| “ | Curnden Craw: Let’s us get them killed, and not the other way round. Wonderful: Best damn advice about war I ever heard. |
” |
— Curnden Craw and Wonderful
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Wonderful is the long-suffering second of Curnden Craw’s dozen, and a Named Person from the North.
Appearance and Personality[]
Wonderful has a long scar through her shaved-stubble hair. She’s hard as flint, tough as any man, and skilled with both sword and bow. She’s given to sarcastic, snide, occasionally whimsical comments.
History[]
Wonderful and her family had a farm just north of Uffrith. When trouble started up with Bethod, she shaved her hair and took up a sword. When Rudd Threetrees and Curnden Craw arrived expecting to find the farms burned out, they found Bethod’s men had been ambushed and Wonderful in charge. Threetrees said “Wonderful strange to have a woman in charge.” They Named her Wonderful Strange for a while, but soon the strange dropped off.
Since then Wonderful has been a member of Curnden Craw's dozen, eventually becoming his second. In Sharp Ends, we see them on a mission beyond the Crinna, to recover a mysterious object. Between jobs, Wonderful still visits her husband and kids back on the farm.
The Heroes[]
Craw’s dozen have been sent to secure a hill near the village of Osrung, crowned by ancient standing stones known as The Heroes. They manage to pull it off without violence, but then lose it when the main Union army arrive.
Wonderful fights with Craw’s dozen when the Northmen recapture the Heroes from the Union. When Black Dow’s old second Splitfoot is killed, and Craw named his new second, the remains of the dozen is given to Wonderful. After the battle, Craw steps down as second, and Wonderful named Dow's new second. As Craw leaves, she reveals that her husband and kids packed up and left years ago, and she couldn't bear to tell anyone.
Wonderful held a shield for Black Dow in the duel in the circle with Calder, where Calder wins thanks to Caul Shivers' intervention. Calders brother Scale becomes the new King of the Northmen, and Wonderful becomes one of their war-chiefs with Pale-as-Snow, and Cairm Ironhead.
A Little Hatred[]
Wonderful is now a respected veteran. Black Calder sends her to be his willful son’s second, try to teach Stour Nightfall some caution. It doesn’t help, and Wonderful is soon tearing her hair out at the prick. Even being joined by fellow veteran, Jonas Clover, doesn’t work. The pair bond during the war with the Union, and, in the end, Clover asks Wonderful to join him in retirement as a teacher of sword-work. Their plans are interrupted, however, when the Great Wolf decides he doesn’t want to be king-in-waiting anymore, assassinates Scale Ironhand, and takes Bethod’s chain. Stour then turns his sneer on Clover, saying he’s come to respect him, but needs a show of loyalty. You have to recognize your moment when it comes, and seize it. Clover immediately stabs Wonderful in the heart, and holds her as she dies.
The Trouble With Peace[]
Jonas Clover betrays the King of the Northmen, Stour Nightfall, upon returning to the North after their defeat at the Battle of Stoffenbeck. Before he is taken away, Caul Shivers uses a knife to cut the tendons behind both of Stour's knees. Clover takes satisfaction in seeing Stour suffer, as he still misses his friend Wonderful who Stour had made him kill.