| Wanderer (a.k.a Wanda) | |
| |
| Name | Wanderer (a.k.a Wanda) |
| Gender | Female |
| Spouse(s) | Ian O'Shea (partner) |
| Family | Considers herself a sister to Melanie and Jamie Stryder
Wanderer has two souls which she considered her sisters on the origin, they were called crystal of the stars and stars of the moons (both are intellects) |
| Portrayed By | Saoirse Ronan (in Melanie's body)
Emily Browning (in Pet's body) |
I, the soul called Wanderer, love you, human Ian. And that will never change, no matter what I might become. Wanda |
Wanderer (also known as: Wanda; Lives in the Stars; Rides the Beast) is a member of a parasitic alien species, known on Earth as souls, who invade Earth and take control of the bodies of its inhabitants. Although she is one soul in many other souls who share their Mothers' cells, she is different from the rest of her family. She arrives years after the invasion has been completed and the vast majority of humans on Earth have been captured, when the war is over.
Biography
Wanderer, inserted inside Melanie's body
Wanderer is a Soul who is implanted into Melanie Stryder's body by Healer Fords Deep Waters. Wanderer is highly respected among her kind, because of her experience and bravery in past hosts' lives. She has lived on eight different planets before coming to Earth, including having been born on the Origin, the Souls' home planet, while the average number of planets each Soul tests out is only two. This is why she is named Wanderer, since she never settled on a planet for more than one lifetime, she wanders around the universe. Because of her excellent credentials, she is selected to be inserted into Melanie's body -one of the few remaining 'wild' humans-, which is expected to be a difficult and painful experience due to the immediate memory of her attempted escape from the Seekers by falling suicide. It turns out to be even more distressing, since Melanie's consciousness hasn't disap
Melanie's memory with Jared
peared as it should have (later revealed to be because she knew about Implantation beforehand). Wanderer has access to most of Melanie's memories except those which would endanger her human lover Jared, and has none regarding Melanie's brother Jamie. Melanie has thrown up a wall against Wanderer, who is annoyed, frightened, and frustrated by her presence. She struggles to adjust to her new life as a human, but as time goes by, Melanie's memories and feelings for her lover, Jared, and her younger brother, Jamie, become overwhelming and she decides to travel to Phoenix to consult Healer Fords about reimplantation. The Seeker tries to persuade her to take a shuttle by taunting her -which is very unusual for souls- but Wanderer insists on taking the car ride.
Wanderer ( when dehydrated in the desert
During the drive through the Arizona desert, she joins Melanie in viewing/feeling deeply emotional memories/feelings of Jared and Jamie which she previously had no access to due to Melanie's interference. Wanderer finally breaks down under the onslaught of emotions and admits to Melanie that she loves them too now, and thus has no choice but to be reimplanted to escape the longing and pain from not being with them. They see Picacho Peak, which reminds Melanie
Dehydrated and injured Wanderer (inside Melanie's body)
of her Uncle Jeb's mysterious directions to a safe place, given to her just before the invasion became known. With both of them overwhelmed by the possibility of Jared and Jamie being close by, Melanie eventually persuades Wanderer to embark on a dangerous trip in the desert to find them. After days of wandering in the desert, Wanderer suffers from severe
Wanderer screaming in pain
dehydration and eventually collapses un
der a tree. This is where she is found by Uncle Jeb, who gives her water, saving her from certain death, and transfers her to his hide-out, a complicated system of underground caves which were once lava tunnels from a volcano. It turns out there are many more humans living in hiding with him, but they are all hostile towards Wanderer and consider giving her to Doc for experiments. When she notices Jared, Melanie wildly pulls Wanderer towards him but he punches her before she reaches him. Wanderer is saved from Doc by Jared (who is very confused) who together with Jeb keep her safe but prisoner in a small cave usually used for food storage.
Her life is in Jared's hands, who cannot make up his mind, while she keeps the presence of Melanie a secret out of fear of being thought a Seeker (which would mean immediate death) as only Seekers lie to humans. Eventually, Jared and a couple of men (including the angry and brutish Kyle), leave on a supply raid during which Jeb allows Wanderer to move freely in the caves. Slowly, Jeb forces her presence on the survivors to start getting them used to her presence and to realize she is not a danger to them, while Jeb and Jamie find out her secret about Melanie. By the time the men are back, Wanderer is nicknamed "Wanda", has taken
over unofficial teaching duties about the other species in the Universe and their planets every evening in the kitchen and is encircled by a number of friends who stand up for her. Jamie and Ian (Kyle's more rational younger brother) in particular try to protect her.
Wanderer trying to hide from her Seeker
She begins to stay in the hospital with Walter to ease the pain of his slow death, as he is a survivor dying of end-stage cancer, who (in his delirium) believes she is his wife.
