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* CuteBruiser: He's the quickest in his squad, and Matteo mentions that he has no difficulty swinging a machete that's almost as big as he is.
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* CuteBruiser: He's the quickest in his squad, and Matteo mentions that he has no difficulty swinging a machete that's almost as big as he is.CuteBruiser
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* PintsizedPowerhouse: He's the quickest in his squad, and Matteo mentions that he has no difficulty swinging a machete that's almost as big as he is.
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* SweetPollyOliver: Not until later, though.
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* SkilledButNaive: Book smart, but unfamiliar with military life.
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* SkilledButNaive: Book smart, but unfamiliar with military life.SkilledButNaive
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* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: She always disagrees with the main characters. And she's always wrong.
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* IdiotHero: Matteo is some kind of unusual [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstruction]] of one of these. He's actually pretty smart--when he has time to think and plan, it almost always works out exactly as he wants it to--but when there's a reason to make a snap decision, his better judgment flies straight out the window. In one such instance, he winds up as one big walking first degree burn. And ''deaf-mute''.
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* IdiotHero: Matteo is some kind of unusual [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstruction]] of one of these. He's actually pretty smart--when he has time to think and plan, it almost always works out exactly as he wants it to--but when there's a reason to make a snap decision, his better judgment flies straight out the window. In one such instance, he winds up as one big walking first degree burn. And ''deaf-mute''. He is constantly defying Lieutenant Luo, too, even though he knows he shouldn't.
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* SkilledButNaive: If he puts his mind to it, he can be pretty clever, but his unfamiliarity with military life often has him dropping the IdiotBall left and right.
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* SkilledButNaive: If he puts his mind to it, he can be pretty clever, Book smart, but his unfamiliarity unfamiliar with military life often has him dropping the IdiotBall left and right.life.
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* IdiotHero: Matteo is some kind of unusual [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstruction]] of one of these. He's actually pretty smart--when he has time to think and plan, it almost always works out exactly as he wants it to--but when there's a reason to make a snap decision, his better judgment flies straight out the window. In one such instance, he winds up as one big walking first degree burn. And ''deaf-mute''.
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* IdiotHero: Matteo is some kind of unusual [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstruction]] of one of these. He's actually pretty smart--when he has time to think and plan, it almost always works out exactly as he wants it to--but when there's a reason to make a snap decision, his better judgment flies straight out the window. window. In one such instance, he winds up as one big walking first degree burn. burn. And ''deaf-mute''.
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* IdiotHero: Matteo is some kind of unusual [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstruction]] of one of these. He's actually pretty smart--when he has time to think and plan, it almost always works out exactly as he wants it to--but when there's a reason to make a snap decision, his better judgment flies straight out the window. In one such instance, he winds up as one big walking first degree burn. And ''deaf-mute''.
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* SexIsEvil: Played for laughs. In contrast with Otto, he's a very big prude.
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* ManBitesMan: He bites Asher, of all people.
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* InSeriesNickname: Kalid, Eliza, and Jeremiah all call him Teo.
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* InSeriesNickname: Kalid, Eliza, Jeremiah, and Jeremiah Marunde all call him Teo.Teo. Though the narration consistently refers to him as "Matteo," the only time he uses his own name, he shortens it to Teo as well.
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* InSeriesNickname: Kalid, Eliza, and Jeremiah all call him Teo.
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* TheNicknamer: Toward the boys in his squad.
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* TheTrickster
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname
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* NoNameGiven: His real name is unknown. Panga is his nickname.
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* NoNameGiven: OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: His real name is unknown. Panga is his nickname.
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* CheshireCatGrin
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* CheshireCatGrinCheshireCatGrin: Matteo calls it a "crocodile grin."
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* GodIsGood: Matteo definitely thinks so. It's rather touching that the horrific amounts of violence and loss he undergoes can't even chip away at the surface of his belief.
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* FaithHeelTurn: He mentions that he was raised a Muslim, but a combination of his captivity in the LRA and his sister's death have whittled the faith out of him.
** HeelFaithTurn: [[spoiler: During a later scene, when he's trapped in a foxhole with his squad, he starts praying to Allah.]]
** HeelFaithTurn: [[spoiler: During a later scene, when he's trapped in a foxhole with his squad, he starts praying to Allah.]]
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* BodyHorror: He is missing parts of his nose and mouth, his eye droops, and his face is fixed in a permanent scowl.
