The Wee Free Men characters

Appears from the start

A clever, level-headed nine-year-old girl who lives on her family's sheep farm on the chalk downland known as the Chalk. Practical far beyond her years and gifted with a stubborn common sense, she begins to notice that strange creatures and forces are intruding on her quiet world, and finds she has a talent for seeing things as they really are.

Appears from the start

Tiffany's very young brother, a sticky, demanding toddler who wants sweets more or less constantly. Small and helpless, he is the sibling Tiffany is grudgingly responsible for looking after.

Appears from the start

Tiffany's late grandmother, a taciturn shepherd who watched over the sheep and the downland with quiet, unquestioned authority. Long dead by the time the story begins, she lives on in Tiffany's memory as the wise, silent guardian of the Chalk, revered almost as its protecting spirit, and a model for the woman Tiffany hopes to become.

First appears in chapter 2

A witch who travels the countryside in disguise, quietly seeking out children with the talent for magic. Bookish and brisk, with a hat that folds flat to stay hidden, she recognizes Tiffany's promise and warns her that the barriers between the ordinary world and Fairyland are wearing dangerously thin.

First appears in chapter 4

The Big Man, or leader, of the Nac Mac Feegle, the Wee Free Men: tiny blue-skinned, red-haired warriors barely six inches tall, tattooed, hard-drinking, and permanently ready for a fight or a theft. Fearless and loyal, he leads his clan to Tiffany's side when she needs fierce allies.

First appears in chapter 4

A gonnagle, the bard of the Nac Mac Feegle, more dignified and thoughtful than his rowdy kinsmen. He wields poetry and music as weapons, able to make an enemy's ears ache or worse with the sheer force of his verse.

First appears in chapter 4

A grumbling talking toad who lives among the Nac Mac Feegle and serves as their source of book-learning and legal advice. Sharper of tongue than the Feegle and full of odd knowledge, he becomes a reluctant guide and adviser to Tiffany.

First appears in chapter 5

The cold, beautiful ruler of Fairyland, a being without pity who crosses into the human world to take children and other things she desires. She rules a shifting dream-country of illusions and stolen wishes, and she is the power behind the intrusions troubling the Chalk.

First appears in chapter 8

The local Baron's son, a dull and rather spoiled boy who was carried off into Fairyland some time before the story begins. Tiffany encounters him lost among its dreams, half-forgotten and slow to rouse himself, another of the Queen's captives.