# Tangle — Short Fiction character guide

> Tangle in Short Fiction by George MacDonald.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Mossy, Tangle and Mossy, Meantime Mossy

**First appearance:** 0054-the-golden-key

## Snapshot

A girl who follows a mysterious thread into the country at the back of the north wind, trading her comfortable home for a journey that will not leave her unchanged.

## Who they are

Tangle — called Mossy in another guise — is the child at the center of MacDonald's fairy-tale quest, chosen for a journey she did not ask for. Her defining tension is between the pull of home and the strange, beautiful, sometimes terrifying country she is led through, and between wanting answers and learning to trust the guide she cannot always see. Her wanderings open the story's middle, where the fairy tale stops being charming and starts asking what the traveler is willing to become.

## Relationships

### [Aurora](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/characters/aurora)

_friendship_

Aurora and Tangle are companions, likely navigating a fantastical or adventurous journey together.

### [Aurora](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/characters/aurora)

_friendship_

Aurora and Tangle are companions, likely navigating a fantastical or adventurous journey together.

### [Aurora](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/characters/aurora)

_friendship_

Aurora and Tangle are companions, likely navigating a fantastical or adventurous journey together.

## In the story

### [The Castle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-castle)

The curious younger sister with black glittering eyes, who brings strange gifts to her sister and becomes more gentle and elegant after the transformation.

### [The Golden Key](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-golden-key)

Tangle meets the Old Man of the Fire, follows a serpent, and later is given to Mossy as a companion by the Grandmother.

### [The Golden Key](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-golden-key)

Mossy holds the golden key, meets the Old Man of the Sea, and is directed by the Grandmother to take Tangle with him on his quest.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/characters/tangle
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_21_se/characters