Someone You Can Build a Nest In

Homily Wulfyre serves as the novel’s deuteragonist and the primary catalyst for Shesheshen’s emotional transformation. She is a round, dynamic character whose journey is defined by her struggle to break free from a lifetime of abuse and find a sense of self-worth outside her toxic family. Raised to be a people pleaser and a scapegoat, Homily’s defining characteristics are her deep-seated compassion and a tendency to absorb the blame for others’ cruelty. Her physical appearance, described as stocky and powerful, contrasts with her initial emotional fragility, foreshadowing the resilience she will eventually discover. The scarf she constantly wears to hide the scars on her neck is a symbol of her hidden trauma and the emotional armor she uses to navigate her world.

Homily’s psychology is shaped by the systematic abuse she endures, primarily from her mother and her sister, Epigram. She has been conditioned to rationalize cruelty as a form of affection or a game, and her instinct is to placate her abusers to maintain a fragile peace. This is evident in her interactions with the Baroness, where her posture becomes submissive and her words aim to deescalate her mother’s rage. Her kindness is, in part, a survival mechanism developed to make herself useful and therefore safe. Shesheshen observes this, realizing that Homily’s generosity is a “scab mistaken for flesh” (227)—it is a beautiful quality born from profound pain. When Homily first rescues Shesheshen, she acts from a place of pure empathy, offering the same care she herself has been denied. This act of unconditional kindness is what allows a genuine bond to form between them.

Homily’s relationship with Shesheshen empowers her to confront her trauma and reclaim her agency. With Shesheshen, Homily finds a relationship that is not predicated on her usefulness or submission. Shesheshen’s non-judgmental perspective gives Homily the space to be vulnerable for the first time. This growing strength culminates in several key acts of defiance. Her decision to stand up to her mother during the supper is a significant turning point, but her ultimate break from the cycle of abuse occurs when she kills Epigram. This act is not one of cold-blooded revenge but of desperate self-preservation and a violent severing of the ties that have bound her. In the aftermath, she confesses her history of abuse to Shesheshen, physically removing her scarf and revealing her scars. This gesture signifies her acceptance of her past and her commitment to building a new, healthier life. Together, she and Shesheshen build a “nest” founded on mutual care rather than inherited pain.

The Baroness Wulfyre is the primary antagonist of the novel. She is a manipulative matriarch who is eventually revealed to be a monster of the same species as Shesheshen. As a character, she is round and static; her motivations are complex and deeply rooted in self-preservation, but she experiences no change or growth. The Baroness embodies the corrupting influence of power and serves as a dark foil to Shesheshen, representing what Shesheshen could become without empathy. She is the ultimate performer, using the institutions of family and aristocracy as a “mask” to conceal her predatory nature. Her public-facing persona is that of a formidable, grieving ruler determined to protect her lineage from a supposed curse. However, this is a carefully constructed lie to justify her hunt for Shesheshen’s egg sac, which she needs to consume to extend her own life.

The Baroness’s defining trait is the profound cruelty that she wields as her primary tool of control. She maintains her power by emotionally and verbally abusing her children, and she pits them against one another to ensure their loyalty remains fixed on her. She gaslights Homily relentlessly, blaming her for the family’s misfortunes. This psychological manipulation keeps her family divided and dependent, and she prevents them from uniting against her. Unlike Shesheshen, whose violence is tied to survival, the Baroness’s cruelty is calculated and often seems gratuitous. She orders her soldiers to burn Underlook to the ground not merely to find the offspring, but to exercise her power and terrorize those who question her authority.

The final revelation that the Baroness is Shesheshen’s creator reframes the entire narrative. She is not just a human antagonist but the source of Shesheshen’s lonely existence, having planted her eggs in Homily’s father for the sole purpose of one day harvesting her offspring’s own eggs. This act reveals her philosophy: Life is a resource, and family is a means of production. Her steel fangs, worn as a necklace, are not a trophy from a vanquished foe but a relic from the days she spent as a wyrm. She represents the novel’s ultimate monster, not because of her non-human nature, but because she adopts the most destructive aspects of human civilization—such as entitlement, hypocrisy, and generational abuse—and perfects them for her own monstrous ends.

