# The Akond of Swat — Nonsense Books character guide

> The Akond of Swat in Nonsense Books by Edward Lear.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Akond of Swat

**First appearance:** 0135-the-akond-of-swat

## Snapshot

A remote, unaccountable potentate whose habits, appearance, and even existence are debated by everyone who has never met him.

## Who they are

The Akond rules Swat from a distance so total that no one can agree whether he is thin or fat, young or old, alive or dead. The poem's chorus of speculation turns him into a mirror for the gossips who describe him. He matters because he is the book's purest joke about authority: a ruler whose only verifiable quality is that people cannot stop asking about him.

## In the story

### [The Akond of Swat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nonsense_books_se/chapters/the-akond-of-swat)

The enigmatic ruler whose identity and nature are endlessly questioned throughout the poem.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nonsense_books_se/characters/the_akond_of_swat
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nonsense_books_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/nonsense_books_se/characters