Pronunciation: KUTT-ter (rhymes with NUT-burr)
Soul Name – Tam
Son of Joyleaf and Skywise
Lifemate of Leetah
Father of Ember, Sunstream, and Goldruff
Adopted father of Shuna
Grandfather to Korafay and Shukopek
Nephew of Treestump
Cousin of Dewshine
Wolf Friends – Nightrunner, Warfrost, Timmain, Holdfast, Filcher, Loper
Cutter is the eleventh chief of the Wolfriders. His tribe name reflects his ability to cut to the heart of things as much as it does his impressive skill with a sword. Yet despite his deadliness with a blade and his quick temper, he is no cold and merciless death-dealer. Cutter loves his small tribe deeply and will do anything to protect his people and their preserve the Wolfriders’ Way of life. He has led them on many adventures as they seek to survive in a dangerous and tumultuous world, earning many titles along the way, from “Blood of Ten Chiefs” to “Kinseeker” to “Chief of Changes.”
Cutter embodies the best qualities of his parents: fierce, impulsive Bearclaw and thoughtful, wise Joyleaf. He had a carefree youth, frolicking in the forest with his childhood lovemate Nightfall and tagging along behind his older friend Skywise — until a tribe of superstitious humans set up camp near the Holt. Cutter’s first encounter with the five-fingers ended in a brutal attack that left him near death.
That experience taught him caution and sowed the seed of a deep mistrust of humans shared by the rest of his tribe. Those feelings only deepened when the humans tortured and almost murdered Redlance and ultimately burned the Wolfriders from their forest home. Miraculously, none of this diminished Cutter’s innate gift to see beyond the here and now which allowed him, over time, to overcome his prejudices and eventually to even reach out to humans as friends or allies.
Cutter was thrust early into the chieftainship of the Wolfriders as a teenager, when the monster Madcoil killed his parents and decimated the tribe. As a young chief, he was idealistic, curious, creative and willing to try new things. His choices weren’t always immediately accepted by his more traditional tribesmates, and his temper could be quick to flare, but Cutter’s willingness to adapt has ultimately made the Wolfriders more resilient. In his maturity, Cutter is confident, decisive and a bit more conservative than he was in his youth. His chosen path is to live by the Wolfrider’s traditional Way, but he accepts there are other equally valid ways of living.
In their youth, Cutter and Skywise experienced a kind of Recognition. Far deeper than friendship, their soul-brother bond is unique among the elves. Cutter’s heart is equally bound to his Recognized lifemate Leetah and their twins Sunstream and Ember. When his family was kidnapped into the future by his arch rival Rayek, Cutter spent centuries in a half-alive state of grief before he allowed himself to be cocooned in wrapstuff to await their return thousands of years later. It was an agony he almost didn’t survive, but for the love and support of his second family, Nightfall and Redlance.
That trauma also crippled something inside Cutter. He is now a Wolfrider who can no longer fully lose himself in the “now of wolf thought.” Unlike others of his near-immortal tribe, he now feels the passage of time and is aware of its ravages. Still, after he was reunited with his family and confronted Rayek in a brutal reckoning, he has achieved a measure of healing. Cutter uses his new perspective to avoid making past mistakes and anticipate the future to help his tribe navigate an increasingly complicated and dangerous world.
