# Tom Lingard — Almayer’s Folly character guide

> Tom Lingard in Almayer’s Folly by Joseph Conrad.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Lingard, old Lingard, Captain Lingard, the Rajah Laut

**First appearance:** 0003-almayer-s-folly

## Snapshot

The legendary Rajah Laut, a sea-dog adventurer whose booming bargains and sudden fondness for young Almayer reshaped more than one life.

## Who they are

Lingard is the old sea king of the archipelago, a trader of titanic appetites who brawls over profits with Hudig and plucks Almayer from a clerk's stool to make him supercargo and, later, son-in-law. His affection for Almayer is imperious and unaccountable, and his habit of opening his heart on moonlit decks reveals both grand schemes and a strange tenderness for the pirate girl he raised. His vanished greatness hangs over Almayer's decline, the measure of what the white trader in Sambir once hoped to become.

## In the story

### [Chapter I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/almayer_s_folly_se/chapters/i)

Lingard is remembered in Almayer's flashback as the forceful patriarch who arranged Almayer's marriage and promised great wealth.

### [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/almayer_s_folly_se/chapters/ii)

Lingard is the absent patron who adopted Nina's mother, financed Almayer's venture, and disappeared after failed expeditions and a final letter from Europe.

### [The Parting](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/almayer_s_folly_se/chapters/x)

Recalled as the 'terrible old man' who took Nina from her mother years ago.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/almayer_s_folly_se/characters/tom_lingard
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/almayer_s_folly_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/almayer_s_folly_se/characters