Karen Niedzwiecki asked Jonathan Stroud:

It is a bit off topic, but I can't find the answers anywhere else on the internet - What was the difference between the Trow King and just the regular Trows, and how much of their original selves do they maintain (it seems Halli's uncle retained quite a bit of himself if he could knowingly help Halli..?) Also, was Halli a dwarf?

Jonathan Stroud Ha ha - I'm glad you've been reading Heroes of the Valley! It's one of my favourites of my books. Halli wasn't a dwarf, but he was just very very short and squat. Kind of stumpy. The Trow King in the stories was just a bigger and tougher version of the regular kind. The revenants up on the hill, such as Halli's uncle, are rather like zombies - obeying the directions of Svein and Co. - but some of them (including the uncle) do retain fragments of their original personalities - luckily for Halli and Aud.

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