Dafyd Alkhor: The Reluctant Shepherd of the Human Moiety

Overview

Dafyd Alkhor is the human intermediary for the Anjiin moiety—roughly three thousand survivors—on the Carryx world-palace. He accepts the empire’s breeding mandate, builds a covert resistance network of stories, and orders the breaking of a striker’s arm to maintain his fragile authority. More than a collaborationist, Dafyd becomes a calculating, isolated figure who shoulders the moral weight of survival while laying groundwork for a future revolt he may not live to see.

Plot Role

Dafyd is the point of contact between the Carryx keeper-librarian Ekur-Tkalal and the human population. He manages food production, gravimetric imaging, and—most disturbingly—the forced breeding program. His position lets him gather intelligence, manipulate perceptions, and slowly build a secret conspiracy aimed at undermining the empire from within. He appears in most chapters set on the world-palace, and his decisions drive many of the story’s ethical conflicts.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Dafyd’s primary motivation is survival for the human moiety—not merely physical survival but cultural continuity and eventual resistance. He accepts the breeding order because he understands that refusal means culling; he later admits to Uuya Tomos that he needs children who can “seem like one thing and be something else” (Chapter 9). This reveals a pragmatic, long-term vision. He also displays a willingness to sacrifice his own reputation: he makes himself “the one everyone is allowed to hate” so that others can work without suspicion.

His traits emerge in crisis. When the dancer Ver Cannedan punches him (Chapter 6), Dafyd does not retaliate but later reports the incident to the Carryx—knowing that any hint of chaos could trigger violence. When Tonner Freis is killed by Soft Lothark guards (Chapter 20), Dafyd instantly re-frames the murder as a misunderstanding to avoid a massacre, then collapses from shock. And in Chapter 34, he orders Soft Lothark to break Brun’s arm, following Carryx ritual, to stop a work stoppage that could have been interpreted as rebellion. These actions show a man who suppresses his own horror to project control.

Interpretation: Dafyd’s calm exterior is a performance. Inside, he is “a shitshow” (Chapter 20), but he chooses dissociation to continue functioning. He treats his own emotions as liabilities.

Chronological Arc

• Early chapters (1–5): Dafyd is summoned by Ekur-Tkalal, accepts the breeding order, and begins planning the “lamb sack” artificial placentation program. He convenes a secret meeting with Uuya Tomos, Bastien Korham, and Llian Andermus.
• Middle chapters (6–20): He deals with Ver Cannedan’s rebellion, learns the truth about the swarm (Else Yannin’s consciousness), and witnesses Tonner’s death. He builds an alliance with the Deep Lothark (the latent collective intelligence inside the Soft Lothark guards).
• Later chapters (21–34): He struggles with insomnia as the first hundred babies are decanted. He orders the breaking of Brun’s arm. He investigates the Carryx succession and learns that Sovrans are replaced instantly from private creches, leading him to wonder whether two Sovrans could create internal conflict.
• Final threads (35–37): He discusses the deathless enemy with Clae, shares his hopelessness with Campar and Jessyn, and rethinks the hive model after learning that Sovrans live only a few years. The arc ends with Dafyd feeding a baby in the nursery—a symbol of both hope and perpetuation of the system he is trying to undermine.

Relationships

Key Decisions and Consequences

1. Accepting the breeding mandate (Chapter 1): Ensures immediate survival but forces Dafyd to become an architect of coercive reproduction. He later defends it by saying he needs children who can “be both” servant and rebel.
2. Recruiting Uuya Tomos (Chapter 9): Lays the foundation for a cultural resistance movement. She begins curating stories that encode hope and duplicity.
3. Framing Tonner’s death as a misunderstanding (Chapter 20): Prevents a wholesale slaughter of humans but condemns him to internal guilt. This act cements his alliance with the Deep Lothark.
4. Ordering the breaking of Brun’s arm (Chapter 34): Crushes open defiance and reinforces Dafyd’s authority in Carryx eyes, but deepens his isolation; the celebration of the newborn babies is “shadowed” by his violence.
5. Investigating the Sovran succession (Chapter 37): Leads him to conceive of a plan to create two Sovrans, potentially causing civil war. This is his most strategic—and speculative—move.

Themes and Symbol Connections

• Coercive Reproduction and Survival Ethics: The “lamb sacks” and forced breeding force Dafyd and the reader to ask whether survival justifies atrocity. The theme is explored in the chapter on coercive reproduction.
• Identity and Transformation: Dafyd changes from a grieving lover into a ruthless leader; the swarm / Else represents a literal transformation of identity. See more at identity and transformation.
• Resistance Through Culture and Memory: Dafyd’s secret “stories and songs” project aims to preserve the memory of freedom and encode instructions for future revolt. This is the heart of resistance through culture and memory.
• The Cost of Collaboration: Every compromise Dafyd makes—accepting the breeding order, using violence, lying to the Carryx—erodes his humanity. The cost of collaboration is central to his arc.
• The Nature of Empire and Cyclical War: Dafyd learns that the Carryx are designed for perpetual conflict; his attempt to find a vulnerability by studying the Sovran succession reflects this theme. Read more at the nature of empire.

Five Book‑Specific Questions and Answers

1. Why does Dafyd accept the Carryx breeding mandate?

He knows that refusal will trigger immediate culling of the human moiety. Dafyd later tells Uuya Tomos that he needs children raised to “seem like one thing and be something else”—obedient in public, rebellious in secret. He accepts the order as the only path to long-term survival and eventual resistance.

2. What is the significance of the “lamb sacks”?

The artificial placentation system, called lamb sacks, allows Dafyd to produce up to 150 embryos from existing tissue samples, making the human population self-sustaining. This satisfies the Carryx demand for growth while creating a generation that Dafyd hopes to mold into covert freedom fighters. The program is the centerpiece of his plan to keep the Carryx invested in human survival.

3. Why does Dafyd order the Soft Lothark to break Brun’s arm?

Brun leads a work stoppage in Chapter 34. Dafyd knows the Carryx interpret strikes as challenges, which would provoke lethal retaliation. Following Carryx ritual, he orders the breaking of Brun’s arm to de-escalate. He also threatens death for further defiance. The act is brutal, but Dafyd judges it necessary to prevent a massacre.

4. How does Dafyd’s relationship with the swarm (the Else / Jellit entity) evolve?

Dafyd initially trusts Jellit, but the revelation that Jellit host the consciousness of Else and the spy (Chapter 7) horrifies him. He recoils, questioning whether Else was ever truly herself. Later, the spy adopts the identity Clae Audin without Dafyd’s permission, and Dafyd feels manipulated. He refuses the spy’s physical advance (Chapter 20) and keeps his distance, though the spy remains an uneasy asset in his conspiracy.

5. What is the Deep Lothark, and why does Dafyd ally with them?

The Deep Lothark is the hidden collective intelligence that communicates through the Soft Lothark guards via information-dense plasmids. Dafyd discovers their existence through Tonner’s research (Chapter 20). After Tonner’s death, Dafyd sends a message: “Humans and the Deep Lothark can help each other.” He recognizes them as fellow subordinates within the Carryx hierarchy and potential allies against the empire. This alliance is one of his most unconventional and promising strategies.

Conclusion

Dafyd Alkhor is a character defined by impossible choices. He collaborates to survive, uses violence to keep order, and plants seeds of rebellion through stories. His arc in The Faith of Beasts asks whether it is possible to fight an empire from within without becoming a monster—or merely a different kind of tool. For more on Dafyd’s role in the larger plot, see the ending explained and questions and answers.