The Wolf
antagonist · wolf
Walks beside her at exactly her speed, asks two questions, points at some flowers, and is gone.
What they are like
- Kind
- 2/10
- Brave
- 5/10
- Clever
- 10/10
- Honest
- 1/10
- Curious
- 7/10
- Patient
- 9/10
How we meet them
Already walking beside her, at her speed, having clearly been there for some time. He is not introduced; he is noticed, which is far worse.
Personality
Patient and extremely good at conversation. He never threatens, never hurries, and never asks anything that sounds like a strange question. That is what makes him frightening.
What they want
He is hungry, and he has worked out that asking is faster than chasing.
How they change
Gets everything right except the volume of an eight-year-old's voice and the distance to the nearest woodcutter.
How they speak
He is unfailingly pleasant and asks only reasonable things. 'That's a fine basket. Where are you off to with it?' Not one word of it is a threat, and all of it is.
How the story treats them
The story never calls him evil. He is hungry and clever, and the danger comes from how ordinary he manages to sound.
One surprising thing
He does not attack Red on the path, even though he easily could. Perrault's original explains why: there were woodcutters in that part of the forest, and he did not dare.
If they were real today
He would be the very polite person online who asks which school you go to.
Things they say
- “Good morning.”
- “That's a fine basket. Where are you off to with it?”
- “All the better to hear you with, my love.”
Key moments
Walking at her speed
The wolf does not appear so much as get noticed, already matching her pace on the other side of the path. He opens with good morning.
“Good morning.”
Pointing out the bluebells
He does not tell her to leave the path. He mentions that there are flowers, and that a poorly grandmother would like them, and lets her decide. Then he is gone.
“There are flowers in there, you know. She'd like those, a poorly grandmother.”
All the better to hear you with
In the cap and the shawl, in a bed far too small for him, he answers each of Red's observations with the same soothing formula, right up until the one he has no answer for.
“All the better to hold you with, my love.”
Who they know
Redenemy
He asks pleasant questions. She answers them because not answering seemed rude.
Characters like The Wolf
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