The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness / Characters

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Warning: Spoilers below.

Main Characters

Torak

Torak is the protagonist of the series. He lives with his father in seclusion until a bear possessed by a demon kills his father. He meets Wolf and discovers that he can actually communicate with him, resulting in Wolf becoming Torak's "pack brother" and guide. During the quest to kill the demon bear, Torak learns that he's the prophesied Listener whose destiny is to take down the creators of the bear, the Soul Eaters. It is revealed in Spirit Walker that he is also a spirit walker, a creature whose spirits can leave his body and take over other bodies. He and Renn are initially enemies when they meet in the first book. However, they become friends, in later books best friends, and in the last few books they become more than friends. When the series begins, he is twelve years old, and by the end of Ghost Hunter, he is nearly sixteen.

Animal Eye Spy: The spirit walking power allows him to do this.
Back from the Dead: He falls to his death in Ghost Hunter, but Wolf guides his spirit back to his body.
Bad Powers, Good People: Being a spirit walker, he's a Body Snatcher. He's still a good guy and does his best not to hurt anyone.

Blessed with Suck: Spirit walking sounds awful.

The Chosen One: He is in Wolf Brother the Listener who is prophesied to end the demon bear's threat over the Forest. In Oath Breaker, it is revealed that the World Spirit decreed that he must fight to undo the evil of the Soul Eaters which his father had helped to create..

Color-Coded Eyes: His gray eyes resemble those of a wolf, characterizing him as highly competent and responsible in the Chosen One role.
The Exile: He's made an outcast in Outcast for having the Soul Eaters' symbol that was forcefully tattooed on him in the previous book. He manages to return to the clans at the end of the book by vanquishing Seshru and one of the Fire Opal pieces at the same time.
Eye Colour Change: After spirit-walking in trees in Oath Breaker, he gains tiny green flecks in his eyes. He loses them after the Thunderstar destroys much of the Forest, and regains them following the Rite that brings the First Tree back.
Fatal Flaw: It's when he gets impatient that he neglects to listen to others and acts without thinking things through. For example, his desire to have his revenge on Thiazzi in Oath Breaker leads him to leave Renn behind and inadvertently let her end up in the Oak Mage's clutches, and in Wolfbane, his desperation to end Naiginn's threat once and for all leads him to risk becoming outcasted again.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: In Skin Taker, Naiginn slits his cheek, leaving a visible scar there.

Ironic Name: Paver believed that Torak didn't mean anything, so she found it spooky to learn from an Inuit that it means in Greenlandic "perfect" — something our protagonist most definitely isn't.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He doesn't have people skills in the beginning of the series and tends to rub people the wrong way with his impulsivity and hotheadedness, but he's still noble-minded and protective of those he loves.
Last of His Kind: According to Durrain, all humans used to be spirit walkers, but Torak is the last one to ever exist.
Mark of Shame: When he's exiled by the clans in Outcast, he gains on his forehead a black circle so that everyone will know he's to be killed on sight. After this conviction is revoked, Fin-Kedinn divides the circle into four differently colored sections — green for the Forest, blue for the Sea, white for the Far North, and red for the Mountains — to make Torak belong to all the clans.
The Oath-Breaker: In Oath Breaker, Torak vows through his three souls to kill Thiazzi as revenge for Bale's murder. During the climax, he breaks his oath so that Thiazzi would let Renn go. While doing that is instrumental in allowing Bale to rest in peace, it's revealed in the next book that it possibly weakened the connection between Torak's three souls and made it easier for Eostra to make him a Lost One.

Power Trio: With Renn and Wolf.
Raised by Wolves: When he was a baby, he was given to a female wolf be taken care of until his father could take care of him by himself.
Scarily Competent Tracker: His father taught him tracking so well that he's the best tracker of the Forest. Fin-Kedinn states that Torak inherited this gift from his mother, and his father taught him to use it so that he'd be attentive of the surrounding Forest and wouldn't make the same mistakes Fa did in not listening to others.
Speaks Fluent Animal: Wolves, ravens and bears! Oh my!
The Stateless: It's revealed in Outcast that he's not truly a member of the Wolf Clan or any other clan. His mother declared him clanless because (as it turns out in Oath Breaker) the World Spirit didn't want any clan to grow more powerful than the others by having a spirit walker on their side. After Torak is accepted back by the clans, Fin-Kedinn alters his outcast tattoo so that it has the colors of the Forest, Sea, Ice and Mountain clans to mark him as a member of all the clans.
Sympathy for the Devil: Torak hates most of the Soul Eaters, but he pities Nef after learning that she tried to commit suicide after her son's death and was saved by Fa. Before freeing the sacrifices, he tries to make her see the error of her ways, and after she sacrifices herself, he cries for her.
Tall, Dark, and Handsome: In Outcast, he grows into this.
The Teetotaler: Viper's Daughter states that he avoids intoxicating drinks because they grow the risk of making his souls wander.
Two Guys and a Girl: With Bale and Renn in Outcast.

Renn

Renn is Torak's best friend, and later becomes his mate (Stone Age word for lover/girlfriend/wife). She has a very strong sense of justice and right and wrong. Like Torak, she has a very short temper, but unlike him, she is extremely rational and thinks before she acts. She is very tough, and purposely prickly, as she lost her parents at a young age. She can be very secretive. She is the best archer in the Raven Clan, and she is a very talented Mage, although she hates to use Magecraft. She is Fin-Kedinn's niece and his favorite person in the Clan. At the start of the series, she is twelve, and by the end of Ghost Hunter, she is nearly sixteen.

All of the Other Reindeer: The rest of the Raven Clan generally avoid her because of her strange eyes and dreams that come true. They only tolerate her because she is Fin-Kedinn's niece, and Fin-Kedinn is the clan's leader.
Alpha Bitch: Only in the first half of Wolf Brother.
Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Torak. Also to a much, much lesser degree, with Bale, but only in Outcast.
Black Eyes of Evil: Inverted. Renn's eyes are dark almost to the point of blackness, leading to most of her clan being wary of her. She's still a heroic soul.
Cain and Abel: Her jerkish big brother Hord eventually disowns and strikes her in Wolf Brother, but he perishes before their relationship can get any more sour. However, the Big Bad of the last three books, Renn's estranged half-brother Naiginn, has every intention of killing her once he realizes he can free himself from Seshru's charm without Renn's help.

Doom Magnet: Not to herself, but to the people she cares about. Dyrati straight out says her to be this in Outcast.
Fiery Redhead: Spirits help you if you get on this redheaded heroine's bad side.
Friendless Background: Torak and Wolf are the first real friends she has made.

Insufferable Genius: In Wolf Brother and Soul Eater, especially.
Master Archer: She's probably the best archer in the Forest.
Nephewism: Her mother is evil and on the run, and her father died when she was seven years old, so her uncle Fin-Kedinn took her under his wing.

Power Tattoo: In Soul Eater, she gets lightning-bolt tattoos on her arms to protect herself from demons, especially when doing Magecraft.
Power Trio: With Torak and Wolf.

Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Renn goes more than once against the wishes of Fin-Kedinn and Saeunn in order to help Torak out, especially in Outcast when Torak is an outcast who cannot be helped by anyone who doesn't want to be outcasted as well.

Two Guys and a Girl: With Torak and Bale in Outcast.

Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She is strongly averse to going to an ice river in Wolf Brother because her father died while traveling on one.

Wolf

Torak finds Wolf when he is a cub and has lost his family to a flood. Torak realizes that he can communicate with Wolf, and Wolf becomes his "pack-brother". Wolf eventually finds a mate, Darkfur, and has cubs with her. Wolf initially dislikes Renn, and does not warm up to her until the second or third book. After that, he likes her nearly as much as he likes Torak, even calling her "pack-sister" while talking to Torak. Wolf is very loyal and does not leave his friends behind.

Canine Companion: This wolf is Torak's guide and faithful pack-brother.

A Dog Named "Dog": A wolf named Wolf. Torak was recently orphaned when he named him and presumably wasn't in a good state of mind to come up with something more imaginative.
Noble Wolf: A pack oriented wolf. He is loyal to his pack (wolf or otherwise), mate, children, and friends.
Non-Human Sidekick: A wolf for Torak, a human.
Outliving One's Offspring: Of his and Darkfur's first three cubs, only Pebble is alive. Click dies out of sickness one moon before Ghost Hunter, while Shadow is killed by Eostra's eagle owl. In Skin Taker, two more of their cubs, Blackpaw and Tug, are killed when the Thunderstar strikes.
Papa Wolf: In Oath Breaker, he literally becomes this after mating with Darkfur. And he's just as protective of his cubs just as much as he's protective of his friends.
Power Trio: With Torak and Renn.
Trademark Favorite Food: Lingonberries which Renn regularly feeds him.

Fin-Kedinn

Fin-Kedinn is the Leader of the Raven Clan. He was the older brother of Renn's father, and took care of Renn after her father died. In fact, he made her bow and taught her to shoot. He is initially wary of Torak but lets him live with the Raven Clan and gradually warms up to him. He was once best friends with Torak's father. He eventually becomes Torak's foster-father, which is a great honor.

Badass Normal: In a story mainly about Mages, he has no powers at all. This does not make him any less awesome.
Cool Old Guy: Possibly subverted. He is by the start of the series nearly forty summers old, but he's described as getting old in later books. However, people died younger 6000 years ago, so Fin-Kedinn could be considered old.
Death Glare: He has piercing blue eyes which he can use to silence just about anyone with just one look.
Doom Magnet: Pretty much everyone he loves dies and/or somehow gets tangled with the Soul Eaters. His friends Fa and Tenris and sister-in-law Seshru join the Soul Eaters and die; his brother as well as his nephew Hord are killed in an avalanche; his friend Oslak is killed by Tenris' plague; the woman he loves dies in childbirth, and his entire clan suffers from an unnatural plague two times. Narrander is about the only friend he has who doesn't die, not that that's any comfort.
Fiery Red Head: Zig-zagged. He's redheaded like his niece and nephew, and he was described to have a fiery temper when he was younger. He has nerves of steel nowadays, but when he gets angry, beware.
The First Cut Is the Deepest: He used to have a crush on Torak's mom. He handles it pretty well, but never fully gets over it. It ruined the promising relationship he had with a woman from the Wolf Clan.
Handicapped Badass: His leg is injured by the demon bear, forcing him to walk with a staff for the rest of the series. That doesn't make him any less intimidating or resolute.
Icy Blue Eyes: The stoical chieftain has hard blue eyes.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: Averted for the majorty of the series despite some close calls, but then played straight in the Grand Finale to finish off Naiginn once and for all, which leads to Dark being chosen as the new Raven Leader.
My Greatest Failure: He denied shelter from Torak's parents out of anger and jealousy, and never saw them again. He confesses that he possibly caused the death of Torak's mother this way.
Papa Wolf: Towards his niece. He also grows protective of Torak. In Outcast, he's sad that Torak is banished, but goes along with it. At the book's end, however, when the clans are about to kill Torak while wrongfully blaming him for the flood, Fin-Kedinn suddenly takes Torak as his foster-son and says that if the clansmen want to kill Torak, they have to kill him first.
Parental Substitute: He has taken care of Renn and Hord since their father's death. He also becomes one to Torak to the point that he fosters him in Outcast. Dark also admits in Skin Taker that he wishes Fin-Kedinn were his father.
Secret-Keeper: It's revealed in Ghost Hunter that he knew the Walker is the Soul Eater Narrander who supposedly died in the Great Fire, but he had sworn to keep this a secret.

