50 Fun Facts About Wolves of the Beyond

In Lone Wolf, what name does the wolf pup Faolan give the grizzly bear who rescues and raises him?

Thunderheart earned the name from her booming heartbeat, which the pup could hear while he nursed. She had just lost her own cub when she pulled him from the water.

Kathryn Lasky's Wolves of the Beyond is a spin-off of which of her earlier series?

Guardians of Ga'Hoole ran to sixteen books, and the wolves' country borders its owl kingdoms, so heroes and legends from the older series keep turning up.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what odd marking on Faolan's twisted paw unsettles the wolves who see it?

A spiral on his paw pad makes even the wolf who carries him off uneasy. Late in the series he learns it stands for the many lives his soul has lived.

The wolves in Kathryn Lasky's Wolves of the Beyond belong to which species?

Dire wolf packs roamed the Americas until about 10,000 years ago. The books imagine them thriving in a harsh wilderness of clans and strict laws.

In Wolves of the Beyond, which one-eyed she-wolf becomes Faolan's closest companion and eventually his mate?

Edme wins a place on the Watch alongside him in the second book, and by the last one the two friends have taken vows as mates.

In Wolves of the Beyond, which tailless yellow wolf frames Faolan for a crime and becomes his sworn enemy?

Heep hides his envy behind showy humility. Once he is exposed he flees past the border, and he returns later leading a band of outlaws.

In Lone Wolf, how does Faolan escape when the clans corner him?

He leaps a wall of fire the clans built to trap him. The jump is so high that the frightened wolves accuse him of defying the natural order.

In Lone Wolf, which owl blacksmith comforts the grieving Faolan and urges him to rejoin his own kind?

Gwynneth is a Masked Owl who works a forge in wolf country. She lost her own parents too, and she stays his ally through all six books.

In Lone Wolf, what disaster strikes while Faolan is away from the winter den, killing the bear who raised him?

An earthquake struck as she left the den to search for him. He hunted for her for months before finding her skull and howling his grief.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what is the lowest rank in a clan, the one Faolan must accept on joining?

Gnaw wolf is the rank of outcast pups who survive and return: they eat last, sleep apart and carve the clan's records into bone.

Which clan of the Beyond, the one Faolan was born into, takes him back at the end of Lone Wolf?

MacDuncan was the clan that had cast him out a year earlier. Its old leader recognised the pup by his odd paw and let him stay at the bottom of the pack.

Which publisher released Kathryn Lasky's Wolves of the Beyond series?

Scholastic also published the owl saga that the wolf books grew out of, and it issued all six volumes of Faolan's story.

In Lone Wolf, which bearlike skill does Faolan's foster mother teach him by tempting him with his favourite berries?

Walking on his hind legs began with berries she held just out of reach above his head. On his first clan hunt he rears up in front of a moose and wrecks the chase.

According to the bear who names him in Lone Wolf, what does the name Faolan mean?

Gift from the river fits how she found him: a half-drowned pup that snagged on her leg as meltwater swept him downstream.

In the second Wolves of the Beyond book, what crime is Faolan falsely accused of before all the clans?

Murdering a wolf pup was a charge built on planted evidence, and the sentence was death until the real killer was unmasked at the trial.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what does Faolan call the western land he leads the survivors toward?

The Distant Blue turns out to be a green land in full spring, and the place his kind had come from in the first place.

In Lone Wolf, what colour is the newborn Faolan's coat, unlike those of his two tawny sisters?

Silver was his mother's colour too. She bore her three pups in a den she had seized from a pregnant fox.

In Wolves of the Beyond, which lone healer, feared as a witch, whispers what she learns into memory jugs?

The Sark lives apart from every clan with her potions and herbs. Grieving mothers visit her to forget the pups that were taken from them.

In Frost Wolf, what does the mysterious wolf who calls himself the Prophet wear to hide his face?

An owl's battle mask, stolen from a fallen smith's resting place, hides him while he draws starving wolves into a deadly cult.

In Star Wolf, what do Faolan and the other survivors cross to leave the ruined Beyond behind?

A bridge of ice spans the frozen sea to the west. It is melting as they cross, and it crumbles into the water just as they leave it behind.

In Lone Wolf, which predators killed the last cub of the grizzly who goes on to adopt Faolan?

Cougars had robbed her of what was probably her last cub. After losing her too, Faolan tracks one up a tree and kills it.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what do the clans call a pup born with a deformity, a word meaning cursed one?

Malcadh pups are carried off and left to the weather. One that survives and finds its way back may rejoin the clan, but only at the very bottom.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what title belongs to the barren she-wolf who carries deformed pups away?

Obea is a role given only to she-wolves who cannot have pups, and it carries no rank. The one who carried Faolan away was called Shibaan.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what is the long, flowing formation in which a pack runs down big game called?

Byrrgis hunting gives every wolf a set place, with fast females out on the flanks. Faolan wrecks his first one by breaking formation.

In Wolves of the Beyond, which contest lets the lowest-ranked wolves compete for a place on the elite Watch?

Gaddergnaw contests are held only when the Watch needs new members, and they test both carving and hunting. For once the competitors are treated with respect.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what is the name for the lonely spot where a deformed pup is left to die?

