Character from The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb
A disgraced Trader's son who found his way back to the sea — a cindin-addicted sailor whose competence is matched only by his talent for self-sabotage.
Brashen is the kind of man who does the right thing while loudly insisting he doesn't care. He was disowned by his Trader family, addicted to cindin, and working as a common deckhand when the Vestrit crisis gave him something worth fighting for. He captains the liveship Paragon — the mad ship that nobody else will sail — because he understands broken things from the inside. His love for Althea is the one thing he can't be cynical about, which terrifies him. He masks vulnerability with competence and keeps people at arm's length because every time he's let someone close, they've either died or disowned him.
Lean and weather-hardened with the look of a man who has lived rough. His dark hair is perpetually unkempt, his clothes practical and worn. He has the capable hands of a born sailor and the haunted eyes of an addict trying to stay clean.
Also known as: Brashen, Brash