The Stoic: The Raven Leader doesn't easily show emotion or reveal his thoughts.
Two Guys and a Girl: With Torak's parents years before the events of the series.
Unbalanced By Rival's Kid: It takes him a really long time to warm up to Torak, insofar as he ever does.
We Used to Be Friends: Torak's father was his best friend until the Soul Eaters came along. Same thing with Tenris. He also refers to the Walker as an old friend, but their current relationship can hardly be called friendship.
Wound That Will Not Heal: The demon bear scars his left thigh during the first book, forcing him to walk with a staff for the rest of the series. By the time of the final books, the scar has kept getting more painful despite Renn and Dark's efforts, and the Walker assesses that Fin-Kedinn's marrow is being eaten and he will be rendered unable to walk. After Fin-Kedinn dies, Torak sees through Wolf's eyes his spirit walking without the scar paining him anymore.

SPOILER CHARACTER

Naiginn

Naiginn is a young hunter from the Narwal Clan, the son of their Mage Marupai, and the best hunter of the Far North. In Viper's Daughter, he meets Renn and becomes her guide in her quest to seek a solution to her strange secret desire to kill Torak. He is one year younger than either of them. He's eventually revealed to be in reality the son of Seshru and Tenris who was used by the former as a vessel to an ice demon immediately after birth, making him a grown-up tokoroth as well as Renn's half-brother and Torak's cousin. Wanting to be released from the spell that hides his demonic nature but also binds him, he tricks Renn into thinking she's subconsciously trying to hurt Torak so that he can capture her and force her to break the spell that can be undone only by Seshru's kin in the ice cave on the Island at the Edge of the World where he was born. After that fails, he makes his way into the Deep Forest, and after the Thunderstar strikes in Skin Taker, he unites several surviving clans as the "Chosen Ones" who make him their leader. After he's thwarted again, he hunts down Wolf in Wolfbane in order to eat his souls under the belief this will release him from his mortal body.

Ax-Crazy: Though he's able to hide it when he wants to, he's a bloodthirsty monster who'd devour every living creature's souls if he could.
Big Bad: He's the antagonist of the three last books which take place after the demise of the Soul Eaters.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He's first portrayed to be more friendly than the rest of the prideful and misogynistic Narwal Clan, but it's all lies.
Cain and Abel: Though it is in his interests to keep his half-sister Renn alive, there is no doubt in her mind that he'll kill her once she has freed him of Seshru's charm. Once he discovers another way to do that, all bets are off.
Carry a Big Stick: In Skin Taker, he uses a club studded with bear teeth.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
- The Soul Eaters were mages, but Naiginn can't do Magecraft, so Renn is able to use his lack of knowledge regarding the subject against him. Instead, he's first and foremost a hunter like Torak. He's only one year younger than Torak and Renn, whereas the Soul Eaters were much older than them. He's also more of a one-dimensional villain who has no other motives than destroying everything in his path, while the Soul Eaters were more rounded villains.
- The bear from the first book was possessed by a demon like Naiginn, but while the bear was a rampaging beast and open about its demonic nature, Naiginn's demon nature is hidden by a spell, and he has the cunningness to appear friendly.
Demonic Possession: Naiginn is actually an ice demon trapped inside a human body, which Seshru birthed only to use her own infant as the demon's vessel.
Even Evil Can Be Loved: His stepfather Marupai loves him fiercely, and dies trying to save him at the Island at the Edge of the World.
Evil All Along: He appears friendly and helpful at first, but he's revealed to be monstrous half-way of Viper's Daughter.
Evil Counterpart: He's the demon-offspring Seshru tried to create out of Naiginn's half-sister Renn but failed thanks to Saeunn. And like his cousin Torak who's the best tracker of the Forest, Naiginn is the best hunter of the Far North. As Torak grows desperate to protect Wolf from Naiginn in Wolfbane, he's warned not to take up his cousin's ruthlessness.
Evil Plan:
- In Viper's Daughter, his goal is to take Renn to the Island at the Edge of the World and force her to undo the masking spell Seshru cast on him so that he can feed on the souls of the living.
- His ultimate goal in Wolfbane is to finally break Seshru's charm by hunting down Wolf and eating his brains.
Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: He's unusually handsome for an inhabitant of the Far North. He inherited his good looks from Seshru and Tenris who were both attractive Soul Eaters, and since he's a demon in human skin, this trope is played quite literally.
Facial Horror: He gets burns on his face at the end of Viper's Daughter.
Flat Character: His only motivation is to be free to destroy all life. By contrast, the Soul Eaters were more rounded villains who believed themselves to be right with their villainous actions. Justified because like the rest of the demons, Naiginn lacks a sense of right and wrong as well as all other feelings than hatred towards all living things and hunger to destroy.
Gaslighting: He causes various accidents that lead to Renn believing she's subconsciously trying to hurt Torak, prompting her to begin her journey to the Far North and find a solution to this problem.
Generation Xerox: Like his birthfather Tenris, Naiginn is a member of a proud clan that lives in a close connection to the Sea and has a marine mammal as their totem, gets a part of his face burned, is a skilled manipulator, gets a position as a trusted religious figure, and tries to take Torak's power for himself by eating his body part.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: In Viper's Daughter, he gets a part of his face burned, and he starts acting even more vile in his later appearances.
Icy Blue Eyes: He has light-blue eyes that reflect his nature as an ice demon as well as Seshru and Tenris' son.

Love Is a Weakness: He despises love because he views it as an exploitable weakness.
Manipulative Bastard: He has his parents' manipulative skills. In Viper's Daughter, he gaslights Renn into leaving alone to the Far North, and in Skin Taker, he manipulates several Deep Forest clans into turning on their leaders and mages, uniting as Chosen Ones, and making him their Great Leader who keeps them safe from the nonexistent Skin-Takers.
Master Poisoner: Like his parents, he's skilled at using poisons and drugs.
Might Makes Right: His thoughts reveal that he views Fin-Kedinn as a weakling for leading the Raven Clan through persuasion instead of force.
Muggle Born of Mages: Despite being the son of two Soul Eaters and the stepson of the Narwal Mage, Naiginn cannot do Magecraft himself. That's why he needs Renn to undo their mother's charm.
Narcissist: This handsome young hunter is overly vain and believes behind his fake niceness himself to be stronger and smarter than everyone else. He refuses to admit making mistakes, and after he gets scarred by Torak, he seeks to have revenge by scarring Torak in return. He inherited his vanity from Seshru, though it is also a part of his demonic nature to regard all living things to be inferior to himself.
Naiginn: There's nothing wrong with me, I'm more perfect than you'll ever grasp!
Neat Freak: He takes much longer than Torak to clean his clothes out of respect for the Sea Mother. When Renn purposefully gets herself smeared with bird droppings, Naiginn is furious because of the stench and spends ages cleaning his clothes of a slight dropping spatter.
Never Found the Body: In Viper's Daughter, he's last seen staggering through volcanic smoke before he's apparently destroyed by a mammoth's spirit. However, as a dream version of Seshru points out to Renn, the heroes never actually saw his death or body. Against everyone's expectations, he returns in Skin Taker.
Picky Eater: He prefers eating his food raw or rotten, particularly the brains, tongues and eyes, and he doesn't like green food. In Skin Taker, he has started eating the brains of living creatures because that weakens the spell binding him.
Poisoned Weapons: He uses arrows and a harpoon poisoned with wolfbane.
Sadist: He revels in being feared. In Skin Taker, he plans to subject Torak to Cold-Blooded Torture and pauses when Torak faints out because he doesn't find it satisfying to mutilate a prisoner who can't experience the painful process. In the climax of Wolfbane, he plans to let Torak, who's rendered immobile by wolfbane, watch him kill Wolf.
Smug Snake: Like his mother, he's clever and manipulative as well as vain and arrogant.
Soul Eating: Like all demons, he desires to feast on the souls of the living, but thanks to Seshru's charm, he has to settle for the shreds of souls clinging to the eyes, tongues and brains of dead creatures. By the time of Skin Taker, he has discovered that by eating the brains of still living creatures, he can feast on souls and weaken the charm.
The Unblinking: One of the first oddities Torak notes about Naiginn is that the latter rarely blinks.
Walking Spoiler: Hardly anything can be told about him without revealing his demonic nature and relation to the heroes.

Soul Eaters

Tropes that apply to all of them

A group of mages from different clans and the primary antagonists of the series. They were formed by seven mages thirteen years before the start of the series and were originally known as the Healers. At first they helped the clans by curing the sick and driving away evil spirits. However, the majority of them were corrupted by their ambitions, and now they aspire to rule the Forest and other areas presented in the series. Torak's father fought against them and forced them to go into hiding. Following his death, Torak's quest to destroy the demon bear expands into his destiny to destroy the bear's creators, the Soul Eaters.

