Kuchel Ackerman

Levi inherits his features from his mother; the resemblance between the two is unmistakable. Kuchel is slender, with pale eyes, and she wears her dark hair long enough to fall down her back.

Nearly everything known about Kuchel centers on her devotion to her son. She insists on carrying the pregnancy despite her brother's objections and despite the child being fathered by a client, and she weeps with joy while cradling the newborn. She goes on to raise Levi by herself in the brothel, sharing quiet moments over tea with him as he grows.

Generations after the persecution that scattered the Ackerman clan, Kuchel earns her living at one of the Underground city's brothels, taking the working name Olympia. A client leaves her pregnant, and when her older brother Kenny tracks her down, he fails to talk her out of keeping the baby. She raises Levi for several years before an unnamed illness kills her, leaving the boy alone, emotionally scarred, and slowly starving.

Kenny arrives some time after her passing, remarking on how thin she has become before Levi tells him she is already gone. He takes the child in without ever admitting they are family, presenting himself as nothing more than an acquaintance of hers. He teaches Levi everything he knows about survival, then abandons him once he judges the boy capable of avoiding his mother's fate. Only decades later, as Kenny lies dying, does he finally tell Levi the truth about their blood tie and why he walked away.