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Attolis Eugenides, who is also called Gen, is the former Thief of Eddis, current ruler of Attolia alongside his wife Irene, and Annux of the entire Little Peninsula, holding authority over the nations of Sounis and Eddis as well as Attolia.

Physical Appearance[]

Eugenides has the darker coloration typical of Eddisians, and hair that curls slightly when it is short.[1] There are numerous scars covering his body[2] and he is several inches shorter than his wife Irene.[3] Having lost his right hand (a punishment for theft by Irene Attolia), Eugenides often wears a hook or occasionally a false hand in place of it.

Early Life[]

Eugenides was born in the mountain country of Eddis. His father was Eddis's minister of war and a younger brother of the previous king of Eddis, making Eugenides a cousin to the current queen of Eddis and a member of the Eddisian royal family. His mother was the daughter of the previous Thief of Eddis. Eugenides has two older brothers, Temenus and Stenides, as well as several sisters.

As a young boy, Eugenides was known to cause mischief, and frequently fought with his cousins. He was teased both for his name and for his maternal grandfather's interest in training him to be the next Thief of Eddis. Because of his grandfather's interest in developing Eugenides's potential skills as a thief, Eugenides traveled with him to various locations, including Attolia. While visiting the Attolian palace as a relatively young boy, he once saw the future Attolia, as well as his own future wife, Irene, dancing in the kitchen gardens while he hid in the orange trees above. He later continued to return secretly to Attolia to watch her, fascinated by her beauty and her loneliness.

When Eugenides was ten years old, his mother slipped and fell to her death while dancing on the palace roof. Shortly after this, he announced his intentions to become the next Thief of Eddis. This led to many arguments with his father, who had hoped that Eugenides would become a soldier and that the title of Thief would fall out of use. Eugenides refused to enter the Eddisian army, instead of tearing up his enlistment papers, which led to further tensions with his cousins and father. Eddis eventually moved him out of the boys' dormitory and into a separate room in the library, where Eugenides soon developed a sense of scholarship not uncommon among the Thieves of Eddis.

Novels[]

The Thief[]

After several rejected marriage proposals to the queen of Eddis, the exasperated king of Sounis claimed that when he next proposed to her, he would be in possession of the legendary stone, Hamiathes's Gift. Eddis's council agreed that she should accept if this were to happen. The Eddisian minister of war then approached Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis, employing him to derail the efforts of the king of Sounis to obtain the Gift, and to instead find and take the stone directly to Eddis.

In Sounis, he posed as a common thief named Gen and bragged about stealing the king of Sounis' royal seal in a wine shop. He was then arrested, tried, and incarcerated in a Sounisian prison. He spent several months imprisoned there before being freed by the Magus of Sounis under the proposition that Eugenides steal a certain artifact for him, though the magus refused to disclose what the artifact was. Eugenides accepted and joined the magus, along with Ambiades, Sophos, and Pol on a journey to Attolia. It is later revealed that the artifact in question was Hamiathes' Gift, which legend has it is stolen only by the very best of thieves. This is why the Magus has brought Gen along. Gen is able to steal the Gift from a temple filled with the old gods.

It was revealed that Ambiades had betrayed them to the Attolians. A group of Attolian guards pursue the group. After the first run in, Gen tells the group he lost the Gift in the scuffle. Later when the Attolians return Gen says he is abandoning the group. However, he find himself unable to do so, and expertly fights several Attolian soldiers. He is gravely injured in the process, but finally wins the Magus' trust. After the group learns of Ambiades' betrayal, Pol pushes him off a cliff. Both he and Ambiades die.

The rest of the group was then arrested and imprisoned. The queen of Attolia approached Gen with the offer to become her Thief, but Eugenides refused the offer with the reply that though Attolia was more beautiful, Eddis was more kind. Attolia, though offended by his refusal, said that she would give him an opportunity to change his mind.

Eugenides, the Magus, and Sophos managed to escape the prison and barely make it past the Eddis-Attolia border. When the queen of Eddis met the travelers, Eugenides reveals him stilll has the Gift and presents it to the queen, revealing himself to be the Queen's Thief. After the magus and Sophos returned to Sounis, Eddis suggested that Eugenides write a book of his adventures on the journey for the Gift, which he did in the following months.

The Queen of Attolia[]

Following the events of The Thief, the magus offered to send Eugenides more current texts than the Eddisian library had, which Eugenides accepted and read carefully for more information on the queen of Attolia. He then visited Attolia several more times, sneaking into her palace and leaving things behind so that she would know he had been there. He also spent some time masquerading as an indentured servant in the royal kitchens, becoming acquainted with Kamet.

