A cheery, eccentric middle-aged man who lives in Omelas with Nerine and serves as her father figure. As the solacebringer, he was condemned to live alone in the shack on the outskirts of town from a young age. There, he prepped himself to spend the remainder of his life in the forest. His unfortunate circumstances forced him to develop a transient outlook—to forget about the bad things in life and to live in the now. Despite Nerine's existence being in part the cause of his misfortune, he really does see her like his own daughter. When Nerine gifted him a letter of gratitude, he cried so hard that his neighbors reported his thunderous sobbing. The elder eventually came by to calm him down.