Wanderer saving Kyle's life
Despite all this, she is eventually attacked by Kyle while cleaning herself up so she can say goodbye to Walter before Doc gives him a morphine overdose to save him the pain. Despite being severely injured
Wanderer having her meal with Ian and Jamie
during the attempted murder, Wanda saves Kyle from a collapsing floor, is forgiving, and opposes Kyle's punishment. Her kindness and selflessness slowly win over Jared, who starts to believe her about Melanie being
Ian and Wanderer
present, but at the same time, Ian reveals he has fallen in love with her. The humans have been kidnapping Souls and attempting to surgically remove them from their human hosts by dissecting them.
It always fails, however, as the Souls' attachments shred the hosts' brains during the torturous procedure. Wanda makes this discovery and is immediately and horribly traumatized and scarred forever by the experience of seeing twisted and butchered Souls strewn about the hospital. She becomes catatonic with mourning for three days and is joined only by Ian, who implores her to eat. She eventually comes to, and after learning of Jamie's fever and infection, realizes she has lost Melanie due to the trauma. Ian attempts, and Jared succeeds, in soliciting a massively overwhelming emotional response from Wanda's body through passionately kissing her, bringing Melanie back into being.
Jared kissing Wanderer
Wanda then escapes with Jared to go find Soul medicines for Jamie's infected leg after the humans (mistrusting Wanda) tell her he must simply fight it off, which he obviously will be unable to do. She
Lacey having The Seeker inside her body
succeeds, and though she has the absolute most perfect opportunity, does not expose the humans to the Seekers. Now trusted completely as one of them, she is no longer a prisoner, and starts going out and bringing back food,
The appearance of the Seeker and her murder of Wes, however, makes her realize that if she does not reveal the secret of how to safely remove a Soul from a host, the humans will most certainly kill the Seeker as they have no other option. She understands that this will mean her own removal from her host, Melanie. She decides that she no longer wishes to be a parasite, to steal someone else's life, and plans to die instead once she has been removed. For the sake of Melanie, Jamie and Jareds' happiness, despite Ian and Melanie's desperate protest, during which Wanda realizes she loves Ian too.
She sticks with her plan and goes to Doc, despite a tribunal in which she is ruled too useful to remove, but after her removal from Melanie's body Jared saves her at the very last moment. Eventually she is transferred to a new body (Pet's) whose original owner was a host for a greater period of time than she was free (therefore her personality would never return) and she is able to live happily in the human community, becoming Ian's lover and
Wanda's new body
Melanie and Jamies' sister.
Melanie was Wanderer's ninth host, and the first to be a resistant one. Pet's body was her tenth host.
Physical appearance
Wanderer (Inhabiting Melanie's body)
Wanderer has the typical appearance of every Soul: a reflective silver living ribbon with nearly a thousand thin feathery attachments. Nevertheless, her movements are considered particularly graceful. She is several thousand human years old. When inhabiting Melanie's body, she bears all of Mel's physical characteristics. Later in the book, she is implanted into the body of a 17 year old girl, previously occupied by Pet, who is petite and delicate with golden hair, freckled skin with a type of grayness with it, gray eyes, a dimple in her chin and shorter than Melanie. Although she views herself as a parasite, Ian tells her,"I held you in my hand, Wanda. And you were so beautiful.", affirming that he loves her for who she is, not for her physical form.
Personality
Wanda is very different to Melanie. She is selfless and always think about what's the best for her friends and other people. Wanda is very polite even in the presence of someone she doesn't know.
The most important thing about her is that her friends, especially Jamie, are always happy while they're around her.
Relationships
At the beginning Ian like many others in the caves viewed Wanda as a parasite that would turn on them all. Ian along with his brother Kyle O'Shea and their friend Brandt had tried to get Jared Howe to agree with them that Wanda should be killed. While in a struggle Jared was caught between Kyle and Brandt Ian had tried to strangle Wanda and had nearly succeeded until Jeb Stryder had stepped in. After this incident Ian comes back to see Jared Howe and get his opinion on things. While there he and Jared joked about how Kyle was still mad about his nose. He had eventually turned the conversation to the Seeker Wanda frightened made a sound that caught the attention the two men. While Jared scared Wanda while he was interrogating her Ian tried to get Jared to calm down and let up on Wanda. Annoyed at Wanda's unwillingness to talk and Ian's interference Jared turned around and punched Ian. After Jared finished interrogating Wanda Ian had told Jared he felt guilty at hurting her. This left Wanda and Melanie both very confused. After Jared Kyle and a few others left the caves Wanda was allowed to leave her prison hole.
Appearance
- She has brown hair that is wavy straight, hazel eyes, sun browned skin while in Melanie's body.
- In Pet's body she has long wavy blonde hair, silvery pale skin, grey eyes, a small petulant mouth, with perfectly rounded finger nails, and freckles. She is very small in that body and has been told that she looks like an angle.
- She has Black hair
- But changed it to brown