The Bear and the Nightingale

Morozko, the frost demon, is an important yet enigmatic character in the novel. His origins lie in Slavic folklore, where he is the personification of winter and a harbinger of death. Arden’s portrayal of the character stays true to these roots, as she gives him an aura of chilling authority and detachment. In the early chapters, Morozko is introduced indirectly through the stories of the old nurse, Dunya. He represents the traditional, elemental forces that demand respect and fear from humans in a world where survival depends on navigating the whims of nature.

When he does appear in subsequent chapters, it is usually as “the stranger”: a clean-shaven, well-dressed man with dark hair and pale blue eyes who rides a white mare. He takes a special interest in Vasya, whose magical blood is the key to keeping his brother, Medved, trapped. Keeping her safe, therefore, becomes a priority. He gives Pyotr the sapphire necklace as a talisman to protect her and hounds Dunya for years when she avoids letting the girl have it (See: Symbols & Motifs).

While harsh with Dunya, Pyotr, and even Vasya when she tries to get him to break the brutal winter, it is not out of malice. Like nature itself, he is a force that adheres to his own ancient logic. However, he does have a soft spot for Vasya. Like the maiden in the story, Vasya’s bravery intrigues him. At the end of Part 2, he saves her in the woods and brings her to his enchanted house in the fir grove. There, they form a complicated romantic bond, where he alternates between coldness and comfort. Though he cautions her against recklessness when she asks to return to save her family, he ultimately respects her decision to act. Their reunion at the novel’s end foreshadows the development of their bond later in the series.

Medved, the Bear, is one of the antagonists in The Bear and the Nightingale. Unlike the two other antagonists—Father Konstantin and Anna—he is a spirit that embodies chaos, fear, and the primal aspects of humanity and nature. He takes several forms throughout the book: an old man, a bear, and possessing Konstantin’s icon of the risen Christ. While all different, they each have the same distinctive trait: “The other eye was missing, the socket sewn shut, and that side of his face a mass of bluish scars” (31).

As a spirit of fear, he feeds on human emotions to grow stronger. This symbiotic relationship with humanity parallels Konstantin’s own source of strength: The power of both is derived not from physical dominance but from the psychological turmoil they incite. While his brother, Morozko, represents order, winter, and preservation, Medved symbolizes chaos, untamed nature, and decay. Bound beneath the ancient oak tree in the forest, Medved’s containment is an uneasy truce between the opposing forces of disorder and control. When Vasya first meets him as a child, Morozko is easily able to get him to sleep once more, but this hold cracks as the story goes on and the protective spirits lose power.

As Medved stirs, his influence manifests in increasingly dire ways. Fear and natural disasters beset Lesnaya Zemlya, and, eventually, the dead rise as vampiric upyrs. Even with his growing strength, he cannot truly be freed without the death of a witch. While he initially intends for Vasya to be sacrificed, he later manipulates Konstantin into bringing Anna to him. At the novel’s end, he is not truly defeated—he is only imprisoned by Vasya and Morozko at the oak once more.

Konstantin is one of the novel’s two human antagonists and is representative of how personal ambition, fear, and spiritual corruption can have far-reaching consequences. Sent to Lesnaya Zemlya to replace their deceased priest, his arrival disrupts the delicate balance between Christianity and the ancient spirits revered by the villagers. He is handsome, with “old-gold hair and eyes like blue water” (99), and exceptionally charismatic.

His charisma is both his strength and his downfall. He captivates the villagers, particularly the women, with his commanding sermons and artistic talents, which he uses to paint the church’s icons (See: Symbols & Motifs). However, his pride in his beauty and his conviction that he is a chosen and righteous servant of God render him vulnerable to manipulation, which Medved takes advantage of. The Bear preys on the priest’s fears and ambitions, offering him the illusion of power and righteousness in exchange for his complicity in sowing fear and discord among the villagers. The only one who sees through him is Vasya.

From the moment he meets her, Konstantin is both fascinated and repelled by Vasya. On the one hand, she threatens his mission because she refuses to abandon the old beliefs. On the other hand, her beauty and strength provoke feelings that he cannot reconcile with his priestly vows. Rather than acknowledging these feelings as his own weakness, Konstantin projects them onto Vasya, blaming her for his turmoil as well as that of the village as a whole. His descent into darkness is marked by a growing sense of guilt and self-loathing, but his pride prevents him from seeking redemption. Instead, he doubles down on his actions, ultimately delivering Anna Ivanovna to Medved as a “sacrifice.” In the aftermath of the battle, stripped of his authority and consumed by fear, he is forced to flee, no more than a shadow of the proud priest who first arrived in the village.

Anna, Vasya’s stepmother, is one of the novel’s human antagonists and a narrative foil for Vasya. Her character archetype is the wicked stepmother, taken from the fairy tales that Arden based much of the novel on, but with a more nuanced approach than the standard depiction.

Anna is introduced as a noblewoman with a fervent devotion to Christianity. Born into privilege as the daughter of Ivan II, she is nevertheless miserable and alienated. She was the only child that Ivan had with his first wife, and Anna’s own stepmother hated her and used any opportunity to put her down. Like Vasya, Anna possesses the ability to see the chyerti, but her strict beliefs lead her to interpret the spirits as demons, and she behaves in erratic ways to avoid them.

Once she arrives in Lesnaya Zemlya, she becomes like her stepmother. Vasya’s free spirit, connection to the natural world, and refusal to conform to societal expectations all provoke Anna’s ire and jealousy. Anna’s relationship with her biological daughter, Irina, is different, as she showers her with affection. Her treatment of Vasya, despite their similarities, shows how patriarchal systems pit women against one another, as well as the damaging effects of a society that limits women’s choices and fosters competition over camaraderie.

Anna’s mental and emotional instability escalates as the novel progresses. Her refusal to honor the household spirits and her unthinking adherence to Father Konstantin’s teachings leave her vulnerable, and both the priest and Medved prey on her. In the end, her death is a tragedy rather than a triumph, punctuating her cautionary tale about the dangers of fear and repression.