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* BodyHorror: He The whole right side of his face is gashed, he's missing parts of his nose and mouth, his eye droops, and his face is fixed in a permanent scowl.
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* {{Determinator}}: Possibly the ''poster boy'' for this trope.
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* {{Foil}}: To Sarai.
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* {{Foil}}: To Sarai.Asher.
* {{Foil}}: To Matteo.
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* {{Foil}}: To Matteo.
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* DefrostingIceQueen
--> ''"I spent a lot of time not really caring about people. Especially people my age. I always passed my classmates off as immature. Did I think I had the right? Now I realize that they're supposed to be immature. As children, that's their right. The children here are not children. [[MomentOfAwesome And nobody had the right to take that away.]]"''
--> ''"I spent a lot of time not really caring about people. Especially people my age. I always passed my classmates off as immature. Did I think I had the right? Now I realize that they're supposed to be immature. As children, that's their right. The children here are not children. [[MomentOfAwesome And nobody had the right to take that away.]]"''
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* TookALevelInKindness
--> ''"I spent a lot of time not really caring about people. Especially people my age. I always passed my classmates off as immature. Did I think I had the right? Now I realize that they're supposed to be immature. As children, that's their right. The children here are not children. [[MomentOfAwesome And nobody had the right to take that away.]]"''
--> ''"I spent a lot of time not really caring about people. Especially people my age. I always passed my classmates off as immature. Did I think I had the right? Now I realize that they're supposed to be immature. As children, that's their right. The children here are not children. [[MomentOfAwesome And nobody had the right to take that away.]]"''
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** Except for Matteo's best guess, which seems to be based off of Nyumba's friendship with Jade, there's literally ''no'' proof that Nyumba is a girl. No one but Matteo's narration ever refers to her as "he" or "she."
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** Except for Matteo's best guess, which seems to be based off of Nyumba's friendship with Jade, there's literally ''no'' proof that Nyumba is a girl. No one but Matteo's narration Matteo ever refers to her Nyumba as "he" or "she."
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** Except for Matteo's best guess, which seems to be based off of Nyumba's friendship with Jade, there's literally ''no'' proof that Nyumba is a girl. No one but Matteo's narration ever refers to her as "he" or "she."
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[[folder: The Runaway Regiment]]
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[[folder: The Runaway Regiment]]
Masindi Regiment/"Runaway Regiment"]]
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Age fourteen. A Christian girl from Kampala, she was captured by the LRA three years ago. Since then, she has given birth to two children, both girls, both dead. [[spoiler: One was killed by the apparent father [[MercyKill while the other was killed by Ruth herself]], who [[TearJerker didn't want the baby to live the same life she had]].]]
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Age fourteen. She's in charge of cooking for the men. A Christian girl from Kampala, she was captured by the LRA three years ago. Since then, she has given birth to two children, both girls, both dead. [[spoiler: One was killed by the apparent father [[MercyKill while the other was killed by Ruth herself]], who [[TearJerker didn't want the baby to live the same life she had]].]]
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* RuleAbidingRebel
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: The Runaway Regiment]]
The first regiment that successfully breaks free from the LRA.
!Matteo Ta'anari
Age fourteen. A boy of mixed Afro-Arab and Arab-Berber ancestry. At the start of the novel, his parents are killed by the LRA, his brother Kalid taken hostage. Matteo snaps himself out of his grief and hatches a plan to get himself similarly captured by the LRA, thus finding Kalid and smuggling him to safety.
Army life turns out to be nothing like he had expected. To begin with, the LRA wants [[ChurchMilitant a completely Christian Africa]]; this means that Matteo is forced to kill his fellow Muslims while hiding that he himself is a Muslim, constantly in fear of his own life and in torment over the horrors he commits. As he comes to befriend the boys working alongside him, he realizes that none of them are in the LRA by choice. His desire to save his little brother evolves into a desire to save all the child soldiers. No easy feat when there are thirty thousand of them scattered across the eastern continent.
* ActualPacifist: He steadily develops the belief that murder is never justified and spends most of the novel exploiting crafty ways to free his friends without having to harm the men who hold them captive.
** TechnicalPacifist: Confronted with the man largely responsible for Ruth's captivity and rape, he kills that man in a moment of blind rage. He feels worse after the encounter instead of better, but although he still feels that murder is unforgivable, he realizes he's willing to do it if it means keeping his friends safe.
