War of the Wolf characters

Appears from the start

Uhtred of Bebbanburg, lord at last of the great sea fortress he spent a lifetime reclaiming, and the most feared warlord in Britain even in his old age. He wants only to hold what is his, but Northumbria - the last kingdom outside Saxon rule, where his son-in-law reigns and his daughter is queen - cannot stay out of other men's wars, and neither can he.

Appears from the start

The Irish swordsman who commands Uhtred's household warriors, his closest friend through four decades of war. Age has slowed neither his blade nor his loyalty.

Appears from the start

Uhtred's wife, the red-haired former mistress of a Mercian lord who long ago chose Uhtred's side and healed him when a sword-wound was killing him. Skilled with herbs and remedies, she keeps his household at Bebbanburg.

Appears from the start

Uhtred's warrior son and heir to Bebbanburg, a seasoned commander in his own right who shares every campaign his father is drawn into.

First appears in chapter 2

King Edward's eldest son, the prince Uhtred raised, now a grown commander holding Mercia's frontier towns for his ailing father. The succession question hangs over him: powerful men at court back his half-brother Aelfweard and want Aethelstan destroyed before Edward dies.

Appears from the start

King of Wessex and, since his sister Aethelflaed's death, ruler of Mercia as well. Ailing and remarried, he presses his kingdom's border ever northward, and his failing health sharpens the struggle over which son will succeed him.

First appears in chapter 2

A rebel leader besieging Ceaster, once a candidate for a royal marriage, now in arms against King Edward. His revolt is the errand that pulls Uhtred away from Bebbanburg at the moment it matters most.

Appears from the start

The one-eyed Norse King of Northumbria, Uhtred's son-in-law, ruling at Eoferwic with Uhtred's daughter Stiorra as his queen. His kingdom is squeezed between Saxon ambition from the south and Norse newcomers from the west, and his crown depends on allies he can trust - chiefly his wife's father.

Appears from the start

Uhtred's daughter, queen of Northumbria, wife of Sigtryggr - a pagan queen with her father's iron in her. She rules at Eoferwic beside her husband while the last free kingdom of the north is beset from every side.

Also known as Skoll Grimmarson

First appears in chapter 5

A Norse warlord out of Ireland who has settled the wild western hills of Northumbria and means to make himself its king. He commands ulfhednar - wolf-warriors who fight in a drug-fed frenzy and believe themselves invulnerable - and his opening stroke, an attack on Eoferwic while its defenders were drawn away, makes the war with Uhtred a blood feud.

First appears in chapter 7

Skoll's blind sorcerer, whose prophecies and curses are worth warriors to his master: Skoll's men believe the old man's magic shields them, and Uhtred's men fear it enough for the fear itself to be a weapon.