Rickar Daumatin: Pragmatic Fatalist in an Indifferent Universe

Overview

Rickar Daumatin is a human captive from Anjiin who appears in The Faith of Beasts as a secondary but pivotal character. A pragmatist shaped by loss and grief, Rickar navigates the Carryx empire with a weary acceptance of his powerlessness. His most notable act—swapping places with Ghati to reunite a couple—demonstrates a quiet, almost instinctive defiance within the bounds of fatalism. He later witnesses the Carryx bombardment of Jurupe’s biosphere, an event that forces him to confront the true nature of his captors. Rickar’s death occurs when a remnant copy of Else Yannin’s swarm triggers a cyst implanted in his body, broadcasting knowledge and destroying his evacuation pod.

Plot Role and Chronological Arc

Rickar is introduced waking from a nightmare about Anjiin, seeking his friend Campar on a Carryx warship. He navigates the stress of battle alongside other captives, forming a bond with the alien Vaudai, who shares tactical data. During an engagement in the Ashtin-Kah system, Rickar observes the destruction of an enemy command ship and begins to articulate his belief that humans are powerless pawns.

When the Carryx separate the human moiety into two groups—one for exploration and one held in reserve—Rickar swaps places with the distraught Ghati, reuniting him with Campar. Rickar remains behind on the expedition ship, which later makes a short asymmetric journey to the Jurupe system. There, he watches the Carryx bombard the inhabited planet, an act of genocide that breaks through his self-imposed emotional numbness.

Later, Rickar is placed in an evacuation pod for metabolism slowdown. Else Yannin’s remnant copy contacts him in a shared dream, confessing that she placed a cyst inside him before leaving Anjiin. The cyst activates, destroying Rickar’s body and the pod, using the released swarm knowledge to transmit information. Dafyd learns of his death and struggles with grief.

Motivations and Traits Through Actions

Rickar’s actions reveal a man who has deliberately suppressed hope as a survival mechanism. He describes his efforts: “I made myself forget what the Carryx are” (paraphrased from the Jurupe bombardment scene). His fatalism is not lazy nihilism but a conscious choice to avoid the pain of caring deeply.

His swap for Ghati is impulsive but calculated: “I just saw that Ghati and Campar were on different teams and they didn’t like it.” He frames it as caring about a “little thing” because larger forces are beyond control. This demonstrates both empathy (he recognizes the couple’s bond) and a wry sense of agency within constraints.

He uses storytelling to connect with others, as when he tells Dervan the mouse anecdote to illustrate the captivity they share. He is observant, picking up details about the Budon’s reproductive response to stress or Vaudai’s behavior. His humor is dry and self-deprecating.

Relationships

Campar: Rickar’s primary friend among the captives. He privately challenges Campar’s belief in Dafyd’s secret plan, arguing that it offers false hope. Their friendship is tested by Rickar’s blunt honesty, but Campar weeps with relief when Rickar swaps Ghati back to him.
Ghati: Though not close, Rickar acts to protect Ghati’s emotional well-being by sacrificing his own position in the moieties.
Vaudai: A fellow captive (alien slug), Vaudai shares tactical data with Rickar. Rickar learns to interpret the alien’s displays and enjoys a measure of camaraderie, even imagining a shared sarcasm.
Dervan: A wary acquaintance. She seeks answers from Rickar after the swap, but he deflects with his philosophy of small controls.
Else Yannin (remnant copy): The swarm fragment that interacts with Rickar in his final dream. She reveals the cyst; his death is directly tied to her prior actions and the swarm’s hidden agenda.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Swap with Ghati: Rickar voluntarily takes Ghati’s place so that the couple can stay together. The immediate consequence is that Rickar ends up on the expedition to Jurupe, where he witnesses the planetary bombardment—an experience that shatters his willful amnesia.
Embracing fatalism: Throughout his arc, Rickar repeatedly chooses to believe that humans cannot influence the larger war. This protects him from disappointment but also isolates him from collaborative resistance plans like Dafyd’s.
Cyst activation: Rickar’s death is not a choice he makes, but his body becomes a vector for swarm knowledge. The Carryx note the explosion as part of a pattern of anomalies around the Anjiin moiety.

Themes and Symbol Connections

Resistance Through Culture and Memory: Rickar’s mouse story—a pet mouse carried away from its home—is a metaphor for captive humans. By telling this story, he preserves a form of cultural memory and connection.
The Cost of Collaboration: Rickar’s fatalism can be seen as a form of passive collaboration. He does not actively resist the Carryx beyond personal gestures. His death, a byproduct of swarm strategy, underscores the dangers of being caught between factions.
Identity and Transformation: Rickar transforms from a man who clung to memories of Anjiin to one who deliberately forgets, then is forced to remember. His identity is reshaped by trauma.
The Nature of Empire and Cyclical War: Rickar directly observes the Carryx’s brutal calculus—the decision to bomb a world to deny resources to the enemy. He understands that he is only a “mouse on the fire team,” a tiny part of a vast, repetitive conflict.

Character Analysis Questions

1. Why does Rickar swap places with Ghati?
Adamant that he can only influence “little things,” Rickar sees the couple’s separation as a small injustice he can correct. He acts without consulting Vaudai or the Carryx, driven by empathy and resignation.

2. What does Rickar mean when he says he “made himself forget” what the Carryx are?
He deliberately suppressed the memory of the Carryx’s genocidal violence to maintain his psychological equilibrium. Watching the Jurupe bombardment forces him to remember that the Carryx are monsters.

3. How does Rickar’s death serve the plot?
Else’s remnant copy uses his body to transmit swarm knowledge to the Carryx, marking him as a tool of the swarm’s hidden agenda. The anomalous explosion alerts the Sovran to the pattern of anomalies around Dafyd’s moiety.

4. What is Rickar’s attitude toward Dafyd’s resistance plans?
He dismisses them as false hope. After Ostencour’s rebellion failed and friends died, Rickar no longer believes any secret plan can succeed. He tells Campar that Dafyd does not have power—only the Carryx do.

5. How does Rickar’s relationship with Vaudai differ from his relationships with other humans?
Vaudai is another captive, but an alien. Rickar finds the alien’s sarcasm (or imagined sarcasm) refreshing. Unlike with humans, he has no emotional history to guard; he can simply observe and learn. Vaudai’s tactical data becomes a source of distraction and, fleetingly, purpose.

For more on the novel’s ending, see Ending Explained. For additional discussion, see Questions and Answers.