* BodyHorror: By the end of the novel, at least 90% of his body is covered in burn scars. His arms and throat are riddled with bullet scars.
* DefrostingIceQueen
--> ''"I spent a lot of time not really caring about people. Especially people my age. I always passed my classmates off as immature. Did I think I had the right? Now I realize that they're supposed to be immature. As children, that's their right. The children here are not children. [[MomentOfAwesome And nobody had the right to take that away.]]"''
* FiveManBand: TheHero, obviously.
* {{Foil}}: To Sarai.
* GreenEyes
* HotBlooded: Reckless, impulsive, and short-tempered, it's hard to imagine that he thought ''he'' was the most mature kid in his village.
* KidHero
* KnightInSourArmor: He somehow manages to blend an unflinching knowledge of the cruel world around him with a relentless belief that [[WideEyedIdealist the world can and will change]].
* TheMcCoy: To Ruth's [[TheSpock Spock]].
* NaiveNewcomer
* PuppyLove: With Ruth.
* SkilledButNaive: If he puts his mind to it, he can be pretty clever, but his unfamiliarity with military life often has him dropping the IdiotBall left and right.
!Ruth Mallory
Age fourteen. A Christian girl from Kampala, she was captured by the LRA three years ago. Since then, she has given birth to two children, both girls, both dead. [[spoiler: One was killed by the apparent father [[MercyKill while the other was killed by Ruth herself]], who [[TearJerker didn't want the baby to live the same life she had]].]]
[[spoiler: It's actually she, not Matteo, who [[MomentOfAwesome saves everyone in the end]].]]
* ChekhovsSkill: [[spoiler: Her culinary knowledge, specifically the fact that cassava is poisonous when uncooked.]]
* FiveManBand: She's TheSmartGuy.
* ImportantHaircut
* PuppyLove: With Matteo.
* ShrinkingViolet: She gets better.
* TheSpock: To Matteo's [[TheMcCoy McCoy]].
* TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside
!Asher
Age sixteen and Matteo's squad leader. A Somalian boy who, along with his older sister, was captured by the LRA when he and his family were on the Kenyan border. He and his sister immediately tried to escape the army; his sister was shot to death while he merely walked away with a [[BodyHorror severely mutilated face]]. Six years later, he is cold, dry, and unemotional and refuses to step out of line.
* TheAce / BrokenAce: He has picked up a tremendous amount of useful knowledge from his military service, to say nothing of the random trivia he spouts when he's...uncomfortable.
* AntiHero
* BodyHorror: He is missing parts of his nose and mouth, his eye droops, and his face is fixed in a permanent scowl.
* CynicalMentor
* DeadLittleSister: Well, dead older sister.
* DeadpanSnarker
* FiveManBand: He's TheLancer.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold
* TheStoic
* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]
!Otto
Age twelve. An Acholi boy who has been in the Lord's Resistance Army for four years. His parents, impoverished, were struggling to feed all four of their children, so he quietly ran away one night to make their task a little easier, determining that either the LRA would find him, or death would. He did this when he was ''eight''.
* AdorablyPrecociousChild
* TheConscience: He considers his role as a soldier to be a [[MercyKill merciful one]]; the people he kills die quickly and relatively painlessly, whereas the adult soldiers would only prolong their suffering. He also has a staunch and humorous aversion to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking theft]].
* DissonantSerenity
* FiveManBand: He's TheChick.
* {{Foil}}: To Abdel.
* TheHeart
* KidAnova: He wants to be one of these.
* StepfordSmiler
* [[spoiler: TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth]]
* [[spoiler: WhamEpisode: It's ''completely'' unexpected when he dies.]]
* WiseBeyondTheirYears
!Jeremiah
Age seven, and a very angry little boy. Born to a [[SexSlave female captive]] of the LRA, he has never known life outside of the army. Nor has he ever known kindness. Largely ignored by the adults unless it's time to go fight, he was never taught the simplest of concepts, such as the permanence of death.
* BigBrotherInstinct: In reverse. He [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe latches onto Matteo]], evoking the instinct from the latter.
* CuteBruiser: He's the quickest in his squad, and Matteo mentions that he has no difficulty swinging a machete that's almost as big as he is.
* FiveManBand: TheBigGuy in attitude, despite actually being the smallest of the squad.
* {{Foil}}: To Kalid.
