The Shadow

Character Analysis

Here's how Fenoglio describes the Shadow, a being magically created from the ashes of Capricorn's victims:

Sometimes he was red as fire, sometimes as gray as the ashes into which fire turns all that it devours. He leaped from the ground like flame flickering up from wood. His touch and even his breath brought death. He rose up at his master's feet, soundless and faceless, scenting the air like a dog on the trail, waiting to be shown his victim. (40.16)

In other words, not someone you want to meet.

When Meggie's voice summons him, he kills Capricorn as instructed, and then just stands "there motionless, as if he would never move again" (57.6). Finally he dissipates into all the creatures whose ashes he was constructed from (57.17). So while the Shadow no longer exists at the end of the story, parts of him do (which is kinda creepy, but oh well).