Epigram Wulfyre is a secondary antagonist and a direct foil to her older sister, Homily. As a flat and static character, she functions as the most immediate and personal perpetrator of the abuse that has defined Homily’s life. Epigram is a product of the Wulfyre family’s toxic environment, and she is a living embodiment of the cycle of abuse. She directs the cruelty she learned from her mother onto Homily, who is her primary target. Homily reveals that their childhood “games” were a guise for Epigram’s physical assaults, which included slitting Homily’s throat with a knife. This history establishes Epigram not as a simple bully but as a deeply violent individual.

Epigram’s motivations are rooted in a desperate need for her mother’s approval and a profound sense of insecurity. She seeks validation by mimicking the traits her mother values: aggression, ruthlessness, and a flair for performative violence. She adopts the gilded armor and swagger of her deceased brother, Catharsis, attempting to fill his role as the family’s “wyrm slayer.” Her capture of Blueberry is not a strategic act of monster hunting but a theatrical gesture designed to win her mother’s favor. Her constant belittling of Homily stems from this competitive drive; by positioning Homily as weak and worthless, Epigram attempts to elevate her own status within the family. Her actions are consistently selfish and destructive, and she shows no capacity for empathy or remorse.

Created accidentally from a piece of Shesheshen’s own body, the offspring, which is later named Epilogue by Homily, functions as a physical manifestation of Shesheshen’s subconscious desires and unresolved trauma. It is a dynamic character, as it evolves from a mindless, instinct-driven creature into a distinct individual capable of forming relationships. Initially, Epilogue acts on Shesheshen’s most repressed impulses: It attacks and consumes Ode Wulfyre and later assaults the Baroness, acting out the vengeance Shesheshen wishes to enact but is too conflicted to perform. Its form is amorphous and utilitarian, absorbing bones and even human legs to move, mirroring Shesheshen’s own methods of constructing a body.

Epilogue’s development is central to the formation of the new family unit. At first, it seeks to be reabsorbed into Shesheshen, representing a desire to return to an undifferentiated whole. When she denies it this, its behavior becomes erratic and aggressive, particularly toward Homily, whom it may perceive as a rival for Shesheshen’s affection. However, through Homily’s patient and firm care, Epilogue begins to learn boundaries and express itself in nonviolent ways, such as drawing. Its taming symbolizes the possibility of breaking a cycle of instinctual violence, thereby offering a hopeful counterpoint to the destructive legacy of the Wulfyres and reinforcing the theme of Building Family Through Care Instead of Inheritance. By the end, Epilogue becomes the child of Shesheshen and Homily’s found family.

Catharsis Wulfyre is a minor antagonist whose arrogance and cruelty establish the moral vacuum at the heart of the Wulfyre family. His name is ironic, as his death brings no emotional release but instead sets in motion the novel’s central conflicts. He embodies a sense of inherited, masculine entitlement, displayed through his ostentatious golden armor and his dismissive treatment of the monster hunters he employs. When Shesheshen disguises herself as a frightened young girl, he doesn’t hesitate to use her as bait, showcasing his utter lack of empathy and reinforcing the Wulfyre worldview that common people are disposable tools. Though his appearance in the novel is brief, his actions directly lead to Shesheshen and Homily’s first meeting.

The monster hunters Eoghan Rourke and Nasser Akkad Malik function as minor antagonists who represent the professional, morally ambiguous nature of so-called civilized violence. They operate within a system that commodifies the killing of monsters, and while they show more moral fiber than their employer, Catharsis, they are ultimately complicit in the Wulfyres’ cruelty. Their reappearance at the Wulfyre camp and Malik’s eventual role in dispatching the defeated Baroness show them to be adaptable survivors in a world where allegiances are secondary to profit and self-preservation.

Ode Wulfyre is the youngest Wulfyre sibling and a symbol of innocence corrupted by her family’s toxic influence. She parrots her mother’s cruel rhetoric, threatening to burn down houses, and she tortures the captured Blueberry with a child’s lack of comprehension. Her gruesome death is a direct consequence of the violence her family cultivates, demonstrating that their destructive patterns inevitably consume their own.

Blueberry, Shesheshen’s giant blue bear companion, represents a form of pure, non-transactional love that exists outside human society. The bear offers Shesheshen affection and loyalty without expectation, serving as an emotional anchor before Homily’s arrival. Her brutal capture and use as bait by Epigram highlight the Wulfyres’ casual cruelty toward any being they deem lesser, further solidifying their role as the story’s true monsters.