Peer is unusually tall, with pale grey skin that looks faintly like weathered stone, pointed ears, sharpened teeth, and eerie silver-blue eyes. His blond hair has lost its golden sheen. He keeps it clipped close because it grows rapidly, and his wool cloak hides the coarse hair spreading over his arms and neck. He stands with his weight pitched forward, as if ready to snatch up something useful or bolt. His clothes are carefully arranged to conceal his changed shape, though he has no talent for making them look elegant.

Peer is charming when he has a plan, generous when generosity costs him little, and surprisingly tender toward frightened villagers. He likes being admired and hates being pitied. He studies every room for exits, valuables, and who seems easiest to persuade.

Peer Ludvik grew up among the steep northern valleys, where his parents’ deaths left him and his younger brother in the care of an uncle who soon abandoned them alongside two cousins. Peer survived by being quick with a bargain and quicker to avoid a hard day’s work. When hunger pressed, he went to the trolls for food, tools, or paid labor, ignoring his brother’s warnings. He learned their habits, their words, and the little spells that could make a dangerous negotiation go his way. He told himself he was only borrowing their ways. The changes came slowly: night vision, a temper that rose like a sudden fire, and a hunger for whatever he could claim as his own. The valley celebrated Peer as the handsome swordsman who slew the troll king. He had helped bring down the creature, though the story grew grander with every telling, and he came to believe the songs. A rich man’s daughter became his wife, and their child was on the way when cold iron forced the truth into the open. His body turned unmistakably trollish, and frightened neighbors drove him from the home he had thought secure. His cousin, a broad-shouldered berserker who treats him like a younger brother, called exile a chance to earn real gold and glory. Peer now travels as a self-taught Trollkarl, using practical magic, a borrowed sword, and his knack for reading people to stay useful. He has not stopped worrying about his wife, or wondering what his younger brother and other cousin now think of him.