Dragonsdawn characters

Appears from the start

A young colonist who arrives on Pern with the Hanrahan family. Curious, adventurous, and unusually receptive to the planet's native creatures, Sorka grows up alongside the settlement and becomes one of the people most closely involved in its transformation.

Appears from the start

A boy from the Connell family, whose people bring experience with horses, herding, and a mobile way of life to the colony. Sean is independent, direct, and more comfortable proving himself through action than accepting authority on its own terms.

Also known as Admiral Benden

Appears from the start

The expedition's admiral and one of the senior leaders responsible for bringing the colonists safely to Pern. Paul supports the settlers' chartered plan for a permanent, largely agrarian society and must balance that ideal with the technical demands of establishing it.

Also known as Governor Boll

Appears from the start

The colony's governor and Paul Benden's partner in civil leadership. Emily is calm, diplomatic, and attentive to the different groups that must become a functioning community after the expedition's ships have delivered them.

Appears from the start

An expert shuttle pilot who helps ferry people and equipment from the colony ships to the surface. Sallah is disciplined, courageous, and committed to the settlement, with the judgment to recognize when a flight requires more than technical skill.

Appears from the start

A talented engineer central to the colony's machinery, power, and transport systems. Tarvi understands that the settlers' decision to limit advanced technology still depends on using their inherited equipment wisely during the dangerous first years.

Appears from the start

One of the expedition's most accomplished pilots. Avril values the interstellar skills and technology the colonists intend to leave behind, and she is openly dissatisfied with a future confined to farming on an isolated world.

Appears from the start

A senior geneticist whose knowledge is essential to adapting Earth plants and animals to their new environment. Kitti is authoritative, inventive, and prepared to use the colony's biological technology where it offers a durable answer to Pern's needs.

Appears from the start

Kitti Ping's granddaughter and scientific assistant. Wind Blossom has inherited formidable technical ability, but she works under the expectations created by her grandmother's reputation and by the colony's urgent biological problems.

Appears from the start

Sorka's father, an experienced horseman whose practical knowledge helps establish the colony's herds. Red is protective of his family and willing to judge unfamiliar Pernese life by close observation rather than fear.

Appears from the start

Sorka's mother and a capable member of the colony's farming community. Mairi combines family care with the work of settlement and helps give Sorka the security to explore the new world around Landing.

First appears in chapter 3

A geneticist who works with Kitti Ping on the colony's biological program. Pol brings careful scientific knowledge to the adaptation of imported species and to the study of native Pernese life.

First appears in chapter 4

A colonist who distrusts the leadership's decisions and objects to the permanence of Pern's isolation. Ted is technically resourceful and persistent, but his determination to appeal beyond the colony places him in conflict with its agreed charter.