Ambition Is Evil: Their desire to control everything and everyone is a threat to the balance of life.
Bad People Abuse Animals: The Soul Eaters don't follow the rules of properly respecting the prey. In Spirit Walker and Soul Eater, they kill predators to acquire certain body parts and leave the rest to rot. The Crippled Wanderer traps an elemental in a bear's body, and in Ghost Hunter, Eostra has corrupted a pack of dogs into her bloodthirsty minions. Thiazzi in particular enjoys torturing Wolf and the other caught predators in Soul Eater and slowly killing others with fire in Oath Breaker. The only one who has reserves in animal cruelty is Nef who also pulls a Heel–Face Turn.
Devil's Pitchfork: They adopted as their symbol the three-pronged fork, a healer's tool used to snare souls of sick people. They each have it tattooed on their chests, and the fork is remembered as a symbol of great evil. The clan laws state that merely having the tattoo is enough a reason to get exiled from the clans, as is done to Torak in Outcast.
The Dreaded: Though they've been undercover for over a decade, their legacy hasn't been forgotten. The clan laws decree that those who want to join them or merely have their symbol tattooed on their skin are to be exiled.
Evil Sorcerer: They are talented mages who use their gifts for evil purposes.
Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Four particular Soul Eaters who each have a book in which they function as the main antagonist can be compared to the Four Horsemen by their personal attributes and the plots of the books.
- The Crippled Wanderer (Tenris) is Pestilence (an alternative interpretation of Conquest); the sickness he created and had his tokoroths spread is the driving plot point of Spirit Walker. In addition to that, the demon bear he created runs rampage across the Forest and grows more powerful in Wolf Brother. (If the bear hadn't been killed before the zenith of the Great Auroch's red eye, it would have become invincible.) Tenris has also won the complete trust of the Sea clans over the years, making him the real authority figure of the Seal Islands.
- Thiazzi is War; not only he's the strongest man of the Forest and the most violent Soul Eater, but in Oath Breaker, he drives the Deep Forest clans into warring among each other, and then he unites both sides and nearly leads them into an open war against the Open Forest clans.
- Seshru is Famine; in Outcast she causes Lake Axehead to gradually dry and grow sick with deformed and inedible fish (only the latter act is her doing), which are the main food source of the Otter Clan. She also stirs a metaphorical famine in Torak by making him lose his skills and knowledge through soul-sickness.
- Eostra is Death; she has always been obsessed with the secrets of the dead and even resembles a corpse. In her youth, she resurrected a boy, and in Ghost Hunter, she summons the spirits of the deceased Soul Eaters.
Knight Templar: Paver states that the Soul Eaters believe they're doing the right thing, not evil.
Mark of the Beast: Every Soul Eater has tattooed on their chest a trident that represents the tool they use to snare stray souls. Even cutting it out will not remove the magic, as Torak finds out in Outcast; neutralizing the tattoo's magic requires a very specific ritual.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Several of them claim that they know what the World Spirit wants and are trying to set things right by oppressing the clans under their guidance. No one is fooled by this self-serving self-righteousness. Nef is the only one who is a genuine Well-Intentioned Extremist.
Noun Verber: Even if you don't actually eat souls, the title is pretty intimidating.
Thiazzi: Soul-Eaters, they call us.
Nef: A foolish name.
Seshru: But useful, if it keeps them in fear.
Religion of Evil: They aspire to unite the clans and put an end to their different rituals and customs, claiming them to anger the World Spirit.
Torak: …the clans rule themselves.
Nef: Much good it does them. Have you never asked yourself why the World Spirit is so fickle, so unpredictable? Why does it send the prey at some times, but not others? Why does it kill one child with sickness, but spare another? Because the clans don't live as they should!
Thiazzi: They have different ways of sacrificing, of sending their Dead on the Journey. This displeases the World Spirit.
Nef: There's no order to it.
Thiazzi: We know the true way. We will show them.
Resignations Not Accepted:
- Torak's father and Narrander were not allowed to resign following the Healers' corruption, mostly because Narrander was blackmailed. Attempts to destroy the organization and fake the characters' deaths were made, with varying levels of success.
- In Ghost Hunter, not even literally dying can get the characters who want out out.
Take Over the World: Their collective goal is to oppress all the clans under their rule. To that end, they attempt to use demons and keep the clans in line through fear.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In Soul Eater, Nef collaborates with Thiazzi and Seshru, but she has some minor clashes with them both due to Thiazzi's sadistic tendencies and Seshru's contemptuousness. Averted between Thiazzi and Seshru who seem to get along reasonably well together, but their relationship becomes more strained due to them being incompletely protected from the influence of the demons they released but are unable to control without the Fire Opal. As for Eostra, the three aforementioned Soul Eaters follow her will out of fear.
Would Hurt a Child: They practice the dark art of creating tokoroths, demonic underlings that are created by trapping demons inside the bodies of very young children.

The Crippled Wanderer/Tenris

The first named Soul Eater. He started the first book's plot by creating the demon bear in order to destroy Torak's father.

Ambition Is Evil: It's revealed that since he was a child, he has always wanted power to dominate others more than anything else.
Animal Motifs: He's a dark comparison to the cute-looking predator seal; Tenris is outwardly friendly and charismatic, but at his heart he's ruthless and power-hungry.
Arc Villain: The one responsible for the events of the first two books.
Becoming the Mask: At the end, it's speculated that while it was a pose to get Torak to trust him, he did genuinely come to care for his nephew on some level, with the Seal Clan leader remarking that probably not even he knew whether his fondness was genuine.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: He killed Bale's little brother while casually experimenting with the "disease", which he didn't even know how he was going to use yet.
Cain and Abel: He's the older brother of Torak's father by two years. He kills his younger brother indirectly by creating the demon bear which does the dirty work.
Color-Coded Eyes: Grey, which is symbolic of his Lack of Empathy and his kinship to Torak's father and Torak.
Compelling Voice: Tenris' voice is described to be magnificent like the Sea; smooth-flowing and low-pitched, yet with an undertow of great power. It amplifies his charisma and makes other characters compelled to trust him.
Evil All Along: He's first presented as the Seal Mage who's friendly towards Torak and agrees to help him create a cure to the plague, but he turns out to be a Soul Eater as well as the creator of the plague and the demon bear.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He can't digest the idea that the gift of being a spirit walker has been given to a boy who doesn't even want it.
Evil Counterpart: Both to Torak's father (his younger brother) and Fin-Kedinn (his childhood friend). Like the former, he was devoted to Magecraft in his childhood, but while Torak's father wanted to learn about the world and help people with his talents, Tenris has always wanted power to dominate others. These opposing motives were their reasons for joining the Healers (the future Soul Eaters). Both are also skilled in remaining beneath notice and covering their tracks. Like Fin-Kedinn, Tenris is a highly influential man in his clan and the region they live in, even though they're scarred/injured. While Tenris plays nice with Torak, the boy considers him to be a more friendly and less distant version of Fin-Kedinn, but he's ultimately proven to be much more heartless and dishonorable. Both of them have lost a brother, but while Fin-Kedinn takes care of his brother's children Renn and Hord, Tenris tries to kill for power his nephew Torak whom Fin-Kedinn eventually adopts.
Evil Cripple: He's said to have been crippled in an accident that happened during a hunting trip. It's subverted because while he's horribly scarred, he only pretended to be crippled in order to make it easier to infiltrate the Red Deer Clan.
Evil Is Not a Toy: By using a Fire Opal fragment, he was able to conjure from the Otherworld an elemental, the strongest type of demons, and trap it inside a bear's body. However, he could not control the freshly created monstrosity. Seshru comments later on how foolish Tenris was to create something too powerful to control.
Seshru: The mistake others made in the past was to overreach themselves. Our brother who is lost summoned an elemental and trapped it in a great bear. Of course he couldn't control it. It was a magnificent madness.
Evil Uncle: He's revealed to be the brother of Torak's father. This makes his act of betraying Torak all the more terrible blow for the boy.
Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: The unburnt part of Tenris' face is handsome.
Face-Revealing Turn: His first meeting with Torak has him keeping his head turned and revealing the burned side of his face a moment later. However, this happens long before Tenris reveals his true nature to the boy.
Facial Horror: The left side of his face is covered with burns he received from the Great Fire.
Faux Affably Evil: He's highly charismatic and well-spoken, yet ruthless and power-hungry to the point of trying to kill his own nephew for power.
Greater-Scope Villain: Though he doesn't appear in Wolf Brother, his act of creating the demon bear is the reason the plot of the first book (and the entire series) begins.
I'm a Humanitarian: He tries to eat Torak's heart in order to gain his spirit walker powers.
Karmic Death: He's killed by a killer whale for killing its offspring.
Large Ham: Towards the end of Spirit Walker. Before that, he keeps a low profile.
Manipulative Bastard: He manipulated Hord to help him in the creation of the demon bear, and he has the trust of his entire clan. He also manages to make Torak trust him completely.
Master Poisoner: He created the sickness that tears the victim's souls apart, driving them to madness and eventual death. He spreads this in Spirit Walker by poisoning juniper berries. According to himself, there isn't much what he wouldn't know about poisons.
Mr. Exposition: After being told about Torak's strange experiences with spirit walking, Tenris is the one who reveals to Torak and the reader that the boy is a spirit walker.
The Mole: He pretends to be interested in helping Torak find a cure for the disease he created.
Plaguemaster: He's responsible for the plague that kicks off the plot of Spirit Walker.
Scars Are Forever: The entire left side of his body (at least his face, torso and arm) have suffered serious burns from the Great Fire.
Sibling Murder: He gets his brother, Torak's father, killed through the demon bear he created.
The Sociopath: He's a highly charismatic manipulator capable of feigning affection, but he's actually so cold he doesn't care about the humans and animals he gets killed or hurt, nor about the emotional pain he leaves in his wake. Not even his own brother and nephew are safe from him. He desires power and control before anything else and was like that even in his youth.
Starter Villain: The main villain of the first two books. It's not until after his death we get introduced to the other Soul Eaters.
Treacherous Advisor: In Spirit Walker, he acts like a kindly mentor figure to Torak (who even compares him to Fin-Kedinn) whom he pretends to help make a cure for the disease Tenris himself is responsible for.
Two-Faced: His face's right side is handsome in a sharp-boned way, but the entire left side of his head (excluding his mouth) is hairless and mottled pink due to the burns received from the Great Fire.
Villain Has a Point: When Tenris puts Torak to work with the Seal boys he doesn't like, he tells the irritated boy that he should care about earning the trust of his kin, which Torak admits to be ture. After all, they couldn't otherwise work together to retrieve the faux cure ingredient.
Villain with Good Publicity: He's the well-respected Mage of the Seal Clan, and none of them have any idea of his membership to the Soul Eaters or that the plague that killed four of them was his creation.
Walking Spoiler: He doesn't appear until the second book, and it's not until the climax that he's revealed to have been Tenris all along.
We Used to Be Friends: He used to be a great friend of Fin-Kedinn until he failed to become the mage of his clan. He then left and never saw Fin-Kedinn again even after joining the Healers.
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: A Soul Eater in the disguise of a helpful Seal Clan Mage.

Nef

Nef is the Bat Mage with bowlegs and swift wits. She makes her only major appearance in Soul Eater, where she helps Thiazzi, Seshru and Eostra with their new attempt to gain power. She's the most awkward and out of place among the antagonistic Soul Eaters and the least malevolent of them. Many years before, her son died, and she tried to kill herself, but Torak's father saved her.