Tummfraw sites are chosen to leave no chance of survival; Faolan's was the ice of a thawing stream. Watch candidates must go back and find theirs.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what are the pack howlers who read stories in the lightning called?

Skreeleens also howl news of approaching herds. Faolan's hoarse-voiced friend becomes one on the border guard thanks to his fine howl.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what is the ritual of respect a hunter shows its dying prey called?

Lochinvyrr means meeting the dying animal's eyes and acknowledging that its life will sustain the hunter. Even the owls hold a contest in it.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what do the wolves call their heaven at the top of the star ladder?

Cave of Souls is the wolves' heaven, set among the stars. Bears hope for Ursulana instead, and owls for Glaumora.

In Wolves of the Beyond, which lawless territory is home to savage wolves that belong to no clan?

The Outermost is where Faolan goes looking for his lost foster mother, and where he watches one clanless wolf start to eat another.

In Wolves of the Beyond, where do the elite wolves of the Watch live?

A ring of volcanoes, five in all, is home to the Watch. Its wolves build tall towers of stacked bones and practise scanning jumps from them.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what do the elite wolves of the Watch spend their lives guarding for the owls?

An ember with strange powers lies hidden in their territory, and whichever owl retrieves it becomes king. The Watch exists to keep rogue owls away from it.

In Wolves of the Beyond, which friend of Faolan has a crooked throat but one of the finest howls of all?

Whistler has a hole in his throat that turns his speaking voice into a strangled whistle. He eats after twenty-five packmates, which leaves him painfully thin.

In Wolves of the Beyond, what is the name of Faolan's birth mother, who goes blind before they meet again?

Morag was driven from her clan for bearing him. Much later, blind and dying, she knows her son only when he presses his twisted paw to her face.

In Wolves of the Beyond, which two young she-wolves does Faolan eventually discover are his sisters?

Mhairie and Dearlea were handed to a foster mother when he was taken away, so he met them in his own clan before any of the three knew they were littermates.

In Watch Wolf, which clan snatches a grizzly cub to provoke a war between the bears and the wolves?

MacHeath wolves hoped the chaos would let them seize power. Instead their leader was killed and the survivors were driven out of the Beyond.

In Watch Wolf, what does Faolan's one-eyed friend learn about how she lost her eye?

Her chieftain tore it out so that his clan could pass her off as a born outcast and win a seat on the Watch. She renounced the clan on the spot.

In Shadow Wolf, what flaw of the real killer's leaves telltale marks on the victim's bones?

A nicked tooth left the same notch on the gnawed remains as on the culprit's own carved story, which cleared Faolan at the last moment.

In Frost Wolf, where does Faolan suggest he and his sisters sleep to escape a bitterly cold wind?

Inside a dead musk ox they had just fed on, the three stayed warm through the night. They first gave the animal the hunter's ritual of thanks.

In Frost Wolf, what do the Prophet's starving followers do in the hope of reaching wolf heaven?

Dance until they collapse is the whole creed: the dancers refuse every offer of food and celebrate when one of their own dies.

In Frost Wolf, what strange weather drives away the herds and brings famine to the Beyond?

Snow in summer keeps the migrating herds wandering in circles, and as the wolves starve the strict order of the clans falls apart.

In Spirit Wolf, what happens to Faolan's twisted paw when a great glacier tears loose and wrecks the Beyond?

It is healed in an instant, like the flaws of every wolf born deformed. Faolan feels oddly incomplete and struggles to balance on the new foot.

In Star Wolf, which sea creatures carry Faolan's band on their backs for the last stretch of the journey?

Narwhals come to the rescue when the frozen crossing breaks up beneath the travellers. A pup who fell into the sea earlier is able to talk to them.

In Star Wolf, which none-too-bright seabirds volunteer to catch fish for Faolan's hungry travellers?

Puffins named Dumpster, Dumpkin and Dumpette do the fishing, a welcome change for travellers who had been living on lemmings.

In the final scene of Wolves of the Beyond, which animal greets Faolan and announces that he is back?

A horse on a ridge seems to know him from an earlier life. The scene ties in with another of the author's series, about a runaway herd in the Americas.

In Spirit Wolf, Faolan learns he carries the soul of which leader, who first brought his kind to the Beyond?

Fengo led the clans out of a land locked in endless cold, and the head of the Watch has carried his name as a title ever since.

In Star Wolf, Faolan's one-eyed companion learns she once lived as which she-wolf a thousand years earlier?

Stormfast was the mate of the wolves' first leader and died on the ancient crossing. An old ache in one back leg guides her new self to the spot.

Besides an ancient wolf and a grizzly bear, Faolan in Spirit Wolf discovers a past life as which bird?

A snowy owl named Fionula was one of his earlier selves, which explains how a wolf can steer by the stars like a bird.

In Watch Wolf, what is the name of the grizzly cub who is snatched and thrown into a pit?

Toby refuses to tell his captors his real name and gives a made-up one that happens to be unlucky for wolves, which badly spooks them.

In Watch Wolf, which red she-wolf of the Watch torments Faolan's one-eyed friend from the day they arrive?

Banja was missing an eye herself and took her bitterness out on the newcomer. She softens completely after having a pup named Maudie.