When Attolia's relationship with the Median ambassador Nahuseresh grew closer, Eddis sent Eugenides to Attolia in order to gather intelligence on the nature of their alliance. However, Eugenides was found and captured during his attempt to infiltrate the palace. While Attolia initially intended to hang him, Nahuseresh subtly convinced her to opt for a different punishment. Attolia instead cut off Eugenides's right hand and returned him to Eddis, believing that he would no longer be a threat to her. For maiming her Thief, the queen of Eddis retaliated against Attolia, and within months the diplomatic situation escalated into a three-way war between Eddis, Attolia, and Sounis.

Eugenides, while recovering in Eddis, was initially kept ignorant of the war. He spent some time improving his handwriting with his left hand, with the eventual plan to become a scholar and study at a university on the Peninsula. However, after learning of the war, Eugenides managed to broker a temporary peace between Eddis and Sounis by secretly sabotaging Sounis's navy and implicating the magus, forcing the magus to flee to Eddis.

Eugenides then plotted to end the war by kidnapping the Attolian queen and proposing a political marriage to her. However, his plans were foiled by Nahuseresh, who landed a Medean army in Attolia and successfully liberated the queen. Despite this, Attolia ultimately decided to accept Eugenides's marriage proposal, uniting with Eddis against the Median Empire.

The King of Attolia[]

Following Eugenides's marriage to the queen of Attolia, he was regarded by the Attolians as a weak and ineffective sovereign. While Attolia hoped that Eugenides would rise up to the role of king, the Attolians viewed him as annoying and obnoxious. When Eugenides suggested that the Guard be reduced by half, Attolia agreed on the condition that he convince Teleus first. Eugenides then goaded a member of the Guard, Costis Ormentiedes, into attacking him, intending to use Costis as a pawn to convince Teleus.

Meanwhile, Baron Erondites attempted to expand his influence over the king by controlling his attendants and Lady Themis, whom he hoped the king would take as a mistress. However, Erondites's son Sejanus wanted the king dead, and conspired with the king of Sounis and assassins provided by Nahuseresh to kill him. Eugenides defeated the assassins, but was injured in the attempt. While the king was recovering, he poisoned his own lethium with quinalums, and then framed Sejanus's brother Dite for the crime. Sejanus confessed in order to protect his brother, and was arrested. The king then had Dite banished for writing the song "The King's Wedding Night," thus depriving Baron Erondites of an heir.

Following the attempted assassination, most of the Guard believed that it was Costis and Teleus, not Eugenides, who had been responsible for defeating the assassins. Costis, upset at being being branded a liar, challenged the king to a sparring match. After defeating Costis, Eugenides was then challenged to spar with Teleus. In order to ensure that Teleus would not throw the match, Eugenides made the offer that he would not reduce the Guard if Teleus could beat him. Eugenides won against Teleus and then sparred against Aristogiton and several members of his squad, offering them the same deal. His final opponent, Laecdomon was one of Baron Erondites's men and intended to use the sparring match as an opportunity to assassinate the king. However, despite being disarmed, Eugenides managed to win the match. Having won the respect and loyalty of the Guard, Eugenides was finally able to get Teleus to agree to his demand to reduce the Guard.

A Conspiracy of Kings[]

Sophos, after escaping enslavement in Hanaktos, approached Eugenides for help quelling the rebellion in Sounis. Eugenides agreed to provide military assistance to Sophos, but required Sophos swear an oath of loyalty to him in exchange, making Sounis a vassal state of Attolia. Shortly after Sophos's departure, Eugenides sent additional reinforcements to Oneia, which proved critical for the fight between Sounis and an army of ten thousand Medes. Following Sophos's engagement to Eddis, Eugenides also asked for the same oath from Eddis, thus making him Annux of Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia.

Thick as Thieves[]

After detaching Costis from the Guard, Eugenides sent him on a mission to Medea to free Kamet and bring him back to the Little Peninsula. He deceived Kamet into believing that Nahuserseh had been poisoned in order to convince Kamet to leave with Costis.

Following Kamet's arrival in Attolia, Eugenides learned from him that the Medes were stationing a large navy in Hemsha. He discreetly passed this information along to Braels and the Greater Powers, which eventually led to the destruction of the Medean navy.

Trivia[]

  • The name Eugenides (Greek: Ευγενίδης) means "well-born".
  • Although it's never explicitly stated, Eugenides is around 15 years old in The Thief.[note 1]

Footnotes[]

  1. Eugenides is 10 years old in the short story "Thief!", which takes place shortly before Helen's coronation. As of the end of The Thief, Helen has been ruling for about five years, making Eugenides between 14 and 16 years old.

References[]

  1. The Queen of Attolia, 2017 paperback edition, page 51.
  2. The King of Attolia, 2017 paperback edition, page 368.
  3. The King of Attolia, 2017 paperback edition, page 100.
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