Look
- A golden retriever. About 36 kg ("all eighty pounds of him"), a deep chest, a feathered tail that is always going.
- Coat: warm, soft retriever gold, lighter at the feathering on the legs and chest. In every form, the gold stays.
- Eyes: kind brown, the same in every form. A reader recognises him at a glance in any shape by the eyes and the gold.
- Face: a soft greying muzzle (he has always had it), a happy open mouth, and one ear that flops slightly more than the other.
- Collar: a worn leather collar with a small brass tag. The tag is blank, because nobody has ever been able to write a rank on it.
- Movement: trots at Kompis's left heel. Flops. Rolls. Leans his whole weight into people he loves. When danger comes he stands up four-legged in front of his person and doesn't move.
- Voice: barks (WOOF!), whines, a contented groan by the fire, and the snoring.
What he is
- No line in the Ledger. Nothing in the world holds him to one rank, so nothing holds him to one shape.
- Kompis's anchor: Subtick only works while Mingus's heart beats beside Kompis (the golden pulse line along the panel border).
- The unit: HADOM is measured in Mingus. One HADOM is one of his heartbeats.
HADOM, the heartbeat
- Tempo: 1, by definition. He is the measure, not the measured.
- Home tempo: Heartbeat, the realm that is his heartbeat. At the cabin, every tempo equals his.
- Heartbeat technique: THE BEAT. Everyone who falls asleep with a hand on him falls asleep on the same heartbeat (it is how the crew entered Sömnen, ch. 49). In the end his bark carries across every realm in one beat. No one else can be everyone's metronome.
- Burn cost: none. He's a dog. He'd like a treat, though.
The golden forms
The laws:
- Always gold. Same warm coat, same kind brown eyes.
- He always comes home to the retriever. Every transformation ends with him padding back, tail wagging, as if nothing happened. The dog is forever.
- The forms come from love, not orders. Nobody commands them, Kompis included. They wake when someone he loves is in danger.
- He guards; the heroes win. A form can turn a moment, catch a fall, or stand between his people and a blade. The arc's boss is always beaten by the heroes themselves.
- Never killed, never the price, never captured for good. Separating him from Kompis is the danger. Hurting him is not.
- Rationed: one form per arc at most, so each one is an event.
| Form | Look (all gold) | Wakes when | Appearances |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Retriever | The true form | Always | Every panel |
| The Sabre Lion | A golden sabre-toothed lion the size of a cart horse, fangs like ivory scimitars | Someone tries to take Kompis away | Saga I ch. 6 · Saga II ch. 64 · Saga IV ch. 186 · Saga VI ch. 348 (catches Kompis by the hood at the Cut) |
| The Manticore | Lion body, wide gold-feathered wings, a scorpion tail of amber glass | Home is attacked (the boat, the cabin, the crew's fire) | Saga I Arc 2 · Saga II Arc 5 · Saga IV ch. 164, ch. 191, ch. 227 · Saga V, Arc 6 form, ch. 295: The Pyre, guarding both crews' charge up the burning hill on the Burn (Arc 6 beats) · Saga VI ch. 355 (the cabin in Heartbeat) |
| The Griffin | Golden eagle-lion, wings wide enough to carry the whole crew | The crew is falling and there is no ground | Saga I ch. 25 · Saga IV ch. 201 · Saga V, Arc 2 form, ch. 253 (the Sky-Net collapses, Flyttfågeln falls, and the crew drops into the starless dark with no ground, ch. 252's last panel. He swoops under them and takes them all: Kompis on his neck, Vigolas in one talon by the coat-collar, Rougeina, Krydog and Smurjan across his back, and Svala at his neck-feathers with the Netmaster swinging in her own Lace on the cord. Grip, seeing her House's sign alive and gold: "It never looked like that." The Five-Gun Volley is fired from his back. He lands on the Wing-Keep, comes home to the retriever, and lies down across Tärna's feet) |
| The Sun-Wolf | A colossal golden wolf from the oldest northern tales, the wolf who refused to swallow the sun | Only once the whole crew has fallen | Saga III+ (Edda's bedtime story, Saga I, plants it) · Saga V, Arc 8: the first time, ch. 325, when the whole crew has fallen · Saga VI ch. 399, the second time |
| The Cave-Bear | A golden cave-bear the size of a hill, a coat of shaggy blazing gold | Something too heavy is falling on his people | Saga III ch. 108 (holds up Tyngden's falling sky) · Saga IV ch. 216 · Saga V, Arc 4 form, ch. 272 (the Splinterlands' root-vault, arches thick as towers, torn loose over the Great Root by Gnag and falling on both crews: he rises on his hind legs and holds the sky of roots on his shoulders and back; Gnag's tree-strong blows, THOOM THOOM THOOM, can't move him an inch: "No wood on that, either."; ch. 273 he sets the vault down gently, arch by arch, so nothing breaks; ch. 274 back to the retriever: "Good boy. Best boy.") · Saga VI ch. 373–375 (holds the Arbiter's first ending on the Bridge's top span) |
| (more) | Every guardian creature in every myth | Revealed over the years | ∞ |
Saga IV forms, arc by arc:
- Arc 1 Skatt: none.
