Lindesfarne Dewclaw

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Lindesfarne Dewclaw is one of the main characters in Kevin and Kell, by Bill Holbrook. She was adopted by Kevin Dewclaw and his first wife Angelique, and after their divorce, lives with her foster father, her stepmother Kell Dewclaw, her stepbrother Rudy Dewclaw, and Kevin and Kell’s daughter Coney Dewclaw

Contents 1 Personality 2 Biography 3 Role in the Plot 4 The Virtual Quill 5 References

[edit] Personality

Lindesfarne is highly intelligent and skilled in many forms of science, including genetics and astronomy, and is a good computer user and hacker. She is sometimes quick-tempered, however, as she often takes retribution on Rudy for teasing her. She is also less social than most characters, having few friends at Caliban Academy besides Tammy and Ray, and her boyfriend Fenton. She does, however, often socialize with her brother Rudy’s friends (often with Fiona), and is becoming good friends with his former team-mate Rhonda.

According to Bill Holbrook on the Unofficial FAQ, Lindesfarne was created to have a "sibling rivalry" with Rudy. He made her into a porcupine(later revealed to be a hedgehog) because he did not want another rabbit in the family, and he believed that her quills would dispel concerns about her living with predators. A recent series has Lindesfarne saying that her quills help her feel safe around predators; she used to eat at the food court with Cara and Colinia, an armadillo and turtle, and they were the only three young herbivores to eat there without the fear of being eaten. The quills, however, make it difficult for people to approach her; Lindesfarne admits that after becoming nocturnal, she has few friends at school besides Tammy and Ray.^[1]

[edit] Biography

Lindesfarne, unlike most of Kevin and Kell’s main characters, was born in the human world as the Princess of England. In infancy, however, she was in a boat accident near England, and was thrown through a portal to the parallel world populated by sentient animals. The portal changed her DNA and transformed her into a hedgehog. Some boaters found her, however, and brought her to an orphanage with her counterpart in the world without humans, Chertsey Ealing, bobbing her ears to increase her chances of adoption. Chertsey Ealing’s foster parents divorced, causing her to run away from home and live on the streets until Lindesfarne later exposed her as royalty.

Kevin and Angelique adopted Lindesfarne and brought her to America; while Kevin wanted to adopt a child, the decision to adopt Lindesfarne was Angelique’s idea, as she wanted to keep her distance from Lindesfarne^[2]. However, Lindesfarne, as an English Hedgehog was an insectivore, not an herbivore, and Angelique, who was unable to catch insects for her, had her changed into an American Porcupine. Lindesfarne was led to believe that growing up in America had caused her species and diet type to change. Kevin still did not tell Lindesfarne the truth even after marrying Kell, he says that she had identity issues fitting into a new family.^[3]

Throughout much of Lindesfarne’s childhood, Angelique ignored her; despite receiving a Kevlar bathrobe for her first Christmas with the infant Lindesfarne; Angelique, like almost all of her other relatives besides Kevin and his father (who was wearing a bulletproof vest), would not hug her^[4]. Lindesfarne, who loved her foster mother, worked hard in school and attempted to show affection on Mother’s Day, in an attempt to win Angelique’s approval, but Angelique ignored both gestures, throwing Lindesfarne's cards in the garbage^{[5] [6]} Lindesfarne was thus upset to hear that Angelique had left her and Kevin, and partly bitter about her doing so, even not knowing about her infidelity.

When Kell married Kevin, becoming Lindesfarne’s stepmother, she initially had difficulty approaching Lindesfarne because of her quills. However, Lindesfarne came to see her stepmother as her true mother, although she, like some step-children, calls her by her first name instead of "Mom" (i.e. "Dad... Kell... now that you know where I came from..."). There have been some exceptions, however; Lindesfarne addresses Kell as "Mom" in one e-mail and says to Rudy, "Ok, let's not tell Mom and Dad just yet" when she realizes that she is human. She also takes to calling Angelique, her foster mother and Kevin's ex-wife by her first name because she considers Kell her mother and believes that her relationship with Angelique has changed.^[7][8]

[edit] Role in the Plot

Much of Lindesfarne’s role in the plot centers on her past and how she is initially the only person in Domain who knows about humanity; she somehow remembered humans. She, however, did not believe that humans exist, and only the realization that Ralph and Martha were briefly in the human world convinces her that humans are real and that she is one^[9].

