Halt O'Carrick

Spoiler Alert!

Warning! This page contains spoilers for The Royal Ranger.

Halt is a highly qualified Ranger, and the mentor of Will Treaty and Gilan. Although often described as grim and unfriendly, he actually has a very soft heart that he only lets people close to him, especially Will, really see. This is shown, for instance, in The Burning Bridge and The Icebound Land when he publicly insults King Duncan in order to be banished, so he can travel to Skandia and rescue Will. Originally the Crown Prince of Clonmel, Hibernia, he escaped to Araluen at a young age after his twin brother, Ferris, tried to kill him multiple times in order to gain the throne. He is famous throughout all of Araluen for his mysterious ways and seemingly unstoppable nature.

History

His legendary status also comes from the fact that it was he who seemingly implanted the fear of horses to the Wargals. In the battle of Hackham Heath during Morgarath's rebellion, he led a large force of Araluen cavalry through a secret ford and ambushed Morgarath's army, relieving the beleaguered Araluen main force and routing Morgarath's army. The few surviving Wargals created a fear of horses among further generations. At this time a man called Daniel saved Halt from a guaranteed death when he was almost defeated by Wargals through sheer weight of numbers (Halt took a bad blow to his skull as it was). This man gave his life to spare Halt's and, with hid dying breath, begged Halt to protect his son, Will. He took him to Redmont, to live in the castle ward, until Will showed skills of a Ranger.

Halt's closest friend is Crowley, the Ranger Corps Commandment, and they both get along very well. Their friendship developed when they were young rangers, on the run from Morgarath, and they are known to have revitalized the Ranger Corps. Just after that period Halt and Crowley soon began to build on the legends of the Rangers by defeating an evil bandit. This is discussed in the short story The Hibernian, and the recent book The Tournament at Gorlan.

Halt is also one of King Duncan's most trusted advisors, and the King is saddened when he is left with no alternative but to banish Halt for a year in The Icebound Land. Halt publicly insults him so he can go after Will, who had been kidnapped by Skandians in the events of book two. Halt is grieved by this also though he tried not to let it show (as ever). Halt is also an enemy of Temujai as he "borrowed" a breed of their horses so that the Rangers have their horses today, and he also learned to make a recurve bow during his stay with them. Not much is known about the period he spent with the Temujai apart from that he fought alongside and also against them. His skills with his weapons are so legendary and skillful that even if he claims that he had missed his shot, everyone knows he had hit it. His longbow is larger than that of most Rangers', as in Halt's Peril, Will states his longbow is " One of the heaviest he'd seen, and even the strongest man, without proper technique could only bring it to half draw". He is likely the most skilled of all the Rangers. He is described as being slightly more accurate and a faster shooter than his former apprentice, Will, who is a better shot than Crowley and Gilan. However, Will is said to be nearly as skilled as his mentor, and may even surpass him with more training, which Halt himself has claimed.

The Ruins of Gorlan

Ruinsofgorlanhalt — Halt pictured with his longbow

In the first book, Halt takes on Will as an apprentice after the young boy is rejected by all the other Craftmasters. At first, Will is a little daunted by the legendary figure, but they soon warm to one another and Halt secretly starts to enjoy having Will around.

When Halt takes Will to the annual Ranger Gathering, they meet up with Halt's former apprentice, Gilan. When they arrive at the clearing the Rangers use for the Gathering, they discover that Morgarath and his Wargals are on the move and they have also employed two Kalkara, vicious creatures that resemble something out of a nightmare. Together, Will, Halt, and Gilan track the animals out onto the plains. Halt realizes that to take on the Kalkara, someone must go for help from Redmont. He sends Will because he's the lightest, with some reluctance. Gilan gives Will Blaze so Tug can be spelled for part of the journey.

While Will rides off for help, Halt aims for Castle Gorlan, the ruins of Morgarath's old fortress. He leads the Kalkara there and tries to hold them off while he waits for help. He soon realizes that the Kalkara aren't, as he initially thought, after King Duncan or Baron Arald, but him - due to a grudge Morgarath bears against Halt for bringing about the downfall of his army.

