# Ferdinand — Pelle the Conqueror character guide

> Ferdinand in Pelle the Conqueror by Martin Andersen Nexø.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0030-iii

## Snapshot

A gifted, restless young man from the streets, Ferdinand can do almost anything well and finish almost nothing, drawn to his mother's need and his own undoing.

## Who they are

Ferdinand grows up in the alleys and doorways of the poor quarter, known to the police and loved by no one but his mother. He is strong, quick, and capable of real work, yet something in him always throws it up just when it might become a future. His goodness of heart, not his cunning, is what finally trips him, and his fate shadows Pelle's own choices about loyalty, work, and the price of staying free.

## In the story

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pelle_the_conqueror_se/chapters/vii)

Defends a poor boy accused of stealing, strikes a policeman.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pelle_the_conqueror_se/chapters/viii)

Ferdinand secretly passes a packet to Pelle addressed to 'mother,' indicating he is hiding in the Rabarber ward and cannot venture through Kristianshavn.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pelle_the_conqueror_se/chapters/xii)

Pursued by police, he escapes over the roofs and hides in Madam Frandsen's room.

### [Chapter XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pelle_the_conqueror_se/chapters/xvii)

Imprisoned and seen washing wool on rafts near the prison bridge.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pelle_the_conqueror_se/characters/ferdinand
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pelle_the_conqueror_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pelle_the_conqueror_se/characters