Foil

Character Role Analysis

Will Henry and Malachi

Will Henry and Malachi have a lot in common: They're both orphans, they're both teenage boys, and they're both consumed with guilt after saving themselves while their families were dying. How they handle that guilt, though, is what really differentiates them.

Will Henry chooses to devote his life to the person who is arguably responsible for his father's death as a way of honoring his father's service. Malachi, on the other hand, becomes a whiney, semi-suicidal basket case whose only aspiration is revenge upon the Anthropophagi. The different paths that they take in order to seek consolation helps further define their characters.