The wendol are a group of brutal cannibals which live on the periphery of human society. They may or may not be human—neither Ahmad nor the Editor can say definitively—but they have a symbolic value as a group rather than as individual characters. The wendol symbolize the horrors of life beyond the boundaries of civilization. They represent the most brutal, most violent elements of human behavior beyond any adherence to conventional laws or expectations. They engage in taboo, killing men, women, and children, and cannibalizing the people they murder. Unlike Ahmad or the Norsemen, the wendol seem to have no idea of peaceful society. To Ahmad, they represent the pure unbound horror of the darkest parts of humanity.

The symbolic importance of the wendol is conveyed through their living arrangements. They live in a system of caves underneath the ground. In a very literal sense, they are subhuman. Similarly, they only exit their underground dwelling at nighttime. The humans operate during the daylight hours and Hurot Hall is perched high up on a cliff, signifying the difference between the wendol and the other characters. The wendol are also physically different from the other characters and their clothes are markedly unfamiliar to even the Norsemen.