Stee Jans is a character in The Elfstones of Shannara. He is the leader of the legendary Free Corps, the shock unit of the Border Legion.
Biography[]
Stee Jans is known as the "Iron Man." He gained this reputation early in his career by being the only survivor of a group of twenty or so soldiers faced by an army of Gnomes.
Jans' reputation brings him to the battle against the Demons in the Westland, alongside the Druid Allanon, King Eventine Elessedil and Prince Ander Elessedil of the Elves, and the Elven and Troll armies assembled to do battle. With the death of Elven commander Kael Pindanon, Ander appoints Jans commander of the combined army.
Stee Jans is one of the few members of the Free Corps—just twelve out of an initial six hundred—to survive the War of the Forbidding. Before Jans' departure from Arborlon, Ander, who had become King of the Elves, offers him a command in the Elven army. Stee Jans doesn't accept the job but parts with Ander on good terms, returning to the Borderlands.
Legacy[]
Two years after the battle against the Demons, Jans is tasked with training young men to reform the Free Corps. Jans had hoped to be restored eventually to active duty after returning to the Borderlands, but the decimation of the Free Corps during the battle alongside the Elves had sullied his reputation, despite the Elves' ultimate victory.
It was during the training of his first cohort of recruits for a new Free Corps that Stee Jans met Garet Jax. Although Garet Jax was well below recruitment age, Jans allowed him to stay and train, seeing something special in Jax's determined, strong personality. In addition to the regular training all recruits received from Stee Jans, he trained Garet Jax one-on-one to help the boy learn to compensate for his lack of size and power.
Jax disappeared after his training was complete, grateful for Jans' guidance and instruction but ultimately deciding that the Free Corp wasn't for him. He did vow, however, to become a man as strong as Stee Jans, both mentally and physically. Later in his life, Garet Jax would become known as the Weapons Master, a famous solitary warrior. As the Weapons Master, Jax would save Jair Ohmsford from the Mord Wraiths and accompany Jair as his protector to Heaven's Well.
Centuries later, when the Four Lands are threatened by the Shadowen, the Border Legion has long been disbanded and it appears that no known trace of Stee Jans' bloodline remains. His greatest legacy, besides his crucial roles in the Elves' victory against the Demons, consists of his training of Garet Jax when Jax was still very young.
Physical Appearance[]
Stee Jans is described as a big, tall man, well over six feet tall and two hundred pounds. He has a weathered but young-looking face that is marked with many scars, some of which run through his light red beard to show streaks of white skin. He has shoulder-length, rust-colored hair which he keeps braided and tied. He wears a simple gold hoop in one ear, and part of the other ear is missing. He has hazel eyes and a stony gaze. By the time he is training recruits for a new Free Corps, his beard is beginning to show flecks of gray.