Hanna
It would be easy to mistake Hanna’s character as weak and submissive in the beginning, but as the series grows and she recovers, she blossoms. Hanna is of course highly skilled. She can craft gold into any shape with such detail and with so much sensitivity that it can bring a tear to anyone’s eye. She does it with her mind, her hands and of course her heart.
Was Hanna damaged by her past? Of course, nobody could live through what she did and not be damaged. Does the story make light of her struggle to survive and cope? No it does not, it shows the steps, the fear, the false starts and the mistakes.
Why do I write that way in the middle of another story being told? Because we tend to depict characters as static in fiction and only one character changes, the main character or the antagonist. In life all people are in constant flux and people do not magically recover from a wound to the flesh or the spirit.
Life is filled with struggles and challenges that change us, that stretch us, that knock us off our feet. That is all part of living as is the struggle to stand and walk and laugh about it later.