* GrayEyes: [[spoiler: It's how Matteo figures out that Lucy is his mother]]
* {{Tykebomb}}
!Auley Zuma
Age fifteen. A classmate of Matteo's, he's accidentally captured by the LRA when he tries to stop Matteo from joining the army. He initially protests his presence in the LRA, but after participating in his first battle, he becomes enticed by what he perceives as his newfound power. Insouciant, irreverent, and insensitive, he has a hard time figuring out when to be serious.
* DelinquentHair: He dyes it red.
* [[spoiler: FaceHeelTurn]]
** Maybe. He doesn't get the chance to explain himself before [[spoiler: Asher kills him]].
* TheFool
* {{Foil}}: To Marunde.
* TheImp
* NaiveNewcomer
* ThePrankster
* RunningGag: His fear of lions.
* [[spoiler: TooDumbToLive]]
!Marunde
Age seventeen and a squad leader like Asher. He has been with the LRA since he was nine, making him the oldest of the "veterans," and he is slated to join the ranks of the adult officers very soon. A direct {{Foil}} to Auley, the promise of power doesn't entice him at all, and he is [[StiffUpperLip indifferent]] to his horrible life until Matteo shows him that it's possible to escape.
* TheBlacksmith
* CheshireCatGrin
* {{Foil}}: To Auley.
* FunPersonified
* TheJester
* MessyHair
--> ''Matteo watched the other two squad leaders. One of them was tall and skinny with strong, lean arms, his nose pierced, his hair's only apparent endeavor to stand out in every possible direction.''
* NoNameGiven: He [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this on purpose, unwilling to give Matteo his surname when asked.
* RuleAbidingRebel
* [[spoiler: StraightGay]]
!Lazy
A teenage boy who has difficulty staying awake. He was originally in the Amal regiment before the adults there, annoyed with him, sent him away to be someone else's problem.
* DreadlockRasta
* HeavySleeper
* RunningGag: Mistaking everyone for his mother, or asking for her as soon as he wakes up. [[FunnyAneurysmMoment Sadder in hindsight.]]
* {{Sleepyhead}}
* TattooedCrook: Has a prominent eagle tattoo on one of his arms.
!Abdel
Age twelve. A boy in Marunde's squad, he's been with the LRA for one year and considers Marunde his best friend. Originally from DR Congo, he pretends to be psychic and has predicted that he will grow up to be a poet. A {{Foil}} for Otto.
* BilingualBonus: The only time his age is revealed is when he and Nyumba are having a conversation in French.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
* DumbBlonde / HairOfGold: He dyes it with lye.
* {{Foil}}: To Otto.
* PluckyComicRelief
!Lucy
A weary, sarcastic, but good-hearted young woman in her twenties. Originally from the Maghreb, her family emigrated to East Africa when she was a small girl. The LRA kidnapped her when she was six. She is the oldest woman in the regiment, having spent her entire life with the army, and the least motivated to rebel.
* BrokenBird
* ChildhoodFriends: [[spoiler: With Luo]]
* GrayEyes: [[spoiler: It's how Matteo realizes she's Jeremiah's mother.]]
* SeenItAll
!Nami
Age seven or eight. She has a close relationship with Ruth, but trusts no one else.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness
* ElectiveMute
* {{Foil}}: To Lula.
!Sarai
A cynical teenage girl with a fierce temper.
* {{Foil}}: To Matteo.
* MismatchedEyes: One's brown and one's blue.
* QuirkyCurls
* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler: Of the siege in Sarasa.]]
!Lieutenant [[spoiler: David]] Luo
An adult officer in the LRA. Matteo's squad answers directly to him. A very bitter young man, he has been with the LRA since he was nine. He has no qualms about beating his young charges whenever they step out of line.
* [[spoiler: AntiVillain]]
* [[spoiler: ChildhoodFriends: With Lucy]]
* EyesOfGold: Well, more like Eye of Ocher.
* {{Foil}}: To Panga.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Missing his right eye and has a scar running through the socket.
* [[spoiler: HeelFaceTurn]]
* [[spoiler: JerkassWoobie]]
* PetTheDog: [[spoiler: He tried to get medicine for Kalid when Kalid was first taken to Masindi.]]
* [[spoiler: PunchClockVillain: Part of Matteo's development involves the realization that Luo is not ''evil'', but the product of his horrible environment, simply behaving the way he was taught to behave since he was a child.]]
