Gene Wolfe - Return to the Whorl

Many of the persons and places mentioned in this book first appeared in The Book of the Long Sun, to which the reader is referred. In the following list, the most significant names are given in CAPITALS, less significant names in italics.

AANVAGEN, the protagonist's hospitable jailer in DORP.

Colonel Abanja, a Trivigaunti officer.

Antler, a son of SMOOTHBONE by his second wife.

Auk, the thief who once coached SILK in burglary.

Sergeant Azijin, a legerman of DORP.

BABBIE, a tame hus belonging to Mucor.

Bala, Sinew's wife, on GREEN.

BEROEP, a householder of DORP, AANVAGEN'S husband.

Calde BISON, Maytera MINT'S husband, presently calde of VIRON.

Blanko, an inland town.

Blood, a crime lord killed by SILK, Mucor's adoptive father.

BLUE, one of two habitable planets circling the SHORT SUN.

Blazingstar, a magnate of NEW VIRON.

Calf, one of HORN'S brothers, a shopkeeper of NEW VIRON.

CAPSICUM, Marrow's mistress and executor.

Chenille, the woman who accompanied Auk to GREEN.

Cijfer, Captain WIJZER'S wife.

Cilinia, Typhon's eldest daughter.

Cowslip, one of HORN'S sisters.

Cricket, a boy, Cowslip's son.

DAISY, a fisherman's daughter taught by NETTLE.

DORP, a coastal town north of NEW VIRON.

Echidna, a goddess in the WHORL and the patroness of GAON.

Eco, a former mercenary, Mora's husband.

Endroad, a village subject to VIRON.

Eschar, a magnate of NEW VIRON.

Flannan, one of PIG'S friends, a Flier.

GAON, a town of BLUE governed for a time by the narrator.

Gib, one of the colonists who accompanied Auk and Chenille.

GREEN, one of the habitable planets of the SHORT SUN.

Patera Gulo, the Coadjutor of VIRON.

GYRFALCON, a magnate of NEW VIRON.

Judge HAMER, one of the five judges who rule DORP.

Hammerstone, a soldier of VIRON, OLIVINE'S father.

Hare, a criminal, originally of VIRON.

Hari Mau, the new Rajan of GAON.

He-Pen-Sheep, a hunter.

HIDE, one of HORN and NETTLE'S twin sons.

Hierax, in the WHORL, the god of death.

Honeysuckle, a servant in the palace of VIRON'S calde.

HOOF, one of HORN and NETTLE'S three sons, HIDE'S twin.

HORN, the chief author of The Book of the Long Sun.

HOUND, a shopkeeper of Endroad.

Incanto, the name by which the narrator was known in Blanko.

Inclito, the Duko of Blanko.

Patera Incus, the Prolocutor of VIRON.

JAHLEE, an inhuma freed by the narrator.

JUGANU, an inhumu freed by the narrator.

Krait, an inhumu adopted by HORN.

IKypris, the minor goddess who invited SILK to unite himself to PAS.

Private Leeuw, a legerman of DORP.

LIZARD, an island north of NEW VIRON.

LONG SUN WHORL, the interior of the WHORL.

Maytera MARBLE, an elderly chem.

Marrow, a magnate of NEW VIRON.

Merryn, a witch.

Maytera MINT, a leader of the rebellion that overthrew VIRON'S governing council.

Molpe, in the WHORL, the goddess of the winds.

Mora, the daughter of the Duke of Blanko.

Mota, one of Hari Mau's followers.

The Mother, a Vanished Goddess.

Mucor, a woman possessing paranormal powers, Maytera MARBLE'S granddaughter.

Musk, a Vironese criminal, now dead.

Nabeanntan, a mountain town of the LONG SUN WHORL.

NAT, a magnate of DORP.

The NEIGHBORS, the earlier inhabitants of BLUE, also called the Vanished People.

NETTLE, HORN'S wife, the mother of HOOF, HIDE, and Sinew, co-author of The Book of the Long Sun.

NEW VIRON, a town on BLUE founded by colonists from VIRON.

