Bear is a Healer and friend to Mags at the Collegium.
While he doesn't possess the regular Healer's Gift, he comes from a family of Healers and has a vast knowledge of healing without using a Gift. He is a master of herbal medicines and surgery technique.
Bear found a way to cure the crippled Amily by re-breaking and setting her leg.
Bear assembled an herb kit, to be used by people without the healing gift (midwives, guards and Heralds on circuit).
Bear is married to Lena. The ceremony was officiated by father Poul.
After finishing his coursework and training in Haven, Bear (and Lena) joined Mags' internship Circuit. Bear passed out his medical kits and trained eager people everywhere they went. After the Circuit, the couple accepted positions at the manor of Baron Burns, where Lena is his Court Bard and Bear is the local Healer.[1]
Family[]
Bear's family does not approve of his being at the Healers' Collegium. They believe that, as he has no "Healer's Gift", he takes up a spot at the school that could go to someone else. They wish him to come home and marry to produce little Healers. Bear's brother aggressively attempted to get the Healers at the Collegium to side with him.[2] Naturally, as Bear is an amazing student and Healer, they did not. Bear's father, Healer Tyrall, took things further: he hired Healer Cuburn to spy on Bear. Things turned for the worse when Cuburn became embroiled with foreign spies.[3] Bear and Lena decide to wed even though they are still students, so that his family cannot force him into marriage. Father Poul, whose flock Bear has treated many times, officiates. When Bear's father hears of it, he hires a handful of mercenaries to accompany him to the Collegium to haul Bear home. Even when the Guard responds to the hasty approach of armed men, Bear's father still doesn't get it, and proceeds to browbeat Bear. Father Poul, who comes from a militant religious order, emerges and beats Bear's father. In front of all of the onlookers, Bear repudiates his father.[4]
Details[]
Prince Sedric mentions that an unGifted Healer would be ideal on the Pelagirs border because he "isn’t going to get sucked into a bad situation." It's also invaluable on the Karse Border, because "the Karsite demons go straight for the Gifted Healers."[5]
In the series[]
Bear appears in the following works:
- Foundation, Collegium Chronicles, volume 1
- Intrigues, Collegium Chronicles, volume 2
- Changes, Collegium Chronicles, volume 3
- Redoubt, Collegium Chronicles, volume 4
- Bastion, Collegium Chronicles, volume 5
- Closer to the Heart, Herald Spy, volume 2