Affably Evil: Nef is a bit gruff and does atrocities as a Soul Eater, but she doesn't revel in needless sadism, treats her pet bat affectionately, gives Torak some helpful advice, and repays her debt to a dead man by giving up her own life.
Anti-Villain: A mix of the Woobie Anti-Villain and Well-Intentioned Anti-Villain types. While she helps the other Soul Eaters sacrifice predators (which is forbidden by the clans' laws) in order to take control over demons and brings in a White Fox boy (whom Torak impersonates) to sacrifice him as well, she doesn't like needless cruelty and Thiazzi's sadism. She believes that the World Spirit lets some prosper and others die early (like her own son) because the clans don't live like they should and that the Soul Eaters can unite all the clans for their own good. She's also sorry for being unable to repay Torak's father for preventing her suicide until at the end of Soul Eater.
Bat Out of Hell: Subverted. She's a member of the Bat Clan, and she has a living bat as a totem. However, Nef is the least evil Soul Eater presented in the series (when you discount Torak's father and the Walker), and her bat isn't malicious in the slightest. It even takes a liking to Torak.
Believing Their Own Lies: She says that everything the Soul Eaters do is ultimately for the greater good, but Torak and Wolf sense her insecurities. At one point, she looks at her bloody hands and mutters to herself that she must remain strong, as if trying to retain her resolve.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Tenris. Tenris acts as a friendly ally towards Torak for most of Spirit Walker until he reveals himself to be utterly ruthless and responsible for the death Torak's father. Nef is presented as an antagonist right from the start (with Torak deceiving her by impersonating the White Fox boy the Soul Eaters intend to sacrifice), but she shows herself to have a kinder side than her allies. Tenris craves power at the expense of others, but Nef wants to subjugate all the clans for the good of all. Tenris acts with just his tokoroths at his beck and call, while Nef shares the main antagonist role of Soul Eater with the remaining Soul Eaters (though she's the one who gets the most amount of attention). Tenris suffers a Karmic Death when he tries to kill his nephew Torak for power shortly after revealing himself to be responsible for the death of Torak's father, but Nef ends up sacrificing her own life to repay Torak's father for saving her life.
Death Equals Redemption: When Renn is about to jump in a crevasse to destroy the first Fire Opal fragment, Nef takes it from her and performs the sacrifice herself in order to repay her debt to Torak's father.
Disney Villain Death: Somewhat inverted because Nef jumps into the crevasse with the Fire Opal fragment entirely of her own accord as her final act of redemption.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She's truly fond of her bat, and she would have followed her deceased son to afterlife if not for Torak's father. Before she sacrifices herself, she sets her bat free so that it won't die with her.
Even Evil Has Standards: She hates it when Thiazzi bullies the captured animals and Torak for no other reason than sadism.
Evil Cripple: Subverted. Her legs are bowed so badly that she rocks while she walks. However, she's an Anti-Villain, and she moves swiftly despite her legs.
Heel–Face Turn: She destroys one of the three pieces of the Fire Opal at the cost of her own life.
If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: While Torak is impersonating the White Fox boy brought in as an acolyte, Nef orders him to kill a young owl as a sacrifice while claiming it to be the first test on his way to become a Soul Eater. For the sake of maintaining his disguise, Torak obeys.
Informed Ability: Her special ability is said to be great intelligence and thoughts that fly faster than bats, but they are never really demonstrated.
Minion with an F in Evil: Compared to the other Soul Eaters in Soul Eater at least. She's pretty much all that keeps the sacrifices (and Torak) alive, with Thiazzi and Seshru around trying to outham each other.
Outliving One's Offspring: Nef had a son just two years older than Torak. He starved when the prey was gone from the Bat Clan's lands. She would have committed suicide if not for Torak's father.
Pointy Ears: She has pointy ears that remind Torak of a bat. A later book reveals that her clanmates cut the tip of their ears in order to appear like their totem.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: While the other Soul Eaters are just plain power-hungry for all their attempts to justify themselves, Nef believes sincerely that the Soul Eaters can unite the clans and put an end to all unfair things like untimely deaths of children.
Token Good Teammate: Among the Soul Eaters who were corrupted^note, Nef is easily the least malevolent and the most sympathetic. She performs ruthless acts in the name of what she believes to be the greater good instead of just for the sake of power. Unlike the others, she never indulges in pointless cruelty, and she ends up dying in a redeeming way.

Seshru

Seshru the Viper Mage is a beautiful woman who's as venomous as her totem, though it is suggested that she changed her name and clan when she joined the Healers. She serves as the main antagonist of Outcast.

Abusive Parents: She impregnated herself with Renn just to create her own tokoroth by putting a demon inside her infant. While she failed thanks to Saeunn, Viper's Daughter reveals that she afterwards had Naiginn and managed to do to him what she failed to do to Renn. As soon as she discovers her kinship with Renn in Outcast, she forces Torak to spirit walk in a viper with the order to bite Renn.
Animal Motifs: She's described to be in everything like a snake, especially in the traditional vile and sexy characterizations, though apparently she isn't actually a born Viper. The way she torments Torak from afar during Outcast resembles the way a viper injects its venom into its prey and returns to finish the job when the time is right. She has also changed her name and clan like a snake sheds its skin and creates a new one.
Arch-Enemy: To Renn. Renn holds a personal enmity towards Seshru because the latter birthed her just to create her own tokoroth as well as shattered the heart of Renn's father who ended up dying in search of Seshru. It is because of Seshru's legacy that Renn hates her gift in Magecraft and refuses to practise it. Even after Seshru dies, Renn fights to prove to herself that she's nothing like her mother, especially in Viper's Daughter in which she gains a new nemesis in the form of her demon-possessed half-brother Naiginn, a creation of their shared mother.
Arc Villain: The main antagonist of the fourth book.
The Baroness: Cultivates an intimidating and all-powerful visage? Check. Unafraid to ruthlessly exploit her attractiveness to her own ends? Check. Sadistic and lacking in compassion towards anyone? Check. Attracted to power? Check.
Consummate Liar: Regular lying is for her as easy as is expected from a stereotypicaly portrayed snake. She's willing to deny her crimes and take credit for the actions of someone else, like when she claims to be responsible for the drowning of Lake Axehead.
Creepy Blue Eyes: She has dark blue eyes that radiate her devious nature.
Dead Person Conversation: She appears twice in Renn's dreams during Viper's Daughter to mock her daughter about how she's turning out to be like her late mother and tell her that the legacy of the Soul Eaters isn't over yet.
Determinator: In Viper's Daughter, Renn notes that the Viper Mage never, ever gives up.
Dream Weaver: There is a reason why most of Renn's powers come from her dreams.
Evil Counterpart: To Renn. Both are clever and secretive like their respective clan totems, gifted in Magecraft, the only women Torak feels attraction towards, and willing to lie and go against the clans' laws to reach their goals. The difference is that Renn does that to help her friends and not for selfish reasons like Seshru. Like the evil mother, like the good daughter.
Evil Is Hammy: She's rivaled only by Thiazzi in her love of Evil Gloating.
Evil Matriarch: It's revealed in Outcast that she's Renn's mother.
Femme Fatale: Beautiful as a forest maiden and utterly self-serving. She is able to stun Torak and Bale with her beauty more than once, even though they know perfectly well she's evil.
Hoist by Their Own Petard: When Torak threatens to destroy the second Fire Opal fragment, Seshru reveals her knife and lunges forward, only to be shot by Bale. She presented herself unarmed and appealed to Bale's reluctance to hurt an unarmed woman earlier. It took the sight of her attacking Torak with a knife for Bale to throw his hesitations aside.
If I Wanted You Dead...: When she has Torak at her mercy at Lake Axehead's healing spring, she states that she could have taken his spirit walker powers by eating his heart while he was unconscious, but she wants to make him use his power in her name instead.
Is That What He Told You?: Renn had been told by Saeunn that Seshru gave birth to her only to use her as a sacrifice. When Seshru learns this, she tells Renn that her intention was not to kill her infant, but to make her a tokoroth, which is considerably worse.

Luke, I Am Your Father: Double gender flipped, and averted because Renn already knew that Seshru was her mother. Seshru and Torak didn't find out until Outcast and, oh boy, there was hell to pay.
Manipulative Bitch: She loves using mind games to get her way. Most notably, Viper's Daughter shows that Marupai is thoroughly convinced by her false stories of her having come from the sun and Naiginn being their "child of the sun".
Master Poisoner: Her special ability is extensive knowledge about herbs and potions. During Soul Eater, she uses this skill to help capture a polar bear by drugging it. In Outcast, she poisons crowberries that Torak eats, rendering him unconscious and following his resuscitation, mostly paralyzed yet aware of everything happening around him and able to communicate with Seshru.
Narcissist: She's highly vain and regards herself to be superior to everyone else.
"Not So Different" Remark:
- She tries this card on Torak in Outcast; they both are outcasts and so powerful that the clans hunt them out of fear. When Torak denies this by saying that Seshru has broken the clans' laws, she notes that he has done the same by stealing Fin-Kedinn's axe.
- After Seshru learns that Renn is her daughter, she loves to rub this trope in Renn's face. When Renn has to resort to lying or use Magecraft, it makes her fear she's too similar to Seshru. Viper's Daughter in particular has her finding from herself too many parallels to Seshru.
Only Known by Their Nickname: It's hinted that Seshru isn't the name she was born with, something unthinkable to the other characters as someone's name makes up part of their soul.
Outliving One's Offspring: She lives longer than her son Hord by a year and a half.
Pragmatic Villainy:
- In Outcast, she cures Torak's festering wound after she has caught him since she has decided that the wound where the cut Soul Eater tattoo was has served its purpose.
- She comments in Soul Eater that creating the demon bear was madness, though not because of all the deaths it caused, but because the demon was too strong to be controlled. When she created Naiginn, she made sure to put on him a charm in order to keep his demonic nature in check until the time was right.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She's an evil version of this trope with her pale skin and black hair.
Really Gets Around: She seduced Renn and Hord's father and Marupai the Narwal Mage, and in Viper's Daughter it's revealed she'd had relations with Tenris.
Smug Snake: She's cunning, but she overlooks things in her arrogance. That's fitting since she calls herself the Viper Mage.
Stalker without a Crush: In Outcast, she spies on Torak during his period as an outcast and uses her spells in order to break his will.
Strong Family Resemblance: Though not noticeable at first, she has a subtle resemblance to her daughter Renn. They both have a pale skin and high cheekbones, and their hair curls the same way. When Torak learns of their connection, he's astonished he hadn't noticed the family resemblance before.
The Vamp: She will ruthlessly exploit her beauty to get what she wants. She seduced Fin-Kedinn's brother — whom she left earlier to join the Healers — in order to have a baby, and then she broke his heart by leaving him again. Then she charmed Marupai and tricked him to raise her demon-possessed son Naiginn for her while claiming him to be his son.
Villainous Legacy: She's dead by the time of the last three books, but their overall plot is driven by her demon-son Naiginn trying to free himself of the restraining spell which Seshru cast on him. Renn also finds herself uncomfortably similar to her mother in leaving Torak behind and lying to advance on her quest in Viper's Daughter, and Seshru herself appearing in her dreams to gloat how similar they are.
You Wouldn't Shoot Me: When she catches Torak with Renn and Bale at the empty wolf den, she taunts that neither Renn or Bale would attack her when she's unarmed.
Seshru: The wolves are gone. I sent them all away.
Renn: Don't listen to her.
Seshru: Why, what harm can I do? It's three against one, and I have no weapons. No weapons, not even a knife. Not even a knife.
[Seshru continues gloating until Renn raises her bow while Torak and Bale tell her not to shoot]
Seshru: Oh, she won't shoot! She can't. Can you, Renn? [Renn lowers her bow] I knew she wouldn't. [turns to Bale] To kill a weaponless woman… who could do such a thing? Could you? [Bale drops his axe] I didn't think so. That would be the mark of a weak man, and you're not weak. You're a Seal Clan hunter. You're strong.

