Galabear
| Classification | Night hopper |
|---|---|
| Habitat | Farenworth, and wherever Alpin Loomin takes her |
| Size | Large enough to carry three riders bareback |
| Notable traits | Black fur, yellow eyes, long upright ears, an underbite, a pointed tail |
| First appearance | Sacred: Eslura's Calling |
Galabear is the night hopper kept by Alpin Loomin at Farenworth, and the mount that carries him, Beatrice Tidal and Reagan Hideaway out of his house through a passage behind the fireplace on the night a Shadow Reaper finds it.[1] She is his pet and the reason three riders can cross a forest at a gallop.[2] She was left behind at Galecrest in Sacred 2: Flames of the Awakened to help evacuate the city, and neither book says what became of her.[3]
Appearance
Galabear is a large, black, furry beast with a hunched back and yellow eyes.[1] Her teeth stick up from an underbite like glistening yellow daggers, and her tail is long and pointed enough that Bea thought a flick of it could cut through metal.[1] Two long ears stand up on top of her head, which to Bea made her look like "a rabbit that had just eaten a baby elephant".[1] Her arms and legs are long, her paws are massive and black-clawed, and her breath is a stink of rotten fish and uncooked meat.[1][4] Bea's other impression of her was as one of the large, fluffy bear-like creatures she would not have minded owning herself, and the narration of the second novel calls her Alpin's "giant bear-bunny companion".[1][3]
She is big enough to carry three riders at once and wears no saddle, so passengers hold on by her fur.[1][2] Aloeissa, the night hopper caged behind Varaar Colosseum, is about twice her size.[5][6]
Temperament
Galabear does not speak. She groans, grumbles, yawns, roars and whimpers, and she answers Alpin's whistle.[1] She understands what is said to her well enough to agree to it. Asked whether she can help evacuate the citizens of Galecrest she blinks and nods her head slightly, and asked the same thing again when the city is attacked a second time she gives a curt nod and plods over to join Long Paws and Millennium Loftwind.[7][3]
She frightens easily for her size. Ambushed in a dark forest by a woman dropping out of the trees, she reared, roared, threw all three of her riders off her back and bolted into the woods "with her tail tucked beneath her legs".[2] After the earthquake in the Galecrest plaza she stood trembling beside Alpin, who calmed her by scratching under her ear.[8]
Alpin talks to her exactly as he talks to everyone else, which is to say rudely. He calls her girl, tells her to "be a proper lady and move aside", shoos her out of his library with "ya big loafer, move along", and complains that he has no time to be dealing with "night hoppers like you".[1] He is also the only person she comforts: when he slouches back into his chair at Galecrest after being told off, she licks the top of his head.[3]
Story
Sacred: Eslura's Calling
Bea met Galabear asleep on the floor of the library at Farenworth, where the beast had let herself in and where Alpin shooed her out again, knocking over a table of books and an unlit candle on her way past.[1] When Alistair Archibald judged the house no longer safe, Alpin opened the passage behind the fireplace, whistled through his paw, and Galabear came bounding back into the room and bent down for the three of them to climb on.[1]
She carried them through the dark forest with Alpin's paws on her neck for reins, and broke into a gallop when he put a heel to her side.[2] Tab dropped out of the branches in front of her, and Galabear threw her riders and fled.[2] Alpin ran a few steps after her and got a dagger under his snout for it.[2] Days later he was still blaming the party's lost time on Galabear having tramped off.[9]
Alistair rode her in to reach Bea after Demise tore open her wrist on the road, and the first thing Bea saw when she rolled her head aside was a massive, black-clawed, furry paw.[4] Alpin and Galabear were reunited outside Blighburrow, where she sat tall beside him and he crossed his arms and leaned back into her.[8] She half carried the party north through the forest to Galecrest for the High Moon Festival.[8]
With the city burning, Alistair asked whether Galabear could help evacuate the citizens, and she nodded.[7] At the breakfast Millennium Loftwind laid on in her castle the next morning, a placemat was set out for her beside Alpin, much larger than the one put down for Mauz.[7]
Sacred 2: Flames of the Awakened
Galabear sat behind Alpin at the great hall table in Galecrest and startled when he stood up.[3] When word came that a Nelazgian force was flying in on dragons, Alpin asked her to stay and help move the townsfolk to safety. She nodded, plodded over to join Long Paws and Millennium Loftwind, and the rest of the party took the castle lift down out of the city without her.[3] Neither book says what became of her, or of Galecrest, after the attack began.
Behind the scenes
The pronunciation guide at the back of both novels gives the name as Gala-bear.[10][11] Her species goes by two names. Alpin calls Galabear a night hopper, while Tab, looking at Aloeissa in her cage, gives both at once: "That's a havarrak. A night hopper."[1][5] The guides list the two together under SPECIES and the bestiary appendix heads the entry HAVARRAK; the wiki files the species at Night Hoppers.[10][12]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Book 1, Ch. 8.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Book 1, Ch. 10.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Book 2, Ch. 3.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Book 1, Ch. 20.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Book 1, Ch. 14.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 13.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Book 1, Ch. 26.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Book 1, Ch. 24.
- ↑ Book 1, Ch. 15.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Book 1.
- ↑ Book 2.
- ↑ Book 1, "The Many Creatures of Eslura".