| “ | An aura of death. Like the one Shama Heartless used to have. | ” |
— Bethod reflecting over Logen and Shama
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Shama Heartless was a renowned and feared Northman chieftain, and the father of Beck. He opposed Bethod's rise to power in The North, and ultimately resolved to settle the matter in duel with Bethod's champion; one of the ten men that Logen Ninefingers met in the circle, and one of the first of this to take place. Bethod first advised not to fight him. At the time it was thought Shama was far superior to Logen.
Logen:'Shama Heartless, you remember him? Everyone told me not to fight him.’
Bethod:‘I told you not to fight him.’
Logen: ‘Only ’cause you were scared I’d lose. But when I fought him, and when I looked set to win … did you ask me to stop?'
("Made a Monster" in Sharp Ends)
While now a famous duel, just thirty men were there to watch it. Logen won the spin of the shield and chose the long sword that Shama had brought, leaving Shama with Logen's axe. We learn little about the duel itself other than that Logen beat Shama and then "butcher[ed] him like a pig", brutally splitting him from shoulder to guts with his own sword. For those who watched, Crummock looked on with admiration, while Dogman stared in horror. As for Bethod, he just laughed and cheered him on, although he later claimed that he'd wanted to negotiate with Shama, but Logen had insisted on the duel.
Beck was determined to be like his father, picking up his sword and going to war to win a name and be as famous as him. Later, he asked his mother to take away and hide Shama's sword, having decided the warriors life was not for him and there were no heroes to admire.