Ice Planet Barbarians

Vektal is a sa-khui male and one of the narrators and protagonists of Ice Planet Barbarians. He is the novel’s love-interest character, spurred by the response of his symbiont, called a “khui,” that “resonates” (or vibrates and causes intense sexual attraction) when it has identified its proper mate, following the “fated mates” trope common in paranormal romance.

Vektal is the chief of his people, and this status highlights his role in the book as the natural partner to Georgie. His role as chief leads him to be highly focused on the good of the group, rather than attending only to his own wants. This community-mindedness varies somewhat when Georgie’s concerns are in play, as he privileges her wants and needs above all other issues. The reception of this attitude by the other members of his tribe suggests that concern for the individual over the group when the individual in question is one’s “resonance mate” is socially acceptable among the sa-khui. Even so, Vektal is careful to make sure that his actions limit harm toward his fellow hunters, such as when he takes great care to restock any depleted supplies in the hunter caves.

Vektal sees decision-making as a highly straightforward process. He does not push back against the logic that a resonating khui determines one’s mate, and when he realizes that Georgie and the other human women are ailing because of their lack of khui, he resolves to acquire khui for them. He is somewhat baffled by Georgie’s insistence on the value of personal choice for the women but goes along with it, framing it to his fellow tribe members as a cultural quirk of humans. Vektal is extremely pleased at meeting Georgie, describing her as “perfect” and looking forward to their offspring and life together. When he learns of the other women’s presence on Not-Hoth, he quickly hopes that other members of the tribe will enjoy the same happiness as he feels.

Liz is one of the women abducted and abandoned on Not-Hoth. Her role in the novel is as a supporter to Georgie and also as a juxtaposition: Liz’s character provides much of the novel’s humor and light relief. She first serves as a guide for Georgie when she first wakes on the spaceship, warning her against screaming lest she attract the violent attentions of the “basketball heads” and “little green men.” Georgie’s penchant for planning quickly establishes her as the group’s leader, which puts Liz in a “second-in-command” role; she encourages Georgie’s leadership decisions and cares for the other women while Georgie goes off and explores Not-Hoth.

Liz is a Star Wars fan; though Georgie makes the initial allusion, Liz knows the name of the planet Hoth from the films, leading to the term “Not-Hoth.” Compared to the other women, she is unconcerned by gore, which she connects to her past as a hunter. During the sa-khotsk hunt, Liz wishes for a bow, explaining to the others that she was a champion archer during her youth. Liz is direct and straightforward in her speech, though she is relatively cheerful about their circumstances compared to some of the other women. Even as their situation becomes bleaker and the women’s health fails due to their lack of food, hygienic conditions, warm clothing, and khui that make the atmosphere livable, Liz persists in making silly jokes and keeping the rest of the group in as good of spirits as possible.

At the end of the novel, Raahosh and Liz resonate for one another, something that is only confirmed when Raahosh kidnaps Liz from the scene of the sa-khotsk hunt. Georgie notes that Liz’s outspoken nature and certainty in herself mean that Liz is unlikely to take this abduction meekly, jokingly commenting that she pities Raahosh. The situation between Raahosh and Liz mirrors that between the protagonists, indicating that Liz is going to be the protagonist of the next novel in the series, centering on her relationship with Raahosh.

Kira is one of the women who has been abducted and abandoned on Not-Hoth. Her role in the novel is as a translator and also to provide another alternative character model for the novel’s presentation of female survival and resilience. She has been forcibly fitted with a translator by the “little green men,” which Liz describes as having been “stapled” to Kira’s ear. Kira suffers from being able to understand the cruel and callous remarks of their captors, which she often translates for the other women. When Vektal arrives with Georgie after she has ventured forth from the spaceship, Kira is able to provide one-way translation—she can understand Vektal, but Vektal cannot understand her. She receives a transmission when the women’s captors are returning to Not-Hoth to retrieve them, which enables them to leave the spaceship and remove their trackers before the abductors can arrive and recapture them.

Kira struggles with letting her grim mood get the best of her while the women struggle to survive the harsh conditions of Not-Hoth, leading Liz to call her “Suzy Fucking Sunshine” (21). Despite these struggles, Kira remains determined to help and joins Liz and Georgie in much of their planning as they determine their best chances of survival.