Red Rudy was a member of the Black Company, whose enlistment coincided with that of longtime friend, Big Bucket, in the northern city of Opal, along with Sparkle and Candles. He journeyed with the tiny group across the Sea of Torments aboard the gigantic imperial flagship known as The Dark Wings, making the trek south.
Shadow Games[]
Rudy is mentioned by name in Shadow Games only once, at the time of his enlistment. He must have played some role in building and training the legions that were raised by Croaker after the Company was hired by the Prahbrindrah Drah of Taglios to militarize his people against the attacking Shadowlanders. Rudy survived the Battle of Dejagore and escaped behind the walls of the city with the rest of the Company and Taglian survivors, only to face the siege that followed.
Bleak Seasons[]
Rudy next survived the subsequent notorious Siege of Dejagore. Some of his interactions during the siege were recorded by Murgen in the flashbacks of Bleak Seasons. He learned some spoken Jaicuri language, the Shadowlander tongue of that city. When the Company splintered into two factions, Rudy was a member of Murgen's Old Crew which fought against Mogaba and his rival Nar faction. He also interacted often with the Nyueng Bao De Duang, a group of foreign pilgrims who became allied with Murgen. Afterward, like the rest of the Old Crew, Rudy was continually shadowed by a loyal Nyueng Bao Path of the Sword bodyguard, though this swordsman's name was not recorded in the Annals.
She Is the Darkness[]
Rudy next participated in the final battles of the Shadowmaster wars in She Is the Darkness. He was part of the Company group which set up a camp near the Shadowgate. Rudy notified Murgen that the veteran Wobble and the newcomer Leadbeater had both been killed the night before by shadows, so that their names could be recorded in the Annals per the Company's centuries-long tradition.
Rudy was part of the group of about 50 people (including Croaker, Lady, Murgen, Big Bucket, Sindawe, et. al.) who crossed the Shadowgate and entered the glittering plain. He is mentioned by name in the Annals for the last time shortly before Soulcatcher sprung her trap on this group in Shivetya's fortress, and he became one of the Captured at the end of She Is the Darkness. He is not specified by name again in the Annals. There was a group of 13 individuals who died on the plain at the same time the Captured were imprisoned in the Cave of the Ancients, but later details strongly suggest Rudy was not among this group.
Subsequent events[]
Rudy was almost certainly among those saved by Sleepy at least 15 years later, in the 4-year gap between Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live. Though Rudy was not among the five rescued during the first wave of awakenings, he would have been liberated in one of Sleepy's later expeditions. Toward the end of Soldiers Live, Croaker mentions that only he (Croaker) and Lady remained alive of the Captured. If this is accurate, it meant that Rudy died – potentially of natural causes like Otto and Hagop, but also possibly during the large battles of the Protectorate war such as the Battle at the Shadowlander cemetery or the Siege of Taglios.