Tatta

As a child, Tatta is very close to nature and has the unique ability to possess animals, which the Brahmin Naradatta takes great advantage of. In volume 1, after befriending the slave Chapra, his mother and sister are murdered by the rampaging armies of Kosala. After Kosala’s soldiers execute Chapra and ‘Moms’, Tatta vows revenge upon the kingdom of Kosala. As he grows up, Tatta becomes a bandit and reveals his plan of vengeance is to show the outside world to the sheltered child, Siddhartha, in hopes of persuading him to vanquish Kosala when he becomes king. In book 3, he agrees to stop being a bandit. In book 5, he becomes a lay disciple to Buddha, unwilling to become a monk because it would mean cutting his hair. Despite Buddha’s attempts to convince him otherwise, Tatta is unable to forgive the Kosalans for killing those close to him and joins a renegade Shakyan army who sought revenge for the atrocities inflicted on them by Crystal Prince. He dies in the last book fighting the Kosalan army.