Impossible Creatures

Mal is the second protagonist in the novel. Her name means “apple” in Latin, and this is the one of the clues to her true identity as the Immortal who safeguards the integrity of the Archipelago and contains the memories of all humanity. Mal’s character development mirrors many aspects of the archetypal hero’s journey. Her differences from others set her apart, particularly her ability to fly, and because other people instinctively sense her strangeness, she has no human friends in her early life.

When the murderer, Adam Kavil, kills her great aunt and hunts her down, Mal’s transformative adventures truly begin, and she eventually discovers that she is the Immortal who holds innate knowledge of humanity’s every deed and that she is destined to use this information to protect the Archipelago. Mal initially refuses her calling to regain her memories and step into her role as the Immortal, but she finally accepts her destiny when Kavil kills Gelifen. Many mentors and companions contribute to Mal’s character development, such as Christopher, Irian, Nighthand, and the sphinx Naravirala. Mal’s ordeal comes when she decides to complete the quest to enter the maze and destroy Francesco Sforza by sacrificing herself.

Because Impossible Creatures is the first installment of a trilogy, Rundell leaves Mal’s fate open-ended, but because the lore of the Archipelago holds that a new Immortal will inevitably be born, it is possible that Mal will appear again in another form. Mal’s presence in the novel allows Rundell to explore The Importance of Friendship and Love, and her choice to use her great power for good suggests that it is possible for humans to avoid The Corrupting Influence of Power. Finally, her love of the Archipelago and her act of self-sacrifice to save it show The Value of the Natural World.

Sforza, the main antagonist of the novel, desires absolute power and fears being dominated by others. Sforza is a descendent of Enzo da Vinci, a man whose jealousy of his brother led him to hide the plans for the maze that protects the Glimourie Tree. Thus, Sforza’s heritage and family history are also focused on the concept of gaining power at any cost. He is a man from Christopher’s world who has come to the Archipelago with a plan to destroy both it and his own world by consuming all the glimourie in existence.

The deep flaws in Sforza’s character are most apparent in his actions. He recruits the defeated, desperate murderer, Adam Kavil, to help him with his plans, and he then encourages Kavil to follow his worst impulses, allowing him to hunt Mal unchecked. Notably, the haze of hopelessness that takes over the maze implies that Sforza actively perpetuates hopelessness and futility to create an environment that allows him to seize power. However, his fatal error is in his willingness to underestimate Mal and Christopher, mistakenly believing that their youth will prevent them from mounting any significant resistance to his plot. This flaw in his reasoning leads to his apparent destruction in the climax of the novel, and his character arc demonstrates the more ruinous effects of The Corrupting Influence of Power.

Nighthand is a smuggler who enters the story after Mal and Christopher crash-land on his boat during their escape from Adam Kavil. While Nighthand initially appears to be nothing more than a gruff, selfish man with no purpose beyond slipping goods past customs officials, his willingness to help the two protagonists indicates a deeper degree of kindness and suggests that he has hidden depths. Physically, Nighthand is a tall, powerful man who is largely defined by his identity as a Berserker—a warrior who is incapable of feeling fear. He sports gold earrings that are intended to buy his coffin when he dies, and the fact that he wears such items on his person—and for such a morbid purpose—hints at his grim perspective on life. In practice, however, his intense, existential sadness compels him to spend most of his time getting drunk.

Despite these negative traits, he places great value on his friendships and proves to be a loyal ally, as shown by his close relationship with the members of his crew. When he decides to allow Mal and Christopher to stay on his boat and defends them from the law despite the risk to himself, his actions show that protecting others is a central value in his worldview. The narrative soon reveals that his desire to protect others is a matter of fate since Mal, like every previous Immortal, is destined to have her own Berserker who protects her. For this reason, Nighthand’s life becomes imbued with a greater sense of purpose when he engages with the children and helps them confront and overcome the dangers of the Archipelago. As he becomes Mal’s Berserker, Nighthand takes his role so seriously that he places himself between Mal and the fatal horn of the karkadann on the Island of the Immortal, a choice that nearly kills him. He survives and mourns Mal after she flies Sforza into the Somnulum. His adventure with Mal and his love of his companions change him so profoundly that he becomes open to the prospect of developing a romantic relationship with Irian Guinne by the end of the novel.