Lindesfarne is also relevant in developing Angelique as a character. Her perspective on Angelique contrasts with Kevin and Kell taking a somewhat dismissive view of her; Lindesfarne is perhaps the most hurt by Angelique’s departure, partly because of her unrequited love for her adoptive mother. She, however, resents Angelique's neglect and her simply stepping out of her life after raising her from an infant and as such, is conflicted towards her.^[10]

Angelique is initially unwilling to surrender Lindesfarne to Kevin, partly out of spite and partly because she wanted to reconcile with her. She initially hires Lindesfarne as a babysitter in order to have "a grown-up relationship" with her, but Lindesfarne feels burdened by emotional baggage. She puts an allergy-inducing compound on a memo to Kell, which caused Lindesfarne to believe that she had somehow become allergic to her stepmother. As Lindesfarne's allergies cause her to shoot her quills everywhere, she feels she has no choice but to leave and stay with Angelique. Lindesfarne discovers Angelique’s plan while investigating Vin Vulpen, however, and returns home. At graduation, however, Angelique gives Lindesfarne a hug, presumably for the first time in her life(despite having a blood transfusion bag on hand), tells her the circumstances of her adoption, and relinquishes claims of custody due to Lindesfarne’s coming of age. Despite this, Lindesfarne has not completely put her past with Angelique behind her; she describes her as "the woman with whom I have my most complicated issues" on her blog.

Lindesfarne has possibly undergone the most transitions in her lifestyle. When she learns that Fenton is dating a moth due to his schedule not "overlapping" with Lindesfarne’s, and is told that she was an English Hedgehog she decides to switch back to being an English Hedgehog, becoming a nocturnal insectivore rather than an herbivore in the process. She manages to restore her relationship with Fenton by doing so, and becomes friends with the nocturnal Tammy and Ray. She remains nocturnal even after Fenton’s supposed death months later, partly because she believes that he is alive and partly because she considers it her true nature.

However, her new schedule contrasts with that of her family. She typically gets up in the evening and goes to bed in the morning, although her schedule varies slightly. (At one point, she calls Kell for mother’s Day at 6 a.m., just before she goes to sleep, waking Kell up in the process. At another, she is awake at the time Rudy gets up.) She is thus jealous of the fact that Rudy gets far more attention than she does. However, after seeing Chamilla Moodring with her family, she accepts that her being neglected is not their fault, and Kell promises to spend more time with her when she is awake. Her nocturnal status has given her some advantages, such as being able to drive the family to Animal World at night rather than pay to sleep in a motel.

Lindesfarne also conducts scientific research, and identifies the gene for domestication. However, she realizes that publishing it would expose many people close to her, and that a cure would alter their personalities, and she decides not to take either course of action. Kell appreciates her maturity, but Rudy resents her abandoning the search for a cure. However, after Vin Vulpen’s plan to expose everyone with domestication fails, Rudy forgives her, realizing the harm that publishing her research could do.

Lindesfarne currently attends Beige University with her boyfriend Fenton and roommate and friend Rhonda. She is currently doing a triple major (but the exact subjects are not explicitly stated), and has a 4.0 average. Lindesfarne also volunteers as a research assistant for Professor Antlerhead, working on stem cells. She learned that he falsified his research, but unwilling to be seen as a whistleblower, concerned about the impact that his fraud would have on scientific research, and unwilling to destroy his career, completed the research herself and continues to volunteer for him. She has recently returned to college.

[edit] The Virtual Quill

Lindesfarne also writes a blog known as the Virtual Quill, which none of the other characters can read (although at one point, Fenton noticed what she was writing). The blog comments on current events in Lindesfarne’s world, whether inside the comic or outside. For example, Lindesfarne writes about Rhonda’s breakup with Edgar, which was not featured in the main strip, and about their subsequent reunion, which was the subject of a brief series. The blog also reveals insights about Lindesfarne’s less openly expressed opinions; while she seems outwardly friendly towards her grandmother Dorothy, blog entries reveal some vexation with her actions; she once describes Dorothy’s habitat as "Other People's Business," yet notes that she is slightly more sympathetic towards her after learning about her attempt to arrange a marriage for Kevin.

The blog was subject to some controversy in an entry in which Lindesfarne (as a scientist who works on stem cell research with Professor Antlerhead) bemoaned President Butterfly Ballot Bush's vetoing a stem cell research view. Some criticized Bill Holbrook for taking a political stand on the issue, while others disagreed, arguing that it was Bill Holbrook's right to share his views on the issue.

[edit] References