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[[File:merchant.png|frame|Curasias in [http://shapequest.deviantart.com/art/Shape-Quest-02-05-120721285 Shape Quest]]]
{{quote|
''When shadows pass gigantic on the sand,
''And softly though the silence beat the bells
''Along the Golden Road to Samarkand.
''By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:
''For lust of knowing what should not be known
''We make the Golden Journey to Samarkand.
|James Elroy Flecker, "The Golden Road to Samarkand"}}
An '''Intrepid Merchant''' is a merchant that goes to the far corners of his world, bravely seeking profit. He is a treasure-hunter but the treasure is not hidden, it is in the bazaar waiting for him after he has crossed the deserts, mountains, seas, or [[Recycled in Space|trackless gulfs of space.]] The chief characteristic of an Intrepid Merchant is that he is both a merchant and an adventurer. He buys and sells like any other trader. The difference is that he goes to far distant markets to find what he is looking for. (May be fond of being [[In
On the less salubrious side of things, this character type can overlap with being a [[Privateer]] or [[Pirate]] (where the risk is the original owner fighting back), a smuggler (where the risk is that you're trading illegally), or even a slave trader.
This trope is [[Older Than Feudalism]], dating back in poetry, folklore and history to at least [[Sinbad the Sailor]], continuing as a staple of adventure fiction until the present day, and finding its way into science-fiction almost as soon as the genre came into existence. It migrated to role-playing games, especially ''[[Traveller]]'', in which it is one of the main player character types. A common space subtrope of this would be the [[Space Trucker]]. Inevitably the Intrepid Trader found new territory to explore in computer games, appearing in ''[[Elite]]'', ''[[Wing Commander (
Intrepid Merchants were arguably the foundation of the world's economy, before easy transportation and communication made his kind irrelevant. They still exist in places like Central Asia in which transportation and communication are not easy.
When a whole culture has this as its [[Planet of Hats|Hat]], it is a [[Proud Merchant Race]] .
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Spice and Wolf]]'': Although the story begins when Holo the wolf goddess hitches a ride in the protagonist's cart, the series primarily follows a fairly ordinary medieval merchant, whose experiences manage to be interesting without seeming unrealistic, traveling company aside.
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== [[Fairy Tales]] ==
* In the ''[[
** Who was actually based on a real person - a ''Chinese'' sailor, and Muslim, who traveled as far as ''Venice'' to bring back goods to China - only to have his deeds dashed from all records of Chinese history.
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== [[Literature]] ==
* [[Poul Anderson]]'s [[Technic History]]: The Nicholas van Rijn stories. In one of these stories, van Rijn's protege David Falkayn quotes a poem (attributed to "Sanders," a pseudonym Anderson used sometimes) which describes this sort of character:
{{quote|
Who raced the wind around the world go reeling home again
With ivory, apes, and peacocks loaded, memories and brags
To sell for this high profit: knowing fully they are Men! }}
* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[Foundation]]'', a subculture of these arose as a [[Batman Gambit]] to help spread the [[Path of Inspiration]] the titular society used to control its neighbors. Hober Mallow became known as the "Merchant ''Prince''" for being successful
* Niccolo, the eponymous hero of one of [[Dorothy Dunnett]]'s series of novels.
* Phlebas the Phoenician from the ''The Waste Land'' by [[
* Leland Gaunt is an evil version in ''[[Needful Things]]''.
* One of Kipling's most beautiful passages is the beginning of "Ballad of The King's Jest". It describes the arrival of Caravans(or "Kafilas") in "The Market Square of Peshawar Town" and goes on from there to show two
** Mahbub Ali, an Afghan horse-trader in ''Kim''. Well, if his caravan is ambushed and shot at ''twice'' in one season, it's unusual, but not quite shocking.
* Silas Fennec in [[China Mieville]]'s ''[[
* The Free Traders of [[Andre Norton]]'s [[Science Fiction]]:
** The crew in the ''Moon Singer'' books.
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** This is what the titular organization pretends to be when on research expeditions in the ''[[Time Traders]]'' series.
* Menedemos and Sostratos in [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''[[Over the Wine Dark Sea]]''.
* In [[
** See also her ''Chanur'' series.
* Kylara Vatta of [[
* In ''Tales of the Alhambra'' Washington Irving describes [[Badass Spaniard|Spanish]] muleteers as this and tells how they risked hardship and banditry, as well as how they sang songs about ''contrabandistas''(smugglers)
* In the [[H. Rider Haggard]] stories [[Great White Hunter|Alan Quartermain]] did this as one of his occupations in his backstory, as well as prospecting and ivory hunting.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Jang Bogo of the Korean TV epic ''Emperor of the Sea'' might do. Of course he is a member of a whole ''tribe'' of Intrepid Merchants. Which brings up a point that this can be a narrative theme as well as a character.