Irian is a marine scientist who enters the novel as she testifies before the Azurial Senate that some force is destroying sea life in the Archipelago. From the very beginning, she is a passionate, knowledgeable defender of the natural world, making her friendship with Christopher and Mal a natural fit. Physically, she is a beautiful woman with luminous brown skin, cropped hair, and modest clothes that allow her to blend into the background.

Although she is shy by nature, Irian grows increasingly bold over the course of the novel, becoming a fighter who staunchly defends her companions. She becomes a loyal person who sticks by Mal and Christopher no matter what the danger is. She is also a person whose knowledge of the creatures and habitats of the Archipelago makes her crucial to the success of Mal’s quest. Her identity as part nereid saves Nighthand when she uses her kinship to them to call for help after a karkadann wounds Nighthand. As the novel closes, her shyness has lessened, and she openly acknowledges her love for Nighthand.

Marik is an Immortal who ended the special relationship that the Immortals have with the Archipelago because he could not bear to be the memory keeper for all of humanity. He had no wish to recall the many evil acts that people have committed against each other. Because he avoids his duties as an Immortal, he serves as a foil to Mal, even though he only appears indirectly, through the tales of other characters. He only sees the dark aspects of his memories, while Mal is able to appreciate the fact that the evil acts of humanity are balanced by acts of love and wonder. By choosing to take a potion of forgetting, thereby erasing his memory and that of every other Immortal who came after him, he set the stage for the harrowing journey of rediscovery that Mal must undergo. Because Marik chose to cut himself off from the complicated nature of humanity, he died as a man who never dared to fully develop his curiosity about the world he was charged with protecting. The negative effects of his decision indicate that selfishly refusing to use power for the greater good can become its own unique form of corruption. His refusal to be the Immortal stands in contrast to Mal’s open and courageous embrace of the full range of human experience.

Anja is the most powerful figure in the City of Scholars. She has long, gray hair that she wears in a braid, and she is clad in rich clothing and expensive perfume that shows off her wealth. She also has an extensive network of spies, in the form of various creatures who keep her apprised of important events throughout the Archipelago, giving her access to many dangerous secrets.

At first, the narrative presents Anja as a guide in Mal’s hero’s journey, as she gives Mal important information that she will need to complete her quest. In Anja’s role as an old friend to Nighthand, she shelters and outfits the weary companions after a kraken destroys Nighthand’s ship. However, the narrative later reveals that Anja has betrayed her friendship with Nighthand by cooperating with Adam Kavil’s plan to capture and possibly kill Mal. She is motivated to betray her friends because she doesn’t want her family’s dirty secrets to be revealed when Mal accesses the Immortal’s memories. Her actions therefore demonstrate several aspects of The Corrupting Influence of Power, for although she has extensive reach and influence and could therefore be a potent ally for Mal’s quest, she chooses instead to serve her own interests. Although she does later try to redeem herself by providing Mal and Nighthand with timely help, she also tries to rationalize her betrayal rather than taking full responsibility for her unethical actions.

Kavil is an assassin whom Francesco Sforza hires to kill Mal. He is described as a tall, white man with dark brown hair and a mole on his face. These physical traits prove crucial to the narrative, for they allow Nighthand to finally put a name to the murderer who has been dogging Mal’s steps from the very beginning of the novel. Like Sforza, Kavil fears being dominated by others. He goes along with Sforza’s plans because he wishes to gain some small form of power for himself in the new world order that Sforza promises to create. However, Kavil’s misguided belief that Sforza will share his power shows the assassin’s poor judgment; since Sforza wants absolute power, there is no chance that he will cede a single iota of this power to another. Kavil’s fate therefore allows Rundell to deliver an implicit moral judgment upon those who succumb to The Corrupting Influence of Power, as the assassin dies when Nighthand stabs him in defense of Mal and Christopher.