Mark Vorkosigan

Miles Naismith Vorkosigan is a protagonist of a series of science fiction novels and short stories, known as the Vorkosigan Saga, written by American author Lois McMaster Bujold.

Miles is both brilliant (especially in military tactics) and hyperactive; one of his girlfriends describes him as "addicted to adrenaline rushes." He compulsively and constantly challenges the world, sometimes with disastrous consequences, although more often his mind overcomes his physical weakness. As Simon Illyan says to Ekaterine when Miles is courting her in A Civil Campaign, "Do you know all those old folk tales where the Count tries to get rid of his only daughter's unsuitable suitor by giving him three impossible tasks? ... Don't ever try that with Miles. Just don't."

He has a strong tendency to manipulate people and is very good at bluffing. The Dendarii Free Mercenaries, for instance, begin as pure imaginative figment, and through frantic improvisation he conceals his deception from his recruits; their accomplishments make real his invention. Despite the initial successes of this "lie first, fix later" strategy, it always makes for manic juggling of various falsehoods and stories, and it does eventually blow up in his face. For instance: first he is caught lying about his seizure disorder, and then the widow he loves is enraged when she discovers that he has been attempting to court her by stealth during her socially-recognized period of mourning.

In the course of a lengthy series, Miles has been allowed to grow and evolve in ways most fictional heroic action characters never do.

Miles is heterosexual, although he has a flirtation with Betan hermaphrodite Bel Thorne. His childhood love interest is Elena Bothari, the daughter of Sergeant Konstantin Bothari, but the feeling is not reciprocated. In the novel Cetaganda (1996), Miles has an unrequited crush on Rian Degtiar, the "Handmaiden of the Star Crèche" who later becomes an Empress of Cetaganda. As his alter ego, Admiral Naismith, Miles has relationships with Admiral Elli Quinn of the Dendarii Mercenaries and Taura, a sergeant of the same mercenary outfit who was originally created as a military experiment and later rescued by Miles in the short story "Labyrinth". In the long-term, Miles is looking for a wife who will become the future Lady Vorkosigan, a prospect that drives his non-Barrayar lovers away from him. Eventually he falls for and wins the love of Ekaterin Vorsoisson in the novel Komarr(1998).

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