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Losadunai
A Western European tribe found in what is now Germany. They live near natural hot springs, which they use both recreationally and in spiritual practices. They are also known for discovering and using lye soap and coal (which they call ‘burning stones’). open/close all folders
In General
- Fantastic Honorifics: Amongst their people, shamans and healers are referred by the title losaduna.
- Theme Naming: Losadunai women commonly have names ending in "ia", when men tend to have names ending in "i".
Laduni
Laduni
Appears in: The Valley of Horses | The Plains of Passage
The leader of a Losadunai cave Ayla and Jondalar stay with; he's the mate of Laronia and father of Filonia.
- Berserk Button: He gets really worked up when Filonia mentions people having 'relations' with the Clan and children of mixed spirits, forbidding her from mentioning such 'filth'.
- Nice Guy: He's generally a pretty friendly and laid-back guy...unless you bring up the rather taboo subject of people being intimate with 'flatheads', whom he regards as nothing more than animals.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He is welcoming to Jondalar and Ayla, allows Ayla to try and help Madenia even though she's a virtual stranger and tries to keep the peace with Verdegia, while also attempting to deal with Charoli and his gang in a calm and rational manner.
- Supporting Leader: He's a supporting character in The Valley of Horses and The Plains of Passage, and is a leader of the Losadunai.
Filonia
Filonia
Appears in: The Valley of Horses | The Plains of Passage
The daughter of Laduni and Laronia and former flame of Thonolan. She later mates Daraldi and has a daughter, Thonolia.
- Amicable Exes: She has fond memories of Thonolan and named her daughter after him, believing Thonolia is a 'child of his spirit'. She's genuinely shocked and saddened when she learns Thonolan died.
- Friends with Benefits: With Thonolan for a brief time, when he and Jondalar stayed at her cave.
- Happily Married: To Daraldi.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: She isn't completely certain who the father of her daughter is, but Thonolan is the most likely candidate, which she also believes.
Thonolia
Thonolia
Appears in: The Plains of Passage
The daughter of Filonia and possibly Thonolan.
- Disappeared Dad: In the likely event that Thonolan was her father, she has never met him as he left before she was born and he later died. That being said, she was raised by her mother's mate Daraldi and regards him as 'the man of her hearth'.
- Someone to Remember Him By: Filonia is convinced that she was fathered by Thonolan during their brief fling, leading her and Jondalar to regard Thonolia as part of Thonolan he left in the world before passing away.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Upon seeing her for the first time, Jondalar remarks that she looks very similar to his sister Folara when she was her age, further proof that she is Thonolan's daughter (in this case, Folara would be her paternal aunt).
Losaduna
Losaduna
Appears in: The Valley of Horses | The Plains of Passage
A shaman of the Losadunai.
- Family Man: Despite the demands of his position, he still always makes time for his family and clearly loves his mate and children dearly.
- Happily Married: To Solandia.
- The Mentor: He acts as a bit of one to Ayla, teaching her several legends and a spiritual cleansing ritual.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: He's just called Losaduna, his title.
Solandia
Solandia
Appears in: The Valley of Horses | The Plains of Passage
The mate of Losaduna.
- The Medic: Losaduna mentions that despite not being an officially trained shaman herself, she picked up a lot of herblore and healing knowledge from him, to the point that she's actually more knowledgeable about it than he is.
- Understanding Boyfriend: Gender-flipped; she's an understanding wife to Losaduna. She is very patient and accepting of the many demands on him because of his status as One Who Serves the Mother, and takes an active interest in his work. It's mentioned that it's not terribly common for shamans to have lasting relationships because they don't have much time for mates and children, but Solandia and Losaduna are able to make it work.
Madenia
Madenia
Appears in: The Plains of Passage
A young Losadunai girl Ayla and Jondalar meet in The Plains of Passage, who has been left traumatized after being raped.
- Break the Cutie: She was an innocent and carefree girl before being raped, which left her completely traumatized. She starts getting better by the end of her subplot.
- Does Not Like Men: Justified; she doesn't so much dislike them as she is terrified of them due to being raped. She gets over this somewhat, even developing a crush on Jondalar.
- Germanic Depressive: She's from the area that eventually became Germany and is very depressed and withdrawn at first; it's completely justified as she suffered something deeply traumatic. She gets better.
