Sinbad: the characters
Sinbad the Sailor's seven voyages are among the oldest adventure stories in Arabic, set in the age of the Abbasid sea trade from Basra to India and beyond. The 1001 series draws on their most famous images: the island that is really a whale, the giant, the Roc, the Valley of Diamonds, and the magnetic mountain that pulls the nails from ships.
Sinbad
Young sea captain
Sinbad is barely out of his teens and already a captain. The sea has tried to kill him more than once and missed. He keeps signing on. The men who sign with him do not always come home.
Appearance. Late teens / early twenties. Olive-tanned, hazel-eyed, an unruly mop of dark curls under a weathered headscarf. A gold earring, a leather belt thick with sailor's tools, a layered tunic worn to the threads from sun and salt.
Personality. Restless, charming, haunted. Takes every voyage as an apology to the last crew.
“The island moved. I did not imagine it. The island moved.”
Appears in: Sinbad, Sinbad and the Dark Mountain
Samia
Sinbad's right hand
Samia has sailed with Sinbad longer than anyone else still alive. She is the first to notice when the trees in the avatar forest are watching, and the one who keeps her hand on her blade in the Monkey Palace while Sinbad is busy listening to the compass hum.
Appearance. Mid-twenties, lean, dark eyes, hair tied tight under a deep-blue scarf. A curved blade at her hip and a quiet way of moving.
Personality. Watchful, loyal, calmer than Sinbad in every storm. The voice in his ear that asks 'are you sure?' when he is not.
“The trees moved. Tell me you saw it too.”
Appears in: Sinbad, Sinbad and the Dark Mountain
Khalil
Crew of Sinbad's ship
Khalil is the oldest of the four shoremen. He has fixed every problem this ship has ever had, and is the first to call the sandstorm "impossible" out loud — which does not stop it from being on top of them.
Appearance. Forties, broad hands, salt-grey beard, leather work-belt heavy with tools.
Personality. Practical, loud, the one who makes the others laugh when they should be panicking.
Appears in: Sinbad
Marwan
Crew of Sinbad's ship
Marwan has read every chart in the captain's cabin twice. He knows there is nothing here. He keeps saying it, and the others keep not listening, until the ground starts breathing and he turns out to have been right.
Appearance. Thin, sharp-jawed, an old burn across one forearm. Always carries a folded map.
Personality. Anxious, precise, the kind of intelligent that does not make a person calmer.
“Captain — this island is not on any map. Not one.”
Appears in: Sinbad
Yusuf
Crew of Sinbad's ship
Yusuf is on his second voyage. He grew up hearing stories of Sinbad and signed on the moment a place opened. When the giant comes down the beach, he is the one who plants his feet — partly out of bravery, partly because his legs have stopped working.
Appearance. Late teens, sun-burnt nose, oversized tunic that used to belong to someone bigger. A sling across his back.
Personality. Earnest, scared, surprisingly stubborn.
Appears in: Sinbad
Ship Captain
Captain of the vessel that carries Sinbad's crew
He has crossed these waters more times than he can count. He took Sinbad on as a young man and has watched him grow into a sailor that's already getting a reputation. He does not love it.
Appearance. Fifties, weathered, deep-set eyes. A heavy coat, a clay pipe never lit.
Personality. Stern, weary, the kind of man who has lost a crew before and is determined not to lose another.
Appears in: Sinbad, Sinbad and the Dark Mountain
The Giant
Guardian of the shore
The Giant is the island's first warning. He stands sentinel where the surf meets the sand, vast and unhurried, the kind of creature that does not need to chase because nothing has ever gotten past him. While Sinbad and Samia push inland, Khalil, Marwan, and Yusuf are left to hold the shore against him — three men against a thing that does not even seem to notice they are there until they make it impossible to ignore them.
Appearance. Enormous — twice the height of a tall man and broader than three. Skin the colour of wet stone, hair matted with salt, eyes set deep under a heavy brow. He wears scraps of sun-bleached cloth and carries nothing — his hands are weapon enough.
Personality. Slow, patient, territorial. Not cruel — simply unwilling to let anything pass. The kind of guardian that has been doing this so long he no longer remembers why.
Appears in: Sinbad
The Roc
The great bird of the island
The Roc is the second sign that the island is not what it seems. It does not attack — it watches, circling slowly above the avatar forest with wings wide enough to throw shadow across the whole canopy. Whether it is the island's guardian or simply a creature that has chosen to live there, Sinbad and Samia do not stay long enough to find out.
Appearance. Vast — wings the span of a galleon, bronze and ember-feathered, hooked beak, eyes too intelligent for any bird that size.
Personality. Calm, ancient, watchful. The kind of presence that is not quite hostile, but is absolutely not safe.
Appears in: Sinbad, Sinbad and the Dark Mountain
The Lead Pirate
Mutineer aboard the captain's ship
Resentful of the captain's affection for Sinbad, the lead pirate draws the mutiny's sabre on the boy — the same blade the mountain rips from his hand in the first sign of its magnetism. In the valley of serpents, cornered and doomed, he throws that sabre to Sinbad and is taken seconds later: enemy to redeemer in a single beat. The blade, and his ghost, stay with Sinbad.
Appearance. Weathered, scarred, a heavy sabre at his hip.
Personality. Jealous and proud — redeemed at the very end.
“Take it, boy — and remember who gave it to you.”
Appears in: Sinbad and the Dark Mountain