Halt manages to badly wound one of the creatures using his longbow, sending a volley of arrows into the monster's chest at high speeds, breaking through the creature's thick coat of fur. However, the other Kalkara still comes for him and injures him. Halt manages to scramble away and hides in the ruins of the castle. Armed only with his two knives and having lost his bow to the Kalkara, he doesn't stand much of a chance. As the Kalkara approaches his hiding place, Halt suddenly bursts out, throws his knife into the monster's eye, and makes a run for it. He runs towards the open area in front of Castle Gorlan the Kalkara behind him, the giant beast swipes at Halt and knocks him unconscious. Just as the Kalkara is about to kill Halt, Sir Rodney and Baron Arald appear on the scene and help to fight off the other animal, however Arald soon becomes injured, the Kalkara injuring the Baron's side and paralyzing Rodney with his gaze. Seeing that the men are about to be killed, Will, who is watching from a distance shoots at the Kalkara with a fiery arrow which destroys the beast in a blaze of flames.

At the end of the book, Arald offers Will the opportunity to become a Battleschool trainee, but Will declines the offer in favour of being a Ranger. Halt is pleased by this, and for the first time, smiles at Will. He later gives his apprentice a bronze oakleaf, signifying his official entrance into the corps as an apprentice and tells him about how his father saved his life in a battle against the Wargals and how he took Will and left him outside the ward as a baby so he could be raised there in safety. Will is initially a little saddened that his father wasn't a knight and only a sergeant but soon realizes that he is proud of his father no matter what his status was.

The Burning Bridge

In book two Will is sent to Celtica with Gilan and Horace to negotiate with the ruling council there. Halt is commisoned by Lady Pauline and Baron Arald to take charge of Alyss, accompanying her as she goes on her first diplomatic mission.

Alyss is sent on a diplomatic mission to speak to Sir Montague, a knight who lives in a keep near Redmont but hasn't cooperated with the fief, Alyss was sent to clear things up and persuade him to pay his taxes that he owes. Monatgue then insults her, Baron Arald, and Lady Pauline, Halt steps in at that point then throws him out a nearby window and into the moat, something her did earlier on the book with a knight by the name of Sir Digby.

Halt then later leaves for the King's army which is preparing to battle against Morgarath. When Gilan turns up without Horace and Will he is immediately worried but then reassured as Gilan tells him they are safe, at least, that is what Gilan thinks.

During the battle Halt and Gilan lead a surprise attack on the Skandians which Moragarath had hired to lead an attack at the back of Duncan's army; Halt foils the surprise attack and then tricks Morgarath into thinking that the Araluans were vanquished by the Skandians. He does this by getting the Araluan soldiers to dress up as Skandians and lead a surprise attack on the rear of Morgarath's army.

This deeply angers the ex-Baron who had already been foiled by Halt in the past. Morgarath gets his wargals to stop fighting and then marches towards the frontlines of the Araluen army with a white truce flag. Once there he challenges Halt to a duel, the ranger is on the verge of accepting, especially when Morgarath reveals that he has Will as a prisoner, when Horace steps in and begins to duel the older man.

At the end Will is taken captive by Erak, a Skandian wolfship captain and taken to Skandia to be sold as a slave. Halt tries to stop the Skandians, firing arrows at the wolfship which is carrying Will away, but it is too late, on the beach he makes a promise, it's not known exactly what he promised but we can gather he was promising to bring Will back to Araluen as a freeman.

The Icebound Land

In book three he constantly tries to get permission from the King and Crowley to follow Will who was captured by Skandians in The Burning Bridge; he is eventually denied the permission and becomes angry. In retaliation, he deliberatly insults the King in a tavern and the Watch takes the Ranger away. He then faces a trial before Duncan and a number of other people, among them Crowley and Baron Arald

The punishment is either death or banishment, the King, due to his friendship with Halt opts (naturally) for banishment, with a catch. He banishes Halt for one year and one year only to everyone's pleasure. Halt accepts this and immeditaly makes for the coast. But due to his banishment he has to be stripped of his position and title of a Ranger which causes him much heartache. Gilan is upset by his mentor leaving and offers to join him to search for Will, Halt tells him to stay and track down Foldar, one of Morgarath's followers and then leaves.

On the way to the coast he meets up with Horace who has come to join him. Halt is secretly pleased by this, having missed the company of a youngster though on the outside he seems annoyed by it. Once in Gallica, Horace soon makes himself a name, defeating many knights.

