Brother Eadulf - Role in The Series

Role in The Series

Tremayne uses Brother Eadulf's status as an outsider to the Celtic communities in which many of his and Fidelma's cases take place to provide explanations about legal and cultural matters to his readers. This allows Tremayne to include many details about the history of the Celtic church and society, without overtly appearing to educate.

Being a foreigner, Eadulf's status in Ireland is originally that of cu glas (which translates as "grey dog"), meaning a person without legal standing or honor price (for a definition of this term, see "Status" in Early Irish Law); however, his rank as techtaire (emissary or ambassador) between Archbishop Theodore and Fidelma's brother King Colgu gave him a high honor price of eight cumals (a cumal being the value of three cows) under Irish law (see Our Lady of Darkness) and since his marriage to Fidelma (recognized and approved by her family) he now has an honor price of half that of Fidelma's but he is not entitled to make legal contracts without her permission (she is also responsible for any debts that he might incur) or have any legal responsibility in the raising of Alchu. Despite these legalities, he is treated as an equal and a friend and accepted as a member of Fidelma's family. After the events of Dancing with Demons in the winter of 669-670, he is made a member of the Nasc Naidh, an elite corps of bodyguards to the kings of Munster, by King Colgu and entitled to wear the golden torc of that order.

Brother Eadulf is a stolid man who provides a much-needed stability to Fidelma during emotionally difficult cases (he knows that her insecurity stems from both her parents dying when she was very young), and Fidelma has often admitted that Eadulf has an uncanny ability to see the obvious that she has overlooked. His medical knowledge and assistance is often very valuable as well, and on one occasion (after a "cram course" in the Law of the Fenechus) he acted as Fidelma's advocate to successfully get her released when she was charged with murder (see Valley of the Shadow), although his use of a bluff to get a witness to admit to lying shocked her sensibilities as a dalaigh. In The Seventh Trumpet, he demonstrates his own powers of deduction to such a degree that Fidelma remarks, "Every day, you become more and more a Brehon." He is very humorous about his own shortcomings (including poor horsemanship and seasickness), but his courage is undeniable (proven many times including his rescue of their son Alchu in The Leper's Bell and of Fidelma herself in The Seventh Trumpet).