Honestly people, if you haven't read the books, don't answer the polls. And look up the words you don't understand. Or possibly explain your answers. There were two, retarded, comments from Opportunist voters. One was to the effect that the respondant did not think of this as a bad thing - in which case, if opportunism is good, and Mat is an opportunist, one should logically choose Hero. Another person said that by the narrow and foreign standards under which he was raised, Mat could not be a good friend because he doesn't share his emotions with his friends, and this person was not raised in the same culture as RJ. Which makes him the equivalent of a born-again Christian who would say that Rand & Mat could not possibly count as Heroes because of the fornication and drunkeness both have indulged in.

In any event, an opportunist is someone who seizes on chances for personal advancement. Not even Egwene is what I would characterize as an "opportunist" and whether or not you admire such traits, she is the only one of the Two Rivers people with ANY concern for personal advancement. Even Egwene does not take this ambition to extent of the ravenous-jackal connotation of the word "opportunist." The closest definition of the term that fits Mat is someone who takes advantage of opportunities that arise. Which he does, as every character does, but it is hardly like he is constantly scamming and scheming and keeping his eyes peeled for the main chance. He actually goes out and does stuff, not simply waiting for an opening. If he identifies such an opening in the course of his actively working towards a goal, he will take advantage of it, but he does not do this with any notable frequency or skill.

In fact, Mat, more than most characters, does things the hard way. He keeps banging his head against the wall of the Pattern, and is the most insistant on going his own way and doing his own thing. As a matter of fact, it is this trait that make him a candidate for two other choices on the list - Loyal Friend or Hero. Mat is the one least inclined to be doing things for others or idealistically seeking the greater good, but when his friends are in trouble, he helps anyway. When a situation turns bad, he puts his own fun-loving butt on the line to rectify matters. Perrin, for example, does his duty because that is his inclination. Mat does it because it needs to be done or it's the right thing to do.

In Mat's shoes, an Opportunist would have seized on Talmanes & Nalsean's willingness to follow him in order to build his own army. He would eagerly have accepted Rand's offer of command of the army assembled to invade Illian, and sought to be given a title commensurate with his responsibilities. He would have worked at ingratiating himself with the sisters and Tylin in Ebou Dar, and the High Lords in Tear and the nobles of Cairhien. He would not have shrugged off the opportunity to learn where the Aiel get their raw gold from, because it would be too much work.

And what about learning that some friends have had an assassin sent after them. What kind of opportunist ignores the fact that three channelers should be able to handle a single swordsman, or would chase hundreds of miles after them, or wander the streets of one of the largest cities in the world looking for three women who are unknown to any inhabitants of that city, even after said swordsman had been dispatched. Or when learning that they had been captured and are being held prisoner in the most secure fortress in the world, would persist in finding a way to break in? But I can see why such actions, plus his willingness to follow Rand into the non-Aiel-killing ter'angreal in Rhuidean, acceptance responsibilities he loathes to help out Rand, or refusal to go back to her home with his wife, with whom he is in love, because his friends would be left in the lurch or enslaved, would disqualify Mat from being called a Loyal Friend.

And fighting the Shaido or the gholam are hardly the actions of a Hero. I think I begin to see their point.