This attracts the attention of a local warlord who wants to take Horace on in combat, the knights name is Depernieux and he is a notorious man, giving any person who insults him, even in a minor and seemingly insignificant way, severe punishment, often resulting in death.

Depernieux tries to challenge Horace to a duel, by striking his face with a guanlet, but Halt pins the glove to a wall with a well-shot arrow. Depernieux is startled, but realising that he is at a disadvantage due to the fact that Halt had an arrow pointed at him, leaves the inn and departs.

Later on he captures Horace and Halt, taking them back to his foreboding fortress near the pass into Skandia which is currently blocked due to the snow and the two are kept imprisoned in the castle for some time. Halt takes this time to think up a plan which will rid the world of Depernieux and make Will a new recurve bow which he fashions out of various pieces of wood he had brought along with him.

After a while Halt challenges Depernieux to a duel which the evil lord is initially shocked at having been expecting Horace to challenge him but accepts anyway. The two face down in mortal combat outside the castle, Halt armed with his longbow and Depernieux on his warhorse with his lance and sword. Deperniux manages to deflect Halt's arrows that the Ranger sends his way but then Halt suddenly pulls out a special arrow, and armour-piercing one, this punches right through the knight's armour and kills him.

Halt then asks for the leaders of the castle's garrison and puts him in charge on the condition that he releases all of Deperniux's prisoners and lets the slaves go free. Not long after that Halt and Horace set out for the pass into Skandia as the snows have cleared and melted away. The two turn and look back at the fortress for the last time and Horace is surprised to see smoke rising from it. Halt then comments that "it looks like some careless person left some oily rages burning in the basement store-room". Horace grins and then adds that it's a shame the whole castle won't burn down but Halt points out that the fire in the basement will cause some wooden supports to collapse and thus destroy parts of the castle. Both are pleased with that and continue on their way to Skandia.

Oakleaf Bearers (or Battle for Skandia)

Halt and Horace, after the events of the previous book, have arrived at the pass leading from Gallica into Skandia at long last. Halt is forging a document using a copy of King Henri of Gallica's seal. Horace is unhappy about this because, being a knight has high values and doesn't like the idea of tampering with a seal, in particular, the seal of a king, even if Henri isn't much of one. Halt is a little exasperated at this and wishes that Sir Rodney would encourage his students to be a little more open-minded about such things.

As the two arrive at the small fortress guarding the pass Halt begins to sense something is wrong, as there are no guards on duty. Arriving at the fortress they both suddenly see that all the Skandian guards are dead. Shot dead, in fact, Halt notices as he looks more closely.

Halt finds the tracks of the people who shot the skandians and makes the decision to follow them, aware that if something goes wrong in Skandia it could have the potential to make something go wrong in Araluen if the unknown enemy gets hold of wolfships. After tracking the enemy for some time Halt notices something strange, another set of tracks has joined up with the main group. The new tracks are footprints whereas the people who shot the Skandians were all on horseback. Halt finds this strange and it has him puzzled, added to this Tug starts to act strange, letting out shrill crys and acting agitated, Halt calms him down a little, talking to him reassuringly but is still flumoxed at this behaviour even when Tug calms down a little.

A few moments later the two come across Will and Evanlyn, both about to be killed by the people who killed the Skandian guards: the Temujai. Halt quickly shoots down the warrior who is about to kill Will whilst Horace deals with the men threatning Evanlyn. Halt gives the young warrior a quick order to take one of the Temujai alive then finds himself driven back by Will who has run to his mentor and hugged, sobbing with relief at seeing his master again. Halt is surprised to find a tear sliding down his cheek as he embraces his apprentice.

After exchanging stories around the fire Halt gets up and moves away from the fire leaving the others to talk. Lost in his thoughts, it takes him a while to realise Will is next to him. His apprentice asks him what is wrong and Halt tries to be evasive but Will isn't put off. The older Ranger explains that he is perturbed about the Temujai, aware of the threat they present to Araluen.

The next day they are re-captured by a group of Skandians led by Erak. They initially believe that Halt and his company have killed the guards at the post at the pass but Halt explains about the Temujai. The Skandians then take the group back to Hallasholm. Halt goes along with them willingly, aware that it is now to late to try and escape as the Temujai have cut off all routes out of Skandia.

