# The Swine-Things — The House on the Borderland character guide

> The Swine-Things in The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** VI The Swine - Things, Things

**First appearance:** 0009-vi-the-swine-things

## Snapshot

Pig-faced creatures that swarm the house by night, climbing drainpipes and hurling themselves against doors in a sustained, gibbering siege.

## Who they are

The Swine-things come out of the darkness in numbers, jabbering below the windows and forcing the study door inward inch by inch. The recluse fights them with rifle, crowbar, and falling stone, never sure how many wait beyond the candlelight. Their assault turns the house from refuge into fortress and sets the rhythm of the middle chapters.

## In the story

### [The House on the Borderland](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/the-house-on-the-borderland)

Primitive evil creatures that attack the house.

### [III: The House in the Arena](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/iii-the-house-in-the-arena)

A single swine-thing is seen loping around the house, peering in windows, shaking bars, and pushing at doors, then charges at the narrator.

### [V: The Thing in the Pit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/v-the-thing-in-the-pit)

First direct encounter: a livid white, pig-like creature that wounds Pepper and later peers into the study window.

### [VI: The Swine-Things](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/vi-the-swine-things)

Emerging from the Pit, they pursue the narrator and Mary, surround the house, and communicate in a guttural language; one stares at the narrator through a window.

### [VII: The Attack](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/vii-the-attack)

Assault the study door, climb via a gutter pipe, and are driven off by gunfire and a falling copingstone.

### [VIII: After the Attack](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/viii-after-the-attack)

Have vanished after the attack; their bodies removed during the night, but their threat still looms.

### [XI: The Searching of the Gardens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/xi-the-searching-of-the-gardens)

No longer present in the gardens; their remains under the copingstone have vanished without trace.

### [XII: The Subterranean Pit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/xii-the-subterranean-pit)

Mentioned as the source of the hole's origin; their presence is feared but not encountered in this chapter.

### [XVIII: The Green Star](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/xviii-the-green-star)

Mentioned as 'inmates of the Pit' that haunt the narrator's thoughts during the darkness.

### [XIX: The End of the Solar System](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/xix-the-end-of-the-solar-system)

Crawl over the house and disappear into the pit when the house collapses.

### [XXII: The Dark Nebula](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/xxii-the-dark-nebula)

Heard murmuring with swine-laughter from beneath the narrator as he is trapped in the dark House.

### [XXV: The Thing from the Arena](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/chapters/xxv-the-thing-from-the-arena)

The Thing from the arena appears as a vast, misty swine-face with phosphorescent slaver, staring through the window and compelling the narrator.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/characters/the_swine_things
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_borderland_se/characters