Dirk
| Dirk | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Titles | Ducal heir, Verdant King's court | ||||||
| Profession | Military officer | ||||||
| Residence | Diggen's Point | ||||||
| Homeworld | Lumar | ||||||
| Universe | Cosmere | ||||||
| First Appeared | Tress of the Emerald Sea | ||||||
“
Though the new heir had the intellect of a soggy piece of bread, he was popular, handsome, and very good at getting other people killed.
”
—Hoid[1]
Dirk is a young noble on Lumar. He is the nephew of the duke of Diggen's Point. He is appointed as the duke's new heir following the capture of Charlie by the Sorceress.[1]
Appearance and Personality[edit]
Dirk is six and a half feet tall, incredibly muscular, and handsome with a very straight jaw.[1] He is approximately the same age as Charlie, putting him in his late teens.[1][2]
Attributes and Abilities[edit]
Hoid notes that Dirk has "both the jaw and the intellect of a marble bust". He says very little, and usually responds to questions with a single word or sentence.[1]
He is a skilled fencer. He is said to be a "war hero", although the only known example of his military leadership is the Battle of Lakeprivy, where he lost ten thousand men.[1]
History[edit]
Dirk's early history is unclear. He was presumably born into nobility since he is the nephew of a duke; he also served as a member of the Verdant King's court[3] and may have lived in Kingsport at some point. He was given command of a sizable army at a very young age.[1]
The duke had long been disappointed that his son did not fit the mold of a prototypical heir; Charlie did not care for fencing, was talkative, and enjoyed fraternizing with people under his station.[4][2] Still, the duke set out on a journey to find Charlie a suitable princess to wed. His efforts were thwarted by Charlie, who had promised to return home to Tress and therefore intentionally bored every potential bride he met to the point that they refused to marry him.[4]
“I've rescued your son. The real one. Not the walking chin with a six-word vocabulary.”
—Tress, to the duke[5]
After a year of this had passed, the town received word that the duke was returning to Diggen's Point with his heir and new daughter-in-law. The townspeople were surprised when Dirk was introduced as the new heir, and the princess of Dormancy as his wife.[1] The duke had eventually figured out Charlie's deception; with the king's approval, the duke forced Charlie to try and marry the Sorceress. This would either gain the Verdant kingdom an alliance with the Sorceress, or get rid of a problematic heir.[1]
Within hours of learning that Charlie's ship had vanished in the dangerous Midnight Sea, the king declared Charlie officially dead; the duke adopted Dirk and instated him as his heir. Dirk was exactly the type of heir that the duke had always wanted, and he was soon married to the princess in order to solidify a political alliance. The duke threw a large party to celebrate Dirk upon their return. The townspeople were confused, but were quickly convinced to toast Dirk's marriage when the duke provided free food and drinks. The nobles were very happy with Dirk as the new heir, and after a few days none of the common people seemed to care.[1]
After Tress successfully rescued Charlie, the king claimed that he had believed in Charlie all along.[5] Charlie likely regained his status as the rightful heir to the duchy; the status of Dirk and the princess is unclear.