The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, racism, child death, and animal cruelty and death.

Good Stab is the novel’s primary protagonist and one of its three narrators. He is an Amskapi Pikuni man who belongs to the Small Robes band. He is killed during a battle with the US military and subsequently revived with vampiric qualities. This makes him immortal, living from the early 19th century to 2013 and beyond.

Good Stab’s misguided ego defines him, which values his status in the band. His early motivations are evidence of this: He aspires to get a repeating firearm because it will improve his hunting yield and thus improve his status. His low status is the result of an accident he caused when he allowed a young boy named White Teeth to carry his previous gun, leading to an accident that injured White Teeth. Good Stab’s ego drives his greed, which pushes him to kill a beaver and acquire its pelt for a gun purchase. This goes against the moral traditions of the Pikuni, who forbid the killing of beavers. Good Stab sees this as the point of no return for his character, effectively condemning his soul to its current fate.