Thiazzi

Thiazzi the Oak Mage is the strongest man of the Forest and the most violent and sadistic of all the Soul Eaters. In Soul Eater, Wolf bites a few fingers off of his left hand. He's the main antagonist of Oath Breaker, in which he causes a war among the Deep Forest Clans.

Arc Villain: The main antagonist of the fifth book.
Ax-Crazy: He has no qualms about resorting to violence and killing, either to further his goals or out of sheer enjoyment.
Barbarian Longhair: According to Paver, Thiazzi has grown a long hair because he believes that it holds part of his strength.
Big Bad Wannabe: When he and Eostra are the last remaining Soul Eaters, Thiazzi tries to take over the Forest by himself in Oath Breaker and doesn't give the last Fire Opal piece to Eostra. Though he is a very real threat, he ends up being vanquished when he loses the Fire Opal to Eostra's eagle owl. He's summoned in Ghost Hunter by Eostra as her mindless ghost-slave like the other deceased Soul Eaters.
Blasphemous Boast: Makes in Oath Breaker one which he flat out uses to compare himself to the World Spirit.
"I am the truth and the Way. I am master of fire. I am ruler of the Forest!"
The Brute: Subverted. As the biggest, strongest, and the most openly sadistic member of the Soul Eaters, Thiazzi seems like a textbook example. In his first appearance in Soul Eater, he acts as the group's muscle while Nef and Seshru display more moments of brilliance. However, Oath Breaker proves that Thiazzi is capable of acting as a highly cunning Big Bad of his own right, and he has his ambitions to rule the Forest alone.
Character Tics: He has a habit of chewing spruce resin.
The Chessmaster: By using disguises and manipulating events, Thiazzi drives the Deep Forest clans to war among each other before uniting them against the Open Forest clans in Oath Breaker.
Color-Coded Eyes: His cruel eyes are leaf-green to mark him as a member of the Oak Clan that used to live in the Deep Forest. They also fit his sadistic yet cunning personality.
Death by Irony: The Oak Mage, the last living member of his clan, ends up dying by falling from the top of the Great Oak.
Disney Villain Death: He's ignited while he's on the top branch of the Great Oak and loses his balance.
Evil Sounds Deep: The evil and big Oak Mage has a sonorous voice.
Fingore: Wolf bites off two fingers from Thiazzi's left hand in Soul Eater.
Genius Bruiser: Not only is Thiazzi the strongest man of the Forest. He's also a cunning and manipulative mage, which makes him all the more dangerous. In Oath Breaker, he's able to remain one step ahead of the heroes until the climax.
Hand Stomp: Thiazzi sends Bale to his death this way.
Hero Killer: Thiazzi becomes this in Oath Breaker, in which his first act is to murder Bale, one of the most stand-up characters of the series.
Hoist by His Own Petard: His downfall is tied to him keeping the last Fire Opal fragment to himself and leaving Eostra out of his plans. During his final confrontation with Torak, Eostra's eagle owl steals the Opal from Thiazzi, resulting in him losing protection against fire and catching fire.
Horrifying the Horror: Thiazzi is the strongest man of the Forest and an extremely sadistic and violent psychopath, yet even he is afraid of Eostra.
I Can Rule Alone: When he finds the last Fire Opal piece in Oath Breaker, he tries to take control over the Forest himself instead of giving the Opal to Eostra. This backfires horribly as Eostra's eagle owl takes the Opal from him at the worst possible time.
I Have Your Wife: In the climax of Oath Breaker, Thiazzi captures Renn and takes her to the sacred grove so that Torak will come to face him there. When Torak arrives, Thiazzi offers to let Renn go if Torak surrenders, but when Torak completely disarms himself and breaks his oath to avenge Bale, Thiazzi reveals he was only bluffing.
Karmic Death: He dies by being set on fire, resulting in him falling from the top branch of the Great Oak. This serves as the appropriate rebate for his actions of killing predators by burning them and murdering Bale by throwing him off the Crag.

Last of His Kind: He's the last living member of the Oak Clan, with the others having died out of sickness.
Lightning Bruiser: Not only is Thiazzi the strongest man of the Forest, but he's also deceptively fast for a man of his size.
Manipulative Bastard: He proves himself to be this in Oath Breaker when he orates the Deep Forest clans — who are by nature fundamentalists who don't easily trust outsiders — to unite against the Open Forest clans.
Master of Disguise: He skillfully hides his true identity when he wears the mask and attire of the new Forest Horse Mage. His disguise of the elderly, secluded, and reasonable Auroch Mage fools Renn until he reveals himself.
Meaningful Name: Named for the giant Thjazi in Norse Mythology, and like his namesake, he falls to his death after being set aflame.
The One Guy: When the Soul Eaters band together in Soul Eater, Thiazzi is the only male around, what with Tenris and Torak's father being dead and Narrander pretending to be dead and hiding as the Walker.
Playing Both Sides: He murders the mages of the Forest Horse Clan and the Auroch Clan, and takes their places, first to wage discord between the Deep Forest clans, and then to unite them against the Open Forest clans.
Sadist: He enjoys bullying and hurting animals and people who can't fight back.
Smug Snake: Thiazzi is a very powerful and competent schemer, but his arrogance ends up being his undoing.
The Sociopath: He is very narcissistic and self-serving as well as even more sadistic and violent than any other Soul Eater.
They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Torak thinks that if not for his sadistic tendencies, Thiazzi could pass as any hunter in the Forest.
World's Strongest Man: He's the strongest human represented in the series and is called as the strongest man of the Forest. Whatever his strength is a case of a Charles Atlas Superpower or magical enhancement is never revealed.
Would Harm a Senior: He murders the elderly Auroch Mage to steal his identity.

Eostra

Eostra the Eagle Owl Mage is the head Soul Eater whom even the other Soul Eaters fear. She has an obsession with death and raising the dead. She serves as the main antagonist of Ghost Hunter.

Ambiguously Human: She's heavily implied to be undead, with how corpse-like the little of what we see of her body is, and how she reeks of a corpse.
Animal Motifs: Eagle Owl. She wears a wooden mask resembling the owl's face and a cloak made of feathers. Also, her eyes look orange like with an eagle owl. At one point in Ghost Hunter, Torak compares Eostra to a spider that is weaving a web across the Forest and can sense even the tiniest vibration of the web. (Sherlock Holmes makes a similar comparison to Professor Moriarty.)
Arch-Enemy: When the Walker was still Narrander, Eostra took his son Narik hostage to prevent him from quitting the Soul Eaters before Narik, whom Eostra had bound and hidden from his father, died in the Great Fire, resulting in Narrander losing his sanity. The only time the Walker becomes involved in the fight against the Soul Eaters is when he shows up to kill Eostra in order to avenge Narik.
Big Bad: She's the Soul Eaters' leader and the last one to be faced. Had she not been stopped, the spirits of the deceased Soul Eaters would have remained in the mortal realm to serve her, rendering the heroes' struggles against them down the toilet.
The Chessmaster: In Ghost Hunter, she meticulously influences events so that Torak will come to her alone when the time is right.
Creepy Monotone: She is completely emotionless, short of her lust for power, and apparently talks like this.
Devil's Pitchfork: In Ghost Hunter, she wields a three-forked spear, the symbol of the Soul Eaters. She uses it to snare souls and eat them.
Disney Villain Death: Eostra dies by falling into a chasm created by the Hidden People who are summoned by the Walker.
The Dreaded: Even more so than any other Soul Eater. Even all the other Soul Eaters fear Eostra.
Evil Counterpart: To the Walker. Both are outwardly cadaverous, refer to themselves in the third person, and display mental illness. However, Eostra has none of the noble qualities the Walker has under his threatening demeanor. Both are powerful mages, with Eostra being a necromancer and the Walker having a connection with the Hidden People. By the end of the series, the two of them are all that's left of the seven Soul Eaters until the Walker kills Eostra.
Eviler than Thou: The Walker states that Eostra is the cruellest of the cruel. The very fact that all the other Soul Eaters, even Thiazzi, are afraid of her is a clear indicator of this. When Thiazzi attempts to take over the Forest alone in Oath Breaker and keeps the last Fire Opal piece to himself, he ends up being burned alive when Eostra's eagle owl takes the Opal from him, and in Ghost Hunter, she summons his and the rest of the deceased Soul Eaters' spirits as her mindless minions.
Evil Sounds Raspy: Her emotionless voice is described to resemble the rattle of dry bones.
The Faceless: She always wears her eagle owl mask.
Femme Fatalons: Her nails are hooked like with her clan totem, and they're bluish like with a corpse.
Genocide from the Inside: As soon as Eostra became her clan's mage, she carried out a forbidden rite by bringing to life a ten-year-old Eagle Owl boy who had died in a rockfall. All the other Eagle Owls died out of sickness soon after, making Eostra responsible for her clan's demise.
Greater-Scope Villain: The Soul Eaters' leader appears only in Soul Eater and Ghost Hunter and is an active Big Bad in them alone, but her influence over the other Soul Eaters is still felt, especially in Oath Breaker where Thiazzi's attempt to play the Big Bad ends with Eostra's eagle owl sealing his fate by taking the last Fire Opal piece from him and delivering it to her.
I Love the Dead: The vision Renn has of a younger Eostra resurrecting a corpse certainly has shades of this.
Immortality Seeker: She intends to steal Torak's spirit walker abilities and use them to exist forever by spirit walking from one body to another over and over again.
Ironic Name: The Germanic Eostre was a goddess of spring and light… so nothing like the character who shares her name.