* Mal and his crew from ''[[Firefly]]'', though due to the [[Used Future|harsh nature of the show]], they struggle just to make enough money to get by. "Intrepid" doesn't guarantee "successful".
* Cyrano Jones in ''[[Star Trek:
== [[Music]] ==
*"Caravanserai" by Lorena McKennit is about Middle Eastsrn Merchants
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[The Travels of Marco Polo
* Christopher Columbus started out this way but didn't find any markets, so instead decided to set a trend for the Conquistadors who came later.
* The caravan merchants of the Silk Road in Central Asia were a pretty brave bunch, given that killer sandstorms, greedy local nobles, and bandits were considered normal events along the trail. And that was a ''good'' year, when the [[The Horde|local nomads]] weren't on a spree.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In [[Traveller]] the players are often Free Traders, buying goods (sometimes the illegal kind) on one planet and selling them on another in an attempt to make their ship's mortgage payments.
* Rogue Traders in the ''[[Warhammer
* Most settings of ''[[Dungeons
** In ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' you don't know whether the next caravan will be raided by a dragon, Zhents or mere goblins. But a special mention must be given to "enterprising entrepreneur, Aurora the Eclectic", ex-adventurer and founder of all-goods retail chain with its ''[[Fictional Document|Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue]]''.
** Welcome to [[Memetic Mutation|Crazy Hassan's Used Camels]]!
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[
** Torneko later got his own [[Mysterious Dungeon]] series.
* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'': Welcome to O'akas!
** Also, Rin, the poster child for [[Adam Smith Hates Your Guts]].
* This is a playable class in ''[[Ragnarok Online]]''.
* Ali in the Koei simulation game ''[[
* In ''[[Elite]]'' in all its versions [[Player Character]] is one of these {{smallcaps|[[In Space]]}}
** The same for the [[Spiritual Successor|spiritual successors]] -- ''[[Wing Commander (
** This is the [[Planet of Hats|hat]] of the Teladi in the [[X (
* ''[[Suikoden Tierkreis]]'' has a whole race of them in the Wanderers. They even travel to different worlds in search of profit.
** Some of the series allows the player to get into it as well, buying commodities in one region and traveling to the other side of the world to sell it for profit.
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* [[Resident Evil 4|HELLO STRANGER! WHATTAYA BUYIN'?]]
* ''Taipan''
* There are several in ''[[Fallout 3]]'' - each one is a trader with a pack Brahmin and a bodyguard to take care of [[Shoplift and Die]] duties, and they are the only people aside from [[
* Roguelikes [[Nethack]] and Dungeon Crawl have shops ''inside the dungeon''; [[Angband]] merchants play it a little safer, hanging out only in the town atop the dungeon.
* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII-2]]'' has Chocolina, who follows Serah and Noel across ''different timelines''.
* Melnorme in ''[[Star Control]]''. Very useful especially when they come to save your butt if you get stranded in Hyperspace. However, if you do not have credits be prepared for an (un)fair exchange.
* From ''[[Resident Evil]]'':
** ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' has the Merchant. Possibly a Plagas infected, he nonetheless seems to be a decent guy trying to make a living selling weapons and upgrades. In fact, seeing as he always seems to be one step ahead of Leon, it is possible there is more than one Merchant.
** "The Duke" in ''[[Resident Evil Village]]'', a [[Big Fun]] fellow similar to the Merchant, implied to be an old friend of his. He somehow seems to have a shop in ''each'' of the four Lord's territories.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Curasias from ''[http://www.shapequest Shape Quest]''{{Dead link}} fits this trope perfectly, especially with his [
* Voltar from [[Crimson Flag]] tries to sell the heroes stuff, [http://crimsonflagcomic.com/comic.php?comicID=69 while they're chasing the bad guy.]
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Scrooge McDuck of ''[[
** He built a multi-''billion'' dollars [[Mega Corp]] thanks to his adventures, he's past the intrepid merchant: he's an intrepid ''mogul''.
* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] by ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'''s [[He Who Must Not Be Named|unnamed]] cabbage seller, who keeps moving around the world to get away from the violence that destroyed his ''last'' cart of wares, only to have the Gaang show up and plow through [[Fruit Cart|his cabbages]] once again.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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