Trond Sander
Eventually we learn that Trond is a widower and a recluse. His life was shaped by WWII, and by the damage that the warfare did in his father's emotions. Trond remembers feeling evil and damaged when he was in the city, because he often crossed lines that no one else would, like literally Stealing Horses, so to speak. He reminisces about his life and his decisions in languid, naturalistic prose.
Lars Haug
Trond's neighbor of many years, another man in his old age. They knew each other as children, but never realized it until one day their dogs played together. Through Lars, we learn about Trond's ability to connect. We also learn about his inability to connect, because Trond once shot Lars's brother in his head while playing with a gun he wasn't supposed to.
Trond's father
Trond's father went to the military to fight Germany in WWII, and when he came back, he was perfectly unable to fathom the harsh truths of the future. Mechanized warfare, Holocaust, atomic bombs—these are things that happened when Trond was a youngster. When he learns how to be an adult, during his adolescence, his dad is literally enduring perhaps some of the most horrific PTSD that Europe has ever seen, the horror of World War II.