Lack of Empathy: Torak's spirit walk into Eostra reveals that the Eagle Owl Mage views tokoroths and her dogs not as possessed children and corrupted animals, but as tools she can dispose of once they've served their purpose. As for Torak, he is merely the husk of the power she craves.
Last of Her Kind: She's the last living member of the Eagle Owl Clan. All of her clanmates were wiped out by sickness after she carried out a forbidden rite and resurrected a dead boy.
Lean and Mean: The scary Eagle Owl Mage is tall and thin.
Necromancer: In her youth, she resurrected a recently killed boy from her clan, and in Ghost Hunter, she summons the spirits of the deceased Soul Eaters.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: She carries out her plans with deadly focus and efficiency, and unlike most of the other main antagonists, she holds little to no interest in wasting time gloating.
Our Liches Are Different: She is a corpselike mage and a necromancer who desires immortality.
The Quiet One: She's the most reserved of the Soul Eaters.
Soul Eating: Eostra is the only member of the Soul Eaters who is confirmed to be actually able to eat souls. She plans to steal Torak's spirit walker power by eating his world-soul (for that's where his power lies) and spit out his name-soul and clan-soul, making him a Lost One.
Krukoslik: They say she walks with a three-pronged spear for snaring souls. They say that if you hear her cry, you're lost. That cry rips the souls from your marrow. With her spear she snares them. She devours them. Eostra truly is an eater of souls.
The Sociopath: Completely devoid of emotion and willing to manipulate and use anyone or anything in her obsessive desire to achieve immortality.
Third-Person Person: She mostly refers to herself this way in Ghost Hunter.
Undeathly Pallor: The bare skin of Eostra's hands has the grainy density of granite and the pale green sheen of rotting meat. Her nails are also tinged with blue like with a corpse.
White Mask of Doom: She's never shown without her pale-colored mask to the point that she's known as "the Masked One".

Other Characters

Introduced in Wolf Brother

Torak's Father

Torak's father is a hunter from the Wolf Clan who raised his son in isolation for twelve years until he's mauled by the demon bear and dies in the first chapter of the first book. It is revealed that the bear was sent specifically to hunt him down by the Soul Eaters. This is because he created a huge fire known as the Great Fire to destroy them, but he only managed to force them to go hiding for thirteen years.

The Atoner: He raised his son in seclusion and trained him in order to prepare him for destroying the evil he had helped create.
Broken Pedestal: He's this to the entire Wolf Clan because he, the best Mage they ever had, joined the Soul Eaters, even though Fa turned on the Soul Eaters and tried to destroy them. The entire clan has chosen to bear a mark of shame and become more reclusive than ever before because of this. In Outcast, they attempt to kill the outcasted Torak to cleanse themselves of the shame they believe Fa to have brought upon them.
Cain and Abel: He is the younger brother of the Soul Eater Tenris by two years. The demon bear that kills him was created by his brother for that purpose.
Color-Coded Eyes: Like his son, he has grey eyes that resemble those of a wolf. They symbolize both his strength of will and the "ideas above people"/greater good mentality that he used to hold as his Fatal Flaw until rejecting it.
Dark and Troubled Past: Of the "criminal with remorse" ilk, hence The Atoner above. A major part of the plot is Torak finding out this past.
Dying as Yourself: His Brainwashed and Crazy ghost gets a moment of recognition upon being released from Eostra's control and disappearing again.
Fatal Flaw: His former friend Fin-Kedinn reveals that Torak's father was convinced of his own infallibility and paid no heed to the advice of others. It led him to realize the Soul Eaters' corruption too late while being one of them. He trained Torak to pay attention to the knowledge the Forest has to offer so that he wouldn't repeat his father's mistakes.
Horrible Judge of Character: He was initially convinced of the Healers' apparently noble intentions even though his mate and Fin-Kedinn warned him not to join them. By the time he realized the truth, he was already too immersed with them.
Plot-Triggering Death: His death at the claws of the demon bear in the first book is what sets Torak on the journey to find a way to destroy the bear and leads him to meeting his friends and facing the Soul Eaters in the following books.
Posthumous Character: Despite dying immediately in the first chapter of the first book, he remains an important character throughout the series.
Scars Are Forever: There is an old scar on his chest which makes it difficult for Torak to draw the Death Mark on it. He received this by cutting off the tattoo that marked him as a Soul Eater.
Unnamed Parent: Torak refers to him just as Fa. It's justified since five summers must pass before a deceased person's name can be spoken, for otherwise the deceased person cannot rest peacefully.
The Unreveal: We never find out his name since clan traditions dictate that five summers must pass before the name of the person who died can be spoken. Even when Eostra says his name while summoning his spirit in Ghost Hunter, it's not revealed by the narration.
Walking Spoiler: He can't really be discussed much beyond "fathered Torak" without revealing he was a Soul Eater.
We Used to Be Friends: He was the best friend of Fin-Kedinn until all the stuff with the Soul Eaters started. The woman whom Fin-Kedinn loved choosing Torak's father instead of him was also a factor.

Saeunn

Saeunn is the impossibly old Raven Clan Mage. Her age is never actually stated, and considering that it's the Stone Age, perhaps she isn't really that old at all by modern standards (though she may be). She forces Renn to learn Magecraft, though the two of them have a fierce dislike for each other.

Because Destiny Says So: It's her only argument to things. She claims for example in Outcast that she supported Torak's exile because it's a part of the boy's destiny.
Cryptic Conversation: She's prone to providing these.

Good Is Not Nice: No one particularly likes Saeunn due to her callous attitude, but she still helps the heroes in their quest to destroy the Soul Eaters. She also rescued Renn before Seshru could create a tokoroth out of the newborn.

Mentor Archetype: She tries to teach Renn Magecraft, but the girl doesn't want to learn it and comes to ask advice from Saeunn only when she has no other choice.

Hord

Hord is Renn's older brother. He is around nineteen or twenty. He tries to be the best at everything. He has an immense dislike for his sister, just like most of the Raven Clan.

Disney Villain Death: He's killed along with the demon bear by the avalanche the World Spirit sends.
Face–Heel Turn: Granted, he was always an antagonistic jerk towards Torak, but after Torak has gained Fin-Kedinn's support in delivering the Nanuak to the World Spirit with Wolf, Hord chases after them and tries to kill them just to deliver the Nanuak himself.
Fiery Redhead: Redheaded like his sister and uncle, but much less levelheaded than them.

Inferiority Superiority Complex: Hord is arrogant, but Torak notes that he appears to be desperate to be the best, yet fears of always being the second rate.
It's All My Fault: He yells this during his Villainous Breakdown as an explanation to why he thinks he must deliver the Nanuak.
Jerkass: Oh yeah. Before Torak defeats Hord in a duel, the young man shows unwarranted contempt at the younger boy and afterwards fully supports that interpretation of the prophecy which implies Torak must be sacrificed. He also pays no heed to Dyrati's obvious admiration of him and claims to have shed no tears for his sister's possible death after she "disgraced him" by releasing Torak.
Kick the Dog: When he catches Torak and Renn after all the hardships they've endured, he takes possession of the Nanuak pieces they've found and makes Torak his prisoner again. He also punches his sister in the face and disowns her when she calls him out.

Rapid-Fire Nail Biting: A non-comedic example; when the bear's being discussed, Hord gnaws his fingernails. By the end of the book, he has bitten them off.
Sanity Slippage: When Hord's shown again near the ending of Wolf Brother, he has become a shadow of his former self due to his gnawing guilt over helping in the creation of the demon bear. This, combined with being denied the task of bringing the Nanuak to the Mountain of the World Spirit, culminates in him chasing after Torak and trying to kill him.

Unwitting Pawn: He was manipulated by the Crippled Wanderer to catch a bear cub which the Soul Eater used as the vessel of an elemental.
Villainous Breakdown: His Sanity Slippage leads him to chase after Torak and Wolf to the Mountain of the World Spirit and try to kill them so that he can deliver the Nanuak.
Would Hit a Girl: He punches his own sister in the face.
Would Hurt a Child: He's fully supports the idea of sacrificing a twelve-year-old boy and tries to kill him with an axe.

The Walker/Narrander

An old Otter Clan outcast who appears a few times throughout the books, each time as a complete madman who keeps as pets little animals he names Narik.

Agony of the Feet: In his second appearance, he has had to cut off all his toes (at least from one foot) when they got seriously frostbitten.
Animal Motifs: Otter, like his clan. Very subtle foreshadowing, as it throws him in with the other characters to get strong Animal Motifs.
Big Damn Heroes: He ended up killing Eostra in Ghost Hunter just as she was about to literally destroy Torak and take his powers.
Chekhov's Gunman: He is the seventh Soul Eater whom everyone thought died in the Great Fire.
Cloud Cuckoolander: His ramblings are hard to get a grip on. When Wolf first sees him, the Walker's chaotic thoughts confuse him.
The Cuckoolander Was Right: Despite the fact that almost nothing he says makes much sense, his advice usually pans out in the end.
Dark and Troubled Past: Admittedly, he's got a dark and troubled present too. Having once been a reluctant Soul Eater, having his kid die, and being ostracized by his clan sure didn't help.
Exposed to the Elements: He's always scarcely clothed even in winter.
Extreme Omnivore: He's shown snacking things what most people wouldn't want to eat, like a louse from his beard or a raw wing of a rotting dove corpse. However, even he finds the taste of frostbitten toes too horrible.
Eye Scream: One of his eye sockets is empty. He says that a flint hit his head and caused his eye to pop out. He actually lost his eye during the Great Fire.
Faking the Dead: Until Ghost Hunter, everyone, excluding Fin-Kedinn and Torak's father, believed Narrander to have perished in the Great Fire.
Forced into Evil: As the Healers were becoming corrupted, Narrander attempted to leave them soon after joining them. He was forced to stay when Eostra took his son Narik hostage. This situation ended only when Narik died.
Good Counterpart: To Eostra. Both are outwardly cadaverous, refer to themselves in the third person and display mental illness. However, Eostra is without doubt evil and dangerous to everyone. The Walker, on the other hand, comes off as threatening, but he's ultimately harmless as long as he's left alone and helps out those who help him out. The Walker treats affectionately the little animals he keeps as pets, while Eostra views the animals she has corrupted into bloodthirsty minions merely as tools. Both are powerful Mages, with Eostra being a necromancer and the Walker having a connection with the Hidden People. By the end of the series, the two of them are all that's left of the seven Soul Eaters until the Walker kills Eostra.
Grumpy Old Man: He's constantly irritated because of his madness.
Handicapped Badass: This one-eyed, toeless and insane old man has been able to live all on his own in the Forest since the Great Fire. He also retains enough power from his days as the Otter Mage to summon the Hidden People of the Mountain of Ghosts to destroy Eostra.
He Cleans Up Nicely: When he shows up at Fin-Kedinn's funeral, he looks more dignified than usual because he's painted his ruined face with mourning marks, made effort to clean his rags, and tamed his hair and beard.
The Hermit: Even after Fin-Kedinn offers him a chance to live peacefully among the clans, the Walker refuses.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's grumpy, unfriendly and at times threatening, but he aids Torak and Renn after they help him out in two occasions, and he shows up to aid them in the final battle against Eostra. He's also pretty affectionate towards the various little animals he takes as pets and names Narik. Though he doesn't show much respect towards his old friend Fin-Kedinn, he shows up at the latter's funeral to sing the Death Chant.
Meaningful Name: Assuming a PIE root, Narrander could be rendered as "corpse-man", from root naw (corpse). The same root could be applied to Narik, whose name is also very similar to Narvi/Nari, son of Loki.
"Not So Different" Remark: When Torak suffers from soul-sickness in Outcast, he finds himself resembling the Walker while looking at his reflection. The Walker himself invokes this in Ghost Hunter with Torak; the Walker says he can sense on the boy's souls the marks caused by spirit walking into various creatures. The old man says that like him, Torak must always wander and not settle down because of his experiences.
Outliving One's Offspring: It's eventually revealed that the cause of the Walker's madness is the death of his son Narik.
Papa Wolf: He avenges his son's death by burying Eostra under the Mountain of Ghosts, a revenge that he hasn't had the chance to carry out since the Great Fire.
The Pig-Pen: One of the signs of his madness is his complete lack of anything resembling personal hygiene.
Pre-Insanity Reveal: It is a major spoiler in the sixth book that the old insane hermit was not only a Mage but also one of the two uncorrupted Soul Eaters.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: He implies that his traumatic experiences that resulted in his madness are the reason why he doesn't take up Fin-Kedinn's offer to live the rest of his life peacefully among the clans.
The Walker: [to Torak] The wolf boy's troubled, eh? Bits of souls sticking to his spirit? The Great Wanderer, the Forest, the Masked One? He's like the Walker, yes, he got too close, so he has to keep moving!
Third-Person Person: He always refers to himself this way. He does this with others as well most of the time.
Wild Hair: This madman living alone in wilderness has very long and tangled hair and beard.

