| “ | A tokoroth is a child raised alone and in darkness, as a host for a demon. A tokoroth knows no good or evil. No right or wrong. It is utterly without mercy, for it has been taught to hate the world. It obeys no-one but its creator. It is one of the most feared creatures in the Forest. | „ |
| ~ Saeunn the Raven Mage telling Renn about tokoroths. |
Tokoroth is a type of an evil creature that appears in Michelle Paver's prehistoric Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. They are demon-possessed children who appear frequently as minions of the Soul Eaters.
Description[]
Tokoroths are among the most feared creatures the Forest has heard about. Only few people know about them, and even fewer talk about them. They are human children who have been raised in solitude and darkness as hosts for demons, dead creatures that have lost any sense of morality and live only for killing and destruction. It was believed that the dark art of creating a tokoroth has been forgotten, but the Soul Eaters have rediscovered it at some point.
A tokoroth's creation begins when a child under a certain age is taken and trapped in darkness and total isolation for months. He or she is given just enough warmth to keep them barely alive and fed with rotting bat meat. The child eventually forgets their mother's touch and their own name. When the child is just an empty husk, the captor summons a demon and traps it inside the child's body. The child's own souls are enthralled by the demon, and they remain trapped inside the body until the tokoroth is killed.
A tokoroth makes no difference between good and bad or right and wrong. It feels no mercy in the slightest because it has been taught to hate the entire world. It obeys only its creator. Tokoroths are masters of stealth, stealing, mutilation, and fear-mongering. Despite having the stature of a child, they move very fast, have enhanced strength, and are very quiet when they wish to be. They are also incredibly athletic and able to leap long distances. However, their senses and physical toughness are not better than with average humans.
Many of the tokoroths presented in the series have wild hair and sticklike limbs. Their yellow fingernails and toenails are filed to resemble long and pointed claws. Their teeth are also sharpened and brown. They do not seem to be able to speak, making animal-like sounds instead.
History[]
Spirit Walker[]
Tokoroths first appear in Spirit Walker. Tenris the Seal Mage has two tokoroths — a boy and a girl with faces adorned by leaf tattoos and no older than eight or nine years — to do his bidding. It is unknown when he created them, but he used one of the Fire Opal pieces to do it. In order to find the destroyer of his another creation, he sends his two underlings to spread his plague across the Forest. They do this by poisoning the juniper berries the clans use as nutriment. Torak and Renn repeatedly sense the tokoroths are watching them from the shadows. One of them bites Renn's hand at one point. The other follows Torak on his way to the Deep Forest in search of a cure. It injures with an arrow a boar that has befriended Torak, leading it to attack him in pained fury. When Torak is captured by three Seal Clan boys and taken to the Seal Islands, the tokoroths hide in the boys' skinboats and continue stalking Torak on the Seal Clan's island. At one point, they lure him into a trap, causing him to be caught in a seal net and almost drown.
When Tenris finally reveals his true colors to Torak and tries to sacrifice him on the sacred promontory called the Crag, the tokoroths assist the Soul Eater in binding Torak on the altar and making a fire barricade to separate the Crag from the rest of the island. When Wolf arrives to save his pack-brother, he lures the tokoroths after him and causes them to fall off a cliff. Following Tenris' death, Torak, Renn and Bale find the dying tokoroths. With the demons driven away by Wolf, Renn draws the Death Marks on the children, allowing them to die free. The Seal Clan buries the bodies at the Sea.
Outcast[]
While no tokoroth appears in Outcast, Seshru the Viper Mage reveals a terrible secret to her daughter Renn. The Soul Eater had gotten herself impregnated by Renn's father because she wanted to create a tokoroth out of her own newborn. Her seven-year-old son Hord was too old for that purpose, so she left him alone. After giving birth to Renn, she planned to use the Fire Opal to conjure an elemental (the strongest type of demons) and trap it in the infant's body. Before she could, however, Saeunn the Raven Mage rescued Renn by stealing her from Seshru. Renn was then raised by her father and uncle Fin-Kedinn, while Seshru neglected to keep tabs on Renn. Renn is described to have a sharp-toothed grin, possibly referring to her prevented future as a tokoroth.
