Miles Vorkosigan
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Miles Vorkosigan is the fictional hero of a series of novels and short stories by Lois McMaster Bujold known as the Vorkosigan Saga.
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[edit] Biography
Miles Vorkosigan is the son of Aral Vorkosigan of the planet Barrayar and his Betan wife Cordelia Naismith. Miles' name - Miles Naismith Vorkosigan is unusual in that traditionally, the name of the first son is a patronymic: the first name is the grandfather's on the father's side, the second the grandfather's on the mother's side, so his name would have been Piotr Miles Vorkosigan. However, when his mother was pregnant with him, she was injured by a poison gas (soltoxin) in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate his father. The antidote to soltoxin gas turns out to be a violent teratogen that destroys bone development in the growing fetus. The only available treatment was a fetal transfer to an artificial uterine replicator where his developing body was carefully exposed to calcium and other nutrients. As a result of this, he is quite short and deformed and his bones are abnormally brittle (although once he has finished growing he has surgery to have them replaced by synthetics). Many people on Barrayar are prejudiced against him because they incorrectly believe him to be a mutant. His famous grandfather even tries to kill him as a fetus and later as an infant because he believes that "We cannot afford to have a deformed Count Vorkosigan." It is because of this hostility that Miles is not given his grandfather's name, Piotr, as the firstborn normally would bear. Cordelia instead endowed Miles with her father's full name, Miles Naismith.
At the age of seventeen, he fails the physical exam to enter the Barrayaran Imperial Military Service. Soon after this, however, he takes a trip to Beta Colony, has (partly unintended) space adventures for a few months, and improvises an army called the Dendarii Mercenaries into existence. This army later obtains an official, though secret, standing as Imperial Forces, and Miles carries out several more missions with them during the course of the series. For these missions he uses the persona of "Admiral Naismith", speaking with a Betan accent. Naismith is believed by some to be a clone of Miles Vorkosigan, created by Cetagandan agents as part of a plot against Barrayar.
At twenty-four, Miles' life becomes more complicated when he discovers that he has a clone, created by Komarran terrorists with the intent of killing Miles and his family and ultimately becoming Emperor of Barrayar. His friends urge him to kill the clone, but he thinks of him as his brother and lets him go free. Four years latter, Miles is killed while trying to rescue his clone-brother, and although he is successfully cryo-frozen and revived, he is left with a condition which causes epileptic-type seizures, particularly in moments of high stress. He tries to conceal this from Simon Illyan, his boss, and falsifies a report after he has a seizure in combat, but he is caught and fired from ImpSec (Imperial Security), which puts an end to his life with the Dendarii.
Almost immediately he becomes suspicious of a plot against his former ImpSec boss Simon Illyan who has fallen ill and is being kept isolated; he requests the assignment of an Imperial Auditor to help him investigate the situation but instead he is somewhat surprised to be given the post of "Ninth Auditor", a traditionally temporary designation but nonetheless very effective. Having solved the case his status as Auditor is confirmed: the other Auditors have been waiting a long time for a younger man to join the team.
Shortly thereafter he accompanies one of his new colleagues, Lord Auditor Vorthys, to Komarr (home to the only wormhole connecting Barrayar to the rest of the Nexus; Barrayar conquered Komarr, some years before Miles' birth, to preserve access). Their Auditorial task is to investigate an accident involving the solar energy array orbiting Komarr; the accident turns out to have occurred in consequence of the testing of a secret weapon with which various Komarran conspirators hope to permanently disrupt Barrayar's access to the wormhole. Miles is quartered with Lord Auditor Vorthys' niece and her husband, a Barrayaran official. In the course of the investigation Miles survives yet another brush with death although his host, who has become ensnared in the plot, does not survive. To make a bad situation worse, Miles has fallen in love with the man's wife, Ekaterin, who just happens to be on the verge of leaving her abusive husband when disaster strikes. Ekaterin is then instrumental in foiling the plot: Miles is inextricably enthralled, but is obligated to supervise the classification of the entire affair due both to the political nature of the conspiracy and the technololgy of the Komarran secret weapon.