- Arc 2 Värn: The Manticore, ch. 164.
- Arc 3 Stilla: none.
- Arc 4 The Pillar of Names: The Sabre Lion, ch. 186.
- Arc 5 The Mirror: The Manticore, ch. 191.
- Arc 6 The Tideline: The Griffin, ch. 201.
- Arc 7 Solvig: The Cave-Bear, ch. 216.
- Arc 8 Redactor: The Manticore, ch. 227 (snaps the Margin's bars on the Marka's name).
Saga V forms, arc by arc (one per arc at most, law 6):
- Arc 1 Fyren: none.
- Arc 2 Flyttfågeln: The Griffin, ch. 253.
- Arc 3 Lumen: none.
- Arc 4 The Splinterlands: The Cave-Bear, ch. 272.
- Arc 5 Tidekant: none. Njord tipped him out of Old Pike toward shore before the fight ("Not you either, cod-thief.", ch. 282).
- Arc 6 The Burn: The Manticore, ch. 295.
- Arc 8 The Deep: The Sun-Wolf, for the first time, ch. 325.
Saga VI forms, arc by arc:
- Arc 1 The Bark: none (the bark itself is the Third Sign, ch. 331).
- Arc 2 The Cut: The Sabre Lion, ch. 348 (catches Kompis by the hood before the Menders sew him into the wound).
- Arc 3 The Cabin: The Manticore, ch. 355 (home is attacked: the cabin in Heartbeat).
- Arc 4 The Gathering: none (walks the Twelfth Road alone to wait at the far end of Svala's Long Line).
- Arc 5 The Bridge of Every Ship: The Cave-Bear, ch. 373–375.
- Arc 6 The Arena: none (Ögar's last sight: a golden dog asleep in the sun).
- Arc 7 The Null Wakes: The Sun-Wolf, the second time, ch. 399 (only once the whole crew has fallen): the sun in his jaws, not swallowed; four paws round the fallen; the grey stops at his paws; Krydog standing beside one paw; he lets Igel in for the Last Ferry, gives Vigolas back his ember, and pads home a retriever. Before it, the fighting bark that strikes the Null (ch. 392).
- Arc 8 Five and One: none. The bark heard twice (ch. 402) brings Fenna; their first panel together (the beat and the one who hears it, the First Count). A found-something bark at the forgotten Null (ch. 408); a goodbye wuf for Jorvand (ch. 409); lies across Krydog's chest (ch. 410).
- Arc 9 The Ascension: none. Barks once, gently, and every realm hears it (ch. 420).
Not a form: in Sömnen (Saga II, ch. 49–55) he was as big as the sky, because that's how Kompis dreams him. It was Mingus himself, asleep with the crew, wearing the shape Kompis gave him. He set one paw down on the Nightmare army and lifted Vigolas out of the wave by the collar like a pup.
Story so far
- Caught Kompis by the hood when he sleepwalked off the yardarm (ch. 47), as just a dog.
- Stood between a blade and his person, eighty pounds of dog and no form (ch. 42).
- Pulled a Ledger-chain in his teeth against ten Hounds (ch. 58).
- Was the last to close his eyes in the sleep-circle (ch. 49).
- Licked every crewmate after every fight. Checks each one, every time.
- Couldn't be bottled (ch. 257): Skymning uncorked a vial at him, "Devotion.", and the gold mist slid off the glass like water off a duck. "Some feelings don't fit in glass." Then he bit the Bottler's coat-hem and pulled.
