Martin the Warrior characters

Appears from the start

A young mouse held as a slave in the coastal fortress of Marshank, the son of Luke the Warrior, who left him a sword and went away to sea. The sword was taken from him when he was captured and now hangs in the tyrant's hall. Seasons of forced labour have not broken him: he refuses to be worked quietly, argues with the guards, and is the one slave the others look to. He is hard, direct, and has no idea yet how to lead anyone anywhere.

Also known as Badrang the Tyrant

Appears from the start

A stoat warlord who has built the fortress of Marshank on the eastern shore with slave labour, meaning to make himself lord of the coast and, in time, of far more. A former sea raider who came ashore to build something permanent, he is calculating rather than merely brutal, keeps trophies of those he has beaten, and is proudest of a sword he took from a young mouse prisoner.

First appears in chapter 2

A young squirrel enslaved at Marshank alongside Martin and his closest friend there. Powerfully built and a superb thrower of javelins, he has an athlete's discipline and a deep, quiet rage at what has been done to him and to his father. His hatred of Badrang is the one thing he cannot reason with.

First appears in chapter 2

Felldoh's father, an old squirrel who has been a slave at Marshank for many seasons and has learned to survive it. He counsels patience and endurance where his son wants vengeance.

First appears in chapter 2

Badrang's chief captain and the overseer of the slave pens, a stoat who runs the work gangs with a whip and reports to his master on anything that moves. Cruel by habit and careful never to be caught failing.

First appears in chapter 3

A young mouse taken by Badrang's slavers, cheerful and stubbornly optimistic even in the pens, who wants to be a healer rather than a fighter and practises on anyone injured. He is far from home and his family have no idea whether he is alive.

Also known as Laterose, Laterose of Noonvale

First appears in chapter 4

A mousemaid from Noonvale, a hidden valley in the north, who has travelled a long way with only a mole for company to find her lost younger brother. She is warm, quick-witted, brave to the point of recklessness, and a fine singer. She has never seen a place like Marshank and she is not deterred by it.

First appears in chapter 4

A mole travelling with Rose as her companion and cook, inseparable from his ladle, slow-spoken and imperturbable. He grumbles about everything and follows her anywhere.

First appears in chapter 5

A young otter enslaved at Marshank, tough, fast in water and quick with his tongue, and one of the group of prisoners who begin planning a way out.

First appears in chapter 5

An otter maid among the slaves of Marshank, scarred by the overseers and hardened by it, who is among the most determined of the prisoners to fight rather than wait.

First appears in chapter 12

A corsair stoat who arrives off the coast with a ship's crew at his back, wearing wooden clogs and a beard plaited with ornaments. He and Badrang were shipmates and partners once, and neither has forgotten how that ended. Boisterous and treacherous in equal measure, he wants Marshank for himself.

First appears in chapter 17

A badger who leads the Rambling Rosehip Players, a troupe of travelling performers who tour the coast with a cart, a stage and a repertoire. Large, shrewd and maternal toward her company, she has kept them alive on the road for many seasons by knowing exactly when to move on.

First appears in chapter 17

A hare and the leading actor of the Rambling Rosehip Players, a magnificent ham with a voice for the back row, a bottomless appetite and a talent for improvising his way out of trouble. Under the performance he is a capable and very fast fighter.

First appears in chapter 17

A squirrel of the Rambling Rosehip Players, vain about her looks and her billing, forever arranging her tail and complaining about the roles she is given, and rather braver in a crisis than she lets anyone expect.

Also known as the Warden of Marshwood Hill

First appears in chapter 21

An enormous grey heron who rules a stretch of marsh and hill on the road north and considers everything that crosses it his to judge. Formal, imperious and lethally quick, he is not an ally and not exactly an enemy.

First appears in chapter 26

The chief of Noonvale, Rose and Brome's father, who has kept his hidden valley safe for a lifetime by keeping it secret and keeping it out of every quarrel beyond its walls. He regards war as the thing Noonvale exists to avoid.