List of characters in the Hungry City Chronicles

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This is a list of characters from Philip Reeve's Hungry City Chronicles.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

[edit] Main characters in the series

  • Tom Natsworthy, a 15-year old apprentice Historian at the beginning of the series, he eventually has diverse adventures across the world.
  • Hester Shaw, a fierce young woman with a horrible scar across her face.
  • Wren Natsworthy, Tom and Hester's daughter who runs away from home to have adventures.
  • Nimrod Pennyroyal, a supposed historian and author who is actually a fraud. He is selfish, narcissistic and cowardly, but has a knack for surviving dangerous experiences, and often shares adventures with the Natsworthy family.
  • Anna Fang, an Asian pilot and former owner of the Jenny Haniver, she is also a leading member of the Anti-Traction League. She is killed at the end of Mortal Engines but is resurrected as a Stalker who overthrows the rulers of the League and installs herself as a military dictator.
  • Shrike, an ancient Stalker in love with Hester. In the American release of the series he is called Grike.
  • Theo Ngoni, an African aviator who runs away from his home to join the Green Storm, and later becomes very close to Wren.

[edit] Major recurring characters in the series

  • Freya Rasmussen, the young Margravine of Anchorage. Originally she is determined to stick to her family's tradition, but gradually realises that these traditions are pointless. She accompanies Tom and Hester on their mission to Grimsby at the beginning of Infernal Devices, but then returns to Anchorage with Caul.
  • Caul, a Lost Boy with wavering loyalty. He betrays his people and joins those of Anchorage, only to switch allegiance again to Uncle when he, Tom, Hester and Freya visit Grimsby. Eventually he rejoins the people of Anchorage for good, and returns there with Freya to marry her.
  • Fishcake, a young Lost Boy who crewed with Gargle. He betrays Grimsby to Brighton, and is exiled by the other Lost Boys as a result. After Tom and Hester abandon him he finds the remains of the Stalker Fang and tries to rebuild her, desperately looking for a mother-figure. At the climax of the series he coldly abandons Hester the same way she abandoned him, and goes to Zhan Shan to live with Sathya.
  • General Naga, a soldier of the Green Storm with a mechanical exoskeleton to replace limbs lost in battle. Following the apparent death of the Stalker Fang at the end of Infernal Devices, he is proclaimed the new leader of the Green Storm, and takes Oenone Zero as his wife. He is killed at the end of A Darkling Plain in a kamikaze attack on Harrowbarrow.
  • Dr. Oenone Zero; then Lady Naga; later Widow Naga, a gifted member of the Green Storm's Resurrection Corps. At a young age she is appointed the personal surgeon-mechanic to the Stalker Fang, and uses this position to assassinate her.
  • Cynthia Twite, a Green Storm spy. She is originally posted to Brighton to keep tabs on Pennyroyal, but uses this position to steal the Tin Book. Later she is part of the internal plot to assassinate Oenone Zero, and blows up her airship over the Sahara Desert. She is killed when the Stalker Fang fires ODIN on Tienjing.
  • Dr Popjoy, a London engineer who survived the city's destruction and later works for the Green Storm. He creates the Stalker Fang from the frozen corpse of Anna Fang, and is her personal surgeon-mechanic until Dr. Zero takes over when he retires. The Stalker Fang eventually returns and kills him when he cannot explain why she is defective.
  • Uncle (real name Stilton Kael), the elderly leader of the Lost Boys. He founded Grimsby after being disowned by his family and banished from Arkangel (where he was a slave master who owned Anna Fang). He is killed when Tom, Hester, Freya and Caul return to Grimsby to find Wren.

[edit] Minor recurring characters in the series

  • Sathya, an Indian Anti-Tractionist and one of the founding members of the Green Storm. Later, after losing her hand in battle, she retires to a hermitage on the slopes of Zhan Shan. Eventually she becomes Fishcake's foster-mother.
  • Captain Khora, an African soldier of the Anti-Traction League, and captain of the gunship Mokele Mbembe. Later he becomes Air Marshal Khora and commander of the Zagwan Flying Corps.
  • Chudleigh Pomeroy, a member of the Historian's Guild. He helps Katherine by giving her a place to hide Bevis Pod, and fighting off Crome's Engineers when they attempt to kidnap her. After the destruction of London, he is Lord Mayor of the suviving Londoners but passes away before New London is complete.
  • Clytie Potts, a member of the Historians' Guild who helps in the fight against the Engineers. After the destruction of London, she takes on the alias of Cruwys Morchard to ferry in supplies to the London survivors.
  • Gargle, a Lost Boy who (when he was very young), was a member of Caul's Anchorage crew . He later becomes the de facto leader of the Lost Boys, but when he comes to Anchorage-in-Vineland for the Tin Book, he is shot by Hester as she tries to rescue Wren.
  • Smew, a dwarf retainer of the Rasmussen family.
  • Windolene Pye, an old member of Anchorage's Steering Committee who marries Søren Scabious, Anchorage's Engine Master.

