Hobb of Page Nine

"Speak up. No, don't. I can smell what you're going to say anyway."

Hobb is the Chief Nose of the Rift-Sniffers and the oldest goblin still working in Quillnib's Handle. He was registered on Page Nine, one of the First Pages of the Book of Doors, and he has never let anyone forget it.

Appearance

Small even for a goblin, and bent further by age. His ears were half torn away in a rescue gone wrong decades ago, and he hears very little now; he wears a brass ear-trumpet on a cord and usually forgets to use it. His nose, on the other hand, is enormous, crooked, and very well cared for. He oils it in the mornings.

He dresses in the old grey robes of a Long Nose rather than the Chief Nose's red, because the red ones "smell new".

Personality

• Blunt to the point of rudeness. Hobb doesn't bother with pleasantries. Most visitors think he is ignoring them; he is mostly just not hearing them.
• Impossible to lie to. He claims lies smell like hot copper. Whether that is true or he's simply spent ninety years watching people's faces, it works.
• Tender with pups. He is the only Chief Nose in living memory who still teaches the first-year trainees himself, and he's patient with them in a way he never is with adults.
• Unforgiving about Blackweight. Hobb believes the ink is theft from the Dense and wants every unlicensed pot of it poured out. He's spent years trying to shut down Ilse Marrow.

History

Hobb was a young Nose on the Night of Wrong Pages, and he was the one who found the pup who had turned the wrong leaf. He carried her out of a faded page on his back, and lost most of his hearing doing it. He pushed hardest for the law that followed, which gives only Rift-Sniffers the right to turn pages.

He became Chief Nose thirty years ago and has refused to retire three times.

Relations

• Rift-Sniffers: His whole life. He treats every Nose as a grandchild who needs correcting.
• Ilse Marrow: An open rivalry. He has had her stall raided four times and found nothing every time.
• The Book of Doors: He talks to it every morning. It turns faster for him than for anyone.