What sort of man was Oliver Cademus?

In his youth Oliver was a fairly quiet child, whose main hobby was reading, a hobby which engulfed him to the point of obsession. It seemed the young lord had a desire for knowledge, he was especially interested in other cultures. He preferred his own company most of the time and had few friends, not that this bothered Oliver as he was most happy spending his time buried in his books or being instructed by his various tutors. Polite for the most part it was thought that Oliver’s obvious intelligence and knowledge gave him the appearance of having a certain aloofness to other boys and girls as his age. In fact it was thought that many of them shunned the strange young lord.

No one really knows why Oliver’s life suddenly took such a drastic turn from his constant study to a desire to become a knight. Many thought it was a strange choice for a boy better suited to writing books to undertaking the difficult mental and physical challenges required by one planning on becoming a knight. The reason behind Oliver’s decision may never be known although the most common theory was that Oliver’s father, who had no sons had pushed or at the very least encouraged his son to follow in his foot steps. It was no secret that Oliver idolised his father so it was probably not difficult for his father to get Oliver to do pretty much anything, regardless of whether or not he actually wanted to.

Oliver Cademus the man seemed to be even more of a paradox than Oliver the boy. As a knight before heading off for the crusade, the quiet boy of his youth was now replaced by confident handsome man with a strong, sense of right and wrong and many thought there were no two better examples of chivalry than Sir Oliver and his father.

Upon his return to England many years after the crusade which led to the death of his father Oliver was a mere shadow of a man. The once tall blond haired, muscular man was now nothing short of a, thin, gaunt and pathetic excuse for a human being. Dressed in blood stained filthy robes this was hardly the triumphant return of a knight Oliver had often talked about on the days before he left England. His eyes reflecting a deep sorrow of a young life robbed of its innocence but alongside this sorrow burned something else, something unknown . It gave Oliver the power to allow people to see beyond the haunted visage of a man who had seen and learnt far too much about the world around him, to a man who yearned to give the world something it truly believed only he could give…eternal freedom.