# Steve Schroeder — The Survivors character guide

> Steve Schroeder in The Survivors by Tom Godwin.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Schroeder, Steve

**First appearance:** 0001-the-survivors

## Snapshot

The leader who inherits Lake's unfinished work, mining the last iron vein on Ragnarok and breaking unicorns to drag the ore home.

## Who they are

Schroeder takes command in the spring after Lake's death, facing a different problem than his predecessors: not survival but construction, with fifty years of Big Summer to build something before Big Fall and the Gerns return. He leads the expedition north, buries Lake's bones beside his mocker's, and works the pinched-out vein with a hand drill and black powder, saving every particle of ore. His pragmatism—trap the unicorns, hobble them, force them south—shows what leadership costs when the goal is a ship that may never fly.

## Relationships

### [Vincent Lake](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_survivors_se/characters/vincent_lake)

_friendship_

Steve and Vincent are close companions, frequently interacting with mutual support and camaraderie.

### [Tip](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_survivors_se/characters/tip)

_friendship_

Steve and Tip are good friends, sharing a lighthearted and supportive dynamic.

### [Vincent Lake](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_survivors_se/characters/vincent_lake)

_friendship_

Steve and Vincent are close companions, frequently interacting with mutual support and camaraderie.

### [Tip](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_survivors_se/characters/tip)

_friendship_

Steve and Tip are good friends, sharing a lighthearted and supportive dynamic.

### [Vincent Lake](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_survivors_se/characters/vincent_lake)

_friendship_

Steve and Vincent are close companions, frequently interacting with mutual support and camaraderie.

### [Tip](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_survivors_se/characters/tip)

_friendship_

Steve and Tip are good friends, sharing a lighthearted and supportive dynamic.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_survivors_se/chapters/i)

Revealed as the man who killed a Gern and two Venusian police; writes a text on Gern blasters.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_survivors_se/chapters/iii)

Now leader, he mines the iron vein, struggles with aluminum production, and observes his daughter's dangerous encounter with a unicorn.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_survivors_se/characters/steve_schroeder
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_survivors_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_survivors_se/characters