Ekaterin, now professing to be violently allergic to marriage, moves back to Barrayar with her son to stay with Lord Auditor Vorthys and Miles decides upon a bizarre, if typically complicated, strategy: he will woo Ekaterin without telling her, in the hope that she can be persuaded to reconsider her allergy. As might by now be expected, Miles is hoist upon his own petard during a dinner party chiefly memorable for the sheer number of disasters packable into a single evening. Ekaterin, initially furious about his machinations, discovers a whispering campaign against Miles: he is being accused of murdering her husband in order to marry her. However due to the sensitive political situation she is not at liberty to refute the allegations even when her family attempt to remove her son to "safety". This provokes her to drastic action: she proposes to Miles herself in the most public fashion possible; he naturally accepts.
They are married at Winterfair, the mid-winter festival that marks the beginning of a new year on Barrayar, surviving yet another attack in which Ekaterin is poisoned by one of Miles' Auditorial victims. The plot is this time foiled by Taura, one of his former girl-friends, of which he has managed to amass an impressive quantity.
Their honeymoon is delayed by a considerable period, during which they conceive twins in uterine replicators; while this is by now normal for well-to-do Barrayaran couples, it also conveniently allows the happy couple to leave the planet while their unborn children remain safely at home. Almost inevitably they become embroiled in yet another situation involving Miles, potential war with Cetaganda and a near-death experience. Happily they are able to return to Barrayar just in time for their children's birth -- a son named Aral Alexander and a daughter named Helen Natalia.
At the end of Diplomatic Immunity, Miles's full title was: Lord Auditor Captain Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, heir to the Vorkosigan District as Lord Vorkosigan. (Possibly Lord Auditor Captain Lord Vorkosigan)
Notes on the title: It is traditional for retired and discharged soldiers to retain their rank as a title. Additionally, the position of Imperial Auditor seems to attach a Lord at the beginning of the title. It is unknown how to distinguish between any old Auditor and one that is Lord Vor_name as a result of being heir to a District. An heir is typically only referred to as Lord Vor_name and never Lord Bob Vor_name.
[edit] Personality
Miles is one of the most striking characters in science fiction. He is both brilliant (especially in military tactics) and hyperactive; one of his girlfriends describes him as "addicted to adrenaline rushes." He compulsively and constantly challenges the world in spite of (or because of) his stature: sometimes with disastrous consequences, although more often his mind overcomes his physical weakness.
He has an ambiguous status on his home planet, being simultaneously a pampered and powerful aristocrat and a despised "mutie." At times he contemplates running away from Barrayar and its prejudice against disabled people, but he never acts on this impulse, perhaps because of his loyalty to his family and his Vor code of honour.
He has a strong tendency to manipulate people and is very good at bluffing. The Dendarii Free Mercenaries begin as pure imaginative figment, and through frantic improvisation he conceals his deception from his erstwhile recruits; their accomplishments make real his invention. With the early success of this "lie first, fix it later" strategy, he does not become fully aware of its ethically dubious nature until over a decade later, when (finally) it blows up in his face: first he is caught lying about his seizure disorder, and then the widow he loves is enraged when she discovers that he has been attempting to court her by stealth (?!) during her socially-recognized period of mourning.
By the later novels, Miles is living the (relatively) calmer life of Imperial Auditor, a sort of cross between judge and detective, for the growing Barrayaran empire. He is also preparing to settle down and raise a family.
In the course of what is already a lengthy series (with several more books apparently on the way?) Miles has been allowed to grow and evolve in ways most action heroes never do. While Miles grows, the series background does as well. The large supporting cast of characters that populate the Vorkosigan novels are well developed. The cultures of the various worlds and locations where the action takes place — Barrayar, Beta Colony, Cetaganda, Komarr, Kline Station, Athos, Jackson's Whole, Graf Station (Quaddiespace) — are distinct and skillfully worked out. Variety also appears in the stories themselves: Miles's challenges are varied from one episode to another, not just a new space battle in each book.
These strengths explain why the Vorkosigan series is among the most popular with readers and critics in current science fiction and likely to remain such in future installments.
