Character from Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
The Reckoners' arms dealer — a paralyzed genius who builds weapons from dead Epics' DNA and runs backdoors on every device he's ever sold.
Dean Knighthawk is the most pragmatic person in the Reckoners universe. He manufactures motivators — devices powered by living Epic tissue that replicate Epic abilities. He supplies the Reckoners with equipment, but he also supplies anyone who can pay. He maintains strict neutrality because neutrality keeps him alive. He has a backdoor in every mobile (communication device) he's ever sold. He reads messages, tracks locations, and maintains a surveillance network that would make a spy agency jealous. He shares this intelligence selectively and only when it benefits him. David raids his Foundry in Calamity to obtain a motivator built from Prof's tissue — a device that replicates Prof's full power set. Knighthawk helps reluctantly, because Prof going full Limelight is bad for business.
Born paralyzed from the neck down. Operates through a human-sized wooden puppet powered by a motivator from the Epic 'The Wooden Soul' — the puppet moves, gestures, and works as his physical proxy. The puppet looks like a man; the real Knighthawk is a head attached to a chair. The disconnect between the charismatic puppet and the immobile genius behind it is deeply unsettling.
Also known as: Dean Knighthawk