* SmugSnake
* StepfordSmiler / TechnicallyASmile / [[spoiler: BrokenSmile]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Amal Regiment]]
A regiment stationed north of Gulu. Matteo and his friends infiltrate their ranks while looking for Matteo's little brother.
!Jade
Age thirteen. A brusque, burly girl who serves as the leader of her squad.
* HonestAdvisor
* IronLady
* TheLadette
!Nyumba/"Blue"
Age eleven. A girl in Jade's squad. She's originally from DR Congo.
* AmbiguousGender: Matteo mentions that she could pass for a boy, probably because she hasn't hit puberty yet.
* BilingualBonus / MeaningfulName: Her name means "Home" in Swahili. [[spoiler: She gets to go home in the end.]]
** The only time her age is revealed is when she and Abdel are having a conversation in French.
* ShrinkingViolet
* YouthfulFreckles
!Thomas/"Heavy"
An Acholi teenager who used to be in the same squad as Lazy. [[spoiler: He's Otto's older brother.]]
* BraidsOfBarbarism
* OneManArmy
* TheQuietOne
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Natives of Noam]]
!Kalid Ta'anari
Matteo's nine-year-old brother. At the very start of the novel, he's sick with a fever and can't make the overnight walk to Luwero with his older brother. It's his disappearance that prompts Matteo to go looking for the LRA.
* BrattyHalfPint
* CheerfulChild
* {{Foil}}: To Jeremiah.
* [[spoiler: PosthumousCharacter: The fever was malaria. He died during his first night with the LRA.]]
!Eliza
A girl in Matteo's class. Her father and Matteo's worked together as salt miners. Her mother was a soldier with the UPDF and died trying to end the civil war. She disappears fairly quickly after the start of the story, but becomes important again later on.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
* FiveManBand: She's the SixthRanger.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: With Matteo.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl
* KnowNothingKnowItAll
!Mrs. Alowo
The village's school teacher. She's originally from West Africa.
* HotTeacher: If Matteo's classmates are to be believed.
* ParentalSubstitute
!Lula
A timid little girl around the same age as Kalid. She has an attachment to Eliza and later becomes friends with Jeremiah.
* {{Foil}}: To Nami.
* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: Always wears colored beads in her hair.
!Isaiah
A nearsighted boy who gets taken captive by the LRA along with Matteo and Auley. He doesn't last long.
* BlackAndNerdy
* SacrificialLamb
!Fatimah Ta'anari
Matteo and Kalid's mother, an Arab-Berber woman whose family emigrated to the east when she was a teenager. Killed at the onset of the novel.
* ChekhovsGun: Her necklace.
* GreenEyes
!Akif Ta'anari
Matteo and Kalid's father, a man of Afro-Arab descent. Killed at the onset of the novel.
* BaldOfAwesome
* TheStoic
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Other]]
!Lieutenant Panga
A soldier with the UPDF. He has been trying for a long time to put a stop to the LRA, but his efforts are losing political support. When he meets Matteo's friends in Lira, he immediately joins their cause.
* BoisterousBruiser
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass
* {{Foil}}: To Luo.
* ManChild: Matteo actually calls him a "damn overgrown child" at one point.
* MeaningfulName: "Panga" is both a species of fish and a local nickname for a machete. Like the fish, Panga is clumsy and ridiculous. [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass In combat, he's deadly.]]
* NoNameGiven: His real name is unknown. Panga is his nickname.
* PapaWolf
* TeamDad
!Father James
A Catholic priest from Luwero who lets the children from Noam sleep in his church at night to avoid being captured by LRA search parties.
* BadassGrandpa
* BadassPacifist
* BadassPreacher
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The Runaway Regiment]]
The first regiment that successfully breaks free from the LRA.
!Matteo Ta'anari
Age fourteen. A boy of mixed Afro-Arab and Arab-Berber ancestry. At the start of the novel, his parents are killed by the LRA, his brother Kalid taken hostage. Matteo snaps himself out of his grief and hatches a plan to get himself similarly captured by the LRA, thus finding Kalid and smuggling him to safety.
