Sønska Characters

In the comic: Iona Nibelungsen

Quiet, determined twin daughter of Sven Nibelungsen. Pays close attention to her schoolwork (she's pretty good at Ceannic by now) and to the world around her; she picks up more of what's going on than adults realize.

Iona uses a floating chair, due to congenital limb malformation. It hovers a certain distance off the ground, but can't fly to unlimited heights or carry too many people.

High resistance to the memory-blocking effects of the Woman in Black. Impressed some vampires one time.

• Age (first appearance): 11
• Likes: swimming, pretty women, the Holger Saga
• Dislikes: being talked down to, not having choices

• Debut: I Got Eight Problems 11/27
• I Got Eight Problems: attempts to go swimming while Thorn is hiding in the pool
• Vampire Masquerade: falls out a window in front of the vampires, gets picked up by Lord Imri
• Sweet Summer Children: requests pants with her new clothes; gets them tailored by Katya
• The Show Must Grow On (Overture) through (Act I): attends the opera, is polite in Ceannic
• The Show Must Grow On (Act II): crashes into the Woman in Black, discovers immunity to her powers
• This Storyline Is Canceled: struggles with rhetoric about servants; asks Thorn questions (in Ceannic) about how they're treated in Ceannis; pushes against overprotective instincts of both Ragnild and her father

In the comic: Ragnild Nibelungsen

Loud, determined twin daughter of Sven Nibelungsen. Strong-willed and energetic, she doesn't hesitate to speak her mind, no matter how demanding or direct. Sees herself as Iona's assigned protector, and will fiercely defend her.

Ragnild doesn't have much patience for schoolwork, especially fractions; she takes lessons in Ceannic, but is still very halting at it. Has a pet ferret, Ketil.

• Age (first appearance): 11
• Likes: hiking, pretty boys, the Holger Saga
• Dislikes: people bothering her sister, foreign languages, fractions

• Debut: I Got Eight Problems 10/27
• I Got Eight Problems: unnecessarily defends Iona from Leif
• Vampire Masquerade: accidentally pushes Iona's chair out a window (it floats, don't worry)
• Sweet Summer Children: gets new clothes, rejects styles after she's told they're Ceannic
• The Show Must Grow On (Overture) through (Act I): attends the opera, gives directions in Sønska
• The Show Must Grow On (Act II): gets carried to safety by the Woman in Black, doesn't remember her afterward
• This Storyline Is Canceled: struggles to reconcile “believing adults, including the servants themselves, when they say servants are fine” with “but my sister says she's fine all the time and I still want to protect her.”

In the comic: Ralph Magnusson

Manager of a branch of the Moose Grill fast-food restaurant, serving traditional Sønska food.

• Age (first appearance): late 30's
• Debut: An Incredibly Platonic Storyline 43/64

Survivors trapped in the mine collapse. Also included Ceannic miners and the fire mage Bramble.

Minor/unnamed relatives: mine families

In the comic: Patrik Gagarr

Mine consultant, one leg short.

Expy of Patrick from But I'm A Cat Person.

• Age (first appearance): early 20's
• Debut: Landslide Bring Me Down 2/75

In the comic: Arnulf

Mine consultant, big on charts.

• Age (first appearance): mid 20's
• Debut: Landslide Bring Me Down 12/75

In the comic: Elisa's family

Malmfred Svansson is the one of Elisa's fathers who was injured in the mine collapse. Her other father, Malmfred's husband, is Vainø. (Elisa is biologically the child of Malmfred and of Vainø's sister.)

Vainø is deaf, and has Sønheim Sign as a first language. Malmfred has it as a second language. Elisa is natively bilingual.

The two men had saved a significant amount of money to buy out Elisa's contract, but most of it was wiped out by medical bills after the rescue, since Sønheim has terrible health-insurance coverage.

• Age (first appearance): mid 40's
• Debut (Malmfred): Landslide Bring Me Down 52/75
• Debut (Vainø): Cant You Read The Signs 4/15

In the comic: Astrid Rødlund

Bestselling author of the Holger Saga. Good with kids. Heavily influenced by the passion of Holger Saga fans. Eventually reveals a hostility toward servants, distressing many of her fans.

• Age (first appearance): Late 40's

• Debut: Vampire Masquerade 23/66
• Vampire Masquerade: signs books for fans, assures the vampires that she only writes sympathetic things about them, assures Hyacinth Lavande she'll write something different in her next saga
• This Storyline Is Canceled: makes comments about how servants are basically pampered (and the phrase “people who drink blood” is offensive to vampires), causing an uproar on the net, and prompting Iona and Ragnild to ask awkward questions about servitude

In the comic: Manager Ingrid

Former manager of the Rocky Rapids Guest Lodge, which buys new servants at discounted rates in order to train them. Leif's first (and possibly nicest) owner. Died of the novel brumavirus.

