History Characters / TheChroniclesOfAncientDarkness

* BlackSheep: According to Krukoslik, the Eagle Owls were good people who were seen at clan meets. Sadly, the bad apple Eostra caused their extinction.

* VillainousLegacy: [[spoiler:She's dead by the time of the last three books, but their overall plot is driven by her demon-son Naiginn trying to free himself of the restraining spell which Seshru cast on him. Renn also finds herself uncomfortably similar to her mother in leaving Torak behind and lying to advance on her quest in ''Viper's Daughter'', and Seshru herself appearing in her dreams to [[NotSoDifferentRemarks gloat how similar they are]].]]

%%* GreaterScopeVillain: Between ''Soul Eater'' and ''Ghost Hunter''.

** In ''Outcast'', she cures Torak's festering wound after she has caught him, having decided that [[spoiler:the wound where the cut Soul Eater tattoo was has served its purpose]].

* EvilCounterpart: To Renn. Both are clever and secretive like their respective clan totems, gifted in Magecraft, the only women Torak feels attraction towards, and willing to lie and go against the clans' laws to reach their goals. The difference is that Renn does that [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight to help her friends]] and not for selfish reasons like Seshru. [[spoiler:Like the evil mother, like the good daughter.]]

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:The Oak Mage ends up dying by falling from the top of the Great Oak.]]

* WhipItGood: He skillfully fights with a rawhide whip in ''Oath Breaker''.

* MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:He dies in the GrandFinale to finish off Naiginn once and for all, which leads to Dark being chosen as the new Raven Leader.]]

* TheUnblinking: One of the first oddities Torak notes about Naiginn is that the latter rarely blinks.

* ArchEnemy: To Renn. Renn holds a personal enmity towards Seshru because [[spoiler:the latter birthed her just to create her own tokoroth as well as shattered the heart of Renn's father who ended up dying in search of Seshru. It is because of Seshru's legacy that Renn hates her gift in Magecraft and refuses to practice it. Even after Seshru's death, Renn fights to prove to herself that she's nothing like her mother, especially in ''Viper's Daughter'' in which she gains a new nemesis in the form of her demon-possessed half-brother Naiginn, a creation of their shared mother]].

* ConsummateLiar: Regular lying is for her as easy as is expected from a stereotypically portrayed snake. She's willing to deny her crimes and take credit for the actions of someone else, like when [[spoiler:she claims to be responsible for the drowning of Lake Axehead]].

* DeadPersonConversation: [[spoiler:She appears twice in Renn's dreams during ''Viper's Daughter'' to mock her daughter about how she's turning out to be like her mother and to tell her that the legacy of the Soul Eaters isn't over yet.]]

* EvilGloating: She's rivaled only by Thiazzi in her love of bragging.

* FemmeFatale: Beautiful as a forest maiden and utterly self-serving. She is able to stun Torak and Bale with her beauty more than once, even though they ''do'' know she's evil.
* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: [[spoiler:When Torak threatens to destroy the second Fire Opal fragment, Seshru reveals her knife and lunges forward, only to be shot by Bale. Earlier she presented herself unarmed and appealed to Bale's reluctance to hurt an unarmed woman. It took the sight of her attacking Torak with a knife for Bale to throw his hesitations aside.]]
* IfIWantedYouDead: When she has Torak at her mercy at Lake Axehead's healing spring, she states that she could have taken his spirit walker powers by eating his heart while he was unconscious, but she wants to make him use his power for her instead.
* IsThatWhatHeToldYou: [[spoiler:Renn had been told by Saeunn that Seshru gave birth to her only to use her as a sacrifice. Upon learning this, Seshru tells her that her intention was not to kill her infant, but to make her a tokoroth, which is [[FateWorseThanDeath considerably worse]].]]

%%* ManipulativeBitch:
* MasterPoisoner: Her special ability is extensive knowledge about herbs and potions. During ''Soul Eater'', she uses this skill to help capture a polar bear by feeding sedatives to it. In ''Outcast'', she poisons crowberries that Torak eats, rendering him unconscious and following his resuscitation, mostly paralyzed yet aware of everything happening around him and able to communicate with Seshru.

* SmugSnake: She's cunning, but she overlooks things in her arrogance. Since she calls herself the Viper Mage, that's fitting.

* StrongFamilyResemblance: Though not noticeable at first, she has a subtle resemblance to [[spoiler:her daughter Renn]]. They both have a pale skin and high cheekbones, and their hair curls the same way.

* VillainousLegacy: [[spoiler:She's dead by the time of ''Viper's Daughter'', but the plot is driven by her demon-son Naiginn trying to force Renn to free him of the masking spell which Seshru cast on him and can be undone only by a mage related to Seshru. Renn also finds herself uncomfortably similar to her mother in leaving Torak behind and lying to advance on her quest, and Seshru herself appearing in her dreams to [[NotSoDifferentRemarks gloat how similar they are]].]]

