Bug-Eyes

In his twenties across most of his appearances, Bug-Eyes cuts a lean figure of ordinary height and weight. Dark blond hair sits in a loose, shaggy tangle, a small beard traces his chin, and the feature that earned his nickname is a pair of unusually wide, staring eyes. He resembles Thorfinn Karlsefni closely enough to be mistaken for him, though his own hair runs a deeper blond and his eyes are blue.

Beyond the bulging eyes he is known for, he owns genuinely keen sight, which pairs with his gifts as a first-rate sailor and a shrewd trader chasing a comfortable, refined life. Blunt to a fault, practical, and prone to clowning, he fires off sarcastic jabs at Leif and his companions and says whatever crosses his mind with no filter, which lands him in friction with the crew. Flashes of sense make him a voice of reason now and then, yet he stays happy to play the fool. Painful memories he simply buries, trusting that time smooths every wound. He shrinks from responsibility and keeps warning the others not to lean on him for anything but seamanship, though in practice he proves invaluable to the settlement, charting Epekwitk and serving as its interpreter.

When his parents lost their farmland, they sold him off. He was old enough to hold onto the memory but chose to wall it away, telling himself instead that the family had simply been separated somehow. He never crossed paths with them again and has no notion of where they ended up. Leif Ericson bought the boy as a slave, then handed him both his freedom and a fresh start, teaching him trade and the whole craft of the sea. To Bug-Eyes, no one in the world matters more. He signed on for the journey toward Miklagard mainly to see Leif home to Greenland safe, fretting the entire way over the old man's failing health, which is exactly why he opposed pressing on to Vinland.