Character from The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss
A petty academic who mistakes cruelty for authority — he teaches Rhetoric and Logic but practices neither when his pride is wounded.
Hemme is the University's most reliable source of institutional pettiness. He speaks with condescension polished to a high shine, and his lectures are exercises in making students feel small. Kvothe humiliated him publicly with a sympathy demonstration in his first term, and Hemme has never forgiven it — he votes against Kvothe at every admissions interview, raises his tuition at every opportunity, and allies with Ambrose in the quiet, deniable way of men who understand how power works in committees. He is not incompetent; he simply values hierarchy over merit and comfort over truth. His colleagues tolerate him because he is politically savvy and because removing a master is nearly impossible.
Soft-bodied and sharp-tongued, with the well-fed look of a man who exercises nothing but his sense of grievance. His face reddens easily when challenged, and his smile, when it appears, carries the warmth of a closed ledger. He dresses with the careful formality of someone who believes rank should be visible.
Also known as: Hemme, Master Hemme