In Hallasholm Halt and Erak convince Ragnak to let Halt help plan the battle against the Temujai. Ragnak is convinced and agrees to let Halt to the tactical planning for the battle. Halt is impressed with Will's idea of getting a group of slaves with some archery training to fight against the Temujai as it will give the Skandians a marked advantage.

The Sorcerer in the North

“	Thank goodness we went to all this trouble to keep this meeting secret so you could ride in here bellowing at the top of your lungs.	”
–Halt to Will in the Sorcerer in the North

Halt and Crowley are both present at the Ranger's Gathering Ground to brief Will on his mission up north in Norgate Fief. Halt is delighted to see his apprentice again but doesn't allow himself to show it. He is also impressed when Will doesn't immediatly start asking question after question before the briefing and instead waits patiently for Crowley to begin.

At the end of the book, Halt and Crowley send Horace to Macindaw to provide Will with some back-up if needed.

The Siege of Macindaw

Halt as in the previous book, appears only briefly. He comes in at the end of the book at the Gathering Grounds and listens along with Crowley as Will gives his report on the happenings up in the north. He later states in book ten that he wasn't at all happy when he heard Horace and Will had assaulted a castle with only thirty-two men.

He guesses Will has feelings for Alyss and that things are complicated between the two but remains silent on the subject, aware that it is something that Alyss and Will must sort out for themselves together. He then calls him "son" as he watches his old apprentice walk off, signifying his feelings for Will.

Erak's Ransom

The story starts out with Halt and Pauline at Castle Remont discussing whom they are going to invite to their upcoming wedding. Halt is annoyed at the sheer amount of people who are going to be there as he was hoping for a quiet wedding.

At the wedding Halt surprises everyone by displaying his excellent dancing skills having been taught in secret by Baron Arald's wife for some time before the wedding. He is moved to tears at the speech Will gives (Will being the best man) though tries to disguise it not liking to show his emotion.

Later he sets off for Arridi, travelling to the wolfship on horseback with Will, Gilan, Horace and Svengal, he maliciously teases Svengal, enjoying the discomfort the large Skandian feels in the saddle but probably later regrets it as Svengal quickly gets his own back on the Wolfwind as Halt becomes seasick.

The Kings of Clonmel

File:Halts peril three.jpg

In book 8, it is revealed that Halt is the twin brother to King Ferris of Clonmel (he also has a sister, Caitlyn, who had died before the book took place). Halt is actually seven minutes older than his brother and therefore should have been the king. However, Ferris believed that the throne was rightfully his, and tried to murder Halt three times. The first time was with poison, but he got the amounts of the poison wrong. He also tried to crush Halt beneath a pile of bricks; he narrowly missed and succeeded in badly cutting and injuring Halts' leg, and tried to drown him while they were salmon fishing. Halt escaped to Araluen where he later became a Ranger.

Later, he returns to Clonmel to convince his brother to defeat the Outsiders, a sinister cult who wants to control all of Hibernia and then Araluen. Though Halt and Ferris are identical twins, there are some major differences. Where Halt is 'lean and tough as a whipcord', Ferris is a bit overweight and rather soft. Halt has salt and pepper hair and a rough, full beard and Ferris wears a goatee and keeps his dyed black hair drawn back with a leather band. Because he dyed his hair black, Ferris looks at least ten years younger than his brother. Ferris is killed by a Genovesan Assassin. The assassin and the false prophet, Tennyson flee the country. Halt is slightly saddened by his brother's death but soon gets over it and is soon back to making sarcastic remarks.

Halt's Peril

Halt appears a few chapters into the book, riding with Horace meet up with Will who has been tracking Tennyson and his cohorts through Clonmel. Will discovers that a pirate called Black O'Malley had given passage to Tennyson but is unable to get the man to disclose any further information. Halt decides to interrogate the man that night in the tavern where many smugglers usually go. The older ranger is succesful easily getting the information from the man.

They discover that Tennyson has gone to Picta so the three follow him there taking passage on a boat called the Sparrow. Halt gets seasick and is teased a little by the captain of the ship who quickly falls silent when told the consequences of making fun of Halt.

Will and Halt get caught up in a skirmish in the Drowned Forest with two Genovesan assassins. Halt is poisoned by an arrow from one of the Genovesan assassin's crossbows after he and Will accidently shoot at the same assassin after tracking two of the Genvesans. Will goes to fetch Malcom, a highly skilled healer who appeared in books five and six after Halt tells him that without the antidote he will die.

