This article is about the sea captain. For the mercenary, see Calhoun Cleanblade.
Captain Calhoun, born Angelo Tristé, was a sailor and the abdicated prince of Nacre.
History
Angelo, who disagreed with his father Tristero's dream of a world without death, killed his father and fled Nacre, settling in Velas under the assumed name of Captain Calhoun.
Calhoun was assigned the role of expedition leader of the group sent to investigate the Isle of Eventide, though the rest of the group departed to explore the island while he stayed in his ship moored off the island coast.
He would sail again with Lem, Fero and Hella when, one drunken night, they talked him into sailing south on a boat party with the intention of getting to Rosemerrow. However, they were waylaid by Captain Brandish and the undead pirates of the Kingdom Come, who eventually talked Hella into handing Calhoun over to put a stop to the fighting.
Calhoun was brought back to Nacre and imprisoned in the Sable Spire but the Boat Party followed, planning to launch a rescue mission. However, before this rescue could be carried out, Hella was killed and came face-to-face with Tristero, who agreed to return her to life on the condition that she kill Calhoun.
Hella followed through on this dark bargain, strangling Calhoun in his cell as he awaited being put on trial for his father's murder. After this, Calhoun took over for his father as god of death within Nacre, a role which he would soon pass on to his sister Adelaide after she too was killed by Hella as the city was sacked by the armies of Ordenna.
Origin
Calhoun's birth name may be an allusion to Thomas Pynchon's novella The Crying of Lot 49, from which the name Tristero also originates. Angelo, the evil Duke of Squamuglia, is a major character in The Courier's Tragedy, a convoluted play-within-a-play that also features the shadowy postal service known as the Trystero.
See also
External links
- Making sense of The Courier's Tragedy on The Pynchon Wiki