Character from The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir
The Ninth House's original cavalier — a cowardly, poetry-obsessed swordsman who was terrible at fighting and turned out to be brave when it actually counted.
Ortus is the anti-Gideon — the cavalier nobody wanted, including himself. He was supposed to be Harrow's cavalier at Canaan House but Gideon replaced him, and honestly, everyone including Ortus considered this an upgrade. He writes terrible epic poetry about the legendary Matthias Nonius, which he reads aloud to anyone who can't escape fast enough. But Ortus, when stripped of his mother's overprotection and his own self-doubt, turned out to have the one quality that matters more than swordsmanship: he chose to fight when running was easier. He died with courage he didn't know he had, and his ghost continued fighting in the River alongside the revenant of Matthias Nonius himself — the very hero whose legend he'd spent his life writing about.
Large, soft-bodied, and conspicuously un-martial for a cavalier. The kind of man who looks like he should be running a bookshop, not swinging a rapier. Dark hair, gentle face, and the permanent expression of someone who would rather be anywhere else. Carries his sword like a burden rather than a weapon.
Also known as: Ortus, Ortus the Ninth