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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:
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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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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?”
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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?
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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 Character Timeline in Six of Crows
The timeline below shows where the character Van Eck appears in Six of Crows. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3: Kaz
...from the desk, and based on his elaborate ruby pin, Kaz knows who this is: Van Eck . Van Eck tries to clean up the dirty and violent Barrel by securing men...
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Kaz asks, “what business,” which is how all meetings begin in Ketterdam. Van Eck says the Merchant Council has a proposition for Kaz. He goes through Kaz’s history—first arrested...
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Van Eck offers to give Kaz a pistol if Kaz will sit down, and Kaz promptly turns...
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Van Eck says it could be devastating if jurda parem becomes widespread: vaults and fortresses won’t be...
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Kaz asks why Van Eck has come to him and the Dregs, and Van Eck explains that Kaz doesn’t get...
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...as indentures after the Ravkan war ended. They didn’t realize they were basically entering slavery. Van Eck explains that the Healer tried to leave in a small boat, but she died trying...
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Chapter 4: Inej
...someone who jumped him. Then, he tells her to move the DeKappel they took from Van Eck into the vault and order Kaz a new hat. He says please only when she...
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Chapter 7: Matthias
...the others continue to argue about Wylan, Kaz says Wylan has another purpose: he’s Wylan Van Eck , their “insurance” to make sure Van Eck pays up.
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Chapter 8: Jesper
Upon hearing the revelation that Wylan is Van Eck ’s son, Jesper laughs. It all makes sense, and it’s fun to see Wylan’s embarrassment...
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Chapter 9: Kaz
...Kaz won’t chain him. Turning to Wylan, Kaz says he needs to know everything about Van Eck ’s shipping business—but to his surprise, he believes Wylan when Wylan insists he knows nothing.
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Chapter 17: Jesper
Jesper asks Inej what she knows about why Wylan left Van Eck ’s house. She doesn’t know much: he turned up near the Slat three months ago,...
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Chapter 23: Jesper
...tries to get Wylan to say why he left home, but Wylan says only that Van Eck used to take him everywhere. Finally, the Elderclock chimes and a guard brings a bucket...
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Chapter 42: Inej
...still have work to do. Then, he explains that they’ll send a runner to alert Van Eck , who will meet them on Vellgeluk, an island where slavers and smugglers conduct business—Van...
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Chapter 44: Jesper
...says, “Congratulations. Your country thanks you.” It makes Jesper feel strange, and they discuss whether Van Eck will haggle—Kaz told him Bo Yul-Bayur is dead and that they have Kuwei instead. He...
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...notes that the other boat is being repaired. They get to the island just as Van Eck ’s longboat reaches the other shore, and they walk toward the middle of the island...
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Chapter 45: Kaz
Kaz realizes that Van Eck isn’t working for the Merchant Council—he tricked Kaz, just like Jakob Hertzoon had years ago....
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Laughing bitterly, Van Eck says that Wylan was supposed to inherit one of the biggest shipping businesses in the...
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...Kaz notes that the real Kuwei might’ve been on the Ferolind. He agrees to tell Van Eck where Kuwei is if he lets the crew off the island with their money. Van...
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Van Eck ’s Grisha sweep him and the money off the island and onto the boat, and...
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Chapter 46: Pekka
Kaz tells Rollins briefly what happened, and Rollins suggests Kaz just hand over Kuwei to Van Eck . He says he won’t start a war with Van Eck or ally with Kaz...
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Rollins says he understands: Kaz wants Inej back and “a bit of Van Eck ’s hide.” But Kaz, in a way that gives Rollins chills, says he wants to...
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...pendant, and gold shoe buckles are also gone. He sighs that they should pray for Van Eck . Hopefully, Van Eck kills Kaz—otherwise, Rollins will have to.
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