* DarkSkinnedBlond: [[spoiler:Like the rest of the Seals, he has a dark skin and a fair hair.]]

* DarkSkinnedBlond: Like his clansmen, he's blond, and since they live by the Sea, they're pretty tan.

* PragmaticVillainy: In ''Outcast'', she cures Torak's festering wound after she has caught him, having decided that [[spoiler:the wound where the cut Soul Eater tattoo was has served its purpose]].

Torak's mother from the Red Deer Clan who died shortly after giving birth to him. The medicine horn she made is the only thing Torak has of her. [[spoiler:When she learned that her son would have to make up for his father's sins, she begged the World Spirit to help Torak. The Spirit made Torak a spirit walker on two conditions; the mother had to declare her son clanless and die herself. She made her medicine horn from a tine of the World Spirit's antler and died on the day she finished it. She was then buried in the same place she had given birth to Torak: inside the Great Yew of the sacred grove.]]

Torak is the protagonist of the series. He lives with his father in seclusion until a bear possessed by a demon kills his father. He meets Wolf and discovers that he can actually communicate with him, resulting in Wolf becoming Torak's "pack brother" and guide. During the quest to kill the demon bear, Torak learns that he's the prophesied Listener whose destiny is to take down the creators of the bear, the Soul Eaters. It is revealed in ''Spirit Walker'' that he is also a spirit walker, a creature whose spirits can leave his body and take over other bodies. It is for that reason that [[spoiler:the World Spirit ordered Torak's mother to make him clanless when he was born]]. He and Renn are initially enemies when they meet in the first book. However, they become friends, in later books best friends, and in the last few books they become more than friends. When the series begins, he is twelve years old, and by the end of ''Ghost Hunter'', he is nearly sixteen.

Renn is Torak's best friend, and later becomes his mate (Stone Age word for lover/girlfriend/wife). She has a very strong sense of justice and right and wrong. Like Torak, she has a very short temper, but unlike him, she is extremely rational and thinks before she acts. She is very tough, and purposely prickly, as she lost her parents at a young age. She can be very secretive and hides her [[spoiler:true parentage]]. She is the best archer in the Raven Clan, and she is a very talented Mage, although she hates to use Magecraft. She is Fin-Kedinn's niece and his favorite person in the Clan. At the start of the series, she is twelve, and by the end of ''Ghost Hunter'', she is nearly sixteen.

Fin-Kedinn is the Leader of the Raven Clan. He was the older brother of Renn's father, and [[{{Nephewism}} took care of Renn after her father died]]. In fact, he made her bow and taught her to shoot. He is initially wary of Torak but lets him live with the Raven Clan and gradually warms up to him. He was once best friends with Torak's father, [[spoiler:but also in love with his mother]]. He eventually becomes Torak's foster-father, which is a great honor.

The first named Soul Eater. He started the first book's plot by creating the demon bear in order to destroy Torak's father. [[spoiler:His name is actually Tenris, the Seal Mage whom Torak meets when he travels to the Seal Clan in the ''Spirit Walker''. He's horribly scarred all over his body from the Great Fire ignited by his brother, Torak's father. He pretends to be very kind and helpful towards Torak, but tries to kill him in order to steal the power of the spirit walker.]]

Seshru the Viper Mage is a beautiful woman who's as venomous as her totem, though it is suggested that she changed her name and clan when she joined the Healers. She serves as the main antagonist of ''Outcast'', and it's revealed in the same book that she is [[spoiler:Renn and Hord's mother]]. She's also responsible for [[spoiler:forcibly tattooing Torak with the Soul Eaters' mark and the existence of Naiginn, the antagonist of the last three books]].

Thiazzi the Oak Mage is the strongest man of the Forest and the most violent and sadistic of all the Soul Eaters. In ''Soul Eater'', Wolf bites a few fingers off of his left hand. He's the main antagonist of ''Oath Breaker'', in which he murders [[spoiler:Bale]] and causes a war among the Deep Forest Clans.

Torak's father is a hunter from the Wolf Clan who raised his son in isolation for twelve years until he's mauled by the demon bear and dies in the first chapter of the first book. It is revealed that the bear was sent specifically to hunt him down by the Soul Eaters. This is because he was a [[spoiler:former Wolf Mage and a member]] to the Soul Eaters before they became evil. When he realized what they were doing, he created a huge fire known as the Great Fire to destroy them, but he only managed to force them to go hiding for thirteen years.

Saeunn is the impossibly old Raven Clan Mage. Her age is never actually stated, and considering that it's the Stone Age, perhaps she isn't really that old at all by modern standards (though she may be). She forces Renn to learn Magecraft, though the two of them have a fierce dislike for each other. [[spoiler:She dies in ''Ghost Hunter'' of her old age.]]

Hord is Renn's older brother. He is around nineteen or twenty. To make up for [[spoiler:who his mother is]], he tries to be the best at everything. He has an immense dislike for his sister, just like most of the Raven Clan.

