Jubal Sackett is a character much like Hondo, an independent survivalist and fighter (Jubal uses a longbow, pistols and sword with equal skill) who is lonely underneath. He lacks the hardness of Hondo, though: He values friendship and human companionship and doubts that Princess Itchakomi could love him. As a younger son he had previously been content to follow, to accept the judgments of his father and older brothers, and to leave them the responsibility. He was known as "the Quiet One" and "he who walked in shadows among laurel sticks and stood alone on balds when sun is rising." He tells himself that he undertakes his westward journey to satisfy his curiosity to see new land but on the journey finds he has really "escaped to himself," in other words, realized who he is as an individual separate from his family.

His bride Itchakomi is the regal...