Oath Breaher[]
While Thiazzi the Oak Mage carries out his schemes in the Deep Forest during Oath Breaker, he captures several children both from the Deep Forest and the Open Forest. Letting the clans blame each other for the kidnappings of their children, he sows more discord among them. After his death, Wolf and Darkfur find the captured children hidden in holes that are dug into the slopes behind the sacred grove. The five children are thin as sticks, their teeth have been filed to fangs, and their minds are scoured white as mistletoe berries. Fortunately, they are not possessed by demons and are quickly taken under treatment. Unfortunately, one child has already been turned into a tokoroth and fled towards the eastern High Mountains where the last Soul Eater, the Eagle Owl Mage Eostra, is hiding.
Ghost Hunter[]
In Ghost Hunter, Eostra has created several more tokoroths by abducting small children of the Mountain clans. They hack in trees markings for Torak, and one of them tries to steal Torak's hair while he sleepwalks, only to be driven away by Wolf. When Torak and Wolf enter the Mountain of Ghosts, one tokoroth lures them into a trap which separates the pack-brothers from each other. Wolf fights two other tokoroths, killing one of them as the other escapes. In the Whispering Cave, two tokoroths take part in Eostra's rite to summon the Unquiet Dead by rattling bones. Both are killed by Torak during the final fight.
Viper's Daughter[]
Viper's Daughter reveals that though unheard of, it is possible for a tokoroth to grow up. After Seshru's attempt to make Renn a tokoroth was thwarted and the Soul Eaters were scattered, the Viper Mage traveled to the Far North where she met and charmed the Narwal mage, Marupai who took her to the Island at the Edge of the World. After birthing a son there, she took him under the island's ice mountain, snared a powerful ice demon, and trapped it in her infant who was named Naiginn. She then cast on him a spell that hides his demonic nature from everyone. She made Marupai believe that Naiginn was his son when the father was actually Tenris, and she left Naiginn to be raised by the Narwal Clan. She came to visit Naiginn when he was seven years old. She promised that once he is grown up, she will return to set him free to feed on the souls of the living. She was killed before she could fulfill that promise.
At the age of sixteen, Naiginn is outwardly like any other human as well as the best hunter in the Far North. He is secretly fed up with the masking spell that prevents him from feeding on the souls of the living. Since the spell can be broken only in his place of creation and by a mage related to Seshru, he tricks his half-sister Renn into thinking that she is subconsciously trying to hurt her mate Torak, leading her to travel to the Far North in search of a solution. After Naiginn guides her to the Narwals' settlement at Waigo, he captures her and takes her to the Island at the Edge of the World where he attempts to force her to set him free. However, she manages to outwit and defeat him with Torak and Wolf's help and he is attacked by a mammoth's spirit. After returning to the Forest, Renn has another dream vision of Seshru, who questions if Naiginn is really dead and reminds Renn that it's not over.
Skin Taker[]
In Skin Taker, it is revealed that Naiginn has survived with burnt scars on his face and has discovered another way to break his curse by feeding on the brains of living creatures. To get revenge on Torak and Renn, Naiginn travels to the Forest and becomes the leader of a group known as the Chosen Ones, who have abandoned their clans ever since a meteor known as the Thunderstar has devastated the Forest. Naiginn creates a myth of malevolent creatures called "Skin-Takers" and manipulates the Chosen Ones into believing that Torak and Renn are Skin-Takers, so they head out to capture the pair.
While Torak and Renn are searching for the four pieces to perform the Rite in order to bring back the northern lights known as the First Tree after it has been destroyed by the Thunderstar, Torak is captured by the Chosen Ones and is brought to Naiginn. Renn is also captured by the Chosen Ones, but a member named Iakim reluctantly sets her free to do the Rite, despite magecraft being forbidden. Meanwhile, Torak finds out about the myth of the Skin-Takers and calls out on Naiginn for his fearmongering and lust for power. Renn and Wolf come across a Forest Horse herd and they manage to cause a stampede that distracts the Chosen Ones, giving Torak the opportunity to escape.
