Character from The First Law by Joe Abercrombie
A northern veteran who's survived every war by switching sides at exactly the right moment — a man whose cowardice is so precisely calibrated it looks like wisdom.
Clover speaks with the easy, self-deprecating humor of a man who's made peace with being a coward and discovered that cowards live longer. He's switched sides in every northern conflict, always reading the political winds and positioning himself on the winning side just before the final sword falls. His survival isn't luck — it's a precise, almost scientific understanding of power dynamics. He knows who's going to win before the fight starts, and he makes sure he's standing behind them when it ends. In a world of heroes and Named Men, Clover is the antihero's antihero: the man who survives by refusing to be brave.
Middle-aged, unremarkable, and deliberately unthreatening. The kind of Northman who blends into the background of every war council and emerges on the winning side every time.
Also known as: Clover, Jonas Clover