57 pages • 1 hour read
Katherine ApplegateThe Last: Endling #1
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Byx
Byx is a dairne, a dog-like creature with opposable thumbs and the innate ability to tell truth from lies. She is the smallest member of her family, and she therefore sees herself as weak and less competent than her siblings. As a result, her confidence is crippled by an inferiority complex that leads her to doubt herself in every situation that allows her enough time to overthink things. However, when Byx finds herself making moment-to-moment decisions, she always makes the braver choice. This sense of inferiority follows Byx throughout the novel, causing her to doubt her choices at every step. However, with the support of her new group of friends, Byx begins to find a new confidence in herself, and these self-doubts begin to disappear.
When her family is killed by the soldiers of the Murdano, the human king, Byx is devastated, and her confidence is further undermined by the memory of a conversation she overheard her parents having, in which her father expressed fear of Byx one day being the last dairne left alive. When she realizes that she is indeed the last of the dairnes, her father’s words haunt her and make her feel unworthy of her species’ legacy. In part, this is why Byx embraces the hope that there might be other dairnes in the world. If there are others, then she doesn’t have to carry the burden of being the only representative of the species.
Byx begins the novel as a child, one who has been largely sheltered from the evils of the world. At the start of the story, her only understanding of the world comes from what her pack has taught her. She knows very little of the ways of any of the five other governing species on Nedarra. This lack of knowledge severely limits Byx’s worldview, and it also limits her understanding of her own character and abilities. However, as the novel progresses and Byx finds herself out in a world that is both worse and better than the world her parents attempted to prepare her for, Byx grows considerably with each new challenge, proving herself over and over to be stronger than she originally believed. Byx also begins to understand the world better than even her parents did, becoming more confident in herself and her species and growing as a character.
Kharassande Melisandra/Donati
Kharassande Melisandra/Donati, or Khara, is the poachers’ guide who initially attempts to save Byx when the young dairne is set upon by the poachers. Khara is a girl who disguises herself as a boy because the things she is good at doing, such as hunting, tracking, and fighting, are things that only boys are expected to do. At the same time, Khara must hide her family name because the Donatis are now in disgrace. Many years ago, the Donati family once pursued a war in an attempt to dethrone the first Murdano; however, the war ended with betrayal by the Corpli clan, which was initially on the Donati side.
Khara begins the novel as a solitary figure who scrapes a living for herself and her family by doing odd jobs for unscrupulous poachers. However, when Khara saves Byx, she becomes part of something that could change the fate of her family as well as save members of the six governing species. Khara very quickly becomes the leader of this ragtag group of companions, using the skills her father taught her to lead them north and protect them from the dangers of the road. Khara also develops a strong bond with Byx, Tobble, and Gambler, thereby Developing Unlikely Friendships.
Khara’s character grows throughout the novel as she shifts perspective from a girl out to protect only herself to a warrior with a mission to solve a mystery that could potentially bring about the downfall of the current Murdano. Khara expands her small world by allowing Byx’s crisis to become her own. As they travel together and seek answers, Khara, Tobble, Gambler, and Renzo become a family as well as a unique little army. The end of the book shows Khara more open to the people around her and more willing to trust people she would not have trusted before knowing Byx.
Tobble
Tobble is a wobbyk, a small, round creature with big ears and a bigger heart. Tobble is about to drown in the ocean when Byx swoops down from a cliff to save him. As a result, Tobble attaches himself to Byx because he believes the Wobbyk Code that tells him he must save Byx’s life three times in repayment. However, as time passes, it becomes clear that Tobble remains by Byx’s side more out of loyalty and friendship than the code.
Tobble is so small and gentle that he is often overlooked in times of trouble. Khara takes Tobble along when she teaches Luca and Byx to fight, but it is more to keep Tobble from feeling left out than anything else. This happens again when Khara goes to speak to the rapticons. Tobble is a companion the others don’t think much about in terms of support or hard work. However, when Khara, Gambler, and Byx are initially attacked by the Pale Guard in Saguria, it is Tobble who comes to the rescue, attacking the soldiers in such a way that it allows enough distraction for Gambler and Byx to get the best of the rest of the soldiers.
