Tristan Strong

"My name is Tristan Strong, and I’ve got a story to tell."

- Tristan at the end of

Tristan Strong is the titular character, protagonist, and narrator of the Tristain Strong series by Kwame Mbaliia under the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.

Early Life
Tristan was born to Alvin Strong and an unnamed mother. He eventually befriended a boy named Eddie. The two would enjoy listening to Tristan’s grandmother talk about African and African American folktales.

At one point he and Eddie broke into school to create a soda explosion with soda and pop rocks. They are nearly caught but escaped when the prank went off dowsing the cafeteria and supposedly going down the street to stop a fight in the parking lot of a burger restaurant.

Eddie’s Death
When he was twelve, Eddie died in a bus accident, he tried to save him, but a school aid prevented Tristan from doing so. The event deeply troubled Tristan. He was given Eddie’s journal by his mother. Tristan went to therapy to help him deal with the loss of his best.

Soon after he had his first boxing match and lost due to not eating or getting enough sleep the night before.

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
As Tristan is punching a punchi bag in his bedroom, his other comes in to tell him his grandparents are their to take him to the family farm in Alabama for a month. As they head south Tristan stares at Eddie’s journal, more specifically the glow green spiderweb on the cover and the charm on the built in bookmark that suddenly appeared but only he can see. He shows the notebook to Nana, who see the web but not the glowing, tells him it is the symbol of Anansi and he reads some of it. He reads and has a vision of John Henry and Brer Rabbit hiding and John Henry telling something to find something. He comes to sweating and opens the window to get some air, but Granddad tells him to close it. Nana asks him if he is okay and he thinks she is staring at the journal. When they arrive he thinks he sees something in the bottle trees but no one else sees it. Tristan and Granddad work on a fence until dinner and he goes into a trance and walks to the bottle trees until Nana snaps him out of it and he goes inside for dinner.

As he sleeps, Tristan hears a voice and takes a flashlight to search the room. He finds a doll leaving a sticky residue that introduces itself as Gum Baby and demands to know where the glowing is. After he realizes it’s Eddie’s journal and glances at his backpack, Gum Baby snatches it and runs out of the house. He finds a trail of sticky goo and follows the doll into the cornfield. He chases Gum Baby through the cornfield and into the bottle tree forest and finds her escaping into a small tree. He calls her a doll and she lunges at him. In a fit of rage, Tristan smashes a bottle on a tree and unleashes a flurry of hot wind. As the groud spits open he runs for it but sees Eddie’s journal about to fall in and he goes back for it. He and Gum Baby then fall into the fissure.

Soon after he finds himself in what looks like the inside of a cabin and a disembodied voice says that he saved him and asks for the book, but he says he lost it. Tristan then gets blown away and the voice introduces himself as Uncle C. Tristan then returns to falling and sees Gum Baby glued to his arm grasping the journal and they fall into a hot sea. He heads to shore but turns around the save Gum Baby and the journal. As he reaches her they are corned by three Bone Ships and bearly escape with the help of a flying raft. When they arrive they are greeted by a girl named Ayanna and a dozen cloaked figures as they escape the bone ships. Ayanna explains that Gum Baby has been gone a year and they make their way to shore before heading to the Thicket and Tristan freaks out when sees that one of the figures is a talking fox. When he calms down he helps Brer Fox pull the raft to shore and unload the Midfolk. When he tells Brer Fox he came from the hole in the sky, the fox tells Tristan he will have to survive to return home. When Ayanna explains MidPass and Alke to him, Brer Fox senses something. They make their way to the Thicket but are ambushed by Fetterlings, sentient chains with shackles for heads. Brer Fox sacrifices himself and the others escape. He helps Gum Baby and Tarrypin and goes bac to help Brer Fox but has a flashback of Eddie’s death and gets shackled by one of the iron monsters. He panics and the journal transforms into a paper giant revealed to be Eddie, he is exited but it turns to fear when Eddie is taken by the iron monsters. He fights them off but loses them.

