It is revealed in the 2007 novel Ysabel that Dave ends up marrying Kimberly Ford after they return to earth. Now in his forties, Dave is still an excellent athlete and a formidable warrior, but he has also begun to slow down with age. He and Kim live in Glastonbury, where he keeps in shape by playing rugby. Dave assumes the name "Ivorson" and signs up with Doctors Without Borders in order to covertly safeguard Kim's sister Meghan whenever the latter undertakes particularly dangerous missions.