[edit] Ivan Vorpatril
No description of Miles is complete without describing Lord Ivan Vorpatril, also known as "That Idiot Ivan" or "Ivan, You Idiot". Ivan is Miles' cousin, foil, burden, workhorse, and until Miles has children, his formal heir. He is everything Miles is not - tall, handsome, and athletic. He waltzed into the military academy and waltzed right back out into one plum posting after another. He inhabits any uniform - even the Dendarii's - like a second skin. To Miles' horror, Ivan made Captain before him, a situation made infinitely worse when Miles was forced to resign his commission. Miles was forced to foil a treasonous plot in order to give Emperor Gregor a reason to promote him retroactively. In the event he got more than he expected. (Memory)
Although not an heir to a Countship, Ivan is addressed as Lord Vorpatril, rather than Lord Ivan (non-heir in a Count's Household) or just "Vorpatril", presumably because of his descent from an Imperial daughter, though he provides much amusement for Count Falco Vorpatril, Ivan's distant uncle. He owes his life to Cordelia Vorkosigan, who rescued newborn Ivan and his mother Lady Alys from plotters who killed his father during Vordarian's Pretendership. He was brought up with Miles as a virtual foster brother, and understands him better than any other person his age. He provides muscle and speed that Miles lacks. He is frequently the go-between for other characters who encounter Miles. He complains that he is Miles' "donkey" but follows where Miles leads. While seeming less intelligent than he ought to be, he has stated that looking too smart is a bad idea if you are a potential heir to the Empire, being third in line after Count Aral Vorkosigan and Miles. Lately he has been developing his own story, and was instrumental in scuppering Miles' plot to woo Ekaterin by stealth.
[edit] Mark Pierre Vorkosigan
Lord Mark Vorkosigan is Miles's clone-brother, five years removed. He was created in a plot by Ser Galen, a Komarran terrorist, to replace Miles and assassinate Miles' father Aral and Emperor Gregor Vorbarra, claim the Imperial Throne and foment chaos and revolution. Miles, under the heavy influence of his mother's Betan upbringing, refused to kill Mark or even hinder him, and only desired he come to Barrayar as a true Vorkosigan. Mark, after he killed Ser Galen (who had become both his tormentor and father-figure) refused, and went his own way. (Brothers in Arms)
However, after a few years, Mark resurfaced and infiltrated the Dendarii Mercenaries by posing as Admiral Miles Naismith, to send them on a mission to liberate roughly 100 clones who were scheduled for body harvesting. The scheme was only semi-successful, as the clones were rescued, but Miles was killed by a needle grenade. While Miles' body was missing and in stasis in cryogenic freeze, Mark was returned to Barrayar, uncomfortably as Count Vorkosigan's heir if Miles died. Mark was able to convince Countess Vorkosigan to allow him to mount a rescue mission - to Illyan's dismay - for Miles. Mark was captured by Baron Ryoval, who subjected him to physical, sexual and mental torture, during which Mark developed an unusual psychosis that he later dubbed "The Black Gang", a group of specialist sub-personalities: Grunt (Mark's sexuality), Gorge (Mark's gluttony), Howl (Mark's masochism), and Killer (Mark's assassin personality). Using his split personality, he was able to kill the Baron, and sell 90% of his assets to the Baron's rival, Fell. Mark received a healthy cut of Ryoval's estate and a bioresearch firm that Mark subsidized to combat the "clone chop shops" of Jackson's Hole. He also attracted the attentions of Kareen Koudelka, the youngest daughter of Count and Countess Vorkosigan's closest family friends. (Mirror Dance)
To distinguish himself from Miles, Mark allowed himself to get grotesquely overweight. His romance with Kareen deepened while they were both studying at Beta Colony. Unfortunately, his relationship became strained upon their return to Barrayar when Kareen's parents learned of their sexual relationship at Miles' famously disastrous dinner party. Countess Vorkosigan ultimately stepped in and brokered an engagement for them. During this time, Mark experimented with a new insect livestock he called "Butter Bugs". Initially grotesque, if highly functional, Ekaterin's design changes made the newly renamed "Glorious Bugs" highly popular. (A Civil Campaign)
