#or at least Jerome didn’t like Ambrose

[saint-augustines-pears]

Happy feast of Saint Jerome to all y’all Saint Ambrose haters 😔😔😔

[solarishashernoseinabook]

Okay, Ranger's Apprentice fans, gather round!

For those who don't know, on the Discord server we often make memes and jokes about Gilan's lack of appearance (though let's be real, we do that here on Tumblr too). Some months ago I decided I would keep track of how many characters were given more complete descriptions than Gilan. As a reminder, here is a comprehensive description of Gilan from everything we get in the books:

He's tall

He's clean-shaven

I only counted characters from the main Ranger's Apprentice series (books 1 - 11) and The Early Years. There is a very scientific reason for this.*

There were some stipulations put into place, those being:

"Characters" were defined as figures who had both a name and at least one thing mentioned about their appearance. There are no characters in this study who don't have an appearance at all, which is why characters like Jurgen from The Early Years were excluded. At the urging of several members of the Discord server, several animals and Serthrek'nish (the mythical creature from Siege of Macindaw) were counted as "characters"

Cover art does not count as canon depictions of characters

Only features that were explicitly mentioned got counted in the description. Thus, things like skin colour weren't counted unless it was specifically alluded to. For all characters in The Emperor of Nihon-Ja, then, even though all Nihon-Jan characters could be assumed to have black hair, hair colour was only noted down as part of the description if it was actually mentioned

Clothes don't count as a description. Similarly, anything that was not purely physical didn't count, either. For instance, Halt is said to have "steady eyes", but as this is more of a character trait than a description it wasn't counted. Similarly, "beautiful" (and variations of it) isn't a description

If a character's appearance changes over time, the change isn't counted as part of their physical description as long as it references something that was already described. For example, Old Bob is mentioned as having brown hair in The Early Years, but white hair in Ranger's Apprentice - as these are both about his hair, this is not counted as two separate items in a description. Horace is mentioned as having a scar in Siege of Macindaw, which is a new physical feature, so because it's not describing something we already know about it counts as a new item in his description.

And with that, here we go! Raw data is provided below the cut.

Enjoy ^-^

* They were the only books I had access to. That's the very scientific reason.

The Stats

Following the criteria given above, there are 134 characters in Ranger's Apprentice and The Early Years. On average, they had 4.1 items in their physical description. Most characters overall had 2 items in their physical description, on par with Gilan.

80 characters have more complete descriptions than Gilan. On average, they had 5.9 items in their physical descriptions. Most of these characters had 3 items in their descriptions. By far the character with the most complete description is Norman, a character from The Battle of Hackam Heath, who has 20 items in his physical description. The runner-up is Kona, a character from The Emperor of Nihon-Ja, who has 15 items in his description. These represent 59.7% of all characters in the study.

28 characters have the same amount of physical description as Gilan (2 items in their description) and represent 20.8% of all characters in the study, whereas 25 characters had only one item mentioned in their physical description and represent 18.6% of all characters in the study (percentages are only counted to one decimal place, so they technically add up to 99.1%, but you get the picture).

Raw data below! Some character names are used more than once, which is why you might see what appear to be duplicates on the list. If you find yourself looking at a name and going "who?", well...exactly

Norman – 20 Kona – 15 Black O'Malley – 12 Morgarath – 12 Malcolm – 11 Alyss – 10 Berrigan – 10 Halt – 10 Keren – 10 Tennyson – 10 Serthrek'nish – 10 Arald – 9 John – 9 Nils – 9 Ragnak – 9 Demon Tooth – 8 Douglas – 8 Edwina – 8 Horace – 8 Old Bob – 8 Salt Peter – 8 Yusul – 8 Luka – 7 Montague – 7 Nimatsu – 7 Rosalind – 7 Shadow – 7 Cielema – 6 Farrel – 6 Ferris – 6 Niel – 6 Rodney – 6 Trobar – 6 Atsu – 5 Cormack – 5 Crowley – 5 Delia – 5 Deparnieux – 5 Duncan – 5 Egon – 5 Erak – 5 Robard – 5 Ryan – 5 Sean – 5 Tomas – 5 Umar – 5 Will – 5 Aman – 4 Cassandra – 4 Cedric – 4 Chubb – 4 Denison – 4 Ergell – 4 George – 4 Nialls – 4 Roberta – 4 Rob – 4 Robina – 4 Shigeru – 4 Xander – 4 Sir David Davidson – 3 Ebony – 3 Eiko – 3 Hassan – 3 Hilde – 3 Kyofu – 3 Jenny – 3 Liam – 3 Mussaun – 3 Orman – 3 Pauline – 3 Petulengo – 3 Phillip – 3 Poldaric – 3 Pritchard – 3 Selethen – 3 Ulf – 3 Abelard – 2 Alda – 2 Anthony – 2 Blaze – 2 Bran – 2 Bryn – 2 Deborah – 2 Farrel – 2 Gerald – 2 Gilan – 2 Griff – 2 Handel – 2 Jerome – 2 Killeen – 2 Kord – 2 Leander – 2 Margrit – 2 Marron – 2 Martin – 2 Mound – 2 Nuttal – 2 Peller – 2 Skinner – 2 Tiller – 2 Tom – 2 Tug – 2 Tug II – 2 Yorik – 2 Abelard I – 1 Ambrose – 1 Ayagi – 1 Barnaby – 1 Bart – 1 Carney – 1 Colly – 1 Cropper II – 1 Daniel – 1 Evanlyn – 1 Jerome – 1 Jerrel – 1 Jervis – 1 Joel – 1 Kelly – 1 Mikeru – 1 Nit'zek – 1 Oswald – 1 Ryan – 1 Sandra – 1 Saoud – 1 Teezal – 1 Wallace – 1 Warlock – 1 Willet – 1