Tobble begins the novel as comic relief, but he very soon becomes an important member of Byx’s companion group. Tobble proves his worth many times over, as a sounding board for Byx’s self-doubts, as a helpful source of information, and as a loyal friend. As the novel progresses, Tobble shows growth as he becomes less afraid in dangerous situations and eventually shows his bravery as a warrior.
Gambler/Elios Str’ank/Hadrak the Third, Lonko of the Dread Forest
Gambler is a felivet, a cat-like creature that is quite large and frightening due to his predatory feeding habits. When Byx first meets Gambler, she is filled with warnings from her pack about the danger of a felivet eating her. However, Gambler is also a thoughtful conversationalist who convinces Byx that her species is not the only one in danger of extermination in the Murdano’s kingdom. Based on this one conversation, Byx succeeds in Overcoming Prejudice by changing her preconceived notions about the felivets and asking Gambler to join her growing group of companions.
Gambler proves to be a useful companion to Byx and her friends. He has incredible hearing, great fighting instincts, and the ability to sneak up on anyone. As a result, Gambler helps Byx track dangers around the group and fight their enemies. Gambler keeps the promise he made to Byx in the beginning that he will not bring harm to anyone in the companion group. Gambler also provides Byx with useful advice on several occasions, giving her a sounding board that results in more experienced advice than what Tobble can offer.
Gambler remains fairly static throughout the course of the novel, but he does show strong loyalty to Byx in particular, and also to Khara and Tobble as an extension of his friendship with Byx. Gambler is a creature who needs his freedom, as it is the nature of his species to remain primarily solitary. Even so, Gambler easily shares space with his new companions. This adaptability demonstrates that although Gambler might be solitary by nature, he can also adjust when the purpose is important enough. Although it might seem that Gambler only remains with the companions because of his desire to expose the Murdano’s systematic extermination of the other five governing species, it is also clear that Gambler has developed a strong affection for Byx after she saves him twice from imprisonment.
The Thief/Renzo
Renzo appears in the novel briefly, but his appearance has a significant impact on Khara and suggests that he will play a much bigger role in the two novels that follow. Renzo is a thief who has no shame about his profession and easily admits it to anyone who asks. Only a year or two older than Khara, he is in a similar situation, for he too is a young person trying to make a living to help support both himself and his family. Renzo is charming and charismatic, and it is clear that the arguments that come up between him and Khara foreshadow the beginning of a potential romance. Renzo is also experienced in the art of theurgy, or magic. Like Gambler, Renzo does not initially present himself as the kind of person who would be willing to throw in with a bunch of misfits to fight a potentially losing battle against the Murdano, but at their second meeting, he immediately shows his trustworthiness by helping the companions find a ford to safely cross a deep river and escape their pursuers. At the end of the novel, Renzo takes an oath of loyalty to Khara; as it turns out, he already knew all of her family secrets long before she revealed them.
Renzo is the first to introduce Byx to an actual dog. This moment provides comic relief, for Byx looks very much like a dog, and this confuses Renzo’s dog when Byx refuses to befriend it. Renzo is honest despite his profession and proves this not only in his conversations with Byx but also in his interactions with Khara. Given his limited roles in this first novel, Renzo’s character is not yet fully developed, but because he and Luca serve as foils to one another, it is clear that he will have a much more significant role as the story continues in subsequent installments. Unlike Luca, who tells half-truths and hides his true identity from the group, Renzo is very open about the realities of his life, his profession, and his family history, and he is not afraid to expose his motivations and inner truths. Renzo is likeable, and this helps when he tries to mark his place within the group of companions. Renzo ends the book not only by taking a loyalty oath but also by building the foundations of a growing friendship between himself and the other companions.
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By Katherine Applegate
