Characters / Chronicles of the Kencyrath - Animals

This is listing of animals in the series Chronicles of the Kencyrath.

For the main character index, go here.

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Whinno-hir

Whinno-hir in general

"[T]he breed who have been with the Kencyrath almost from the beginning."

—Marc

• Cool Horse
• Humanshifting: They don't do it often, but they can take human form.
• Only the Chosen May Ride: They can only be riden if they consent.
• Sapient Steed: The Whinno-hir understand speech and frequently establish mental links with chosen Kencyr people. They do not speak, but can make themselves understood, and they appear to be near human in intelligence.
• Serious Business: Marc and five others got thrown out from East Kenshold because of a Whinno-hir, and while Marc hates that he was thrown out, he thinks it's valid reason.
  Marc: We older yondri tried to tell the boy that no Whinno-hir can be ridden without its full consent, but he wouldn't listen. We insisted, and he ordered us to leave.
  Jame: You lost your place at East Kenshold because of a horse?
  Marc: Because of a Whinno-hir, one of the breed who have been with the Kencyrath almost from the beginning. Because of a friend.

Bel

Bel-tairi

• Proper Lady: Bel manages this despite being a horse.
  Jame: Bel, yes, and she's a lady, I'll thank you to remember,
• Scars Are Forever: What Greshan did to her to get revenge on Kinzi.
• White Stallion (Gender Inverted): Bel is a white mare, and a true lady, but still fulfills the requirements of the trope.

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Rathorn

Rathorns in general

• Brown Note: The cry of a rathorn is so terrifying the Knorth adopted it as their battle-cry. It induces terror in those who hear it.
• Cool Horse
• Hellish Horse: Rathorns are carnivorous armored unicorns matching many of these tropes, being fanged, double-horned (nose and forehead), red-eyed, and armored with ivory-like plates on head, neck, chest and forelegs. The armor plates continue to grow as long as the rathorn is alive, so the really old ones are also in constant pain and likely to smother in their own armor. They are notorious man-killers with really bad tempers, and are generally some combination of black and white, from all-black to all-white or various combinations.
• Rearing Horse: Rathorns are made to fight like this, with armored forelegs, chest, belly and head, sharp dewclaws on the forelegs, and fangs.
• Unicorn: But different—rathorns are carnivorous, two-horned armored unicorns that are known man-eaters.

Death's-head

• Beast of Battle: Riding a rathorn is an obviously bad idea, but also all kinds of awesome. And riding one into battle...
• A Dog Named "Dog": A "death's-head" is a term for a rathorn without a herd. He is one.
• Fluffy the Terrible (Defied): When it comes to naming him, Jame suggests this, but Death's-head refuses.
  Jame: Death's-head. Are you sure you want that for a name?
  Death's-head: [hisses]
  Jame: All right, all right. After all, that's what you are. Death's-head and Nemesis it is, then, although for the element of surprise I would have preferred Snowball and Buttercup.
• Horsing Around: Death's-head is very prone to this; he likes to challenge Jame and show that he isn't subservient, even if he's bound to her.
  Death's-head: If not today, then tomorrow, or next week, or next year. Wait.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Roast chicken
• White Stallion: Death's-head is a white rathorn stallion, and Jame riding such a beast into battle is definitely this trope. Justified because he's albino, and a little Deconstructed because he's easily sunburned in the south.
  Jame: Death's-head burns too easily.
  Timmon: I had wondered. With those red eyes, he's an albino, isn't he?
  Jame: Yes. A rathorn mare's last foal often is, and an outcast too, poor boy. Others of his kind have black or gray coats, but still white manes, tails, and ivory.
• You Killed My Mother: It was a Mercy Kill, but yes, Jame killed his mother. Death's-head spends the next two books tracking her down to kill her.

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The Falconeers' bound creatures

These are all Non-Human Sidekicks and Bond Creatures.

Jorin

"Well, well. Mother and child. Very pretty."

—Bane

Jame's blind ounce (a medium-sized spotted big cat)

• Affectionate Nickname: Jame calls him "Kitten", even when he's grown up
• Animal Eye Spy (Inverted): Jorin has been blind since birth, and he sees through his mistress's eyes.
• Cute Kitten: When everything becomes too much, Jame goes and cuddles with her kitty.
  She considered vomiting too, but decided it wouldn't make her feel any better. Nothing she could think of would. But here was Jorin, anxiously nuzzling her ear, trying to crawl into her lap where he hadn't fit since he was a kitten.
• Protectorate: To Jame. When Bane first sees Jame with Jorin, he says "Mother and child." When Jame hears about how Kalan had to leave her baby daughter, her first thought is of Jorin.

Addy

Something golden flowed out of [Shade's] sleeve onto her lap. There it collected itself in thick, molten coils and raised a triangular head with glittering orange eyes.

Shade's bound swamp adder, and a gift from Lady Rawneth.

• Snakes Are Sinister (Subverted): At first, the Randir girl with her bound snake seem like obviously bad news. They're not.
• Timmy in a Well: Jame wakes up to find Addy in bed with her, and works out that Shade must be in trouble. Shade is, in fact, literally down a well. However, Shade did not expect rescue; she sent Addy to Jame to keep her safe.