Army life turns out to be nothing like he had expected. To begin with, the LRA wants [[ChurchMilitant a completely Christian Africa]]; this means that Matteo is forced to kill his fellow Muslims while hiding that he himself is a Muslim, constantly in fear of his own life and in torment over the horrors he commits. As he comes to befriend the boys working alongside him, he realizes that none of them are in the LRA by choice. His desire to save his little brother evolves into a desire to save all the child soldiers. No easy feat when there are thirty thousand of them scattered across the eastern continent.
* ActualPacifist: He steadily develops the belief that murder is never justified and spends most of the novel exploiting crafty ways to free his friends without having to harm the men who hold them captive.
** TechnicalPacifist: Confronted with the man largely responsible for Ruth's captivity and rape, he kills that man in a moment of blind rage. He feels worse after the encounter instead of better, but although he still feels that murder is unforgivable, he realizes he's willing to do it if it means keeping his friends safe.
* BodyHorror: By the end of the novel, at least 90% of his body is covered in burn scars. His arms and throat are riddled with bullet scars.
* DefrostingIceQueen
--> ''"I spent a lot of time not really caring about people. Especially people my age. I always passed my classmates off as immature. Did I think I had the right? Now I realize that they're supposed to be immature. As children, that's their right. The children here are not children. [[MomentOfAwesome And nobody had the right to take that away.]]"''
* FiveManBand: TheHero, obviously.
* {{Foil}}: To Sarai.
* GreenEyes
* HotBlooded: Reckless, impulsive, and short-tempered, it's hard to imagine that he thought ''he'' was the most mature kid in his village.
* KidHero
* KnightInSourArmor: He somehow manages to blend an unflinching knowledge of the cruel world around him with a relentless belief that [[WideEyedIdealist the world can and will change]].
* TheMcCoy: To Ruth's [[TheSpock Spock]].
* NaiveNewcomer
* PuppyLove: With Ruth.
* SkilledButNaive: If he puts his mind to it, he can be pretty clever, but his unfamiliarity with military life often has him dropping the IdiotBall left and right.
!Ruth Mallory
Age fourteen. A Christian girl from Kampala, she was captured by the LRA three years ago. Since then, she has given birth to two children, both girls, both dead. [[spoiler: One was killed by the apparent father [[MercyKill while the other was killed by Ruth herself]], who [[TearJerker didn't want the baby to live the same life she had]].]]
[[spoiler: It's actually she, not Matteo, who [[MomentOfAwesome saves everyone in the end]].]]
* ChekhovsSkill: [[spoiler: Her culinary knowledge, specifically the fact that cassava is poisonous when uncooked.]]
* FiveManBand: She's TheSmartGuy.
* ImportantHaircut
* PuppyLove: With Matteo.
* ShrinkingViolet: She gets better.
* TheSpock: To Matteo's [[TheMcCoy McCoy]].
* TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside
!Asher
Age sixteen and Matteo's squad leader. A Somalian boy who, along with his older sister, was captured by the LRA when he and his family were on the Kenyan border. He and his sister immediately tried to escape the army; his sister was shot to death while he merely walked away with a [[BodyHorror severely mutilated face]]. Six years later, he is cold, dry, and unemotional and refuses to step out of line.
* TheAce / BrokenAce: He has picked up a tremendous amount of useful knowledge from his military service, to say nothing of the random trivia he spouts when he's...uncomfortable.
* AntiHero
* BodyHorror: He is missing parts of his nose and mouth, his eye droops, and his face is fixed in a permanent scowl.
* CynicalMentor
* DeadLittleSister: Well, dead older sister.
* DeadpanSnarker
* FiveManBand: He's TheLancer.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold
* TheStoic
* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]
!Otto
Age twelve. An Acholi boy who has been in the Lord's Resistance Army for four years. His parents, impoverished, were struggling to feed all four of their children, so he quietly ran away one night to make their task a little easier, determining that either the LRA would find him, or death would. He did this when he was ''eight''.
* AdorablyPrecociousChild
* TheConscience: He considers his role as a soldier to be a [[MercyKill merciful one]]; the people he kills die quickly and relatively painlessly, whereas the adult soldiers would only prolong their suffering. He also has a staunch and humorous aversion to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking theft]].
* DissonantSerenity
* FiveManBand: He's TheChick.
* {{Foil}}: To Abdel.
* TheHeart
* KidAnova: He wants to be one of these.
* StepfordSmiler
* [[spoiler: TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth]]
* [[spoiler: WhamEpisode: It's ''completely'' unexpected when he dies.]]
