# Sullenbode — A Voyage to Arcturus character guide

> Sullenbode in A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Poor Sullenbode

**First appearance:** 0019-xix-sullenbode

## Snapshot

A woman who defines love as the willingness to vanish for the beloved, she claims Maskull and guides him toward Adage.

## Who they are

Sullenbode enters Maskull's journey late, taking his arm and declaring him hers against Corpang's reminders of nobler things. Her love is not possessive but self-erasing, and she speaks of not going on living with a calm that unsettles him. She matters because she offers the novel's most radical vision of devotion, one that tests whether Maskull can accept a gift whose price is someone else's disappearance.

## Relationships

### [Maskull](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_voyage_to_arcturus_se/characters/maskull)

_romantic_

Maskull and Sullenbode share a deep, passionate love that transcends their harsh surroundings, ending in mutual sacrifice.

### [Haunte](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_voyage_to_arcturus_se/characters/haunte)

_rivalry_

Haunte is a jealous and possessive figure who resents Sullenbode's love for Maskull, leading to conflict.

### [Maskull](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_voyage_to_arcturus_se/characters/maskull)

_romantic_

Maskull and Sullenbode share a deep, passionate love that transcends their harsh surroundings, ending in mutual sacrifice.

### [Maskull](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_voyage_to_arcturus_se/characters/maskull)

_romantic_

Maskull and Sullenbode share a deep, passionate love that transcends their harsh surroundings, ending in mutual sacrifice.

### [Haunte](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_voyage_to_arcturus_se/characters/haunte)

_rivalry_

Haunte is a jealous and possessive figure who resents Sullenbode's love for Maskull, leading to conflict.

### [Haunte](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_voyage_to_arcturus_se/characters/haunte)

_rivalry_

Haunte is a jealous and possessive figure who resents Sullenbode's love for Maskull, leading to conflict.

## In the story

### [Haunte](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_voyage_to_arcturus_se/chapters/xviii-haunte)

A woman of pure sex, initially asleep under a tree; she kills Haunte with a kiss.

### [XIX: Sullenbode](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_voyage_to_arcturus_se/chapters/xix-sullenbode)

Guides Maskull and Corpang, speaks of love as sacrifice, and expresses willingness to die for Maskull.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_voyage_to_arcturus_se/characters/sullenbode
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_voyage_to_arcturus_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_voyage_to_arcturus_se/characters