Malcolm heals Halt and along with Horace they all travel to the village where Tennyson is preaching and trap him in a large cavern where he is holding a 'prayer-meeting' with the villagers he has deceived. Will, Halt, Horace and Malcolm ambush him and he is killed by Will who throws some of Malcolm's iodine-based smoke bombs at him, causing the cavern to collapse on the false priest.

As the group staggers out through the tunnel and into the open, Halt falls to his knees and rubs them, muttering that "he's getting too old for this".

They then leave for Macindaw where Malcolm will go back to his home in Healer's Clearing escorted by Will whilst Halt and Horace go to Castle Macindaw before heading back to Redmont and home.

The Emperor of Nihon-Ja

Halt is with Will, Alyss and Selethen in Teutland where he is overseeing the finally treaty declarations between Selethen and the officials; Alyss helps to iron out the final details. When Princess Cassandra turns up under the guise of Evanlyn bringing news that Horace is in Nihon-Ja and needs help, Halt goes with her Selethen, Will and Alyss to Nihon-Ja to help their friend.

They travel by boat. In fact, by Gundar Harstrikers' ship the Wolfwill, named in honour of Will Treaty, which has been modified with the Heron sail plan, which makes it go faster and able to travel against the wind by a technique known as tacking. Halt, who gets seasick spends the first few days leaning over the side of the boat and is teased by Gundar after he recovers.

Once the group arrives in Nihon-Ja, Halt goes ashore with Alyss, who is acting as a translator, and Will to watch his back. They go to an inn where a contact, a man called Atsu meets them. Later in the night, Atsu comes to them and tells them that Horace has gone with Shigeru and his army to the fortress of Ran-Koshi.

The Emperor of Nihon-Ja (USA) — U.S. cover

The Lost Stories

Halt appears in the following stories from book 11 of the Ranger's Apprentice series: Death of a Hero, The Hibernian, Purple Prose, The Inkwell and the Dagger, the Bridal Dance and And About Time, Too...

Death of a Hero

The first story, called Death of a Hero tells how Daniel came to save his life during the battle against Morgarath and the Wargals and how Will's mother really died.

The Hibernian

In the Hibernian, it is revealed how Halt came to be a Ranger and how he became friends with Crowley.

Crowley had just finished traveling and stopped over in a tavern for a drink. A couple of men were in there and started harassing a young barmaid. Crowley steps in impulsively; his mentor had always commented on how Crowley had trouble coping with his temper.

The situation becomes too much for Crowley to handle by himself and one of the men is about to cut his nose off with his knife when a man, who had been sitting quietly in the corner of the room leaps to his feet and quickly fends off the men. The man introduces himself to Crowley as Halt and that he had come to Araluen to become a Ranger.

Halt reveal that he trained under an exiled Ranger called Pritchard who incidently trained Crowley. Crowley then explains that the Ranger's aren't what they once were and that he won't be able to get a place in the Corps as Morgarath stops any true ranger from entering or gets them exiled. Halt is disappointed at this and says that he'll head on to Gallica after dropping the men off at Morgarath's castle.

Morgarath takes the men and says he will have them dealt with but not severely even though they should at least be striped of their ranking. Crowley and Halt are annoyed by this but try not to show it.

Morgarath later sees Halt in private and tries to persuade the Hibernian to join him but Halt refuses flatly and makes an enemy of Morgarath.

Purple Prose

The story starts with Will, Halt and Pauline enjoying a dinner together in Halt and Pauline's apartments in Redmont. Halt brusquely comments on how poetic Will's language is getting which embarrased his former apprentice and earns him a discreet kick from Pauline under the table. When Pauline asks Will to read out his speech which he will be performing at Cassandra and Horace's wedding Halt tries to stop her but fails. He tries to stay silent when Will starts reading his speech but can't as Will's language is very florid and poetic in style.

Halt is later berated by Pauline after Will has gone for his lack of sensitivity and shies away from the subject of Will's speech until the end of the story.

A day or so later the two set out to stop a group of Moondarkers who are wrecking ships along the coast of Araluen. After Will and Halt's episode, as they are going back to Redmont, Will realizes that he dropped his speech in the beacon fire. Which of course Halt is overjoyed to hear.

