# Prince Vassily Kurtsevich — With Fire and Sword character guide

> Prince Vassily Kurtsevich in With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Vassily, Prince Vassily, old Prince Vassily

**First appearance:** 0003-iv

## Snapshot

The blind old prince of the Kurtsevichi, whose helplessness before the Cossack rising leaves his niece Helena exposed to the violence sweeping the Ukraine.

## Who they are

Prince Vassily is the aged, sightless head of a noble house whose estates lie directly in the path of Hmelnitski's revolt. Unable to see or fight, he depends on the loyalty of others — and his niece Helena's fate becomes bound up with the men who ride to her defense. His frailty against the onrushing war embodies how the old order of the Borderlands is being destroyed, and his household's peril gives the novel's early action its urgent, personal stakes.

## In the story

### [Chapter XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/with_fire_and_sword_se/chapters/xviii)

Blind prince who enters holding a cross, speaking prophetically and terrifying the Cossacks into silence and prayer.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/with_fire_and_sword_se/characters/prince_vassily_kurtsevich
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/with_fire_and_sword_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/with_fire_and_sword_se/characters