One of the three central male protagonists, Mat begins the series as a mischievous, dice-rolling farmer from Emond's Field and ends it as one of the greatest military commanders in the history of the world - a fact he resents deeply and tries to avoid at every turn. Mat is a ta'veren, one of three people around whom the Pattern of the Wheel weaves especially tightly, and he is infused with the memories and skills of thousands of soldiers and generals from past ages, giving him an instinctive tactical genius he neither asked for nor wanted. He carries a spear called Ashandarei and wears a medallion that blocks the One Power. His relationship with Tuon, the Seanchan Daughter of the Nine Moons, is one of the series' most entertaining and complex dynamics. Mat provides most of the series' comic relief without ever being less than fully capable when it matters.