Silverwing

Marina is the Brightwing bat who was banished by her colony because of the band that was place on her forearm by a human. She believes that the band makes her special, and she maintains hope that something good will come from the band and that humans are ultimately good.

One of many outcasts in the novel, she’s a year older than Shade, and she teaches him how to survive on his own. She’s a loyal friend to Shade and stays by his side even when she has the chance to belong to a colony of other outcasts. Marina’s loss of her band near the end of the novel and her decision to follow Shade, despite an invite from another colony, signifies that she’s ready to build an identity based on personal choices rather than her band.

Frieda is the oldest elder in Shade’s Silverwing colony. She’s been banded by a human, and she saw the sun when she was younger. She believes in Nocturna’s Promise that bats will one day live in the sun again, and she believes that Shade is a special bat who’s full of promise. She functions as a a wise mentor to Shade. By the end of the novel, she decides to join Shade on his search for Cassiel, signaling that she will play a role in the next novel in the series.

Goth is the cannibalistic jungle bat who escaped from the human enclosure and started eating every small animal and bird in sight, ultimately causing a war between bats and other animals. He’s much larger and stronger than Shade, and he doesn’t fear anything or anyone. He believes in a bat god named Zotz, and he thinks that Zotz has spared his life with the humans for a larger purpose. While with Shade, his goal is to enslave Shade’s colony and use them as a source of food for his colony in the jungle. He thinks only of himself, and everything he does is for his own comfort and survival.

As the main antagonist in the novel, Goth represents danger and the unsympathetic violence of nature.