- Saga VI: barked the Third Sign (ch. 331): one sound across two pages, heard in every realm at once, and the Null paused for the first time in the history of nothing. His dream never went white ("He's an Immunity.", ch. 334). Stayed with Vaka through Fyren's Dark Night to hold the white off her dream, leaving Kompis for the first time in his life by choice (ch. 336–337), and came back at dawn (ch. 339). Nothing finishes Mingus: a hunter's palm on him finishes nothing (ch. 353); he walked the Twelfth Road alone at night through the Gate, the Gateposts' palms on him and grey D— breaking like frost, to sit at the Road's End facing the fleet and wait for Svala (ch. 364), and stood up wagging when she came (ch. 368). Never counted in THE FIVE; a thoughtful wuff at the Arbiter's terms (ch. 382); barked Kompis out of a Subtick with no version in it (ch. 388); Ögar's last sight: asleep in the sun ("He doesn't end. He just sleeps in the sun.", ch. 389); lay across all five in the Ring (ch. 390). The grey stopped at his paws ("…Ah. You.", ch. 391); his short, hard guard-dog bark struck the Null, gave it an edge for one bark's length ("You never had a line. You're what all of it is counted in.", ch. 392). Licked Kompis's lip at the morning roll (ch. 400). The bark heard twice brought Fenna; he sat at her feet (ch. 402): the First Count, the beat and the one who hears it. A found-something bark at the forgotten Null (ch. 408); a goodbye bark for Jorvand (ch. 409). Lay across Krydog's chest for eleven days (ch. 410–417), the one thing allowed past Vigolas's door ("Nothing holds him.", ch. 413); a hunter's palm on his head and nothing happened (ch. 414); nose to nose with Bonde across Värn's threshold (ch. 414). The fleet hauled the Upp Igen up on his beat (ch. 418). At the Ascension he looked back at all four other roads and followed Kompis (ch. 419). On the Marka's bow under the new branch, one gentle bark that every realm heard, and the first sound Njord heard in a month ("Aye. The cod-thief.", ch. 420).
- Knew Flisa was in the keel since Saga II (ch. 264): found her the first week, growled once, lay down beside the weeping knot, and kept his mouth shut for two sagas. "Hi, dog. …Yes, I know you knew." / "Best secret-keeper on this tub." He only moved off the knot when she Swelled it (ch. 264).
- Lay down across the corner of Jeppson's drawing in the flooding hold so she couldn't smudge it ("He's on the wood's side.", ch. 265); lay beside her after her Pulse failed ("…Traitor.", ch. 268); put his head in her lap (ch. 269); lay across her feet at the end (ch. 274).
- A splinter won't stay in him (ch. 269): it slides out of his fur by itself and climbs back into her palm. "Nothing holds him. Not chalk, not chains, not splinters." So she can touch him as much as she likes, and it costs her nothing.
- Waited where Svala landed, from her very first line (ch. 243), and every line after.
- Rang the Upp Igen's bell when Krydog fell and Tihi, its bell-ringer, was caged on the Gilded Cage. He took the bell-rope in his teeth and pulled, and Tihi's mouth twitched across the water (ch. 249): "The dog rang it." (ch. 250)
- Looked at Vigolas a long time when Kompis told him his first word was probably "Mine" (ch. 275), and thumped his tail once on the moss when Vigolas said "Here."
- Swam out to Old Pike every morning in Tidekant for salt-cod. Njord: "You can come every morning. There'll always be cod." (ch. 276). He slept against Njord's hip on the dock, and put his chin on Vigolas's knee instead (ch. 279).
- Held the hawser's end in his teeth in the tug-of-war with Hagel's storm, braced and growling (ch. 283, 285). He swam out across the flat water to Njord and pushed his head under the old man's hand: "Cod-thief." (ch. 285)
- Circled the empty mooring the morning after Old Pike sank, looking for a boat that wasn't there (ch. 287): "She's gone, cod-thief. Come here… There'll always be cod. I said." He swam out alongside Young Pike when she slid down the slip ("Every morning."). Between Vigolas and Kompis on the Marka's rail, he thumped his tail once at "I kept the bill. That's what greedy people do." (ch. 287)
Relationships
Kompis: his person. Everyone else: his people. Fenna: the one who hears his beat. Vigolas: the man who calls him "good boy" with the most feeling. Flisa: the secret he kept for two sagas, and the one thing she can touch without losing a piece of herself ("Stupid, stupid dog."). Iskall: a little girl who found her own joy in his eyes. Svala: the one who's always waiting where she lands. Tihi: her best audience, and the dog who rang her bell. Njord: the old man with the salt-cod, who calls him cod-thief.