The Inkwell and the Dagger

This book takes place during the events of the Icebound Land with the scene where Halt has just been exiled for a year and is riding away to Gallica. He only appears very briefly in the first chapter.

The Bridal Dance

Halt is at Horace and Cassandra's wedding in this story, but doesn't play a very large role in this tale.

When Will gets suspicious about two Toscan wool traders who had been staying down in Wensley Village and comments that they may be Genovesan assassins out to get Halt and himself. Halt recommends that his apprentice thoroughly checks out the situation.

After Will foils the plot to assassinate Cassandra, the real target, Halt nods and mouths "well done" to his old apprentice, which means more to Will than any amount of praise from King Duncan.

And About Time, Too...

Halt is present at Will and Alyss' wedding and gives the bride away as Alyss has no father. During the ceremony he begins to cry and is teasingly called a "fraud" by his wife, a name he sheepishly admits to.

The Royal Ranger

Halt's hair has turned silver and he has retired. He takes part in the meeting that results in Madelyn being apprenticed to Will Treaty.

Appearance

Halt's hair, which he cuts with his Saxe Knife, and his dark eyes are steady and unwavering. He has (erroneously) been referred to as eight feet tall and as strong as a bear, although it is not proven if he really is indeed as strong as one, and is described as being quite short and slim in book one. He is very strong due to his arms being toned through the years of training with the longbow. His hair was black-gray ("salt-and-peper") up until The Royal Ranger, where it is described as completely silver.

Halt is a very good tactician and master strategist, able to hold the Temujai forces off and force them to retreat while being outnumbered five to one with the help of Araluen slaves in Skandia and Will.

Personality

Although seeming grim, pitiless and ruthless, Halt is actually very humorous (in his own sarcastic way) as well as caring, especially for Will, who he thinks of as a son. Halt is, in fact, a very kind man, but not necessarily a "fair" man. Halt can often be very stubborn and doesn't often let his true emotions show. If someone whom he cares about is insulted or hurt in some manner he will quickly take offense as shown in The Burning Bridge when a stubborn baron insults a number of his friends and allies, including Baron Arald, Lady Pauline, and a member of the Diplomatic Corps, Alyss. Shortly afterwards, Halt throws him into the moat of his own castle. In addition, the only one who can actually force him to get a haircut is Lady Pauline, Halt's wife.

Relationships

Pauline DuLacy

Halt isn't the sort of person people would imagine to be romantic. However, he had been in love with Lady Pauline since they first met in The Tournament at Gorlan. Crowley also was in love with her secretly, although he didn't say anything as he knew something was going on between Halt and her. They are married in Erak's Ransom at a lavish and large wedding (to Halt's displeasure) and Pauline gets him to have a proper haircut instead of cutting it himself with his saxe knife as he usually does.

Pauline isn't one to let Halt continue being his usual grim, bachelor self and often wears the boots in the marriage, being the one person who can "scare" Halt. They both love each other deeply and are pretty much parents to Alyss and Will. Halt doesn't like his wife being insulted as shown in a few of the books and even in The Burning Bridge when a self-important knight insults her, Alyss and Baron Arald, the knight is then thrown from the window into a dirty moat by Halt.

Halt is initially somewhat self-conscious about displaying deep affection to his wife in public but quickly sweeps this aside such as when, in Halt's Peril , he gives her a kiss in public in front of a large group of people all who watch with interest.

File:149px-Battleforskandia-1-.jpg

Halt thinks of Will as a son.

Will Treaty

Will is like a son to him and in turn, Halt is like a father to Will. They both care for one another, though Halt does not like to show it too much. In The Ruins of Gorlan, Halt warms to Will and is proud of his apprentice for the things he has done and his decision to stay on as a Ranger when faced with the opportunity to become a knight. He cares for him deeply shown when he gets himself banished in The Icebound Land because he wants to get Will back home.

In Erak's Ransom, when Tug is lost in the sandstorm, Will decides to travel alone into the desert in search of his horse, Halt gets irritated and flatly refuses for his apprentice to go because he his worried and anxious for his safety; Gilan takes his former mentor aside and talks with him and Halt reconciles to the plan but still remains anxious about his apprentice whilst he his away.

