The Forests of the Night the war as it really was, as James Kirkup observed, an "acid portrait of those who played at being members of the [French] Resistance". The novel's theme and title come from the opening lines to William Blake's poem "The Tyger": "Tiger, tiger, burning bright - in the forests of the night." "The Forests of the Night" was translated in 1951 into English by Nora Wydenbruck; it has not been re-printed since. Francis is the son of the Comte de Balansun, whose family resides in the French town of Saint-Clar, near the Pyrenees. Francis, in the beginning of the novel, skips
In the Forests of the Night note which he had cried upon with her birthname written upon it. After Risika's battle with Aubrey he reveals himself to her. Ather: The blood-mother of Aubrey and Risika. Ather is vampire and a fledgling of the Silver Lines and after Risika's brother, Alexander, interrupts her feeding the high-priding vampire decides to change Rachel against her will to get back at Alexander. After Risika awakens, Ather takes Risika to the original Mayhem to make her feed. After this she only mentioned one other time in the book, apparently she was looking for Risika and had sent Aubrey to retrieve her