Here and Now

Man, I love Wolf.

One of the big appeals of stories like The Talisman or Alice in Wonderland, where you have a character from a rational world thrust into a magical world, is that your protagonist is so grounded in rationality that he brings that sense of rationality with him into an irrational situation. Sure he may be ignorant about certain things, but he's still wry in comparison to the people he's interacting with. Maybe not as clever, but he brings his own grounded perspective and holds onto that in the face of insanity.

Wolf is the opposite of that. He's all Territories: huge, and full of huge feelings, and slow, and incredibly strong. When I first read this book all those years ago, Wolf was my favorite character, partially because he was so big and dumb and strong and loyal, partially because he was a werewolf and what ten-year-old doesn't think werewolves are awesome? But you take this guy, who's used to a world that's been technologically stagnant since the dawn of time, from a place that's pure and magical like the daydreams of a child, and you put him into our world, and you're given a very different dynamic. The air makes him sick, the people frighten him, and half the things he sees are so alien and terrifying he's constantly on the edge of lying down and just hoping it all goes away when he opens his eyes.

Jack's cruel to Wolf, too, but in small ways, understandable ways because he's only a boy. Wolf doesn't have an ounce of cruelty in him, and if I remember he never even properly responds or hardens in the face of mistreatment. He's just a good companion.

This story actually is part of what convinced me that on some level it can be beneficial for the wandering hero to have a traveling companion, or at least a recurring character to bounce their thoughts off of. It helps make them grounded and believable, and provides a sense of continuity for their growth. Alice worked at least partially because she always had someone to talk to, some wave of madness which could be dashed against her Victorian reason, and Jack works in much the same way in relation to - well, to a lot of characters, but most especially to Wolf.

A hero can function pretty well on his own, but it's always going to be the parts where he can talk to someone that people will remember forever.