Krukoslik

The Leader of the Mountain Hare Clan. He briefly appears near the ending of Wolf Brother to give Torak tips on how to travel to the Mountain of the World Spirit. He reappears in Ghost Hunter when Torak, Renn and Wolf are on their way to confront Eostra.

Mr. Exposition: In Ghost Hunter, he reveals Eostra's backstory and what she has been doing in the area around the Mountain of Ghosts.

Introduced in Spirit Walker

Bale

Bale is a boy from the Seal Clan. Torak's paternal grandmother was from the Seal Clan, meaning that he and Bale are kinsmen. Bale and Torak are initially wary of each other, but they become friends. He had a little brother who was killed three summers before Spirit Walker by the sickness that was created by Tenris. He returns in Outcast to aid Renn in helping Torak who's made an outcast. When he is first introduced, he is fifteen, and by Oath Breaker, he is nearly seventeen.

Berserk Button: Don't do damage to his boat. Just… don't do it.
Death of the Hypotenuse: Thiazzi throws him off a cliff in Oath Breaker shortly after he has told Torak of his intention to ask Renn to be his mate.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: He plays a fairly large role in both Spirit Walker and Outcast, only to get tossed off a cliff in the opening chapters of Oath Breaker.
Friendly Rivalry: He and Torak are initially quite hostile towards each other, but it eventually mellows out into this.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In reality, he's probably the nicest person in the series (except when Torak first meets him), but sometimes he does qualify as this.

Romantic Runner-Up: Averted as Renn never had feelings for him.
Stay in the Kitchen: He initially has this attitude towards Renn in Outcast. It's somewhat justified, as it is the Stone Age. Still, it makes Renn mad as hell.
Two Guys and a Girl: With Torak and Renn in Outcast.

Asrif and Detlan

Bale's friends from the Seal Clan. They're about the same age as he. They help Bale capture Torak and bring him to the Seal Island to punish him for offending the Sea Mother.

Nice Mean And In Between: They form this dynamic with Bale. Detlan is the Nice due to him being the least spiteful and the most willing to explain to Torak how things work at the Sea. Asrif is the Mean for being the most impish, while Bale is In-Between for being more fair than Asrif though not as ready as Detlan to help Torak until later on.

Islinn

The leader of the Seal Clan who is very old. He knew Torak's paternal grandmother who was also a Seal.

Outliving One's Offspring: He had a son who was one of the victims of the sickness that struck the Seal Clan three years before Spirit Walker.

Introduced in Soul Eater

Eostra's eagle owl

Eostra's pet that does her bidding.

The Dragon: Eostra has the other Soul Eaters as well as in Ghost Hunter tokoroths and a pack of corrupted dogs to do her bidding, but the eagle owl is her most prominent minion.
Feathered Fiend: This bird is unnaturally malevolent. She is not possessed by a demon, so it's unknown what Eostra has done to her.
Ominous Owl: Eagle owls are considered to be omens of bad luck in the COAD universe, and that wouldn't be less true with the one that directly serves the most terrifying Soul Eater.
Small Role, Big Impact: She's in Soul Eater and Oath Breaker a fairly minor character, but she changes the course of the latter book's climax by stealing the last Fire Opal piece from Thiazzi. This leads to the Oak Mage's Karmic Death and serves as buildup for the events of Ghost Hunter.
Would Hurt a Child: She tries to attack Renn (a thirteen-year-old girl at the time) in Soul Eater. In Ghost Hunter, she kills Wolf and Darkfur's cub Shadow and captures the other cub Pebble.

Nef's bat

Nef's pet bat which she allows to reside on her shoulder.

Bat Out of Hell: Subverted. Despite being the pet of a villain, she's a normal bat that does nothing villainous and even takes a liking to Torak.
Morality Pet: Her mistress cares for her very much. Torak lampshades it by wondering how Nef can caress her clan-creature even though she stains her spirit with sin. Before sacrificing herself, she makes sure to release the bat so that she won't die with her.
Parrot Pet Position: She rests on Nef's shoulder where she'd keep the fur of her totem.

Introduced in Outcast

Aki

Aki is the Boar Clan Leader's son and a few years older than Torak. In Outcast, he discovers Torak's Soul Eater tattoo, resulting in Torak's outcasting. Aki spends Torak's time in exile by attempting to hunt him down. They later become allies after Torak saves his life.

Butt-Monkey: It's mentioned in Wolf Brother, long before he's introduced, that he has lost a few toes to frostbite. In Outcast, he gets hot pine-pitch poured all over himself, breaks his arm, and almost dies twice. In Ghost Hunter, he is driven mad by Eostra's sickness, and in Skin Taker, killed and rendered a ghost by the Thunderstar.
Calling the Old Man Out: At the end of Outcast, he stands up to his father when he intends to kill Torak. It's mentioned afterwards that this act has given Aki new self-respect.
Heel–Face Turn: After Torak saves him from drowning, he sides with Renn, Bale and Fin-Kedinn in defending Torak against the murderous clans.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He has a lot of similarities with Hord. They're both rash young men who are related to their clans' leaders and try to hide their self-esteem issues with an arrogant demeanor. They're both hostile towards Torak and attempt to kill him. However, while Hord goes off the deep end and dies while trying to kill Torak, Aki sees the error of his ways and lives.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: His reason for trying to hunt down Torak isn't so much hatred as the fear of failing to fulfill his oath to kill him which he gave to his harsh father.

Rip and Rek

When Renn uses Magecraft to summon help for Torak who is suffering from soul-sickness, he ends up taking care of two young raven siblings, a task that helps him recover. He names the male raven Rip and the female Rek. They afterwards take part in Torak, Renn and Wolf's subsequent adventures.

Clever Crows: They tend to notice things that others miss. It is Rip who first realizes that the second Fire Opal piece is hidden in the hilt of the knife that belonged to Torak's father. In Viper's Daughter, they also realize that Naiginn is a demon before Renn and Torak do.
Dark Is Not Evil: These black birds are mischievous but very heroic.
Good Counterpart: To Eostra's eagle owl. Rip and Rek are avian sidekicks to the heroes, while Eostra has her eagle owl as her main minion. After the eagle owl kills Wolf and Darkfur's cub Shadow and captures Pebble, Rip and Rek are the ones who save Pebble from the owl and take care of him until he reunites with his mother.
Non-Human Sidekick: They share this role with Wolf in regards to Torak and Renn.
Sibling Team: They shared the same nest in their first appearance, and they're rarely seen apart from each other. The very ending of the series subverts this with the revelation that they're not siblings after all since they've mated and had three chicks.

Darkfur

A black-furred female wolf from the pack Wolf lives with between Wolf Brother and Spirit Walker. She becomes so attached to Wolf that she leaves the pack to be with him in Oath Breaker and becomes his mate.

Dark Is Not Evil: Darkfur is a black-furred Noble Wolf.

Disney Death: While trying to protect her cubs from Eostra's eagle owl, she falls in a river and is assumed dead by everyone. Renn later finds her barely alive at the Gorge of the Hidden People.
Mama Bear: She tries to protect her cubs from Eostra's eagle owl, and after her Disney Death, she travels all the way to the Mountain of Ghosts to find her mate and their last living cub.
Noble Wolf: She's very devoted to Wolf and their cubs as well as understanding of his unusual bond with Torak. In fact, when Wolf is torn apart by his realization that his pack-brother isn't a wolf, Darkfur snaps him out of his indecisiveness when Torak needs his help.
Outliving One's Offspring: Of her and Wolf's first three cubs, only Pebble is alive. Click dies out of sickness one moon before Ghost Hunter, while Shadow is killed by Eostra's eagle owl. In Skin Taker, two more of their cubs, Blackpaw and Tug, are killed when the Thunderstar strikes.

Introduced in Oath Breaker

Durrain

The Mage and Leader of the Red Deer Clan, the birthclan of Torak's mother.

Actual Pacifist: She and the rest of her clan refuse to fight at all, even though the rest of the Deep Forest is at war.
Defrosting Ice Queen: In her first appearance, she's lofty, treats Torak and Renn as if they were just ignorant children, and refuses to consider they might be right about Thiazzi being in the Deep Forest. After they stop Thiazzi and his plans, she becomes more friendly and humble.
Ms. Exposition: It's she who finally reveals the reason behind why the World Spirit made Torak a spirit walker, how his mother died, and why she declared her son clanless.
Tell Me About My Mother: Torak asks her to tell him about his mother. Durrain refuses to tell anything until later when Torak is no longer dwelling on revenge.