In later books when Will is a fully-fledged Ranger, Halt still continues to think of him as his apprentice and never passes up a chance to continue teaching him. He sheds tears during Alyss and Will's wedding, incredibly proud of his former apprentice.

Alyss Mainwaring

File:Alyss.jpg

Halt is fond of Alyss and very pleased about her relationship with Will. She is also one of the few people who can make him smile easily. Halt takes the place as father of the bride during Alyss and Will's wedding, signifying how close he is to the young couple.

Horace Altman

Halt is fond of Horace who is like a younger brother to him, the two become good friends during the events of The Icebound Land when they were travelling through Gallica. Though Horace can wind up Halt at times he is still close the muscular young warrior and is delighted when he is engaged and then married to Cassandra. Halt is pleased at how much Horace has changed since the Ruins of Gorlan, turning from a bully to a loyal friend to Will and one of the greatest warriors in the kingdom but still retaining a modest demeanor despite all his great acheivments.

Crowley Meratyn

He is a very good friend with Crowley; Crowley is one of the only people able to tease the grim Ranger. Both are practically brothers and were quite a team back when they were restoring the Ranger Corps to its original prestige as mentioned throughout the series a number of times. The two quickly became friends in The Hibernian.

Gilan

Halt and his former apprentice are naturally very close and Halt does, in a way, think of him as a son but not in quite the same way as he does with Will. He is pleased when Will and Gilan become good friends.

Abelard

Like all rangers, Halt has a close bond with his horse, the two understand each other well and Halt often talks to him quietly in Gallican which Abelard seems to understand. This makes sense as Abelard is a gallican name.

Erak Starfollower

Halt and Erak get along well together despite the fact they often have verbal sparring matches when they meet. In the Battle for Skandia the sea wolf realised Halt's worth in having him as an ally in the battle ahead, in turn Halt knew that Erak could help him in convincing Ragnak to go along with his plan to defeat the Temujai.

Halt likes Skandians and thinks of them as the best fighting men in the world, if somewhat lacking in tact and delicacy.

Skills

Archery- Halt is an extraordinary archer. He proves this through many missions throughout his life, such as the duel with Lord Deparnieux. He also passes on his extraordinary talent through his former apprentices Gilan and Will. Halt is one of the best archers in the whole of the Ranger corps, surpassed only by his apprentice Will.

Hidden & unseen movement: Like all Rangers, Halt is extremely talented in unseen movement. He trained Gilan who is thought to be the best at this in the whole Corps. In fact, most situations Halt has had trouble getting out of have been because his companion is not as nimble as he is.

Saxe Knife and Throwing Knife Skills: He is a master knife thrower and is presumably good at the double knife defense. It was this skill that saved his life in the Kalkara incident (He threw his throwing knife into the Kalkara's eye), a small target at long range.

Tactical Thinking Skills: Halt has experienced and faced many problems and challenges in his life. Those experiences help him solve almost any problem that he comes across. Halt's thinking skills are looked up to by many people and even fellow Rangers, who think that he can solve anything. His strategy skill has lead to the outcome of both wars against Morgarath and the battle of Skandia.
Languages: Halt has a reasonably good grasp of Gallica and knows the common tongue as well as the language of the Temujai.
Leadership: Halt is a natural leader, confident in his abilities and decissions. Everyone automatically looks to him for guidance which is well-founded. As with all Rangers Halt uses his leadership unobtrusively.

Other Names

Arratay - used as a cover name several times, gallican for "Halt"
Halto-san - name given to him in Nihon-Ja as the people there had trouble pronouncing his proper name.

Trivia

Halt is the Ranger of Redmont Fief.
He is said to be short.
He is often thought to be huge and muscular, not short and wiry. This leads to common folk being skeptical when he claims to be the famous Ranger.
Halt gets seasick for the first few hours on a ship, or during rough sailing. It is ironic because people know him as infallible.
In Gallican (French), Arratez means "Halt" and Halt has used "Arratay" as a cover name.
Halt suggested Will's last name,Treaty, to commemorate the Skandian treaty that Will helped form.
Halt also gave Horace his famous title "Knight of the Oakleaf" during their travels through Gallica in The Icebound Land.
Halt was mentioned by Erak in the Brotherband Chronicles as a little "bantam rooster of a fellow" from Araluen.