Peer stands unusually tall, with pale grey skin like weathered stone, a broad frame, pointed ears, sharp teeth, and silver-blue eyes. His blond hair is coarse rather than golden and grows quickly, so he keeps it cropped. He hides most of his body beneath a heavy wool cloak. A little wooden spoon hangs from his belt, worn smooth and dark at the bowl from years of rubbing it with his thumb. He smells faintly of damp earth, smoke, and whatever he most recently ate, a fact he tries not to notice.

Warm and charming when he feels safe, Peer is quick with a story and slow to volunteer for the unpleasant part of a task. He tries to make people laugh before they have time to stare at him. Under the charm is a watchful young man who notices every plate of food and every exit.

Peer Ludvik grew up in the northern country with his younger brother and two cousins, abandoned in the woods after his parents died. He was clever enough to find food and tools through bargains with trolls, and lazy enough to prefer a clever bargain over hard work. His family warned him that each trade left something behind. Peer heard them, then went back anyway. Later, stories spread that he had slain a troll king. Peer repeated the tale until even he believed it, and the locals made a hero of the handsome, golden-haired swordsman who could stab a monster and flick a spell into the bargain. His new life came with a rich wife, a comfortable home, and a child on the way. Then a witch he had bested cursed him. For weeks his temper and hunger grew strange, until he changed into what his bargains had made him: a troll changeling. The townsfolk drove him out, and Peer still fears for the wife and unborn child he left behind. Now his older cousin, a hard-edged berserker, insists the road is the best place to make a man of him. Peer has become a wandering Trollkarl, mixing scraps of learned magic with the practical tricks he picked up in the wild. He tells himself that gold and glory will let him return. He avoids thinking about whether his brother and other cousin would want him back.