Corvin has terrible eyesight, so he relies on his hearing. Rose has been living in Glitnir's Hall long enough for him to realize he can't hear her walk (she's very sneaky!), but when he's tired or distracted he forgets and defaults to thinking he should be able to hear people approach.
Trolls are obligate meat-eating monsters who frequently target human travellers. Anyone who spends any amount of time travelling generally has a story or two about someone going "missing" or a convoy being attacked by a hungry troll.
Sometime in the future of my story, Corvin gets permission from his Queen to travel around with Simon. But he gets shrunken, and his magic device (his bracelet that lets him see better) doesn't shrink with him, so he just loops it over his shoulder.
Corvin is an atheist, and Simon is religious, which I think is a funny combination. Sometimes religious people forget how their beliefs sound to a non-believer.
I struggled to figure out whether to include information about mountain giant culture in this same post, but eventually I attached it to the bottom of this post so it's easy to find.
Recognition: Recognition is something all giants have a knack for, depending on how much work they put into it. It is the ability to notice and observe very specific things about a human's facial features/body type, and determine their ethnicity, geographical background, and lineage. Corvin developed this ability early because he would look at portraits of humans in search of Daneenri (a species of winged people). This is a useful ability for the Regent of Glitnir's Hall for when humans try to disguise themselves.
Character Description: Corvin is a mountain giant. Shortly after he was born, a physician noted that his eyes had the signs of a degenerative disease; he would slowly lose his visual acuity throughout his life, until he went completely blind. Corvin's mother refused the physician's recommendation and societal pressure and decided to keep Corvin. As he grew, his mother and everyone else began to notice that Corvin was developing differently than other giant children. Not only was Corvin born with dying eyesight, he was "touched" as well. Corvin's mother worked on different strategies to try and find an occupation for Corvin that would allow him to contribute to giant society and protect him from society-mandated exile; eventually she discovered he might have talents that could match him as the next regent of Glitnir's Hall. Although Corvin was a voracious reader for things he was interested in, his teachers had difficulty getting him to remain interested in his lessons. Using the royal doll maker to create bribes for Corvin in the form of Daneenri dolls (which Corvin was obsessed over), Corvin finally had the motivation to begin performing adequately at his other studies.
Corvin's mother passed away in his childhood, and the regent of Glitnir's Hall passed on after Corvin became an adult. The Queen held a trial to see who the next regent of Glitnir's Hall would be. She told Corvin he had two options: fail the trial and be sent for the Long Walk, without his dolls or books; or win the trial, and be sent to live out his life away from the rest of the giants, WITH his books and his dolls. Corvin passed the trial and was escorted away.
Corvin spends his time translating his favourite books into braille so he can still read them when he eventually loses his vision. There is a village at the base of the mountain with members who assist Corvin in mediating disputes or assessing unusual tributes. During the winter season, there is not as much travel due to the unpredictable weather and snowstorms, so Corvin is frequently alone for that part of the year.
Likes: reading romance books; swimming
Loves: Daneenri and all depictions thereof, including his extensive doll collection; dandelions
Dislikes: exercise, being mocked/tricked, loud or repetitive noises
Fears: Losing his ability to see, losing his ability to read.
Mountain Giants: A race of giant humanoids that live in the far South of the continent, ruled by a Queen. The continent is mostly split in two by a range of very tall mountains, and it is along this range that these giants have often been spied by humans, walking along the peaks. Mountain Giants usually walk to Glitnir's Hall once a year to collect the tribute, then return home. The rest of the year, only one giant remains in Glitnir's Hall as a Regent.
Mountain Giants live in the deep South, in an inhospitable land of ice and snow that remains cold for most the year with only a brief summer. Giants live close to the ocean and harvest and hunt from the depths. Giant diet is largely made up of seafood.
There is a local erubite (human) population that lives around and within the giant stronghold. Another smaller population lives at the base of the mountain of Glitnir's Hall.
Mountain Giants and Disability: Giants have had multiple issues over their existence with collecting enough resources for everyone to survive. Although the technology to store food for longer periods has developed and expanded, the cultural resentment towards those who are perceived "free-loaders", remains deeply embedded in history and society. The Long Walk is an exile that unproductive giants are sent on, where they walk in a southern direction from the giant stronghold and never return. It is assumed that giants sent on the Long Walk eventually die of starvation without others to support them. Giants born with physical disabilities are often left to die of exposure, and the disabled who make it to childhood eventually feel greatly pressured by society and royalty to remove themselves. Giants born with behavioural disorders (antisocial or psychopathic tendencies) are also sent away. The Queen has the authority to simply order a giant on the Long Walk, and some Queens have known to be more enthusiastic about this duty than others. The exception is for giants who have made it to adulthood before obtaining a disability, who can still be productive or do their duties. Giants who realize they may be getting sick or showing signs of chronic issues tend to hide these from others out of shame and fear.
Because those with disabilities are often removed from society, giants are largely unknowledgeable about recognizing non-visible disabilities, realizing the diversity of disabilities, and not understanding the possible accommodations. Seeing a human in a wheeled chair makes them think the human is playing a game or that the chair is too heavy to move normally and needs wheels, rather than the human being unable to walk. A human with a walking stick is just holding a spear funny. Someone with dyslexia isn't trying hard enough to understand how to read properly - and et cetera. A child with ADHD "daydreams too much" and a child with autism is "prone to fits"; they don't even have words like "autism" or "ADHD" because they group disabilities under an umbrella term, like "touched".
Trauma: Giants have a difficult time dealing with mental trauma. Magical items and enchanted objects are incredibly rare in the giant kingdom, but one commonly-used device is the Memory Well. If a giant is terribly stressed or stricken by memories, they can use this device to block out certain memories to allow them to continue on their normal life. One of the most common usages is from a parent who has just witnessed their child leave on the Long Walk. The Queen has the authority to order to a giant to use the Memory Well if their behaviour becomes undignified after a stressful event.
Below is a picture of a height comparison between Corvin and Simon, and two reference pictures from when Corvin was a child. One of the pictures shows part of the Daneenri doll collection.
