Slewfoot

A young Englishwoman sold by her father into marriage and shipped to the Connecticut colony. She is barely twenty, small and wiry with striking green eyes and long auburn hair she refuses to cut short despite Puritan laws. Her mother was a cunning woman who taught her root remedies, charms, and the old ways before dying of plague when Abitha was twelve. Her father, a drunk who believed her mother damned, burned all her magical belongings and forced Abitha to swear never to practice the crafts. In the New World, she finds herself trapped between her husband Edward's⁴ gentle awkwardness, his brother Wallace's³ predatory greed, and a Puritan community that sees her spirited nature as sin. She possesses a ferocious will to survive that repeatedly astonishes those who underestimate her. Beneath her profane, quick-tempered exterior lies a deep capacity for loyalty and a hunger to be truly seen and loved.

An ancient entity reborn in a cave from blood and shadow, initially taking the form of a shaggy goat-beast with curling horns and silver eyes. He has no memory of his past, only fractured visions of slaughter, worship, and a great crimson-leafed tree. The wildfolk⁵ call him Father and insist he is their guardian, the slayer meant to drive humans from the land. But beneath their programming, he senses a different nature: a healer, a fertility spirit who once received offerings and blessed crops. He is profoundly lonely, tormented by spiders in his mind and by the growing evidence that he may be the Devil himself. His relationship with Abitha¹, who names him Samson and makes him offerings, awakens memories of being worshipped as a horned forest god. He desperately wants to be more than a monster.

Edward's⁴ older brother and Abitha's¹ primary antagonist. A large, brash, physically imposing man who inherited both family farms and feels entitled to everything his father built. He speaks constantly of honoring their father's legacy but uses it to justify exploiting Edward⁴ and Abitha¹. His failed tobacco venture, driven by dreams of building a plantation empire, has left him deeply in debt to the powerful Lord Mansfield. He views Abitha's¹ resistance as an affront to natural order, a woman defying male authority, and his hatred of her becomes an obsession. He is not a cartoon villain but a man whose greed and pride have curdled his soul, making him capable of arson, conspiracy, and ultimately murder. He genuinely believes himself the righteous party, God's instrument against a witch.

Abitha's¹ husband, about ten years her senior, with a stooped back that makes him walk with a hunch. He has difficulty reading people's intentions, making him vulnerable to his brother Wallace's³ manipulations. Despite his social awkwardness, he possesses a hidden artistic gift: his drawings of Abitha¹ grow increasingly skilled and loving. He secretly collects books beyond the Bible, a sin in Puritan society. His relationship with Abitha¹ is tender but chaste, more fatherly than passionate, until she draws out his hidden romantic nature. His death in the cave leaves Abitha¹ utterly alone and sets the entire tragedy in motion.

An opossum-bodied wildfolk with the face of a human child and small, black, firefly-lit eyes. He is the most vocal and cunning of the three wildfolk who serve Samson². He orchestrated the blood ritual that resurrected Father and is single-mindedly devoted to protecting the Pawpaw sapling. His hatred of humans, born from centuries of conflict and near-extinction, drives him to manipulate, lie, and ultimately attempt murder to keep Samson² focused on slaughter. He carries immense guilt for his role in corrupting Samson's² original nature with the blood magic that turned him into Hobomok, though he struggles to admit this to himself.

The stern but fair-minded head minister of Sutton, a lean man nearing fifty with severe eyes and an unyielding commitment to the community's laws. He broke away from Hartford years ago over theological disputes with men like Magistrate Watson¹¹, whom he considers morally corrupt. He is rigid in doctrine but capable of genuine compassion, granting Abitha¹ leave from church during her hardship and ruling in her favor against Wallace³. His integrity becomes his vulnerability when Hartford's power brokers see him as an obstacle. He loves his wife Sarah⁷ and daughter Martha deeply, and their suffering at the hands of the witch trial breaks something fundamental in him.

The minister's wife and the de facto leader of Sutton's women. She presents a rigid, austere exterior, enforcing sumptuary laws and proper behavior with cold authority. But beneath this, she carries a secret: her own grandmother was a cunning woman, and she understands Abitha's¹ remedies in ways she cannot publicly admit. She shows Abitha¹ crucial kindness, warning her of Wallace's³ schemes and providing food. Her maternal desperation when her daughter Martha falls ill leads her to accept Abitha's¹ magical healing, a choice that eventually makes her vulnerable to the witch-hunters. She is a woman caught between her public role and her private conscience.

