Bone

Thorn is Bone’s most active protagonist. She aligns closely with archetypal hero tropes like the “chosen one” and the “seeker.” As the chosen one, she possesses special abilities that make her the only person capable of defeating the Lord of the Locusts. Likewise, the seeker trope concerns a character who is on a mission for truth: Thorn’s call to adventure is learning the truth of her origins. She spends several books wrestling with the truth, uncovering secrets, and using that information to her benefit. The honing of her powers transitions her into the role of a seer: Her powerful insight into the spirit world is what allows her to protect others, win the day, and claim the throne of Atheia.

Thorn’s character arc hews closely to the hero’s journey, and in many ways, it takes the form of a coming-of-age story. Of all the characters in Bone, Thorn changes the most dramatically over the course of the year and has the most pronounced character arc. She transitions from an anonymous farmgirl to a queen, from a nonbeliever to a spiritual symbol, and from a civilian to a warrior. The transitional stage in between presents as a period of fragility, anger, and depression. Once she accepts her role as the heir to the throne, her natural abilities as a leader rise to the surface.

Thorn is also one of several powerful matriarchs in Bone, helping to cement a motif of politically powerful women. Though male rulers exist in the world of Bone, their weight in the narrative is insignificant compared to that of queens such as Rose, Lunaria, Mim, Ven, and Thorn. The only kings we know of are Kingdok—a lackey to Briar—and Thorn’s father, who is unnamed in the story. Atheian queens, meanwhile, are depicted as generals, architects, lawmakers, spiritual leaders, and even demigods. The most powerful male counterparts to the queens are lords: Lord Tarsil the Usurper and the Lord of the Locusts, a minor political threat and an avatar for all-powerful evil, respectively.

Along with Grandma Ben and Smiley, Phoney serves as Bone’s deuteragonist. Structurally, he fills many roles: He is a red-herring chosen one and occasionally fills an antagonistic role with his many self-serving schemes. He is a hero in this story, but his most typical function is to derail the other heroes by causing hijinks, conflict, chaos, and tension. He also contributes several critical plot points: Without his loose campaign balloon, he and his cousins would never have been targeted by Briar, and therefore he is responsible for setting the story of Bone into motion. He also plays a pivotal role in resolving the story by revealing the location of the Crown of Horns.

Phoney is characterized as an archetypal miser. He is an abrasive, greedy hoarder, and his nickname is a comical reflection of his duplicitousness. Smith based Phoney on the Disney Company’s Scrooge McDuck; Scrooge’s influence on Phoney can be observed in his obsession with money, his backstory, his cantankerous affect, and even his posture. He consistently presents the most moral weakness of the core cast, offering a less threatening example of the main antagonists’ character flaws (namely power mongering, greed, and deceitfulness). His selfishness often positions him as a foil to the other heroes, especially Fone and Lucius. Phoney is best described as a huckster with a heart of gold; he is highly motivated by avarice, status, and his own safety, but he is also unwilling to abandon his cousins, even in the face of mortal peril.

Briar is a strictly villainous presence in Bone. As the “hands and eyes” of the Lord of the Locusts, she is the primary antagonist but not the “big bad.” This position helps to demonstrate a hierarchy among the antagonists, which is revealed in order as the characters are introduced: The rat creatures sit at the bottom, and the Locust sits at the top. Where the Hooded One is initially mysterious and seems almost omnipotent, learning that she takes orders from a higher station puts cracks in that façade. By the end of the story, we have a strong understanding of who Briar is and come to view her as both formidable and pathetic: She is powerful and knowledgeable, but she is also jealous, bumbling, and insane.

Briar is a sorceress and a villainous crone. She wields powerful magic, which allows her to use fear and madness as weapons. Her hood, sickle, and withered hands make her resemble the Grim Reaper, therefore tying her to death on a symbolic level. She is also associated with death on a literal level as she has both ordered the deaths of others and killed directly.

Briar’s identity reveal also highlights her gender; the other characters assumed that the Hooded One was a man until she appeared to Lucius. The way Briar plays with gender and age is presented as intimidating and twisted: she used feminine wiles to manipulate Lucius when they were young, but she also dons the face of a man in his youth—Lord Tarsil—before killing him.