Gaz

Gaz
by Ashley Coad
Born	1140s[citation needed]
Profession	Bridge Sergeant, Bodyguard
Groups	Sadeas army (formerly)
Residence	Urithiru
Homeworld	Roshar

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It has been claimed by User: Rebeca, please contact them before doing edits.

Gaz was the sergeant in charge of the bridge crews in Sadeas's warcamp. He is now a loyal bodyguard of Shallan Davar. He is a darkeye of the sixth nahn.

Appearance and Personality

Gaz has a beard, but his face is scarred so it only grows in patches. He is very short for an Alethi man. He has a single brown eye and did not wear an eyepatch over his missing eye until he joined the crew of deserters.

Gaz had never gotten used to having just one eye. The blackness haunts and gives him a tick.

He didn’t like his role on the Sadeas camp where he was responsible for so much suffering. He hated himself for it, but he’d hated himself for a long time now and got used to the idea this was needed for him to survive. Once he joined Shallan´s crew, he changed, he did want to become a better man and start over. He found his sense of humor and became loyal to her. Later at Urithiru he lost his good mood and felt useless. He was not happy about that.

• Images of Gaz
• 

  Portrait by Pines

• 

  Gaz sketch by User: Sheep

History

The Bridge runs at the War of Reckoning

Gaz was a bridge sergeant responsible for the bridgemen at the Sadeas warcamp. He takes new recruits to fill the different bridge teams due to constant loss. He is also responsible for making sure they do their duties, lead them to their bridge-runs and show them the way. He had to make sure order was kept and that the rules are followed.

He was able to keep order by following several of the rules made for them. These were made to keep them down and despaired, but at the same time with simple encouragements like rotation of the bridge positions. One of those was looking down at the bridge group with the worst “luck” which was bridge four. When Kaladim joins and leads the team and changes the luck, it changed the balance and caused resentment. Kaladin convinced that to avoid being hated by others, he could change their duties to a harder task (stone gathering). Gaz accepted but was convinced he had been tricked (which he had) and then increased the “punishment” to do chasm-duty. Lamaril was Gaz’s immediate superior. A low ranked lighteyes who was blackmailing him. Though Gaz had used Kaladin’s bribes to stay ahead of payment, Lamaril threatened to make him a bridgeman if he did not stop Kaladin and the changes in spirit of bridge four. Much to his disappointment he agreed and conspired to bring him down without making him a martyr.

He found the opportunity when Kaladin practiced with the bridge to the side. He knew disaster would come and encouraged him. When bridge four did use it in battle, though they did survive, the full Sadeas strategy got messed up and they lost the battle. Lamaril gave the order to beat him up.

The consequence of the battle went bad for all. Not only did they lose the battle, but also over 200 bridgmen died, Lamaril was executed and Kaladin was punished staying hanging up during the highstorm.

Brightlord Matal took over Lamaril’s duty and his wife Hashal took command and became Gaz’s immediate superior. He was treated even worse, taking command and duties from him. One day Gaz stopped showing up in the warcamps, no further information was given on where he was.

Shallan’s Bodyguard

Shallan encounters Gaz with a group of deserters in the Frostlands. He had fled due to his debts, which origins are unknown. She urges them to become better men and start over by helping the people in the caravan she was traveling with, who were being attacked by bandits. Gaz is the first one to join her, wanting a fresh start and become a better man.

After the battle ended, they stayed with her under the promise of protection and a fresh start. Gaz looked genuinely happy and became very servile towards Shallan, even working on a window for her wagon. When confronted with the possibility of her not being able to protect him, he decided it was better than life as a deserter. When they got to the Shattered Planes, Shallan did get them a “Writ of pardon” sealed by the King himself. He joined her and the rest of her crew to Sebarial’s camp. He continued being loyal to her and did simple tasks like visiting libraries searching for books or accompanying her on her travels.

Urithiru

During their stay in Urithiru, Shallan did not pay much attention to her guards and crew. They lost the spark and became lazy. It was Adolin who started giving them duties to help them feel useful. Unfortunately, Shallan didn’t buy into it and kept ignoring them. The crew went down to 12. Gaz among the ones who stayed but spent his time playing cards.

When she finally realized she could use them and they needed the tasks, she asked them to help her to spy. Without telling them her identity, she accompanied them as Veil. {book ref|sa3|29}} Though tasks didn’t last long, she continued to visit them. It was clear Gaz still liked gambling and would have gone broke again if his crew was not controlling him. Later Vail used Ishnah to train Gaz, Red and Vathah in spying.

Attributes and Abilities

Gaz doen’t have any magical abilities nor has any particular strength. He does seem to be resourceful when wanting to be useful. We were able to see that when he found the book Words of Radiance for Shallan, or when he built her a window on her wagon. Ishnah is giving him "spy" lessons.

Relationships

Kaladin

Gaz met Kaladin when he was brought to the Shattered Plains as slave. Kaladin tried to explain he had been a soldier, hoping to become one here, but Gaz made fun of him and started calling him “Lordling”. Kaladin despised him for not looking over the bridgemen or providing them with the proper gear. Gaz felt the same for Kaladin for not dying in the first bridge-run. . When Kaladin went to the chasm to commit suicide, he met Gaz, who didn’t show him sympathy, but asked him to leave his vest and sandals. When he came back though, he threatened Gaz stating he had just died and could not be harmed, thus demanding to become bridge leader, asked for his wages and bribed him with one mark out of five for his efforts of “staying out of his way”. After that, Gaz goes white everytime Kaladin goes closer to him but is manipulated giving Kaladin the space he needed. Though he needed the bribes, he was forced by his immediate superior Lamaril to bring Kaladin down, which ended up having the latter hung up at a highstorm. When Gaz came back as Shallan’s bodyguard, he and Kaladin saw eachother again. Kaladin was still angry and Gaz ashamed.

Shallan

Shallan was able to get the best out of Gaz. She inspired him to become a better man. He became truly loyal to her and felt pride on getting things done for her. When Gaz saw the portrait she made of him, he shed a tear.

“ She tidied up his uniform, smoothing out his paunch, taking liberties with his chin. Most of the difference, however, had to do with the expression. Looking up, into the distance. With the right expression, that eye patch became noble, that scarred face became wise, that uniform became a mark of pride. She filled it in with some light background details reminiscent of that night beside the fires, when the people of the caravan had thanked Gaz and the others for their rescue. ”

— Shallan’s actions and thoughts when making his portrait.

Quotes

“ What a sorry lot. ”

— Gaz every time he got new recruits.

“ I hate myself for being a part of this. But he’d hated himself for a long time now. ”

— Gaz to himself on thinking on his role as bridge-crew sergeant.

“ I liked being useful. Reminded me of back when I first joined up. You tell her, Veil. Tell her to give us something to do other than gambling and drinking. Because to be honest, I ain’t very good at either one. ”

— Gaz to Veil on asking Shallan to give them tasks.

Trivia

• Gaz was created to show that the light through which someone is seen and perceived changes a lot of who they are.
• How Gaz lost his eye is a RAFO!

Notes

This page is probably complete!

This page contains most of the knowledge we have on the subject at this time.
It has yet to be reviewed.