# The Seventh Men — Last and First Men character guide

> The Seventh Men in Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** The Seventh Men, The winged Seventh

**First appearance:** 0060-ii-the-flying-men

## Snapshot

A winged species who live two lives — dull, industrious groundlings and ecstatic aerial beings whose hearts stop if they cannot fly.

## Who they are

On the ground the Seventh Men are sober, patient laborers; in the air they become dispassionate aesthetes who exult even as they are dismembered by storms. Their makers gave them hearts that stop at great pain, but the device fails in flight, where grief and exaltation both intensify. Their dual nature — earthbound drudgery and airborne transcendence — makes them one of Stapledon's most haunting portraits of a species shaped by its own element.

## In the story

### [Humanity on Venus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/xiii-humanity-on-venus)

The aerial species that develops a flight-based civilization on Venus, lasting for a hundred million years.

### [II: The Flying Men](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/ii-the-flying-men)

The winged human species, carefree and adapted for flight, who face extinction through subjugation and mass suicide.

### [III: Slow Conquest](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/iii-slow-conquest)

Mentioned as a type analogous to the ancient Fifth, which colonized Venus, but not directly featured in this chapter.

### [XV: The Last Men](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/xv-the-last-men)

Mentioned as having happened upon a glimpse of cosmic beauty while in the air.

### [III: A Racial Awakening](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/chapters/iii-a-racial-awakening)

The winged Seventh, who happened upon the experience while in the air but with cramped minds.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/characters/the_seventh_men
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/last_and_first_men_se/characters