Monsters of Men characters

Appears from the start

The narrator and hero, a boy from Prentisstown on a colonized planet where the Noise makes men's thoughts audible. Loyal, weary, and tested past his years, he is caught at the center of a war between the human factions and the planet's native people. His fierce bond with Viola and his dangerous, uneasy proximity to the tyrant Mayor Prentiss drive the choices he must make.

Appears from the start

The girl who came as the advance scout of an incoming settler fleet, silent in a world of Noise. Brave and clear-eyed, she works to reach and guide her own people as they arrive, and to broker peace among the warring sides. Her devotion to Todd, and his to her, is the emotional core of the story as the war rages.

Also known as President Prentiss

Appears from the start

The cold, brilliant tyrant who seized power over the human settlement, a master of his own Noise and of manipulating the minds of others. As war engulfs the planet he maneuvers for total control, offering alliance and even apparent reform while never ceasing to scheme. His fixation on Todd makes him unpredictable and dangerous.

Appears from the start

The strong-willed healer who led the human resistance, the Answer, against the regime. Principled but ruthless in pursuit of her aims, she remains a powerful and unpredictable force as the sides jockey for advantage, willing to take extreme measures for what she believes is the greater good.

Also known as 1017

Appears from the start

A Spackle, one of the planet's native people, who survived the regime's enslavement and slaughter and returned to his own kind burning for vengeance. Known among his people as the Return, he becomes their instrument of retribution against the humans who wronged them, and his hunger for revenge shapes the course of the war.

First appears in chapter 2

The leader of the Spackle, the native people who share their thoughts in a single connected voice. Wise and deliberate, the Sky commands the vast native army and weighs whether to pursue total war against the human invaders or to seek another path, holding the fate of the planet's peoples in the balance.

First appears in chapter 4

One of the adults from the newly arrived settler ship, a decent, peace-seeking man who comes down to the surface to help. He and his companion side with Viola in trying to end the fighting rather than join it, bringing the perspective and technology of the incoming colonists into the conflict.