When all the pieces for the Rite are found, Renn and Dark prepare to do the Rite, but Naiginn attacks them in an attempt to stop them from doing so. Torak spirit walks in a bear and attacks Naiginn, allowing Renn and Dark to finish the rite with the help of Wolf. Naiginn flees the scene and his lies are exposed afterwards to the clans, leading to the Chosen Ones abandoning their ways and reuniting with their original clans. After the clans free the trapped Windriver, the First Tree finally reappears.
Wolfbane[]
Three months after the events of Skin Taker, Naiginn returns to the Forest with the intent to devour Wolf's souls, whom he believes is the only one strong enough to free his demon nature from his mortal body. Naiginn severely damages a tree to be used as a decoy to distract Torak and Renn, while he stalks Wolf and his pack. When Torak realizes that Naiginn is after Wolf, he and Renn set out to stop Naiginn. As Wolf heads back to his den after an unsuccessful hunt, Naiginn shoots his hunting mate, Whitethroat with a lethal poison called wolfbane. Torak and Renn manage to find Naiginn hiding in a nearby bush and rush out after him. Wolf chases Naiginn down a river and they disappear from sight. Whitethroat dies from the poison and Wolf's cubs howl in sorrow. Wolf gets lost in a fog and tries to head back, but finds himself stranded on an iceberg and is drifted out to the Sea.
The next day, Torak and Renn set out on a skinboat in search for Wolf, unaware that Naiginn is also pursuing Wolf. When Torak and Renn come across a pod of orcas, Torak forcefully takes the earthblood from Renn and spirit walks in an orca to locate Wolf. Torak manages to find Wolf and tries to protect him from the other orcas, while struggling to resist the urges of his predatory instincts to devour Wolf. As a pod of humpback whales come to Wolf's aid, Torak spots Naiginn paddling in his skinboat and the ice demon spots Renn. As Naiginn raises his wolfbane-laced harpoon in an attempt to kill Renn, Torak breaches the surface and takes the blow on his fluke. Naiginn disappears into the fog and Torak passes out from the poison, but he manages to survive and return to his body.
Wolf eventually washes up on the shores of Kelp Island and is rescued by the local Kelp Clan from a pit of quicksand. Naiginn arrives on the island and asks the Kelp chief and mage, Chinoot if he has seen Wolf. However, Chinoot claims that he hasn't seen Wolf and respectfully orders Naiginn to leave. Naiginn lies to Chinoot that he is heading off to Cormorant Island and hides in the interior of Kelp Island, waiting for Wolf to arrive. Torak and Renn also arrive on the island and are rescued by the Kelp Clan after the Sea Mother tried to drown them and the two came across numerous corpses in a cave belonging to the ancestors of the clan. Torak and Renn are reunited with Wolf and they request Chinoot to let them go back to their homeland. However, Chinoot declares that they are to stay with the Kelp Clan and they try to reason with him that Wolf cannot stay, but the clan leader stubbornly refuses to listen to their advice.
Torak and Renn sneak out and try to rescue Wolf from his pen, only to find out that a clan girl named Yamna had set him free and that he is running across the island's interior. Torak and Renn manage to find Wolf the next day and Torak devises a plan to lure Naiginn into a trap by drawing fake paw prints on the soil. The following night, Torak and Renn camp on an abandoned eagle nest perched on a nearby tree. Eventually, Naiginn arrives and Wolf prepares to ambush the ice demon, but Torak silently urges him not to attack. Wolf disappears and Naiginn leaves the scene.
The next morning, the trio come across a hot spring that was once home to the Kelp Clan's ancestors. As Torak fills his waterskin, Rip and Rek squawk in alert and Naiginn appears. As Naiginn is sweeping a swarm of leeches off his body, Torak lunges at him, but Naiginn dodges his attack and gains the upper hand. Rip and Rek try to intervene, but the ice demon scares the two ravens off. Naiginn mocks Torak about how Renn and Wolf aren't here to come to his aid, but Torak taunts him and uses leeches to his advantage. The fight persists until Renn arrives and pelts Naiginn with rocks, claiming that the Kelp Clan is also here and that he is outnumbered. Unable to spot Renn, Naiginn flees and Torak tries to follow him, but Renn stops him from going any further. Renn has also sealed Wolf in a nearby cave to prevent him from interfering, but Wolf digs his way out and heads out after Naiginn. However, the ice demon has already fled on his skinboat before Wolf could arrive.
