Ratface

Biography

Captain of Rat Company

Hasan Qara chooses the name Ratface when he joins the Legions and becomes captain of Rat Company. Catherine first encounters him as a strict, sardonic officer who cares more about keeping his soldiers alive than indulging a new recruit’s boasts. He has drilled the company into unusually good shape despite its low standing at the War College. After Catherine takes command, he helps her navigate the College, leads the victory ritual, and contributes to her betrayals-and-counterbetrayals plan for the melee. (Chapters 15, 19, 22–25, 28)

Ratface remains one of Catherine’s trusted officers as the Fifteenth grows into a field army. He becomes Supply Tribune, using his knack for logistics and contacts to keep the legion equipped, fed, and financed. His work ranges beyond ordinary quartermaster duties: he can find scarce supplies, build relationships with local guilds, and exploit smuggling networks while keeping the books useful enough for Juniper’s army. He is cautious with resources and unapologetic about the compromises needed to acquire them. (Chapters 31, 51–52, 66–67, 83–84, 96–97, 115, 118, 136, 155)

Treasurer and death

After Catherine establishes Callowan rule, Hasan’s administrative skill carries into civilian government. He resigns his Legion commission and becomes Lord Treasurer, working to expand the Royal Mint and make the kingdom less dependent on the Tower’s reserves. The record credits him with finding money for rebuilding and military expansion, though he remains famously tight-fisted about costs. (Chapters 153, 155, 159, 349, 444)

Ratface is killed during the Night of Knives, stabbed in the back as Malicia’s assassins massacre members of Catherine’s court. Catherine receives the news as a personal blow: Hasan had trusted and followed her from the War College onward, and she later recognizes that she used that loyalty without adequately seeing its cost. He receives a Legion funeral in Laure. His death continues to shape Catherine’s anger at Malicia and the grief of his friends, including Pickler and Aisha. (Chapters 202, 215, 226, 304, 361, 425)

Appearance and personality

Ratface is a handsome Taghreb man who chose an insulting military sobriquet for himself. His manner is dry and skeptical; he expects villains and nobles to conceal their motives and is quick to puncture overconfidence. He is also resourceful, ambitious in the practical sense, and deeply protective of the soldiers and institutions entrusted to him. His relationship with Aisha is described as a former romance from their War College years. (Chapters 22–23, 31, 45, 67, 304)

Relationships

• Catherine Foundling: Captain and friend whose early trust in him develops into reliance on his judgment and logistical expertise. Catherine later grieves that she treated his loyalty as inexhaustible. (Chapters 25, 31, 96, 202, 215)

• Hakram Deadhand: Fellow early officer and member of Catherine’s circle. Ratface’s name remains part of Hakram’s and Catherine’s shared memories of the Fifteenth. (Chapters 15, 289, 432)

• Aisha Bishara: Former lover from the War College and colleague in the Fifteenth. She remembers him as Hasan and grieves him in her own way. (Chapters 67, 304)

• Pickler: Fellow officer and friend; she recalls Ratface’s death as one of the losses that changed the surviving Fifteenth. (Chapters 425)

Items

No signature personal item is established .