Dustfinger
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| Dustfinger | |
|---|---|
| 'Inkworld' character | |
| Paul Bettany as Dustfinger in Inkheart movie | |
| First appearance | Inkheart |
| Last appearance | Inkdeath |
| Created by | Cornelia Funke |
| Portrayed by | Paul Bettany |
| Information | |
| Spouse(s) | Roxane |
| Children | Brianna Rosanna(deceased) |
| Relatives | Jehan (wife's son) |
Dustfinger (original: Staubfinger), also known as the fire-dancer, is a character in Cornelia Funke's Inkworld trilogy. Dustfinger was played by Paul Bettany in the film adaptation of Inkheart.
[edit] Character biography
Dustfinger is a fire eater who was plucked from a different world along with Capricorn and Basta through a fantasy novel read aloud by Mortimer "Mo" Folchart. In his native world, Dustfinger has the rare ability to control fire by speaking to it, and, when he finds himself thrust into Mo's universe, he continues to make his living by busking.
Dustfinger was born in the principality of Argenta, where he grew up as a homeless orphan along with The Black Prince, with whom he apparently got into great mischief from the fact that the two were pilloried together at age 11.[1]
Dustfinger is never seen without his pet horned marten, Gwin, and his apprentice, Farid, who was also read out of his world in Tales of the Arabian Nights by Mo, but is pleased to be freed from constant work and possible beatings. Dustfinger, on the other hand, longs to return to the world he had known, and seeks out a person with the same gift as Mo to read him back.
It is later revealed that what Dustfinger yearns to return to is the family he has left behind in his own world. Dustfinger had a wife, a minstrel named Roxane, and two daughters with her: Brianna, who works as a servant to Violente at The Laughing Prince's castle, and Rosanna, who died of fever during the ten years that Dustfinger was away. Roxane, assuming that Dustfinger was dead, remarried a poor farmer and had a son, Jehan, by him. When Dustfinger returns to his former home, Roxane suspects that Farid, who has followed Dustfinger, is her first husband's son by another woman.[2]
Dustfinger is described in the books as having shoulder-length, ginger-colored hair.[3] On his face, he has three scars "as pale as pencil lines", given to him when he was slashed by Basta out of jealousy over the fact that Roxane had not chosen to marry him instead.[4]
Dustfinger learns that a death from one of Capricorn's men awaits him at the end of the novel out of which he was read from none other than that book's author, Fenoglio, who states that he killed Dustfinger off because he wanted to "make the story more exciting".[4] Although he has a tendency to hide his emotions — a trait for which Farid admires him — Dustfinger's greatest fear is that the fate that was written for him will prove true.
In Inkspell, following an old tale of a fire-eater who lost his son, Dustfinger gives his own life to the White Women — spirits who come to gather the souls of the dead — in exchange for that of Farid, whom he considers the son he never had.[5] Dustfinger returns in Inkdeath when Mo, also known as the Bluejay throughout the book, is taken by the white women to take Dustfinger back on the condition that Mo destroy the Adderhead's book of immortality. His appearance changes slightly in the form of his scars disappear when he comes back.[6] In addition, his usual attitude towards Mo changes: Dustfinger used to hate Mo for ripping him from his story, but after coming back from the dead, he has warmer feelings towards Mo. He becomes the Bluejay's "shadow," continually looking out for and protecting Mo. He is braver and less fearful than in the time before his death. His powers with the fire also increase.
[edit] References
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