The Host

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of suicidal ideation, death, and graphic violence.

Wanderer is the female protagonist in The Host and a dynamic character who changes throughout the novel. She is a “soul” who is thousands of years old and has lived on eight planets and experienced eight different lives before arriving on Earth and being implanted into Melanie Stryder’s body. Wanderer is unusual among her species because most souls visit two to three planets before remaining on one. However, Wanderer has never felt a close connection to any other souls or enjoyed any planet enough to want to spend a second lifetime (i.e., the lifespan of a host species) on that planet. Her “Calling,” or vocation, is teaching and storytelling, and she teaches other souls about the planets the souls have colonized. 

Wanderer has never experienced a host like Melanie, who remains inside her body even after Wanderer’s implantation. Wanderer finds Melanie’s presence horrifying and haunting, but despite her best efforts, Melanie’s feelings and memories imprint on Wanderer. She misses Melanie’s lover, Jared, and her brother, Jamie, just as much as Melanie does. When Melanie and Wanderer have an opportunity to try to find them, they therefore take it.