Pollux
Spoiler-light.
Snapshot: A mute cameraman on Cressida's crew — an Avox who survived years enslaved in the Capitol's underground, and who becomes the squad's guide through it.
Role in the story
Pollux films alongside his brother Castor on Cressida's rebel crew. He is an Avox — a person whose tongue the Capitol cut out as punishment — and he spent years as an enslaved laborer in the Capitol's underground tunnels. That grim experience makes him indispensable when Squad 451 is forced below ground in the final assault: he is the one who knows the maze.
Personality
Gentle, watchful, and patient, Pollux communicates without speech — through gesture, expression, and the eyes — and those around him learn to read him. Beneath his quiet is deep trauma from his years underground, and a moving gratitude, late in the book, simply to be able to see the sky. Brave and loyal under fire.
What they want
To do his work, to survive the war, and — in one of the book's quietest, most affecting wishes — simply to live above ground, in daylight, again.
What they fear or hide
His silence is not something he hides behind by choice — it was forced on him. What he carries is the trauma of the tunnels, and the book lets that history surface in his evident dread of returning to the dark.
Key relationships
- Castor — His brother and fellow cameraman on the crew.
- Cressida — The director he films for and trusts.
How to recognize them on the page
A thin man, young to middle-aged, with a narrow, watchful, expressive face and quiet, communicative eyes that carry everything his voice cannot. His skin has the pale cast of someone who spent years out of the sun. He carries a camera rig with the rebel film crew.
Aliases
The following names and references in the book all point to this character. Use any of these as link anchors back to this page.
- Pollux (canonical — the most common form)
Discussion questions
- Pollux cannot speak, yet the book makes him deeply expressive. How does it convey his inner life without dialogue?
- His years underground are the squad's salvation. How does the book turn his trauma into something the others depend on?
- His simple wish to see the sky is one of the book's quietest moments. Why does it land so hard?