A thin, craggy man in his late fifties with bulging, shifty eyes and a bitter face. He is obsessed with finding devils, demons, and witches, spending his days spying on neighbors and examining animal tracks for signs of Satan. The community regards him as a loon but also fears his accusations, since he successfully identified a witch years ago. He keeps detailed drawings of suspicious hoofprints and believes himself God's special watchman against evil. His fanaticism makes him Wallace's³ perfect tool: he genuinely believes in the witchcraft he helps fabricate, giving the conspiracy the fervor of true conviction. He is a lonely, broken man who has found purpose in persecution.

A preternaturally ancient being who predates the Pequot, having arrived with the great ice. He appears as a wiry man with ghostly white skin, dark vertical scars down his face, and silver hair in two long braids. He lives in a cave filled with masks, each containing a captured soul, including Samson's² own skull. He is a manipulator who orchestrated the original destruction of the Pawpaw tree and the wildfolk⁵ by weaponizing the first tribes' hunger for magic. He presents himself as a benevolent guide offering Samson² peace through oblivion, but his goal is to possess the reborn Pawpaw and rule over all people and spirits.

Sutton's sheriff, a lean, well-built man in his late twenties who inherited the position from his father. He is competent with sword and pistol but fundamentally decent in a community where decency is increasingly punished. He shows Abitha¹ genuine kindness, bringing her breakfast during her imprisonment and protecting her from vigilante violence. He is attracted to her, a fact that humanizes them both. When the witch panic spirals beyond control, he is powerless to stop the judicial machinery but does what small mercies he can, including organizing the town's defense when the supernatural threat becomes undeniable.

A pudgy, middle-aged magistrate who wears a powdered wig and immaculately tailored clothing. He represents Hartford's political establishment and has a long-standing vendetta against Reverend Carter⁶, who broke away from his influence years ago. He is more concerned with consolidating power than with justice, viewing the Sutton witch trial as an opportunity to crush his old rival. He bends the law freely to achieve his ends, sanctioning torture and manipulating testimony. His authority is backed by Captain Moore's¹² militia, making him effectively a military governor once he arrives in Sutton.

A hard-looking man dressed all in black with dark, piercing eyes. He carries a flintlock pistol and sword and serves as Magistrate Watson's¹¹ muscle. He fought alongside Wallace's³ father in earlier wars, giving him a personal connection to the case. He is the one who physically tortures Sarah Carter⁷, probing her body for devil's marks and cutting her with hooked knives. He is efficient, cruel, and utterly convinced of his righteousness. When Abitha¹ transforms, he dismisses reports of a demon as drunken hysteria, insisting it is merely an Indian in disguise, a fatal underestimation.

Two of the three wildfolk who attend Samson². Sky takes the form of a raven with human hands instead of claws and blue-tinted flesh. Creek is a floating fish who swims through air as though it were water. Both have the faces of children and communicate without words, through emotional projection.

A short Pequot man who wears English clothes and speaks multiple languages with mimic-perfect accents. He gave himself his grandiose name, believing names hold power. Desperate to appease his demanding wife, he agrees to help Wallace³ steal corn, a decision he instantly regrets when violence erupts.

A burly, middle-aged guard with a leathery, weathered face who has fought in various colonial wars. He openly mocks witch trials as nonsense but participates in torture with relish. He kills Abitha's¹ cat Booka¹⁶ and torments her with the corpse, an act of casual cruelty that seals his fate.

An orange, one-eyed tabby cat Abitha¹ rescued from village dogs. His back healed poorly, leaving him bent and twisted. He is her constant companion during her solitary months on the farm. The witch-hunters present him as her demonic familiar, and his execution becomes a symbol of their casual cruelty.

Wallace's³ teenage daughter who resents Abitha¹ and is jealous of the attention she receives from young men. She provides crucial false testimony at the trial, claiming Abitha¹ whispered to her in dreams and that charms burned her. Her theatrical performances help condemn both Abitha¹ and Sarah⁷.