The Chosen One

An unnamed woman from the Red Deer Clan who calls herself the Chosen One. She's an insane pyromaniac who secretly works for Thiazzi.

Even Evil Has Standards: When Torak is at the mercy of the Deep Forest clans who intend to kill him, the Chosen One secretly aids Renn in rescuing him by drugging the guards. She does this because she thinks they have no right to kill Torak who she thinks is blessed for being able to survive the forest fire she tried to offer him to.
The Fundamentalist: She hates everyone but Thiazzi because she thinks no one else but him treats fire with proper respect or kindles a flame correctly. She tries to offer Torak to the forest fire she ignites, but after he survives, she believes that the fire letting him live makes him blessed, so she secretly helps him escape from the Deep Forest clans, and after she's caught, she submits to whatever punishment Torak gives her.
Graceful Loser: After Thiazzi is killed, the Chosen One is caught, and Torak is given the honor of deciding her fate. She's happy with whatever decision he makes because she regards him blessed for surviving the forest fire.
My Blood Runs Hot: Her skin is hot as ash.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Her real name is never revealed.
Outliving One's Offspring: The lightning strike that turned her insane killed her unborn child.
Pyromaniac: She worships fire and wishes to be one with it.
Third-Person Person: She mostly refers to herself in the third person.

Pebble

One of the first three cubs of Wolf and Darkfur.

Sole Survivor: He's the only member of Wolf and Darkfur's first litter to be alive. His brother Click dies of a sickness one moon before Ghost Hunter, while Shadow is killed by Eostra's eagle owl. He has gained more siblings by the time of Viper's Daughter, but they too are killed when the Thunderstar strikes.

Gaup

A man from the Salmon Clan who enters the Deep Forest in search of his four-year-old daughter who has been captured by Thiazzi.

An Arm and a Leg: His hand is cut off by the Auroch Clan as penalty for supposedly abducting their children.
Papa Wolf: After his attempt to find his daughter in the Deep Forest leads to him being dismembered and kicked out by the Auroch Clan, he rushes to rally his clan and make the Deep Forest clans return his daughter.

Introduced in Ghost Hunter

Dark

Dark is an albino boy who lives in the Mountain of Ghosts with only a white raven called Ark for company. He was abandoned by the Swan Clan when he was younger, both due to his albinism and his ability to see ghosts. After befriending Torak, Renn and Wolf, he aids them against Eostra. He afterwards stays with the Raven Clan. He's of the same age as Torak and Renn.

All the Other Reindeer:
- He was born to the Swan Clan, but he was feared due to his albinism and ability to see ghosts. His only consolation was his protective mother, and when she died when he was eight, he was abandoned.
- Subverted with the Raven Clan. They are initially wary of him, but he gains their respect immediately upon seeing his white raven Ark.
Beware the Nice Ones: In the eight book, he surprises everyone with the anger meeting his father Realvi, who left him to die in the Mountains, stirs up in him.
Color-Coded Eyes: His light gray eyes bring to Torak's mind a sky that rains snow, and they fit well with his gift in Magecraft.

Manchild: Downplayed in Ghost Hunter; despite being fifteen years old like Torak and Renn, Dark's thoughts and words are somewhat slow, especially when compared to the sharp, intelligent way Torak and Renn think and speak. This is justified, because he didn't have any human contact between the ages of eight and fifteen.
Mirror Character: Upon introduction, he is more or less like Torak was at the beginning of the series. Torak lived his first twelve years with only his father for company, had visited only one clan meeting, and was ignorant of a lot of things when he first met the Ravens. Since the age of eight, Dark has lived in the Mountain of Ghosts, with only Ark and ghosts for company, and he bombards Torak with questions about things he doesn't know about.
Nice Guy: He is ignorant and naive, but generally well-meaning. He initially wants to keep Torak with himself since he's the first human he has met in seven years, yet he readily helps him, Renn and Wolf in the final fight against Eostra.
No Social Skills: He's about Torak and Renn's age, but due to being isolated from all human contact since the age of eight, his attempts to converse with Torak and Renn are awkward.
Suffer the Slings: His weapon is a sling, and he aims with even more accuracy than Renn does with her bow.

Ark

A white female raven. She has been Dark's faithful companion after he rescued her from crows that were picking on her.

Non-Human Sidekick: For Dark who shares her white coloring.
Parrot Pet Position: She often perches on Dark's shoulder.

Introduced in Viper's Daughter

Shamik

A girl from the Ptarmigan Clan who was sold to the Narwals due to her withered arm at the age of five. When she first appears, she's about ten years old and serves the former Narwal Mage Marupai. Torak meets her while he's searching for Renn in the Far North. When the heroic trio returns to the Forest, they take Shamik with them to live with the Ravens.

Because You Were Nice to Me: Upon Shamik's first appearance, Torak stops Orvo from striking her just because she didn't get out of his way fast enough. She afterwards goes to great lengths to help him out.
Birds of a Feather: She quickly becomes Dark's friend, for they both were cast out by their bird-themed birth-clan at an early age due to being different and had to learn how to survive in a cold environment, but after befriending and helping Torak, Renn and Wolf, they found their place among the Ravens.
Demoted to Extra: She's a supporting character in Viper's Daughter, then a minor character in Skin Taker, and she's mentioned exactly once in Wolfbane.
Handicapped Badass: Despite being a little girl with a withered arm, she's tough and determined, and she knows how to survive in the Far North.
Hidden Depths: This gaunt and silent little girl whom the Narwals treat as their slave proves herself to be of great assistance to the heroes in the harsh environment of the Far North, and unlike most of the Narwals, she can speak Southern language. She also doesn't share the Narwals' misconception that wolves are disguised demons.

Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's surprisingly strong for a ten-year-old little girl.
Slave Liberation: She's considered to be the Narwal Clan's property, but after Marupai's death, she's "given" to Torak who immediately makes her a free person.

Orvo

A young man from the Narwal Clan and the Boat Leader's nephew.

Would Hit a Girl: He is about to strike Shamik for not getting out of his way quickly enough, only for Torak to stop him.

Marupai

The former Mage of the Narwal Clan and Naiginn's stepfather. He was the only one of his clan who managed to find the Island at the Edge of the World. Seshru seduced him following the Great Fire and made him take her to the Island where she gave birth to Naiginn. He is unaware that Naiginn is possessed by a demon and not his biological son.

Blinded by the Sun: After Seshru left Marupai, he blinded himself by staring for too long at the sun where she lied to have come from.
Papa Wolf: He's fiercely protective of Naiginn and leads Torak to the Island at the Edge of the World in an effort to save his stepson.

Introduced in Skin Taker

Realvi

Dark's father from the Swan Clan. Immediately after Dark's mother died, Realvi abandoned his albino son to the High Mountains when Dark was eight summers old. They re-encounter after the Thunderstar strikes. At first he appears to be wanting to reconcile with Dark, but he turns out to be a spy of the Chosen Ones sent to find out if Torak and Renn are among the survivors.

Abusive Parents: He knees his adolescent son in the groin.
Archnemesis Dad: Dark doesn't want anything to do with Realvi who left him to die in the Mountains. Then they have a violent confrontation when Dark catches Realvi stealing food stored by the surviving clans.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: At first he acts like he seeks forgiveness from his son, but it's just a cover.
I Have No Son!: When Dark discovers Realvi's true colors, Realvi says the only thing he regrets is that he didn't kill Dark immediately upon birth.
Karma Houdini: After Naiginn's true nature is exposed to the Chosen Ones, Realvi vanishes to never appear again.
Parental Betrayal: The day after Dark's protective mother died, Realvi took his eight-year-old son to the Gorge of the Hidden People, with Dark thinking he was going to get his clan-tattoos. He was left there by Realvi who never came back. When they meet again years later, Realvi acts like he wants to reconnect with his son, only for Dark to discover him to be spying for Naiginn and stealing food from the survivors of the Thunderstar.
Strong Family Resemblance: Though not pale like his son, Realvi has Dark's hollow cheeks and prominent jaw.

Iakim

A Bat Clan hunter who becomes one of the Chosen Ones.

Only Sane Man: He's not as ferverntly taken in by the lies Naiginn sprouts to the Chosen Ones as many of the others are.
Pointy Ears: Like his clanmates, he has cut the tip of his ears to look more like a bat.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He eventually releases Renn so that she can perform the Rite and bring the First Tree back.

Introduced in Wolfbane

Kujai

A young man from the Sea-eagle Clan who befriends Dark while helping the heroes in their efforts to save Wolf from Naiginn and put an end to the demon once and for all.

Other characters

Torak's mother

Torak's mother from the Red Deer Clan who died shortly after giving birth to him. The medicine horn she made is the only thing Torak has of her.

Excellent Judge of Character: Fin-Kedinn says that unlike Torak's father, Torak's mother always saw through the ruse of the Soul Eaters' noble intentions while they still called themselves the Healers.
Heroic Sacrifice: When she learned that her son would have to make up for his father's sins, she begged the World Spirit to help Torak. The Spirit made Torak a spirit walker on two conditions; the mother had to declare her son clanless and die herself.
The Lost Lenore: Both to Fin-Kedinn and Torak's father. The latter never told Torak much about her because he always became very sad thinking about her. Fin-Kedinn in turn holds himself partially responsible for her death because he refused to help her and her mate out of jealousy following the Great Fire. He ends up fostering her son for her sake.
Nature Lover: Fin-Kedinn describes her as a woman who knew and loved the Forest like nobody else, and it loved her in return.
Posthumous Character: She's been dead for Torak's entire life, but she still turns out to be a crucial character concerning Fin-Kedinn's attitude towards Torak as well as Torak's status as a clanless spirit walker.
Scarily Competent Tracker: Torak's gift at tracking came from her, and his father taught him to use it.
Two Guys and a Girl: With Torak's father and Fin-Kedinn. The latter she loved like a brother and the former as a mate.
Unnamed Parent: Her name is never revealed even though it would be allowed to be spoken because it's more than five years since her death.

Renn's father

Fin-Kedinn's older brother from the Raven Clan as well as Renn and Hord's father. He was killed by a snowfall on the ice river beyond Lake Axehead when Renn was seven years old.

Deceased Parents Are the Best: The way Renn speaks fondly of him shows that he was the only one in the Raven Clan besides Fin-Kedinn who loved her. He certainly was a better parent than Seshru by a long shot.
Love Makes You Dumb: Even though Seshru dumped him twice, he was unable to forget her and ended up dying on the ice river while searching for her.
Unnamed Parent: He shares this status with Torak's parents.

Characters / The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness

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Characters / The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness

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