| “ | If Stour weren’t my son, I’d be forced to say the boy’s a fucking prick. | ” |
Stour Nightfall, renowned as "The Great Wolf", is the leader of a new generation of Northmen, determined to tear a Name from the world for the songs. He is Black Calder’s son and heir to Scale Ironhand as King of the Northmen.
Appearance and Personality[]
Stour Nightfall has long, dark hair and grey-blue eyes that always look a little wet. He’s no giant, but there’s a quick strength to the way he moves; a dancer’s grace. He wears fine clothes buckled and riveted with gold.
Stour has self-confidence in crazed abundance, and a sneering contempt for the world and everything in it. If there is one thing everyone who meets him agrees on, it’s the fact that Stour Nightfall is a prick.
History[]
Stour was given the name Nightfall as a babe on account of being born during an eclipse. His mother died (probably in child-birth), and Calder indulged and spoiled his son because of that. Stour grew up to be more like his straightforward warrior uncle than his scheming father. Before the series begins, Stranger-Come-Knocking met Stour Nightfall in the Circle. Stour left it, Stranger didn't, although most people are aware the man was way past his best.
A Little Hatred[]
Stour Nightfall leads the invasion of The Dogman’s Protectorate, determined to expel the Union from The North, and maybe from Angland as well. After capturing Uffrith, he sets fire to it, much to his father’s consternation. Black Calder engages surly ex-warrior Jonas Clover to teach his wilful son how not be a prick. But Stour’s bloodthirstiness and particularly his gruesome plans for The Dogman’s daughter, Rikke, soon has Clover despairing for the future of The North.
As Stour pursues The Union forces south with increasing recklessness, the enemy set a trap for him in a narrow valley. However Calder has planned for this, and lays a trap of his own, with more Northmen hidden in the forest. The plan would have worked except for Rikke’s Long Eye and Leo dan Brock’s heroic cavalry charge. With the battle a stalemate, Stour agrees to settle the matter with a duel in the circle. Calder is horrified that his son would gamble everything on a duel, but Stour has the support of King Scale Ironhand.
Leo dan Brock is a fine swordsman, but the Great Wolf makes him look ordinary. Stour could've killed his opponent several times during the fight, but decides to toy with him and show off. It costs him the duel, and nearly costs him his life. Given time, Rikke manages to force her Long Eye open, and shout to Leo the advice he needed to win. Stour finds himself on the ground with his opponent standing over him holding both of the swords. Nevertheless, Leo decides to spare his life.
Clover often says, "Defeats teaches you more than your victories." Indeed Stour Nightfall does seem more thoughtful after the duel. For one, he befriends Leo. But his chief conclusion is that he doesn’t want to be the king-in-waiting anymore. Stour assassinates Scale Ironhand and takes his grandfather’s chain.
The Trouble With Peace[]
As King of the Northmen, the Great Wolf rules through fear. When Gregun Hollowhead, chieftain of the West Valleys, refuses to pay more tax, he puts him in a cage in Starling's Hall in Carleon, despite his son, The Nail, being one of the most dangerous men in The North. Meanwhile, Stour still has designs on the Uffrith, and, as soon as The Dogman dies, he pays a visit hoping to persuading the Protectorate to voluntarily rejoin The North; he has already convinced the war chief Oxel. His swaggering entrance goes awry as soon as he sees Rikke with her new tattoo; no one could look more like a witch. Rikke then outmaneuvres him by having Oxel, Red Hat, and Shivers fight a duel in the Circle for the future of Uffrith. Shivers secures her position as leader of her father's former men.
Later, Stour Nightfall gets a visit from Leo dan Brock, who wants him to join his armed rebellion against King Orso and his Closed Council. Forewarned by his sharp-witted father, Stour is reluctant because he sees no benefit for The North. However, Leo's wife, Savine dan Glokta, arranges a private meeting with him the next morning. She manages to persuade him by offering to let him take Uffrith. To make sure they win, Stour promises to "empty the North o’ men!".
At the Battle of Stoffenbeck, Stour is furious at Leo's decision not to attack on the first day, so that he can attend a parley with King Orso. The next morning, it is clear that the royalist forces have been reinforced with fresh regiments during the night. In frustration, the Great Wolf orders an immediate attack, against Leo's orders. The fight on the gentle hill is a tough slog against a well dug-in enemy. By the time the Northmen take the hill, they are completely spent, and the Young Lion’s glorious charge has come to grief. With the battle done, Jonas Clover coolly helps Stour see sense, and pull back before they’re overrun.
Clover has a boat waiting to whisk a few of them to safety back home, and manages to scratch together a crew, half his men, half Stour’s, for the journey to Ollensand. Nearing shore, Clover distracts the King of the Northmen with conversation, then suddenly headbutts him repeatedly in the face while his crew kill Stour’s men all over the boat. Stour is left with his own sword against his throat and Clover’s boot on his chest. As they pull into the wharf, it’s not Ollensand at all, but Uffrith. They dump him on the jetty surrounded by men of Uffrith and the West Valleys, who reveal that Rikke has taken Carleon in his absence. The Great Wolf blusters and threatens, until The Nail yanks down his trousers, and Shivers casually slits the tendons behind both his knees. A cage in Skarling's Hall awaits him.
The Wisdom of Crowds[]
To be added