Characters
There are seven contestants in The Presidian, although the focus of the book is Swain, along with Bellos, Reese and Balthazar. There are several other non-contestant characters also shown throughout the story.
| Contestants | |
|---|---|
| Stephen Swain | A doctor, and the main character of the story, who lives with his daughter Holly. Swain, along with his daughter, is sent into the contest representing Earth. |
| Bellos | A Malonian, a species of trophy collectors widely regarded as the most lethal hunter in the galaxy. Bellos is able to alter his physical shape, allowing him to appear as a tall, muscular man, so as to facilitate usage of door handles and weapons made for the human form. Bellos also has a large pair of horns. He appears dressed in black, with the exception of a golden breastplate taken from a Roman centurion in the fifth Presidian by one of his ancestors. Bellos is one of the last contestants left alive, having cheated to win. He is crushed by a descending elevator killing him instantly. |
| Reese | A huge crocodile-like creature that uses two antennae to paralyze its prey, and then strikes them with her venomous, sharp, scorpion-like tail. She has no eyes, because her home planet has an extremely thick atmosphere that does not let any light in, and a three sided jaw. She has a very good sense of smell. Reese is one of the more favoured contestants in the Presidian, and the first that Swain encounters. He later kills her by electrocution. |
| Balthazar | A Crisean, a species of expert blade-wielding warriors. Like Bellos, he is able to alter his physical shape, and appears as a tall, bearded man. Balthazar and Swain form an alliance when Swain saves him from Reese; Balthazar later sacrifices himself to kill the Codex in the janitor's closet. |
| The Rachnid | An alien described as resembling a stick insect. It waits on the ceiling of caves, then jumps down to strangle its prey with its eight strong, spider-like legs. The Rachnid is Bellos's second kill. |
| The Konda | An insectoid with claws that contain a powerful toxin. It cannot breathe Earth's oxygen, and so uses a breathing mask. The Konda is the first contestant killed in the Presidian, torn apart by the hoods. Bellos collects it's breathing apparatus as a trophy. |
| The Codex | A black-colored alien with a floating triangular head, and a body and tail of trailing spheres. It moves by silently hovering through the air. It is killed when Balthazar sacrifices himself to allow Paul Hawkins to escape the Codex. |
| Non-contestants | |
| Holly Swain | Stephen Swain's eight year old daughter; she is accidentally teleported inside the library along with her father. She is not supposed to be a contestant, but cannot leave the library until the contest is over. |
| Selexin | Stephen Swain's guide through the contest. Its race are too small participate in the Presidian, so they serve as witnesses of the kills. One witness is assigned to each contestant and uses an egg shaped hat to teleport deceased contestants back to the contest authorities. Selexin is initially distraught to be Swain's guide, as no human has survived beyond the first kill in previous Presidians, but eventually becomes valuable to Swain, given his knowledge of the game. |
| The Karanadon | An enormous dormant beast already located inside the Library before the contest begins, to be awakened in case the participants will not or cannot kill each other in a specified time. Only one has been killed in the wild, by Bellos and his "hoods". It is described as having enormously powerful arms and a jackal-like head and ears. Swain kills the Karanadon in an explosion during his escape from the Library. |
| Hoodaya | An exceptionally fierce and vicious predator that has not yet evolved into a race considered intelligent enough to compete in the Presidian. They are little more than hunting dogs, and have been known to kill a Karanadon before; the only recorded example of one being hunted. The "hoods", as they are referred to, are introduced illegally into the Presidian by Bellos to ensure his victory. |
| Paul Hawkins | A police officer who joins forces with Swain during their time in the contest. He is later killed by Bellos and his Hoodaya. |
Read more about this topic: Contest (novel)
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“No one of the characters in my novels has originated, so far as I know, in real life. If anything, the contrary was the case: persons playing a part in my life—the first twenty years of it—had about them something semi-fictitious.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
“The major men
That is different. They are characters beyond
Reality, composed thereof. They are
The fictive man created out of men.
They are men but artificial men.”
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“A criminal trial is like a Russian novel: it starts with exasperating slowness as the characters are introduced to a jury, then there are complications in the form of minor witnesses, the protagonist finally appears and contradictions arise to produce drama, and finally as both jury and spectators grow weary and confused the pace quickens, reaching its climax in passionate final argument.”
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