Ryan Cawdor is a fictional Deathlands character that first appeared in the novel Pilgrimage to Hell by Jack Adrian.
Ryan is the youngest son of a powerful baron in Virginia. His middle brother, Harvey, is responsible for the loss of Ryan’s left eye after murdering Morgan, Ryan's eldest brother. Ryan’s nephew, Nathan Freeman now controls the barony of Front Royal. Ryan was named after his great grandfather, the original founder of Front Royal.
He joined the Trader's convoy approximately ten years before the beginning of Pilgrimage to Hell, at the age of 21. Over the years, he climbed the ranks rapidly in Trader's convoy, soon becoming Trader's second-in-command. It was during this time that he met his best friend J.B. Dix, who joined Trader a little over a year later. Ryan is a master of many forms of combat, including knife fighting, and unarmed combat. He learned a great deal from both Trader and J.B.
Ryan was recently portrayed by Vincent Spano in the Sci Fi Channel original movie version of Deathlands: Homeward Bound.
Among other weapons, Ryan has carried a .357 Ruger Blackhawk revolver with a 6 inch barrel. As of the first novel he carried a SIG P226 with a built-in silencer, which he retains to the present. At that time he also carried a LAPA 5.56mm assault rifle, which he gave up in the second book for the G-12. His main weapon was a Heckler & Koch G12 - a fictional descendant of the G11, which fires caseless ammunition - but he eventually abandoned it because of difficulties finding ammo. Along with the SIG, he currently carries a 7.62mm Steyr sniper rifle. He also carries a panga (a variant of the machete) and a slim-bladed flensing knife. One of his rarely-used last-ditch weapons is a silk scarf with lead weights sewn in its ends, allowing him to use it an as a garrote.
During a mission to the town of Mocsin to trade weapons, ammunition, and explosives to the Baron Jordan Teague, Trader's convoy was attacked and destroyed by Teague’s head man, Cort Strasser. Twenty-four of the crew survived, and the only remaining vehicle was War Wag One. Trader, suffering from radiation-induced cancer, quietly wandered off into the night, leaving Ryan in charge.
It was during this failed trading mission that Ryan met Krysty Wroth, a beautiful red-haired mutant woman with whom he fell in love. It was also here that Ryan encountered the addle-brained Dr. Theophilus Tanner, or 'Doc', who seems to know a great deal about the legendary redoubts and MAT-TRANS gateways.
Leading the few survivors of the attack into the darks, Ryan and his associates encountered a hidden redoubt. After destroying the guardian, they entered the redoubt and discovered the MAT-TRANS, which can transport them throughout the Deathlands.