* WiseBeyondTheirYears
!Jeremiah
Age seven, and a very angry little boy. Born to a [[SexSlave female captive]] of the LRA, he has never known life outside of the army. Nor has he ever known kindness. Largely ignored by the adults unless it's time to go fight, he was never taught the simplest of concepts, such as the permanence of death.
* BigBrotherInstinct: In reverse. He [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe latches onto Matteo]], evoking the instinct from the latter.
* CuteBruiser: He's the quickest in his squad, and Matteo mentions that he has no difficulty swinging a machete that's almost as big as he is.
* FiveManBand: TheBigGuy in attitude, despite actually being the smallest of the squad.
* {{Foil}}: To Kalid.
* GrayEyes: [[spoiler: It's how Matteo figures out that Lucy is his mother]]
* {{Tykebomb}}
!Auley Zuma
Age fifteen. A classmate of Matteo's, he's accidentally captured by the LRA when he tries to stop Matteo from joining the army. He initially protests his presence in the LRA, but after participating in his first battle, he becomes enticed by what he perceives as his newfound power. Insouciant, irreverent, and insensitive, he has a hard time figuring out when to be serious.
* DelinquentHair: He dyes it red.
* [[spoiler: FaceHeelTurn]]
** Maybe. He doesn't get the chance to explain himself before [[spoiler: Asher kills him]].
* TheFool
* {{Foil}}: To Marunde.
* TheImp
* NaiveNewcomer
* ThePrankster
* RunningGag: His fear of lions.
* [[spoiler: TooDumbToLive]]
!Marunde
Age seventeen and a squad leader like Asher. He has been with the LRA since he was nine, making him the oldest of the "veterans," and he is slated to join the ranks of the adult officers very soon. A direct {{Foil}} to Auley, the promise of power doesn't entice him at all, and he is [[StiffUpperLip indifferent]] to his horrible life until Matteo shows him that it's possible to escape.
* TheBlacksmith
* CheshireCatGrin
* {{Foil}}: To Auley.
* FunPersonified
* TheJester
* MessyHair
--> ''Matteo watched the other two squad leaders. One of them was tall and skinny with strong, lean arms, his nose pierced, his hair's only apparent endeavor to stand out in every possible direction.''
* NoNameGiven: He [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this on purpose, unwilling to give Matteo his surname when asked.
* RuleAbidingRebel
* [[spoiler: StraightGay]]
!Lazy
A teenage boy who has difficulty staying awake. He was originally in the Amal regiment before the adults there, annoyed with him, sent him away to be someone else's problem.
* DreadlockRasta
* HeavySleeper
* RunningGag: Mistaking everyone for his mother, or asking for her as soon as he wakes up. [[FunnyAneurysmMoment Sadder in hindsight.]]
* {{Sleepyhead}}
* TattooedCrook: Has a prominent eagle tattoo on one of his arms.
!Abdel
Age twelve. A boy in Marunde's squad, he's been with the LRA for one year and considers Marunde his best friend. Originally from DR Congo, he pretends to be psychic and has predicted that he will grow up to be a poet. A {{Foil}} for Otto.
* BilingualBonus: The only time his age is revealed is when he and Nyumba are having a conversation in French.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
* DumbBlonde / HairOfGold: He dyes it with lye.
* {{Foil}}: To Otto.
* PluckyComicRelief
!Lucy
A weary, sarcastic, but good-hearted young woman in her twenties. Originally from the Maghreb, her family emigrated to East Africa when she was a small girl. The LRA kidnapped her when she was six. She is the oldest woman in the regiment, having spent her entire life with the army, and the least motivated to rebel.
* BrokenBird
* ChildhoodFriends: [[spoiler: With Luo]]
* GrayEyes: [[spoiler: It's how Matteo realizes she's Jeremiah's mother.]]
* SeenItAll
!Nami
Age seven or eight. She has a close relationship with Ruth, but trusts no one else.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness
* ElectiveMute
* {{Foil}}: To Lula.
!Sarai
A cynical teenage girl with a fierce temper.
* {{Foil}}: To Matteo.
* MismatchedEyes: One's brown and one's blue.
* QuirkyCurls
* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler: Of the siege in Sarasa.]]
!Lieutenant [[spoiler: David]] Luo
An adult officer in the LRA. Matteo's squad answers directly to him. A very bitter young man, he has been with the LRA since he was nine. He has no qualms about beating his young charges whenever they step out of line.
