Hassling-Ketling of Elgin

Ketling (Hassling-Ketling of Elgin) is a fictional character in Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel Fire in the Steppe, the third volume of his award-winning The Trilogy. A Scotsman, Ketling moved to Poland where he became a Colonel of Artillery in service of the king of Poland John Casimir. Ketling married Krystyna Drohojowska, a former fiancée of his friend, Michał Wołodyjowski. Ketling was killed in the Siege of Kamieniec Podolski, when he (together with Wołodyjowski) blew himself up in a gunpowder depot. The historical personality on which the character was loosely based was certain Major Heyking, a mercenary from Courland and the commander of the Kamieniec Fortress during the said war. In 1969 Jerzy Hoffman's film Ketling is portrayed by Jan Nowicki.