[seauxrose]

                         •ิ ≡ TASK THREE: FAMILY TREE.

“You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” — Desmond Tutu

•ิ ≡ SOLEIL AMBROSE.

Relationship: Adoptive Sister

Age: 28 years old

Occupation: Baker

Label: The Saccharine

Soleil is the sister that Solana never knew that she would need. Initially being brought into a situation that neither of them could control had Solana skeptical because she wasn’t sure what to expect but she knew that Soleil was dealt the same as her and that brought the two of them closure. Although they’re not blood related nobody would be able to tell unless it was told to them. Whenever Solana needed someone she could talk to about the things that were going on with her internally she knew she could count on her sister to be there for her. With her being older and having experienced the world a few years before Soleil she instantly becomes protective over her and makes sure that everything is good with her. Soleil is a person that everybody wants to be around due to her bubbly persona and her kindness, she brings fun and life into everything that she does. While the two have the same experience it shaped them both differently.

•ิ ≡ JANICE FENTY.

Relationship: Biological Mother

Age: 53 years old

Occupation: Unknown

Children: Solana Ambrose

Label: The Broken Bird

Janice Fenty was born and raised in Harlem, New York to Jerome Fenty and Judith Berry. From birth she was dealt a bad hand and grew up in a household that was unstable for any child to be in. Her parents bickered often due to financial issues and sometimes those moments happened in front of Janice. Even though she was too young to fully understand what was taking place it still had an affect on her, especially when the two separated. Janice spent her childhood being socially out-cast because she was on the shy side and most considered her to be weird. The tribulations that she witnessed as a kid only started to show once she was older and she could never experience a true relationship. Every guy that she dealt with introduced her to one thing that she find trouble getting rid of once they were done. There was only one male that she progressed with and the only good thing that came from that union was a daughter. The same pattern Janice experienced as a child is the same one she exposed Solana to. The only difference was her mother’s incapability to change and the older Solana became the worse her mother got until she was unable to fend for her—emotionally, mentally or financially, Solana was taken away at the age of 10 and hasn’t seen her mother since then.

•ิ ≡ SHARON AMBROSE.

Relationship: Adoptive Mother

Age: 49 years old

Occupation: District Attorney

Children: Solana Ambrose, Soleil Ambrose

Label: The Philanthropist

Sharon Ambrose was born and raised in Manhattan, New York to Valerie Ambrose. Growing up, her childhood was normal despite the year it was. It was hard living in a world that didn’t love you back and that shaped her into the person that she is today. Valerie made sure that Sharon had whatever it was she needed in order to be prepared for the world that they lived in and as she grew older, she grew colder. At least that’s what people who has encountered her say but given her occupation it’s easy for that to translate over. However, when you’re talking to her she’s like a breathe of fresh air. Once she opens up to you then you’re able to see the thoughtful and loving person that she truly is. Sharon came from money and there wasn’t anything in the world that she couldn’t get but that never really helped because the one thing she did want was love and affection. Her mother was around to provide for her but she never dedicated the needs and wants of her child. It’s the reason that Sharon had chose to adopt both Solana and Soleil because neither of their guardians were giving the children what they needed. Solana’s relationship with Sharon is pretty straight-forward. She respects her as her mother and as a woman but there isn’t really a depth between the two because emotions isn’t anything that Solana can express so easily since she bottles up everything inside but she learned a lot from watching Sharon and she’s grateful for the experience.