OLIVINE, a chem, Maytera MARBLE'S daughter.

Onorifica, a servant girl in the household of the Duko of Blanko.

OREB, a talking night chough.

The OUTSIDER, the god of things outside the LONG SUN WHORL.

Oxlip, one of HORN'S sisters.

Pajarocu, a phantom town on BLUE'S western continent.

Parel, a servant girl of DORP.

PAS, the father of the gods of the LONG SUN WHORL.

PIG, the name assumed by a blind wanderer.

QUADRIFONS, the god of doors and crossroads, and much else.

Patera Quetzal, an inhumu, once the Prolocutor of VIRON.

Patera REMORA, the Prolocutor of NEW VIRON.

RAJAN, the title of the ruler of GAON.

Rajya Mantri, an advisor to the RAJAN of GAON.

Maytera ROSE, an elderly sibyl, now dead.

Roti, one of Hari Mau's followers.

General Saba, a Trivigaunti officer.

The Seanettle, a yawl, a kind of two-masted boat having a mainmast and a small mizzen.

SEAWRACK, the young woman given to HORN by the Mother.

Shadelow, BLUE'S western continent, so named by HORN.

Patera SILK, a former calde of VIRON.

Sinew, the oldest of HORN and NETTLE'S three sons.

SHORT SUN, the sun orbited by the WHORL.

SMOOTHBONE, a shopkeeper of VIRON, HORN'S father.

Spider, a spy-catcher of VIRON.

Stag, a son of SMOOTHBONE by his second wife.

Captain Strik, a trader of DORP who once befriended HORN.

Mysire Advocaat TAAL, the advocate engaged by BEROEP and others to defend the narrator.

Tallow, one of HORN'S brothers.

Tansy, HOUND'S wife.

Tartaros, PAS'S loyal son, the god of thieves and commerce.

Thyone, a minor goddess of the LONG SUN WHORL.

Tigridia, a client of the Honorable Order of the Seekers for Truth and Penitence.

Tongue, one of HORN'S brothers.

Trivigaunte, a foreign city south of VIRON ruled by women.

Calde Tussah, SILK'S adoptive father.

Typhon, the ancient tyrant whose personality became PAS.

VADSIG, a servant girl in AANVAGEN'S house.

Vanished Gods, the presumed gods of the NEIGHBORS.

Vanished People, another name for the NEIGHBORS.

Mysire Advocaat Vent, the advocate assigned the narrator by the court.

Versregal, Captain Strik's wife.

VIRON, the city in which most of the action in The Book of the Long Sun took place.

Private Vlug, a legerman of DORP.

Wapen, a discontented young man of DORP.

Weasel, CAPSICUM'S grandson.

The WHORL, a spaceship whose vast interior cavity constitutes a small world-originally, an asteroid.

Captain WIJZER, the trader from DORP who directed HORN to Pajarocu.

Willet, the name assumed by a Trivigaunti spy.

Master Xiphias, an old fencing master.

Ziek, a merchant of DORP.

To My Hosts,

I am the silent presence in your house, the young woman who lies abed by day as by night. The woman who is to be brought before your judges, sleeping.

Tried, sleeping.

And condemned, still sleeping, to slide down into death.

Have you wondered whether I breathe at all? Do you sometimes lay a feather on my lips? I think you must. I feel you at my bedside.

None but my father can wake me.

Ask Aanvagen.

Let him sleep in a chair beside me, and I will wake.

Ask Aanvagen.

Let him hold my hand in his. Call him Horn, for the sound of that horn will awaken me. Let him come to me, and you will see me wake.

Ask Aanvagen.

Jahlee your sleeping guest

We have been journeying by guess, and it is high time we admitted it. Thus I admit it here. All things considered, we have been fortunate; but unless we are favored by the Vanished Gods of Blue far above most, it cannot continue.

In this third book, which will surely be the last, I will begin by saying that, and telling you who we are; but first I should mention that the bandits are all dead, and that I, rummaging through their loot, have discovered this paper-an entire bale-and am making haste to use it.