Almen Bunt is a farmer who meets Rand and Mat outside an inn called the Goose and Crown in Andor.
Appearance[]
He has a leathery face with masses of wrinkles. Half of his teeth are missing. He also has gnarled hands.
History[]
Almen Bunt had a wife named Adrinne. He planted a pair of walnut trees on the day they married. Her death had a lasting influence on Almen, and he often did things out of habit in the same way he did when she was alive.[1]
Activities[]
He transports Rand and Mat in his cart on the last leg of their journey to Caemlyn.[2] Bunt fills the reader in on several facts that become interesting background information, including information on Tigraine, Luc, and Taringail Damodred. Bunt also has a frank conversation with Raimun Holdwin on the kind of company he keeps even as an innkeeper, implying to Holdwin that he is doing something wrong.[3]
He decides to stay in Caemlyn to support Queen Morgase Trakand.[4]
Two years later, Almen meets Rand again on an apple orchard near the slopes of Dragonmount after the latter's epiphany. After watching the last hope for food for his village fall from the trees and die, Rand comes down the mountain and causes the apple trees to spontaneously bloom again. He then realizes that Rand is the Dragon Reborn.[1]
He is seen at the Field of Merrilor when Mat is showing how to make palisades before the Last Battle. Mat notes that his skin is "so leathery that Trolloc swords would bounce off." He has vague memories of Almen being "connected with a cart and a Fade." He is working with Renald Fanwar.