The Host characters

Also known as Wanda

Appears from the start

A widely traveled alien soul implanted in the body of Melanie Stryder. Known at first as Wanderer, she expects to study her host's memories for the human resistance, but Melanie's continuing consciousness makes the assignment unlike any of her previous lives.

Appears from the start

The young human woman whose captured body is given to Wanderer. Melanie survives within her own mind, fiercely resisting the soul's control and protecting memories of the people she loves.

First appears in chapter 2

An unusually persistent member of the souls' security service. She questions Wanderer about Melanie's memories and wants to use them to locate humans who have escaped implantation.

First appears in chapter 4

The human man Melanie remembers loving while they hid from the alien occupation. His image and their shared history become some of the memories Melanie most strongly withholds from Wanderer.

First appears in chapter 6

Melanie's beloved younger brother, whom she protected after their family was lost. Her memories of Jamie give her another powerful reason to resist Wanderer and keep the surviving humans' refuge secret.

Also known as Uncle Jeb

First appears in chapter 12

Melanie's eccentric uncle, who prepared a hidden desert refuge before the invasion. Armed and cautious when he finds Wanderer, Jeb is nevertheless curious enough to keep the cave community from killing her immediately.

First appears in chapter 13

The physician serving Jeb's hidden community. To Wanderer, a human doctor with access to her alien body appears especially dangerous, even though he is also responsible for keeping the refugees alive.

First appears in chapter 13

Jeb's sister and Melanie's aunt, a firm, suspicious member of the desert community. Maggie sees the alien occupying her niece's body as a threat, regardless of Jeb's order that the captive be spared.

First appears in chapter 13

Maggie's daughter and Melanie's cousin. Sharon shares her mother's hostility toward the soul inside Melanie and wants the refuge protected from any information Wanderer might pass to the Seekers.

First appears in chapter 14

A young man in the cave community and Kyle's brother. Ian initially regards Wanderer as an enemy wearing a stolen human body and supports efforts to remove the danger she represents.

First appears in chapter 14

Ian's forceful brother, whose hatred of the alien occupiers makes him unwilling to accept Jeb's protection of Wanderer. He treats her presence in the caves as an immediate danger to every surviving human there.