He dreams of Uncle C thanking him for the journal and wakes a day later in the Thicket. Gum Baby brings him a young rabbit named Chestnutt who takes him to a meeting and explains how the folk characters he knows of are gods in Alke before arriving at the meeting. When they arrive he is shocked to see John Henry and follows them into a large underground chamber where he meets Brer Rabbit. Tristan explains what happened and the vision he had and the lagomorph calls him a spy and demands to know where the book is. After describing the book he learns it contained the earliest stories given to Anansi and questions how Eddie got hold of it. He says he lost it and asks to go home, but Brer Rabbit says he is leaving them to clean up his mess and calls him a false hero and a coward. At that Tristan snaps and tells them how he lost his best friend and that he journal they wanted to steal from him was all he has left. When he calms down he notices a gourp of butterflies are reenacting his story and Gum Baby calls him an Anansesem, a story teller with limited reality controlling abilities. He is dismissed but John Henry tells him something in his story does not add up and he will be watching him.

Gum Baby takes him to the mess hall for food and he sits with a girl named Netta and her family, who points out that their is a lack of adolescent and teenage refugees. He finishes his food and leaves before dreaming of walking in Uncle C’s hideout and the haint telling him to brin him the power of Anansi or he will burn the book and his loved ones. He then hears Eddie telling him he is talking to the wrong one. He wakes up to find Ayanna in front of him and she takes him to where he spoke with the gods. They find John Henry and she leaves. He tells Tristan that the iron monsters are getting smarter and that leaving the Thicket is to dangerous for the Midfolk. Tristan feels responsive for the mess and asks what his plan is when the folk hero tells him they have one. They make their way to Brer Rabbit and are joined by Rose, Sarah, and Ayanna. Brer explains his plan to use Anansi to fix the hole in the sky. The others shoot him down but after he tells them Tristan can find a Story Box he and Anansi were working on to call him to them, the others agree except for Tristan. The others get angry at his decision but John Henry takes him for a walk to the grove. They talk about boxing and how he feels forced to take up the family tradition. John Henry tells him how he was forced to box for others amusement after working on the railroad all day. He gives Tristan the tassel from the journal, but it has an iron monster on the other end of it.

After Brer Rabbit warns them he lost control of the Thicket, they fend off the invading fetterlings themselves. John Henry gives him a pair of magical gloves that help him take on the iron monsters. Things go in there favor until Brer Rabbit warns them a large fetterling is headed their way. It breaks in and the other gods join the fight and urge him to go on the quest and he reluctantly does. He finds Ayanna and Chestnutt loading supplies and goes to get on the raft but Ayanna stops him. He says he said no because he was afraid and that the gods told him to go. She reluctantly lets him on and they head out.

As they fly over MidPass he thinks of all the trouble he caused Alke as Chestnutt explains brand flies and they talk about their fears. Soon a fetter,I gotta jumps out of a supply bag. However it is just Gum Baby stowing away to redeem herself from Tristan ‘ruining‘ her last mission. Chestnutt asks to hear it, but he tells them a story of a prank Eddie and he pulled in the past. His thoughts go to Eddie and he becomes depressed. They soon arrive at the Golden Cresent.

Appearance
Tristan is an adolescent African American boy with a dark brown complexion and short Afro. He is tall with a somewhat athletic build.

He often wears a gray hooded sweatshirt with a faded black inked flexed bicep on the back.

Personality
Tristan is shown to be attached to friends and loved ones, mourning them if they pass.

When under attack he can either fight back to defend others or run away to save himself.

Abilities

 * Boxing Skills: Tristan has been trained in boxing by his father since he was young.
 * Reality Warping (limited): As an Anansesem, Tristan has a partial control of the realm of Alke.
 * Empowering: As an Asansesem, Tristan can give gods a boost in power by telling their stories.

Items

 * Eddie’s Journal: After Eddie‘s death, Tristan was given his journal.

Etymology

 * Tristan is a name of Welsh origin meaning “noise of arms”, or “clanking sword”.
 * Strong is a surname of Irish origin.

Trivia

 * Tristan has acrophobia, a fear of heights. As well as insectophobia, fear of insects.
 * He says “Sweat Peaches” whenever he is startled.
 * His favorite boxer is Muhammad Ali.
 * Tristan is the first character in both the main literary universe and Rick Riordan Presents to deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.