Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Tracker is the model of an antihero within the confines of a traditional hero's journey narrative. His complex sexuality, his biting wit, and his role as the tracker and ranger of the party, rather than the uncrowned king, all subvert the specific image of the heterosexual Arthurian mold. The repetition of his epithet—the one with the mouth—is dramatic, with nearly every character in the book taking a chance to repeat it: “News of your nose I have heard, but nobody said anything about your mouth” (158); “You said he have a nose, not a mouth” (274); “Yes it is said I have a nose, but nobody told you I also have a mouth” (441). This antiheroic wit reflects the genre of the modern dark fantasy epic, such as George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.

Tracker’s complex sexuality is also essential to his character. His relationship to Leopard is uncomplex, but fraught and hypermasculine. Mossi, on the other hand, allows Tracker to explore outside the masculine, encouraging him to visit his mother. Tracker’s final refusal of circumcision settles him outside the strictly masculine, as shown in the final description of his relationship with Mossi: