| Night-who-eats-stars | |
 fanart of granitheforlunch from Deviantart | |
| Description | |
| Species: | Dinaelurus illumina sapiens
(3/4 Named cross) (presumed) |
| Gender: | Male |
| Pelt Color: | black with white sparkling |
| Affiliation | |
| Current: | unaffiliated |
| Past: | Hunters Tribe |
| Ranks | |
| Current: | Loner |
| Past: | Hunter |
| Family | |
| Members: | (all presumed) Ratha (mother)
Bonechewer (Father) Thistle-chaser(Sister) Thakur (Uncle) |
| Appearances | |
| Book Appearances: | Ratha's Courage |
| Status | |
| Status: | Alive |
Night-who-eats-stars is a mysterious character introduced in the series. There are few chapters following his point of view as minor co-protagonist of the fifth book. He is a member of the Face-tail Hunter Tribe led by its leader True-of-voice. However his nature is different from the one of the other hunters and he's greatly fascinated and attracted by the Red Tongue and such differences will starts a series of key events.
Appearance
Night-who-eats-stars has an uncommon a solid black coat and pale, blue-green eyes. It is confirmed on Ratha's close inspection that there are actually sparsely scattered white-tipped hairs on his pelt, that when touched by light it briefly appears that "tiny stars flashed and died on his coat", which evitably gave him his name.
History
Ratha's Courage
In Ratha's Courage, the Named attempt to socalize with the Hunter Tribe by inviting them to a herding show to share with the tribe how the Named's herding ways of life. Clan leader Ratha is in disbelief of the tribe never having to 'practice' since the song of the people instructs them without error and she asks to see proof. Instructed by the song, True-of-voice chooses a black furred male whom performs the task perfectly, if not better than Thakur. He however goes too far and actually kills the practice fawn, enraging the Named and prompts Ratha to end the event and ask the Hunter Tribe to leave.
Determined to not let the event sour their relations with the tribe, the Named still continue to share the warmth of the Red Tongue with them-under close survalence. Bira spots the fawn killer after a few days and Ratha's curiousity is peaked since none of his people wore nearly "a trace of shade of black" as he, since the tribe hunts on the open plains, most of their pelts are brown "lighter, dustier pelts colors and patterns". Bira states that he doesn't talk from her observations of him and calls him 'Night-who-eats-stars' because of the way his the white-tipped hair on his pelt reflects light like blinking stars.
Night-who-eats-stars was attracted by the Red Tongue until the point he took advantage of a distraction of Bira and manage to steal some coals and keep them alive into a wood branch (a technique unknown to the Named).
His intentions aren't evil, he attempts to exploit the fire to help the hunters of the tribe because he had noticed how the animals could get scared by fire. His inexperience in handling the fire however cause he to loss control and a large fire is ignited killing a party of female hunters.
Night-who-eats-stars was distressed and shocked by the consequences of his actions and he fled, being unsuccessfully hunted by the Named. Later he's cut from the song of True-of-voice but manage to survive and despite listening also to the new song from New Singer, he manage to remain out of it.
Later he attempts make amends for his actions, returning the coals to Thakur when the males of the Clan were forced away from the Clan grounds together Ratha. When also the leader of the Named was captured and forced to be subjected to the "Mating circle" by the renegades, Night-who-eats-stars take action, he manage to infiltrate among the renegades without being singled out or attacked and battle against another male that was attempting to mount Thistle-chaser. The young Named female take the oppurtunity of her mother's pleading and runs out of the circle. Then Night mounts Ratha, but despite the strong effects of both the heat and the mating circle around them, Night doesn't go on with the proper mating and instead he simply remain over the Named leader, impeding other males to properly mate with Ratha.
At that point there was the sudden counter-attack of the Clan and Thakur himself attack Night chasing him away (being partially unaware of what the black male was doing). Night-who-eats-stars is not seen again and he's speculated to have been left the clan ground as a loner because he did not re-joined the Tribe.
His strange behavior during the mating circle make an unexpected discover, Thakur recognized his scent as very close to the one of his brother Bonechewer. Also Ratha, when was under the effect of the mating circle, believed in some way that the black-pelted male was the deceased Bonechewer. These two elements, as for the facts that Night-who-eats-starts had put all his efforts to spare the forceful mating on Thistle and Ratha, lead the realization that he's actually one of the three lost sons of Ratha, sired by Bonechewer.
Quotes
Night-who-eats-stars, looking across at the solitary form whose pale blue-green eyes stared into the fire's heart. She found Bira's made-up name strange, even silly, but watching the black hunter, and seeing how ghostly specks appeared and vanished in his fur, she also found it appropriate.
~Narration of Night-who-eats-stars's name in Ratha's Courage, page 126
"Night...with stars. Dark has crept past day. Hiding. Watching. No longer going close to the fire-nest. Don't want to be seen by the red-gold female or the sandy one. Most of all, not the tawny one."
~Night-who-eats-stars's thoughts in Ratha's Courage, page 141
"The talking ones do not know that paws have this cleverness. Singing one does not know that the ears inside can choose to hear singing or not. Now they choose not, and all is silent except for what speaks within."
~Night-who-eats-stars's thoughts in Ratha's Courage, page 142
"Now is for blackness within. Black beyond black. Darker than this coat that eats stars. Blacker than dead coals in the canyon. So many song-hearers burned, The song itself, burned"
~Night-who-eats-stars's thoughts after the canyon forest burning in Ratha's Courage, page 188
"Now is for painful questions. For asking what the jaws took, what the paws loosed and why the song of all senses has turned to black, to soot, and has blown away so that these paws cannot gather it back. This night coat that eats stars is no longer known by the true voice and that is a black deeper than pain. Now is for bewilderment, for suffering. Now, alone."
~Night-who-eats-stars's thoughts while being outcasted from the Hunter Tribe in Ratha's Courage, page 188
Trivia
- It is also noteworthy how both Night and Thistle has similarities in black pelt (absent among the Named) and both are capable of listening the song yet without being dependent from it. Both these traits were probably originated from the unknown sentient Un-Named that mated with Reshara and sired Bonechewer and Thakur.