* [[spoiler: AntiVillain]]
* [[spoiler: ChildhoodFriends: With Lucy]]
* EyesOfGold: Well, more like Eye of Ocher.
* {{Foil}}: To Panga.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Missing his right eye and has a scar running through the socket.
* [[spoiler: HeelFaceTurn]]
* [[spoiler: JerkassWoobie]]
* PetTheDog: [[spoiler: He tried to get medicine for Kalid when Kalid was first taken to Masindi.]]
* [[spoiler: PunchClockVillain: Part of Matteo's development involves the realization that Luo is not ''evil'', but the product of his horrible environment, simply behaving the way he was taught to behave since he was a child.]]
* SmugSnake
* StepfordSmiler / TechnicallyASmile / [[spoiler: BrokenSmile]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Amal Regiment]]
A regiment stationed north of Gulu. Matteo and his friends infiltrate their ranks while looking for Matteo's little brother.
!Jade
Age thirteen. A brusque, burly girl who serves as the leader of her squad.
* HonestAdvisor
* IronLady
* TheLadette
!Nyumba/"Blue"
Age eleven. A girl in Jade's squad. She's originally from DR Congo.
* AmbiguousGender: Matteo mentions that she could pass for a boy, probably because she hasn't hit puberty yet.
* BilingualBonus / MeaningfulName: Her name means "Home" in Swahili. [[spoiler: She gets to go home in the end.]]
** The only time her age is revealed is when she and Abdel are having a conversation in French.
* ShrinkingViolet
* YouthfulFreckles
!Thomas/"Heavy"
An Acholi teenager who used to be in the same squad as Lazy. [[spoiler: He's Otto's older brother.]]
* BraidsOfBarbarism
* OneManArmy
* TheQuietOne
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Natives of Noam]]
!Kalid Ta'anari
Matteo's nine-year-old brother. At the very start of the novel, he's sick with a fever and can't make the overnight walk to Luwero with his older brother. It's his disappearance that prompts Matteo to go looking for the LRA.
* BrattyHalfPint
* CheerfulChild
* {{Foil}}: To Jeremiah.
* [[spoiler: PosthumousCharacter: The fever was malaria. He died during his first night with the LRA.]]
!Eliza
A girl in Matteo's class. Her father and Matteo's worked together as salt miners. Her mother was a soldier with the UPDF and died trying to end the civil war. She disappears fairly quickly after the start of the story, but becomes important again later on.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
* FiveManBand: She's the SixthRanger.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: With Matteo.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl
* KnowNothingKnowItAll
!Mrs. Alowo
The village's school teacher. She's originally from West Africa.
* HotTeacher: If Matteo's classmates are to be believed.
* ParentalSubstitute
!Lula
A timid little girl around the same age as Kalid. She has an attachment to Eliza and later becomes friends with Jeremiah.
* {{Foil}}: To Nami.
* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: Always wears colored beads in her hair.
!Isaiah
A nearsighted boy who gets taken captive by the LRA along with Matteo and Auley. He doesn't last long.
* BlackAndNerdy
* SacrificialLamb
!Fatimah Ta'anari
Matteo and Kalid's mother, an Arab-Berber woman whose family emigrated to the east when she was a teenager. Killed at the onset of the novel.
* ChekhovsGun: Her necklace.
* GreenEyes
!Akif Ta'anari
Matteo and Kalid's father, a man of Afro-Arab descent. Killed at the onset of the novel.
* BaldOfAwesome
* TheStoic
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Other]]
!Lieutenant Panga
A soldier with the UPDF. He has been trying for a long time to put a stop to the LRA, but his efforts are losing political support. When he meets Matteo's friends in Lira, he immediately joins their cause.
* BoisterousBruiser
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass
* {{Foil}}: To Luo.
* ManChild: Matteo actually calls him a "damn overgrown child" at one point.
* MeaningfulName: "Panga" is both a species of fish and a local nickname for a machete. Like the fish, Panga is clumsy and ridiculous. [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass In combat, he's deadly.]]
* NoNameGiven: His real name is unknown. Panga is his nickname.
* PapaWolf
* TeamDad
!Father James
A Catholic priest from Luwero who lets the children from Noam sleep in his church at night to avoid being captured by LRA search parties.
* BadassGrandpa
* BadassPacifist
* BadassPreacher
[[/folder]]
