Qarachar Noyan[note 1] (c.1166 – 1243/44 or 1255/56), also spelt Karachar, was a Mongol military commander under Genghis Khan as well as a paternal ancestor of Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire.
Though there is little mention of him in early sources, where he is only described as a military official, the link Qarachar provided between the old Mongol Empire and the Timurid dynasty was paramount to the latter's foundational history. His role and that of his relations were thus heavily expanded and potentially mythologised by Timurid court historians, who portrayed him as a hereditary supreme commander and administrator endowed with a unique intimacy with the ruling clan. This disparity in information results in the actual details regarding his life and position becoming matters of dispute among modern academics.
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