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Ha

Ha is the strongest male of the group of Neanderthals portrayed in The Inheritors and is intelligent and thoughtful. Described by Golding as ‘the man for an emergency’, he is the first of the group to see the new log across the water. Ha appears to be the partner of Nil and the father of the ‘new one’, although such definitions of family relationships are not needed in this world.

When Ha goes out to collect wood with Nil, he disappears.  Nil describes how she saw him chasing something on the cliff and how there is an unfamiliar ‘smell of a nobody’. Lok attempts to retrace Ha’s route by following his nose and has a ‘picture’ of Ha falling into the water from the cliffs after following an ‘other’ who offered food. Lok sees an unfamiliar shape and asks: ‘Where is Ha?’ The shape does not reply and scrambles away towards the ‘unvisited island’.