Characters in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness

This is a list of characters in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series by Michelle Paver

Main characters

Torak

The main character of the book, he is a Spirit Walker and he can talk to wolves. He has close ties with the Raven Clan but comes from the secretive Wolf Clan. His mother (of the Red Deer Clan) died when he was very young and his father died when he was 12 in the claws of an elemental demon trapped by the Soul Eaters inside a bear's body. In Outcast, Torak finds out that he is clanless and is cast out because of the Soul Eater tattoo placed on his chest during Soul Eater. He then cuts it out, after he is made to Spirit Walk into an elk and attack Renn.

Torak can be somewhat immature and hot headed, and when he's angry, he does not think though his actions. But for all his faults he is protective for the people he cares about (i.e Wolf, Renn and Fin-Kedinn).

He also has many wolfish qualities, such as a distinct grin that he rarely gives and an otherworldly sense of things. He also fights like a wolf and howls out his feelings. His most well know physical attributes are a long scar stretching down his left cheekbone, cutting directly through his clan tattoo. He, after being in Outcast, now has a scar on his chest from where he cut out the Soul Eater mark. He originally, at the start of Outcast, had a black ring tattooed on his forehead to symbolize him being an outcast. Fin-Kedinn changed it into a divided circle, one for each section of the clans, and coloured in blue (Sea clans), green (Forest clans), red (Mountain clans) and white (Ice clans). This is to show that he belongs to all the clans. At the end of Outcast, Renn is upset and he comforts her by putting his arm around her, she then relaxes into him, and she kisses him on the jaw at the end of Oathbreaker.Torak is very good at tracking, during which he goes "into the spirit of the pray", which means he enters a sort of trance, like a sleepwalker. He almost kills Renn when she interrupts him while he is tracking.

Renn

Torak's best friend, her uncle is Fin-Kedinn, the leader of the Raven Clan, she is also friends with (initially mistrustful) Wolf and has helped Torak many times. At first she mistrusted the young hunter, but they soon became friends in their travels in Wolf Brother. Renn's mother is Seshru the Viper Mage. Although she does not care for her mother she has the mother's talent for Magecraft, but does not like using it. Renn's character is sharp and straight forward, she has lots of secrets and is good at hiding them. She thinks of Torak as her only friend (apart from Wolf and Bale). She always thinks situations over carefully and knows a lot of things, this often makes her and Torak argue.Hinting at a future relationship, the Otter Mage tells the Otter Clan that Renn is bound to Torak by the heart, in Outcast. She is described as having Auburn Hair with dark eyes which look almost black and looks about 14 or 15 years old.At the end of Oath Breaker, Renn kisses Torak on the jaw, and Wolf then wonders why the two run away from each other, even though he knows that they like each other.

Wolf

Torak's pack-brother, a young wolf that helped Torak in "Wolf Brother" and "Spirit Walker", he is a 'pack brother' with Torak, and is friends with Renn. In the first two books he would refer to Renn as 'the female tailless'. As Wolf become closer to Renn, he started to call her "the pack-sister". His parents and brothers were killed by a flood and he was the only one to survive. During Oathbreaker one of the mountain pack of wolves, Darkfur, becomes his mate, helping him rear an orphaned cub. One of his favorite foods is lingonberries.Unlike other wolves, he has only most of his tail (He's missing 1 or 2 inches) from where it became infected and Renn had to cut it off. He can also sense demons and "see" souls as the travel and leave a body.Wolf has a strong pack relationship with Torak, calling him Tall Tailless and respecting him as the lead wolf of his pack of 3. But during Oathbreaker, he realises Torak is "not-wolf", leading to a period of estrangment but returns to him to kill Thazzi, as he is still a "pack-brother".He also refers humans as "taillesses'", fire as "the bright beast that bites hot", the sky as "the up". He calls creeks "fast wets"; the sun is "the hot bright eye", snow is "the soft cold wet" and the fire opal "the bright beast that bites cold". When wolf was a cub Torak (his pack-brother) used to play a game with him called "hunt the lemming" and that has been his favorite game since.

Fin-Kedinn

The leader of the Raven Clan, knew that Torak's uncle and Torak's father were Soul Eaters. He is a vital person to Torak. Wolf respects this leader, as Fin-Kedinn sleeps like a wolf. In Outcast, he fosters Torak after casting him out. He was in love with Torak's mother.

The Soul Eaters

Powerful and fearsome beings; they want complete control of the Forest, and once known as the Healers or the Mages, since each one was a Mage from his/her clan. Only seven are known. Each Soul Eater has a characteristic that represents their clan, e.g. The Viper Mage has the tongue of the viper, and so on. Torak's father was a Soul Eater until they turned evil. They renamed themselves so they could appear terrifying to others.

The walker and Narik

The walker is a insane outcast from the otter clan, he is mostly recognised from his gruesome stench. Narik is "his" pet, in the form of a vermin. Although Narik "disappears" he always return to the wanderer in some "other shape", although they obviously die, and he finds another pet Torak and Renn let him stay to his nature.

Raven Clan

Hord

Renn's brother. He was strong, but also cowardly and he was very much an attention seeker, and also too ambitious for his own good. He also did not get on with Torak because he wanted to kill Torak and bring Torak's heart's blood to the Mountain of the World Spirit in "Wolf Brother" - a quality that lead to his death.

eal clan

Bale

A Seal Clan boy, who is an expert skinboater, and Torak's bone kin. He first appears in Spirit Walker. He becomes friends with Renn, although he believes women should remain at the camp and not hunt. In Torak's absance Bale 'replaces' him and becomes jelous of Bale and Renn's friendship. Bale showns a romantic interest to Renn. He was killed by Thiazzi in Oathbreaker.

Wolf clan

Maheegun

The Wolf Clan leader. The whites of his eyes are dyed yellow like the others in his Clan, giving him a spooky appearance. He seems ashamed of Torak's Father. He first appears the night when everyone in the forest comes together to discuss Torak's Soul Eater tattoo.

Fin-Kedinn summoned him, assuming that as Torak's bone kin, he would vouch for him. To everyone's surprise, he refuses, revealing that while Torak is indeed the Wolf Mage's son, he is clanless. This leads to Torak's expulsion from the Clans.