Simon Illyan

Simon Illyan is a fictional character in the Vorkosigan Saga science fiction novels by Lois McMaster Bujold.

In selecting Simon Illyan's name, Bujold paid homage to two 1960s television characters. His last name is from Illya Kuryakin, a character in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and his first from Simon Butcher, a character in The Wackiest Ship in the Army.

Illyan begins as an operative of Barrayaran Imperial Security Service - imperial intelligence and counter-intelligence agency. He has had a bioelectronic device implanted in his head: an eidetic memory chip that records everything he sees and hears and allows him to recall that information instantly. This was done on a whim by Barrayaran Emperor Ezar, after he learned that the technology had been recently invented on the planet Illyrica. Since most such implants produced schizophrenia or worse in their hosts, it is clear that Ezar regarded Illyan as expendable.

Illyan first appears in Shards of Honor as a lieutenant sent to keep an eye on Aral Vorkosigan, one of the story's main characters, on his mission to conquer the planet Escobar. Eventually becoming Vorkosigan's right-hand man, in Barrayar he achieved the station of BISS's head, following the death of previous incumbent, Captain Negri. Since then in-universe he is referred to as Captain Illyan.

With Barrayar in relative peace, Illyan was able to move ImpSec towards a more benign role on Barrayar while extending its reach to imperial conquered system of Komarr and beyond, though he had to deal with more than a few harrowing domestic events, such as the Yarrow Incident, in which "ImpSec" averted an assassination plot on Emperor Gregor Vorbarra.

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