[edit] Mortal Engines only

[edit] Major characters in Mortal Engines

  • Thaddeus Valentine, a dashing and handsome Historian often idolised by younger Historians - though his less public image involves murder and thievery as an agent of London. He was killed in the destruction of London. He is in fact Hester's biological father.
  • Magnus Crome, the megalomaniacal mayor of London. Killed when it is destroyed.
  • Katherine Valentine, Thaddeus Valentine's daughter. After uncovering her father's dark secret, she attempts to stop him; however, he accidentally kills her just before MEDUSA destroys London.
  • Bevis Pod, a young apprentice Engineer. He works with Katherine to uncover Valentine's plans and falls in love with her. Killed when the 13th Floor Elevator crashes on London's top tier after being shot down by Tom. Estranged son of Dr. Lavinia Childermass.
  • Chrysler Peavy, the pirate mayor of Tunbridge Wheels. He takes Tom and Hester to the Black Island, expecting Tom (because he is a Londoner) to teach him how to be civilised. He drowns in quicksand on the Black Island.

[edit] Minor characters in Mortal Engines

  • Nils Lindstrom, a gloomy aviator of the Garden Aeroplane Trap.
  • Yasmina Rashid, an Arabian privateer on the Zainab.
  • Moira Plym, a member of the Historian's Guild who helps in the fight against the Engineers. Killed in the destruction of London.
  • Dr Arkengarth, the curator of ceramics in the Historian's Guild. Killed in the attack by the Engineers.
  • Dr. Twix, a researcher in the Guild of Engineers who creates many Stalkers for Magnus Crome.
  • Orme Wreyland, the mayor of a small town who rescues Tom and Hester and then drugs them in the hope of selling them into slavery.
  • Mr Ames, a former schoolteacher who is now a pirate in Peavy's band. Killed by Shrike.
  • Mungo, of Peavy's pirates. Killed by Shrike.
  • Maggs, one of Peavy's pirates. Killed by Shrike.
  • Pewsey and Gench, two reformed air pirates who are the sole crew of Valentine's airship, the 13th Floor Elevator. Killed by Tom when he shoots them down over London from the Jenny Haniver.

[edit] Predator's Gold only

[edit] Major characters in Predator's Gold

  • Mr. Scabious, chief engineer of Anchorage. He considers Tom similar to his late son, and often tries to help him. He dies sometime before Infernal Devices.
  • Piotr Masgard, chief of Arkangel's Huntsmen: bands of warriors who capture cities by airship and then steer them into Arkangel's jaws. In actual fact he is a coward and unused to a fair fight. He is violently killed by Hester during the attack on Anchorage.
  • Skewer, one of Caul's crew. He takes command when he considers Caul unfit, and is reprimanded by Uncle.

[edit] Minor characters in Predator's Gold

  • Mr. and Mrs. Aakiuq, Anchorage's harbour officers.
  • Wrasse, Uncle's deputy among the Lost Boys. He is killed by the Stalker Fang during the raid on Rogue's Roost.
  • Widgery Blinkoe, a resident of Arkangel who kidnaps Hester and sells her to the Green Storm. In return they kill him, so he won't tell anyone their secrets.

[edit] Infernal Devices only

[edit] Major characters in Infernal Devices

  • Boo-Boo Pennyroyal , the wife of Nimrod Pennyroyal and Mayoress of Brighton. She does little except shop and attend operas, but encourages Wren and Theo's supposed secret romance.
  • Nabisco Shkin, the man behind the Shkin Coperation (a slave dealer in Brighton). He is killed while attempting to escape Brighton during the Green Storm's attack on the city.

[edit] Minor characters in Infernal Devices

  • Mr Plovery , an antiques dealer in Brighton with an expensive elderly mother to look after. He is killed by a Stalker Bird when he tries to steal the Tin Book, however his death is mistakenly attributed to Pennyroyal's security system.
  • Remora, a Lost Girl and Gargle's girlfriend. She is killed by Hester.
  • Krill, a Lost Boy captured by Brighton's WOPCART scheme. Hester frees him to create a diversion while rescuing Wren.

[edit] A Darkling Plain only

[edit] Major characters in A Darkling Plain

  • The Kriegsmarshal, the leader of Marnau, and Wolf Kobold's father. He wants peace for his city and has a soft spot for certain members of the Green Storm.
  • Wolf Kobold, the German commander of a small harvester suburb called Harrowbarrow. He resents his parents and their high position. He leads Tom and Wren to the wreckage of London on a somewhat false pretext, and escapes with the knowledge of New London, intending to return and devour it with Harrowbarrow. He is killed by Wren during a sword fight atop his suburb.
  • Napster Varley, an aspiring trader who buys Lady Naga and tries to sell her to the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft. He has a wife (bought at an auction) and son, Napster Varley Jr. He is shot by the hand of his own spouse as Hester and Theo attempt to rescue Lady Naga.

[edit] Minor characters in A Darkling Plain

  • The Ngonis, Theo's family back in Zagwa which consists of his Mother, Father and sisters, Kaelo and Miriam.
  • Mr Pondicherry, an Old-Tech auctioneer in Peripatetiapolis who tells Tom and Wren Natsworthy what he knows about Clytie Potts.
  • Grandma Gravy, an old 'witch' of Cutler's Gulp, who temporarily enslaves both Theo Ngoni and Lady Naga.
  • Brittlestar, one of the Lost Boy warlords of the now anarchic Brighton. He is killed by the Stalker Fang when his warriors attempt to apprehend Fishcake.
Spoilers end here.

[edit] See also