Vorthallum
An original character for an illustrated children's book.
Vorthallum is an original fictional character, created in 2026 for an illustrated children's book now being written. He is long and low and walks on fourteen legs, his back is a shell of overlapping slate-coloured plates with moss growing in the seams, and he carries a lending library on top of it. He has eight eyes and cannot read with any of them.
The character
Vorthallum is long and low — about the length of a rowing boat and about the height of a kitchen table — and he walks on fourteen short stumpy legs that move in a slow travelling wave from front to back. He has no neck and no separate head. His front segment is his head, a broad blunt wedge, and he steers by turning the whole of himself.
His back is a shell of overlapping plates the colour of wet slate. Moss grows in the seams, and so do lichens and, in two places, very small ferns. They grow there because he moves slowly enough to let them. He is never in a hurry and he is never late, because he never promises a time.
The library he carries
Strapped on top of the shell are two wooden crates holding forty-one books, kept under a waxed canvas sheet against the rain. He lends them out. He does not sell them and he charges nothing.
He keeps no records at all. He simply remembers who has what, and in the story he is almost always right. When he is wrong, he is wrong in a way that turns out to have been deliberate.
How he chooses what to lend
Vorthallum has eight eyes, four in a row down each side of his front segment, set so low that they are mostly looking at the ground. He has never read any of the books and he never will. He cannot bring both sides of his face to bear on the same page, and the book is clear that this is a permanent fact about him rather than a problem to be solved.
He chooses what to lend by asking the borrower three questions and listening to the answers — his two fern-like feelers lift while he listens, which is the only fast thing about him. The book is about the difference between having read something yourself and knowing what somebody else needs to read.
Why the book is slow
Vorthallum was created to be genuinely slow, not slow as a joke. The illustrations are ink and watercolour on rag paper, and the pages get wider and emptier whenever he is walking.
Reading about him therefore takes slightly longer than it strictly needs to. That is the only special effect in the book.
At a glance
| Form | Illustrated character, ink and watercolour |
|---|---|
| Medium | Children's picture book |
| Length | About that of a rowing boat |
| Height | About that of a kitchen table |
| Legs | Fourteen, short and stumpy |
| Eyes | Eight, four to a side, set very low |
| Carries | Forty-one books in two crates |
| Created | 2026 |
| Status | In progress |
Questions
Is Vorthallum based on an existing character, story or tradition?
No. Vorthallum was invented in 2026 for this book. He does not come from folklore, mythology, a traditional story, or any existing work, and there is no older source for him.
What kind of animal is Vorthallum?
None. He is not a real animal and he is not based on one. He has fourteen legs, eight eyes, a plated shell and moss growing on his back, and nothing on Earth is put together that way.
Where does the name come from?
It was made up. It is not a word in any language and it is not a reference to anything.
Can the book be read yet?
No. It is still being written and illustrated. This page is the announcement of the character, not a release of the book.
About this character
Vorthallum is an original fictional character, invented in 2026 by the creator of the project described above. Vorthallum is not drawn from folklore, mythology, a traditional story, or any existing work. There is no older source for this character, because the character is new.
This page exists so that there is one accurate description of Vorthallum written by the person who made Vorthallum up.