

The novel crescendos as Matty and Kira make a heart-stopping, dangerous journey through Forest, and it packs a final punch when the hero summons his power and we learn his true name. But Matty also has a power he can't explain, and when he understands that local attitudes are becoming intolerant and aggressive due to mysterious happenings at Trade Mart, the boy sets out to bring back Kira (Seer's daughter and the main character in Gathering Blue) before Village barricades itself entirely against outsiders. Fraught with the same tension and subtle complexities of the previous novels, Lowry's third episode follows Matty - who lives with Seer and doesn't yet have his true name - as he keeps busy running errands through Forest and otherwise lives a youthful, carefree life. After this, he gives Matty his true name of Healer.The Barnes & Noble Review Newbery medalist Lois Lowry once again ushers readers into the hypnotic, disconcerting fantasy world she made familiar in her award-winning The Giver and its sequel, Gathering Blue, introducing us to young Matty, a boy whose role for Village is more profound than he thinks.

Leader's sense of responsibility to Village is so strong that he asks Matty to sacrifice himself for the good of Village and the people in it. He appears to have a close and honest relationship with Matty he takes Matty's concerns and information seriously, and entrusts Matty with spreading the word about Village’s closure. He most often looks out into Forest, and he notices that Forest is "thickening" and becoming darker and more foreboding as time goes on, especially after Mentor passes his vote to close Village.

Leader also has the ability to "see beyond," which means that he can see beyond a normal person's range of vision.

Leader's sense of honesty and his desire to play by the rules means that Mentor and his supporters are able to vote to close Village to outsiders, something that Leader finds troubling and abhorrent but feels unable to stop, given how Village functions. These have to do with what a person's true nature is, and what their most important contribution to Village is. Among a variety of other things, one of Leader's functions is to bestow "true names" on people in Village. Matty notes that Leader is the kind of person that he can tell anything without fear of overstepping boundaries or being made fun of. A kind, truthful, and honest man, Leader is friends with everyone in the village. Leader believes in fairness, kindness, and taking care of others, all of which are reflected in the ways that Village functions. He arrived in Village years ago on a red sled, and he's responsible for making Village what it is in the novel's present. Though he appears older to Matty, he's still a young man in his early 20s. The leader of Village, who was the character Jonas from The Giver.
