Nettle & Bone

Prince Vorling is the primary antagonist of the novel. He abuses his wives, even killing Damia. Vorling does not change over the course of the story, leaving him flat, a stereotypical villain. Marra describes him as short with burning eyes. His face shows his emotions, flashing with rage whenever something does not go his way or his authority is challenged. His kingdom possesses great wealth and power from generations of rulers.

Kingfisher does not develop Vorling much as a character. Fenris equates him to other vile men he has met: “[M]en like that never stop. If they can be isolated or thrown at an enemy, it is for the best, and then the clan gets some good of them in the end. But often they cannot be, and then we must find other solutions” (107). The characters all accept that Vorling cannot be stopped unless he is killed. The prince has too much power for anything else to keep him from harming Kania. In the book’s final confrontation, Vorling’s preoccupation with the godmother and the need for her blessing allow Fenris the opening he needs to kill him. Vorling’s weakness comes from an overdependence on the godmother to protect him and his power.

Kania, Marra’s sister and the second daughter of the king and queen of the Harbor Kingdom, marries Prince Vorling after her older sister Damia’s death. Kania, as a teenager, tells Marra that she hates her. This one statement defines Marra and Kania’s relationship for years. Kania rises to the challenge of marrying the foreign prince and endures years of mistreatment and abuse from her husband, including physical violence and repeated humiliation.

Marra and Kania’s relationship changes when Marra attends her niece’s birth. Kania pauses between contractions to tell Marra to save herself. At her niece’s funeral, Marra learns the scope of Vorling’s abuse of her sister. Kania tells Marra she would kill him if she could, but for now, the only way to protect herself is by being pregnant. Marra learns from Kania and her mother that once the male heir is born, Kania will likely die at Vorling’s hands. Kania relays this information with calm poise. She does not shrink from her fate but accepts and endures it for the sake of her people.

After Vorling’s death, Marra sees Kania for who she truly is, a capable grown woman: “Kania turned her head. Her eyes swept over her dead husband and then to her living sister, and Marra could see everything snapping into place. But then, unlike Marra, Kania had never been a fool” (226). This passage illuminates Kania’s character. She knew what she was facing when she rode North to marry Vorling; she knew her sister had died at his hands. Kania sacrifices herself fully and willingly to save her people. In the moment after Vorling’s death, though, she does not hesitate to take control and power. She knows she can handle it.

The dust-wife, who has no name, is an old woman living on the graveyard’s edge. She keeps chickens, one of whom has a demon in her. The dust-wife serves as a mentor and guide to Marra on her hero’s journey. As a side-kick, the dust-wife performs many services, such as communicating with the drowned boy, navigating the goblin market, and pausing the dead king’s hold on the godmother. She brings an element of grumpy humor to the narrative, adding relief to the unfolding drama of a deadly fool’s errand.

The dust-wife initially thinks little of Marra. She sets her three impossible tasks, hoping she will fail. When Marra successfully completes the first two, the dust-wife grudgingly accepts her own role in Marra’s quest: “You want a weapon against a prince. Well, I haven’t got a magic sword or an enchanted arrow or anything nicely portable […] Your weapon against the prince. That’s me” (73). The dust-wife takes up Marra’s cause, respecting The Importance of Grit in a hero, traveling far from home and recruiting others to help. She is critical to the mission’s success, slapping back the thief-wheel and defeating the ancient ghost king in battle, albeit with the help of her demon-possessed chicken. When the godmother asks the dust-wife her reason for undertaking this journey, the dust-wife replies simply, “A friend asked me to” (218). The dust-wife and Agnes retire together, with their garden, chickens, and each other for company.

Fenris serves as the love interest and stereotypical warrior in this fairy tale, serving the theme of The Subversion of Expectations. He falls into the archetype of a tragic hero. He meets his downfall by killing an abusive father. Fenris served as a diplomat and warrior for his clan before he killed the man. After the incident, Fenris left his home knowing that the father’s clan would be honor-bound to kill him in retribution, and then his clan would be honor-bound, in turn, to avenge him, and so on. He goes to sleep in a fairy fort, not quite believing the stories but not caring if he dies. The tooth seller enslaves him. Fenris believes throughout the novel that his life is forfeit, so he acts recklessly to save others.

Marra describes Fenris as “large enough to break her in half with his bare hands” (100). He chops firewood in exchange for food, and Agnes catches Marra watching him work with his shirt off. He willingly places himself at risk repeatedly to save Marra and their company. Ultimately, Marra and Fenris decide to stay together, hoping to free the humans stuck in the goblin market.

Marra describes Agnes as “having the faintly anxious look of someone who was permanently in just a little over her head” (123). She acts as the godmother for the children of the Harbor Kingdom’s royal family and the children who come to her in Trexel, her home. She begins the narrative professing to possess little talent and skill. She is in fact Marra’s great aunt, as a fair one seduced Agnes’s father. The fair one then dropped Agnes off with the king. The queen allowed Agnes to stay, but Agnes chose to live alone with her chickens. Agnes blesses every child with health because nothing else will stick. She is far more talented with curses.

Agnes refuses her power with curses in favor of decency. She wants to be a force for good, not suffering. She joins the company to save Kania and help in any way she can. Agnes cares greatly for other people. The dust-wife tells Fenris, “Agnes’s magic thinks she should be six feet tall with eyes like a starving wolf […] evil magic could flow through her like a river in full flood. Fortunately for the rest of us, there is a lot of Agnes in the way” (234). Agnes’s compassion holds her power in check, further underscoring The Importance of Grit, demonstrating Kingfisher’s point that grit makes a person a hero—even when grit manifests in unexpected ways.