An old Otter Clan outcast who appears a few times throughout the books, each time as a complete madman who keeps as pets little animals he names Narik. It is revealed in ''Ghost Hunter'' that he actually was a [[spoiler:Soul Eater and the Otter Mage Narrander]]. He went mad after finding his [[spoiler:son Narik's body following the Great Fire]]. With Fin-Kedinn's help, he made it appear that it was he who [[spoiler:died in the fire]].

The Leader of the Mountain Hare Clan. He briefly appears near the ending of ''Wolf Brother'' to give Torak tips on how to travel to the Mountain of the World Spirit. He reappers in ''Ghost Hunter'' when Torak, Renn and Wolf are on their way to confront Eostra.

Bale is a boy from the Seal Clan. Torak's paternal grandmother was from the Seal Clan, meaning that he and Bale are kinsmen. Bale and Torak are initially wary of each other, but they become friends. He had a little brother who was killed three summers before ''Spirit Walker'' by the sickness that was created by [[spoiler:Tenris]]. He returns in ''Outcast'' to aid Renn in helping Torak who's made an outcast. In ''Oath Breaker'', he's [[spoiler:murdered by Thiazzi, resulting in Torak seeking revenge against the Oak Mage]]. When he is first introduced, he is fifteen, and by ''Oath Breaker'', he is nearly seventeen.

Aki is the Boar Clan Leader's son and a few years older than Torak. In ''Outcast'', he discovers Torak's [[spoiler:Soul Eater tattoo]], resulting in Torak's outcasting. Aki spends Torak's time in exile by attempting to hunt him down. They later become allies after Torak saves his life.

An unnamed woman from [[spoiler:the Red Deer Clan]] who calls herself the Chosen One. She's an insane pyromaniac who secretly works for Thiazzi.

A man from the Salmon Clan who enters the Deep Forest in search of his four-year-old daughter who has been [[spoiler:captured by Thiazzi]].

Dark is an albino boy who lives in the Mountain of Ghosts with only a white raven called Ark for company. He was abandoned by the Swan Clan when he was younger, both due to his albinism and his ability to see ghosts. After befriending Torak, Renn and Wolf, he aids them against Eostra. [[spoiler:He afterwards becomes the new Mage of the Raven Clan and also their Leader following Fin-Kedinn's death.]] He's of the same age as Torak and Renn.

Dark's father from the Swan Clan. Immediately after Dark's mother died, Realvi abandoned his albino son to the High Mountains when Dark was eight summers old. They re-encounter after the Thunderstar strikes. At first he appears to be wanting to reconcile with Dark, but he turns out to be a spy of the Chosen Ones sent by [[spoiler:Naiginn]] to find out if Torak and Renn are among the survivors.

A Bat Clan hunter who becomes one of the Chosen Ones. [[spoiler:After Naiginn is exposed as a fraud, Iakim becomes the new leader of the Bat Clan.]]

A young man from the Sea-eagle Clan who befriends Dark while helping the heroes in their efforts to save Wolf from [[spoiler:Naiginn]] and put an end to the [[spoiler:demon]] once and for all. [[spoiler:After Dark becomes the new Raven Leader, Kujai stays with him out of love.]]

Fin-Kedinn's older brother from the Raven Clan as well as Renn and Hord's father. He was killed by a snowfall on the ice river beyond Lake Axehead when Renn was seven years old. [[spoiler:He was there searching for his children's mother Seshru whom he was unable to forget even though she dumped him twice.]]

** Brought UpToEleven in ''Ghost Hunter'', where not even literally dying can get the characters who want out out.

A girl from the Ptarmigan Clan who was sold to the Narwals due to her withered arm at the age of five. When she first appears, she's about ten years old and serves the Narwal Mage Marupai. Torak meets her while he's searching for Renn in the Far North. When the heroic trio returns to the Forest, they take Shamik with them to live with the Ravens.

*

The leader of the Seal Clan who is very old.

* ParentalSubstitute: He has taken care of Renn and Hord since their father's death. He also becomes one to Torak to the point that he fosters him in ''Outcast''.

* TheLostLenore: Both to Fin-Kedinn and Torak's father. The latter never told Torak much about her because he always became very sad thinking about her. Fin-Kedinn in turn [[spoiler:holds himself partially responsible for her death because he refused to help her and her mate out of jealousy following the Great Fire]]. He ends

* OnlySaneMan: He's not as ferverntly taken in by the lies [[spoiler:Naiginn]] sprouts to the Chosen Ones.

Nice, Mean, and In-Between

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: He has a lot of similarities with Hord. They're both rash young men who are related to their clans' leaders and try to hide their self-esteem issues with an arrogant demeanor. They're both hostile towards Torak and attempt to kill him. However, while Hord goes off the deep end and [[spoiler:dies]], Aki sees the error of his ways and lives.

* SiblingTeam: They shared the same nest in their first appearance, and they're rarely seen apart from each other. [[spoiler:The very ending of the series subverts this with the revealation that they're not siblings after all since they've mated and had three chicks.]]