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Jarl Brum
Van Eck is a wealthy mercher in Ketterdam. He’s involved in testing jurda parem on Grisha indentures, and he hires Kaz to rescue Bo Yul-Bayur from the Ice Court. However, though he insists that he’s acting on behalf of the Merchant Council and the Kerch government, Van Eck is actually acting alone and plans not to pay Kaz for the job. And though Kaz takes Wylan, Van Eck’s son, along on the mission believing that they can use Wylan as a hostage to ensure that Van Eck pays, Van Eck has disowned Wylan due to his not being able to read. Cold, cruel, and calculating, Van Eck cares only about himself and his business prospects: he plans to capitalize on jurda parem and earn money from the drug’s sale. He doesn’t care at all about the Grisha who will be enslaved and die due to the drug. Van Eck kidnaps Inej in his final meeting with Kaz, seemingly just because he can and because he knows it’ll hurt Kaz.
Van Eck Quotes in Six of Crows
The Six of Crows quotes below are all either spoken by Van Eck or refer to Van Eck. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3: Kaz
Quotes
“The Barrel is a den of filth, vice, violence—”
“How many of the ships you send sailing out of the Ketterdam harbor never return?”
“That doesn’t—”
“One out of five, Van Eck. One out of every five vessels you send seeking coffee and jurda and bolts of silk sinks to the bottom of the sea, crashes on the rocks, falls prey to pirates. One out of five crews dead, their bodies lost to foreign waters, food for deep sea fishes. Let’s not speak of violence.”
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45: Kaz
Quotes
“Chaos will come, and I will be its master. Its very wealthy master.”
“You will be ensuring slavery and death for Grisha everywhere,” Inej said.
Van Eck raised a brow. “How old are you, girl? Sixteen? Seventeen? Nations rise and fall. Markets are made and unmade. When power shifts, someone always suffers.”
“When profit shifts,” Jesper shot back.
Van Eck’s expression was bemused. “Aren’t they one and the same?”
After the battle in the Djerholm harbor, the merchling had come to Kaz to warn him that he couldn’t be used as leverage against his father. Wylan had been red-faced, barely able to speak the words of his supposed “affliction.” Kaz had only shrugged. Some men were poets. Some were farmers. Some were rich merchers. Wylan could draw a perfect elevation. He’d made a drill that could cut through Grisha glass from parts of a gate and scavenged bits of jewelry. So what if he couldn’t read?
Nina had disguised Kaz’s crow-and-cup tattoo before they’d entered the Ice Court, but he hadn’t let her near the R on his bicep. Now he touched his gloved fingers to where the sleeve of his coat covered the mark. Without meaning to, he’d let Kaz Rietveld return. He didn’t know if it had begun with Inej’s injury or that hideous ride in the prison wagon, but somehow he’d let it happen and it had cost him dearly.
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Van Eck Quotes in Six of Crows
The Six of Crows quotes below are all either spoken by Van Eck or refer to Van Eck. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3: Kaz
Quotes
“The Barrel is a den of filth, vice, violence—”
“How many of the ships you send sailing out of the Ketterdam harbor never return?”
“That doesn’t—”
“One out of five, Van Eck. One out of every five vessels you send seeking coffee and jurda and bolts of silk sinks to the bottom of the sea, crashes on the rocks, falls prey to pirates. One out of five crews dead, their bodies lost to foreign waters, food for deep sea fishes. Let’s not speak of violence.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45: Kaz
Quotes
“Chaos will come, and I will be its master. Its very wealthy master.”
“You will be ensuring slavery and death for Grisha everywhere,” Inej said.
Van Eck raised a brow. “How old are you, girl? Sixteen? Seventeen? Nations rise and fall. Markets are made and unmade. When power shifts, someone always suffers.”
“When profit shifts,” Jesper shot back.
Van Eck’s expression was bemused. “Aren’t they one and the same?”
After the battle in the Djerholm harbor, the merchling had come to Kaz to warn him that he couldn’t be used as leverage against his father. Wylan had been red-faced, barely able to speak the words of his supposed “affliction.” Kaz had only shrugged. Some men were poets. Some were farmers. Some were rich merchers. Wylan could draw a perfect elevation. He’d made a drill that could cut through Grisha glass from parts of a gate and scavenged bits of jewelry. So what if he couldn’t read?
Nina had disguised Kaz’s crow-and-cup tattoo before they’d entered the Ice Court, but he hadn’t let her near the R on his bicep. Now he touched his gloved fingers to where the sleeve of his coat covered the mark. Without meaning to, he’d let Kaz Rietveld return. He didn’t know if it had begun with Inej’s injury or that hideous ride in the prison wagon, but somehow he’d let it happen and it had cost him dearly.
