Map of the Seal Islands (taken from Spirit Walker, illustrated by Geoff Taylor)
The Seal Clan is a Sea Clan. Their clan guardian is the ringed seal. The clan resides on an island in the sea called Seal Island. North of it lies Cormorant Island and Kelp Island, both of which have clans living on them, Cormorant Clan and Kelp Clan respectively, both are Sea Clans as well. The Seal Clan features prominently throughout the book Spirit Walker, after Torak is captured by its members - Bale (who turns out to be Torak's kin), Asrif, and Detlan, in their skinboats. The Seal Clan also appears at the start of Oath Breaker, and in Outcast.
The Seal Clan tattoo
Members
- Bale - (Deceased)
- Tenris - Mage (Deceased)
- Asrif
- Detlan
- Bale's brother
- Bale's father
- Torak's Grandmother
- Islinn - Leader of the Seal Clan
Appearance
Usually wearing cloaks made from seal skin, their bare chests are riddled with tattoos, and they wear tunics made from seal fur and, in the case of chieftains, fish scales. They also wear articles of clothing they call gutskin, made from the gut of the seals they hunt. They have rough sandals bound with moss and seal skin. They usually wear their hair long, and wear short beards trimmed with chipped rock. They have tanned skin and are used to swimming in freezing cold waters. The chieftain wears fish eyes and slate beads in his hair, and has earlobes pierced with sharp, spear-shaped seashells. Men wear their clan-tattoos on their arms, and women wear theirs on their calves. They are usually fair-haired.
Customs
In the same way the Forest clans view their bows as a hunting partner and not merely an object, the Seal Clan think of their skinboats in the same way. Unlike many of the Forest clans in the series, the Seal Clan is more divided between men and women; women don't hunt and stay on the island where they fulfill roles such as cooking the meat provided by the male hunters and fishers.
They are very cautious of the Sea and its creatures, and take care to appease them. When someone in the clan kills a whale, it is a happy event for most of the clan, however, the person who made the kill is required to cut off all their hair and make an offering. He also must live on his own and avoid eating or touching his mate. This is to make amends for taking one of the Sea Mother's children. The people of the clan all get a piece of the whale's heart as food, so that they can take in its strength and courage. The rest of the meat is wrapped in seaweed and then buried so that it can slowly bake in a pit of fire-heated stones.
Orca whales (called Hunters by the clan) are considered both sacred and too dangerous to hunt. Puffins are also off limits because they are the only creatures that can fly in the air, dive in the sea, and burrow in the earth. Because of this, they are believed to visit spirits. The clan-creature is the ringed seal and can therefore not be hunted, but the gray seal provides the clan with nearly all of their food and tools.