Dustfinger/Relationships

The Black Prince
Both being orphaned at a young age, the Black Prince and Dustfinger became close friends after the Motley Folk took them in. After Dustfinger dies, the Prince shaves his head, showing that he is a close friend. Although both he and Dustfinger get along, their animal companions do not. Even though his bear accepts Dustfinger, he cannot stand Gwin or Jink, and vice versa, but they put up with each other for their master's sakes.

When he returns to the Inkworld, Dustfinger feels that he's missed the Prince almost as much as Roxane, and he is greeted as a long lost friend (as he was). It is in Inkdeath that their bond starts to wane, as he had become bonded with Mo, so his friendship with the Prince is put to the side while he completes the task that Death has given them.

Roxane
Dustfinger's wife. Roxane and Dustfinger had been married for several years before he was taken into this world and they had two daughters. The first time he saw her, he thought he had "never seen a more beautiful woman before", and throughout his time in the real world, he tried to get back to her and their children, even when he knew that he will probably die, as it was how it had been written in Fenoglio's book.

When he first returns, Roxane is with her son Jehan, and greets him emotionlessly, though she does eventually show how much she has missed him. When he dies before her eyes, she becomes distraught and takes his body somewhere it cannot decay (the Hollow Trees) and does not allow anyone or anything, except Gwin, visit him with her.

When Death gives Dustfinger a second chance, Roxane becomes his main priority bar. Through his 'new eyes', he realizes how important it is to be with his family, and once his task had been completed, he remains with her on her farm.

Gwin
Gwin is a tame marten that was Dustfinger's pet in and was accidentally read into the real world along with his master. He was Dustfinger's only companion for nearly ten years after Dustfinger was plucked from his story. Dustfinger taught tricks to Gwin to help him earn money for his performances. Dustfinger can also talk to him and summon, or whatever Dustfinger wanted Gwin to do, but the marten was often disobedient and bit him. He cares for the marten a lot, and in his original story he died while protecting him.

Basta
Basta scarred Dustfinger as he found out the latter was the person Roxane was enamored with. While both men despise one another, they knew of each other's strengths and weaknesses, such as Dustfinger knowing Basta's belief and superstitious nature and being afraid of fire, thus able to hold leverage, while Basta was usually right that Dustfinger had the tendency of being a coward.

Mortimer Folchart
Like Basta and Capricorn, Dustfinger was read out of Inkworld. Because of this, Dustfinger followed Mo around for the 10 years he was in our world, begging him to read him back. Dustfinger betrayed Mo by leading him to Capricorn without Mo's knowledge, for Capricorn promised him to let Mo read him back again inside the book, but Capricorn betrayed him. At first Dustfinger had an antagonistic view of Mo, due to Mo's refusal of reading him back to his home. Dustfinger disliked him so greatly that despite knowing that Mo's wife, Resa, was Capricorn's captive maid, he did not seek to reunite the two as a revenge on Mo.

Dustfinger's usual attitude towards Mo changed after his resurrection: he used to hate Mo for ripping him from his story, but after coming back from the dead, he had warmer feelings towards Mo. They became extremely friendly towards each other to the point of near inseparability. After this experience Mo and Dustfinger also seem to be able to tell what the other is thinking. He became the Bluejay's "shadow," continually looking out for and protecting Mo.

Teresa Folchart
Dustfinger met Resa while she worked as a maid in Capricorn's house. The two were very friendly towards each other and Resa taught him how to read. Dustfinger went to Resa and told Farid that 'we can trust her'. He asked Resa to try and find Inkheart and Silvertounge's daughter. When Dustfinger was escaping from Capricorn's village's crypt, he asked Resa to come with him.

Dustfinger left a basket of candles on Elinor's door because Meggie and Mo were living there along with Resa, and they hadn't exactly appreciated, or more precisely, forgiven about how he had fled for his life and had not aided them.

In addition, when Dustfinger died Resa cried almost as much as Roxane, Dustfinger's wife.

Meggie Folchart
Meggie and Dustfinger had in fact been around each other for a period of time when Dustfinger was read out of Inkheart by Mo; however, due to Meggie's young age, she did not recall. When Meggie first saw Dustfinger, she didn't trust him and wanted him to go away because of his name, appearance, and his pet, and when he betrayed her father she was furious. Dustfinger often speaks to her sarcastically, calling her "princess" rather than by name. Despite this he cares for her more than he would like to admit, and she is one of few people from the real world that he trusts.

Farid
After Farid was read out of his book, he became attached to Dustfinger through his horned marten, Gwin. Farid was impressed by Dustfinger's fiery abilities and attached himself to Dustfinger, eager to learn all his tricks. At first, Dustfinger didn't very much like having Farid follow him around, but he grew to like and eventually took Farid as an apprentice at his insistence. At first, Farid is more of a hinderance than anything else, then a student, but after a year of traveling with each other between, Dustfinger viewed him akin to a son. The two care about each other very much, to the point where Dustfinger traded his life to the White Women to save Farid's when Farid was killed by Basta. And after Farid was revived, he worked desperately for months trying to bring Dustfinger back to life.

Capricorn
Dustfinger worked for Capricorn, since he promised that he could send him back into the book. With this being said, Dustfinger betrayed Mo and gave him to Capricorn. Later Capricorn broke his promise to Dustfinger, and now Dustfinger is completely against him. By showing this, Dustfinger helps the prisoners (Mo, Meggie, Elinor and Farid) escape out of Capricorn's prison.