Character from The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
A gambler, trickster, and reluctant hero who complains about every dangerous situation he gets into — and then wins it through impossible luck, tactical genius, and memories borrowed from dead men.
Mat is the most entertaining liar in fantasy because he lies primarily to himself. He insists he's not a hero, not a leader, not brave — while consistently doing heroic things, leading armies, and charging into certain death because someone needs saving. He complains about every obligation with the passionate eloquence of a man who will fulfill every single one of them. The memories of long-dead generals fill gaps in his own history, giving him tactical brilliance he never earned and combat experience from a dozen ancient wars. Combined with his supernatural ta'veren luck — which bends probability around him like gravity — he wins battles and dice games with equal ease. He founded the Band of the Red Hand almost by accident and commands it with a genius he attributes to anyone but himself. He's funny. He's irreverent. He hits on women constantly and treats Aes Sedai with the reflexive suspicion of a Two Rivers man. But underneath the performance is someone who married a Seanchan Empress, rescued Moiraine from the Finns, and sounded the Horn of Valere — all while insisting he was just trying to get home.
Lean and fox-faced, with brown eyes that are always calculating odds and exits. He wears his wide-brimmed hat like a personal flag, carries the ashandarei — a black-hafted spear with a raven-marked blade — and moves with the loose-limbed ease of someone who has talked his way out of more fights than he's fought. A foxhead medallion hangs at his chest, and his scarf hides the scar where the Finns nearly hanged him.
Also known as: Mat, Matrim Cauthon, Prince of the Ravens, Son of Battles, the Gambler