- Heroic BSoD: She's introduced going through one due to having recently been raped, spending most of her time in bed and refusing to bathe. Ayla and Losaduna are able to coax her out of it.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is similar to 'maiden', with her storyline revolving around her attempt to cope with her innocence having been stolen from her.
- Misery Poker: Briefly comes up; when Ayla tells Madenia she understands how she feels because she herself was raped, Madenia stubbornly points out that Ayla was "only" raped by one man, as opposed to multiple men. Ayla gently counters that her rapist openly and repeatedly preyed on her for weeks and no one stopped him, which makes Madenia realize Ayla probably does know better than most how she feels.
- Precocious Crush: She's technically in her early teens rather than being a child, but she develops a small crush like this on Jondalar, especially after witnessing how tender and loving he is with Ayla, causing her to realize that not all men are violent and brutish, and that sex doesn't have to involve pain and humiliation.
- Rape as Drama: She was gang-raped by a group of delinquent youths, led by Charoli. Made even worse by the fact it was before she had even gone through First Rites and was a virgin. As a result, she refuses to have First Rites or have anything to do with men at all. Fortunately, Ayla and the cave's shaman help her come to terms with it and she decides to go through First Rites after all.
- Sex Is Evil: She develops an attitude like this, believing the Mother's Gift of Pleasure to be nothing but a cruel lie. Justified due to her trauma over being assaulted. Ayla is able to convince her that this isn't always the case and that sex can be a positive thing after all.
- Sleepy Depressive: Her trauma and depression over being raped manifests as her spending much of her time in bed; her own mother is unable to rouse her, and Ayla and Losaduna have to get firm in coaxing her out of bed to help her.
- Technical Virgin: Losaduna performs a ritual to drive out the evil of her rapists and declares that spiritually she is as she was before. Socially, she's still considered a virgin because she hadn't had her First Rites when the assault occurred (rape doesn't count to her people). The issue is that Madenia is now extremely apprehensive about having consensual sex given her first experience was so horrific.
Verdegia
Verdegia
Appears in: The Plains of Passage
Madenia's mother, who is incensed over what happened to her daughter.
- I Want Grand Kids: She is very vocal about this. One of the reasons she's so upset about what happened to Madenia (aside from her daughter being raped) is that Madenia now refuses to go through First Rites. It's believed that if she doesn't she will never have children, leading Verdegia to lament that her grandchildren "have been stolen before they were even born". The moment Madenia suggests she may be willing to have her Rites after all, Verdegia's already preparing for a future wedding.
- Jerkass: Downplayed. She's constantly complaining about something, is condescending, obnoxious and vengeful, and her attitude isn't exactly helping Madenia. But, considering what was done to her daughter, she's completely justified in being furious and wanting justice. She also has a point that Charoli and his gang need to be apprehended, pronto.
- Mama Bear: She's raises hell over Charoli and his gang raping her daughter, and outright states she wants Charoli dead for violating her.
Charoli
Charoli
Appears in: The Plains of Passage
The leader of a gang of young delinquents causing trouble in Losadunai territory.
- Asshole Victim: Fully deserves getting his nose broken by Jondalar, even though they weren't fighting anymore, due to his rape of Madenia and attempted rape of Yorga.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He's mentioned a handful of times in the second book as a local delinquent causing trouble. In the fourth book, he becomes a central character in the Losadunai subplot, when it's revealed he has escalated to committing sexual assault and comes into conflict with the protagonists.
- Jerkass: He's an arrogant troublemaker with no respect for authority at best, at worst a seemingly unrepentant rapist.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He spends a lot of time targeting 'flatheads' and women to torment...and gets taken down by two Neanderthals (including a woman) and a Cro-Magnon woman whilst attempting to assault the Clan woman.
- Nasal Trauma: Jondalar punches him in the face and breaks his nose, which he states was for what Charoli did to Madenia.
- Teens Are Monsters: He's implied to be in his mid to late teens and steals, starts fights and orchestrated a gang-rape on a young girl.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It's unknown what exactly happened to him after the fourth book, though it's implied he was eventually captured or turned himself in to be suitably punished by his cave.
- Would Hit a Girl: He took part in the rape of Madenia and it's implied encouraged and lead on the rest of his gang to hurt her, tries to rape Yorga and has little issue attacking Ayla when she defends Yorga and Guban (though he finds out the hard way that Ayla is more than capable of protecting herself).
