The Stalker

The Stalker, also called the Guide, is an ancient fae hunter who first assists Thameland's Heroes and later hunts Alex for Aenflynn.

Biography

Warning the Heroes through the fae roads

The Stalker initially functions as a dangerous intermediary rather than an open enemy. When Gwyllain uses an old sign to summon him, the asrai warns that Ravener-spawn are attacking the Research Castle. The Stalker chooses to carry the warning to the Heroes, calling them his new friends, and uses the fae roads to bring information into the coalition. His help protects an arrangement useful to Och Fir Nog, but his threatening response to being summoned and delight in danger already mark him as a predator rather than a dependable ally. (Chapters 416–431)

Canine Operatives to The Last Seat

After observing Alex's growth, the Stalker decides that a quarry able to escape, fight, and plan will make a better hunt. He seeks Aenflynn's permission, recruits the remnants of Uldar's hidden church as his “hounds,” and tracks Alex by his name. Although he questions whether killing Merzhin violates Aenflynn's oath, he accepts the assignment once his lord explains the wording and offers a century's supply of a coveted drink. He then guides the church's ambushes, helps spread Alex's identity, and attacks when Alex moves away from his strongest protections. (Chapters 556–719)

Alex's counterattack devastates the hidden church. Asmaldestre shoots the Stalker through the chest, but the First Apostle uses Uldar's power to carry them away and heal him. They kill Watchers guarding Uldar's Rise and enter the dead god's sanctum, where the Stalker realises that Aenflynn's “empty chair” riddle concerns a vacant divine throne. He cannot pursue that insight: Theresa Lu, Brutus, and Grimloch confront the pair. After merging with his wounded moose into his true, monstrous body, the Stalker badly wounds Brutus and Grimloch, but Grimloch survives, catches him in his jaws, crushes his upper body, and kills him. (Chapters 764–770)

Later discussion remembers the Stalker as Aenflynn's chosen hunter and assassin. Whether he fully solved the implications of the empty divine seat before his death is left uncertain; the memory in Aenflynn's last moments confirms the riddle's intended meaning, not a surviving plan by the Stalker. (Chapter 891)

Appearance and personality

In his usual form, the Stalker is short and stocky, with blue, frostbitten-looking skin, a snow-white beard braided with holly and Sigmus plants, faded grey eyes, scarlet clothing, sharp teeth, and a satchel of golden scrolls. He rides a great moose whose antlers bear bells. (Chapters 424 and 556)

He is talkative, mocking, curious, and cruelly devoted to the rituals of the hunt. Challenge excites him more than easy slaughter, yet he remains capable of practical caution and notices weaknesses in allies and prey alike. His loyalty is transactional and fae-shaped: he objects to broken wording, prizes amusement and reward, and stays to aid the First Apostle because abandoning a declared hunting companion would violate his own sense of conduct. (Chapters 622–770)

Magic, abilities, and skills

Fae-road travel and name tracking

The Stalker enters and leaves through the fae roads, moving himself, his mount, and mortal companions across great distances without ordinary gates. He also follows Alex by tracking his name, allowing the hunters to locate him when he moves. Gwyllain warns that names can carry traps or connections, but the corpus does not provide the exact ritual, range, or a general method for blocking this power. (Chapters 424, 622–752)

Cutting force and battlefield control

Small movements of the Stalker's fingers project invisible cuts capable of gouging divine stone and slicing through Grimloch's magical armour. He can also whistle debris into a swirling shrapnel cloud, using the environment to blind and wound a target. These attacks are fast and lethal, but agile opponents can learn their direction and evade them, as Grimloch does during their final fight. (Chapters 764–770)

Hunter's body and union with his mount

The Stalker is exceptionally fast, perceptive, and experienced even in his smaller form. When Brutus mortally wounds the moose, the Stalker draws its flesh and bone into himself, restoring what he calls the other half of his body. The union creates a towering antlered form with hooves, long clawed arms, greater strength, and tougher hide. It also floods him with bestial urges and leaves him unused to the body, limitations that slow his judgment while Brutus and Grimloch adapt. (Chapters 769–770)

Relationships

• Aenflynn: Fae lord who hires the Stalker as hunter and assassin, authorises the hunt, and bargains for Merzhin's death.
• Gwyllain: Lesser fae who summons him with an old sign and gives him the warning that begins his involvement with the Research Castle.
• Alex Roth: Chosen quarry whose growth makes the hunt attractive and whose counterattack destroys the Stalker's mortal allies.
• Izas: Third Apostle and one of the hidden-church “hounds” with whom the Stalker plans the pursuit.
• Grimloch: Final opponent who survives the Stalker's cuts, catches him in his jaws, and kills him.

Items

• Golden scrolls: A satchel of shining scrolls carried by the Stalker; the corpus does not individually identify their effects.
• Antler bells: Bells carried by his moose and later incorporated into his merged form, serving as a recurring sign of his presence.