• Age (first appearance): 70's

• Debut: All Green Thumbs 1/13
• All Green Thumbs: introduces Leif to servitude, evaluates him at different jobs, approves of his plant-arranging skills
• Quarantine with the Vampire (Part 1): refuses to sell over county lines to vampires during the novel brumavirus outbreak, suggests they buy a gift card instead
• Kale in Lockdown: seen in flashback, where Leif reveals she died of the brumavirus

In the comic: Little White-Haired Girl

Mysterious long-runner child. First seen in a bonus strip published February 2018; not actually introduced until October 2021 (with her design changed in the meantime).

Her given name in this incarnation is Dagny, but she's probably not keeping it.

• Debut: Thorn Explains: Long-Runners
• Quarantine with the Vampire (Part 6): recovers the memories of her previous life while on a playground

In the comic: Rocky Rapids staff

Miscellaneous workers at the Rocky Rapids Guest Lodge.

Includes a crew of permanent paid staff, and a rotating complement of new servants.

In the comic: Szélanya

See Queen Szélanya on Myths and Legends.

In the comic: Valrún of Pottersfield

Prisoner from Pottersfield (a “wrecker”, held legally responsible for a deadly incident, though she claims it was an accident). Seen only in flashback during the brumavirus outbreak storylines.

Same hair color and style as Leif, except in the Side Ponytail of Dead Anime Mothers. Paying off the same debt as Leif. Definitely Leif's mom, huh.

• Age (first appearance): 40-ish

• Debut: Quarantine with the Vampire (Part 3) 6/13
• Part 3: first purchased from Pottersfield by the vampires
• Part 4: comes down with the brumavirus (which leave her coughing too much to reveal her name), talks about how long-runner criminals should simply not get caught, says she won't try to escape because her son will be taken into servitude in her place
• Part 5: subject of debate as the other servants find a picture that looks like her son, in servitude already, and worry whether they should let her know
• Part 6: dies under plausibly-not-suicidal circumstances

In the comic: Vampire servants

Various staff members in the castle of Lady Stanczia and Lord Imri. Seen in flashback during the Quarantine With The Vampire series.

So expendable, they're only referred to by hair color.

• Red (she): indentured servant, delivers breakfast & mail, understandably anxious
• Orange (he): indentured servant, driver/unicorn handler, folksy accent
• Yellow (ze/they): employee, guard at the gates, lives with roommates, goes clubbing in free time
• Chartreuse (she): indentured servant (house crushed by an avalanche), manager-type, follows the news, likes net-comics
• Green (he): employee, temporary cleaning staff, over-confident
• Teal (she): employee, temporary cleaning staff, over-panicky
• Cyan (he): indentured servant (medical debt for a prosthetic hand), food services, unclear on how health insurance works
• Blue (ze/they): prisoner from Pottersfield (drug dealer), ex-doctor,
• Indigo (he): prisoner from Pottersfield (Månborg separatist fighter), long-runner, reincarnated 80-ish years after his previous death to serve his next life sentence
• Purple (she): Valrún

• Quarantine with the Vampire (Part 1):
  • Introduces Red (strip 1/11), Orange (strip 5/11), Yellow (strip 7/11), and Chartreuse (strip 8/11)
  • Lockdown begins
  • Red breaks it to ride to town and pick up mail
  • Red, Orange, and Yellow isolated for varying degrees of illness.
• Part 2:
  • Introduces Green and Teal (strip 1/16), and Cyan (strip 5/16)
  • New hired hands Green and Teal are shown the castle isolation procedures
  • Green breaks them, gets serious illness, is drained by the vampires
  • Teal panics, breaks contract, is drained by the vampires
  • Chartreuse and Cyan commiserate
• Part 3:
  • Introduces Blue, Indigo, and Valrún (strip 6/13), who integrate with the staff
  • Existing servants and patients rejoice that a vaccine is approved, even though it's not widely available yet
• Part 4:
  • Vaccine still restricted, but tests are widely available and brought to the castle
  • About half have had the virus; none are contagious now except Valrún, who gets sick and is isolated
  • Red and Orange are returned to work (in spite of Red's ongoing breathing difficulties)
  • Yellow is sent home, still a free citizen (but with an exciting new debt)
  • Cyan with his antibodies assists Valrún
  • Blue lifts medical supplies from the doctor who visited with the tests
  • Indigo throws himself out a window
• Part 5:
  • Vaccine starts being released to servants, leading Red and Blue to a news article that shows Leif in servitude
  • Whole staff speculates on whether he's the son of the still-sick Valrún, and whether to tell her
• Part 6:
  • Chartreuse gets vaccinated, recovers from the effects while staying with her grandmother, who offers both “a way to disable your microchip” and “expensive miracle multivitamins”
  • The remaining non-prisoner servants discover that Blue's stories don't add up
  • Valrún dies, which Red attributes to sketchy medical advice from Blue
  • Post-outbreak, the non-prisoners are shown enjoying their lives post-servitude, while Blue has a permanent position at the castle introducing the vampires' next round of servants