After the trio manage to successfully persuade the Kelp Clan to release them, they head out to the Sea at Egg Dawn and reach the shores of the Forest. Before leaving, however, Chinoot foreshadows that disaster will come. Naiginn watches the trio and marks a few nearby trees to signify his presence and prepare for his final battle with Torak. As the trio reach the shores, they notice that Elk River is being blocked by massive chunks of ice and Torak tells Renn and Wolf to protect their families, so he can face Naiginn alone. Wolf manages to make it to the den and finds it flooded, but Rip and Rek lead him to the spare den. Infuriated that his prey has escaped, Naignn decides to come out of hiding to pursue Wolf and finally devour his souls. Meanwhile, Renn reunites with Fin-Kedinn and Dark informs her that he spotted Naiginn. Renn gives Dark a string of Naiginn's hair to tie the net and spear to finish him off and she mentions the decoy marks she saw earlier. Renn and Dark head out to help Torak and Wolf, while Fin-Kedinn and Kujai head up to higher ground to escape the flood. As they climb up the hillside, Naiginn spears Fin-Kedinn in the leg with a harpoon, mortally wounding him. Renn and Dark arrive at the den, but Dark realizes that Naiginn wasn't here and they spot him on the other side of the river, while Torak is obliviously approaching Naiginn. Wolf returns and howls a warning to Torak that Naiginn is nearby. Renn, Wolf and Dark also fend off the lesser demons under Naiginn's control to protect Wolf's newborn cubs.
As Naiginn climbs up the hill to the mountain, Torak chases after him and tries to shoot him, but the ice storm grows stronger and a strong gust of wind causes Torak to miss his shot. Naiginn notices Torak and heavy hail rains down on the Forest, while Naiginn gloats about the ice being on his side. As Naiginn further climbs up the mountain, Torak continues to chase him and Naiginn shoots an arrow at Torak, grazing his palm. Torak manages to find a branch to use as a weapon, but finds himself overcome by the wolfbane poison as Naiginn gloats in sadistic glee that he is going to make Torak watch as he devours Wolf's souls. Wolf comes to Torak's aid and Naiginn prepares to shoot Wolf, but Torak throws the branch onto his back in an attempt to distract him. As Naiginn recovers and prepares another shot at Wolf, Torak grabs his canine companion and throws him into the river to save him. As Naiginn rushes down the mountain and Wolf comes out of the river, Naiginn spots Renn and Dark and gloats that he finally has Wolf. As Naiginn aims for Wolf, Renn shoots him on the back with a slingshot and chants to banish his demonic nature to the Otherworld. A weakened Torak takes aim and tries to shoot Naiginn, but Wolf jumps in the way and ends up taking the blow. As Naiginn prepares to finish off Wolf, Dark prepares to spear Naiginn, but Fin-Kedinn comes out and spears Naiginn instead. As Naiginn makes one final gloat about his apparent victory, Renn throws the net onto the ice demon and they reach higher ground as the river's waves sweeps Naiginn away, drowning him and ending his reign of terror for good.
Shortly after the storm passes, Wolf dies from the arrowshot, but Torak resurrects him by spirit walking into his body and bringing his spirit back to it. Shortly after Naiginn's corpse washes on the shores, Renn and Dark cremate his body and Dark scatters his ashes into the Sea. Dark requests the Sea Mother to ensure that the ice demon can never cause anymore trouble and the Sea Mother grants his request in the form of a humpback whale.
Trivia[]
- Michelle Paver has based the idea of tokoroths on certain African beliefs about children who are abducted as babies by witch-doctors and then brought up alone in darkness, maltreated, fed terrible food (including human flesh) and trained to sneak into huts to steal, murder and terrorize. In Malawi, the author's birth country, they are called "tokoloshe". Several decades ago, some people really did abduct young children and raised them in such a horrible way, but nowadays, creating a tokoloshe is illegal.
External Link[]
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| Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Villains | ||
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Soul Eaters Demons Clan members Animals | ||