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Kirby is Ellie’s ghost dog. A springer spaniel, Kirby spent 12 years as Ellie’s living companion and, since his death when she was in sixth grade, has been by her side as a ghost. Affectionate and protective, Kirby is always willing to play with Ellie and help protect her from most threats, though he hasn’t explicitly been trained as an attack dog. His primary defensive trick is to howl, which gives living people nosebleeds and temporarily disables or disarms any magic. When Ellie takes Dr. Allerton to the underworld and he tries to grab her and not let her leave, Kirby attacks Dr. Allerton and somehow gets either lost or hurt in the underworld; he doesn’t return to Ellie for several months after. However, when he does return, the mesquite dog toy he brings suggests that he met Six-Great in the underworld.
Kirby Quotes in Elatsoe
The Elatsoe quotes below are all either spoken by Kirby or refer to Kirby. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 22 Quotes
“If I’m right,” Dan said, “you won’t need to stop waking ghosts, as long as you’re mindful of the difference between the dead and the living.” He wagged a finger at Ellie, as if lecturing a class of rowdy toddlers. “There is a difference. The dead should not seem like kin. When they do? They might devour you.”
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Chapter 28 Quotes
Ellie always reasoned that Six-Great lived in a more violent era, one that transformed pacifists into warriors. Six-Great didn’t fight because she enjoyed it; she had to protect her family and friends from genocide.
There were still people to protect. That, Ellie now realized, would never change.
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Chapter 34 Quotes
“I guess I should start from the beginning,” she said. “When I was a kid, my parents took me to the pound. That’s where I met a dog...”
She’d say his name and tell his story. Maybe, someday, he’d follow the words home.
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Get the entire Elatsoe LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Kirby Character Timeline in Elatsoe
The timeline below shows where the character Kirby appears in Elatsoe. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...She’s glued googly eyes in its sockets. Now, she offers it to her ghost dog, Kirby, figuring it’ll look really cool when he fetches it and the skull looks like it’s...
(full context)
...Herotonic river and is a favorite spot for graffiti artists, human and otherwise. Calling to Kirby, Ellie pedals to the end of the driveway. She points her flashlight into a tree...
(full context)
...is on the bridge, and they drop their spray paint can. She mentally calls for Kirby, who appears immediately. And to Ellie’s surprise, Kirby acts like he knows the climber, who...
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...noting the family van in the parking lot. As she waits, she wonders who else Kirby cares about that might be in trouble. She scrolls through her texting history and finds...
(full context)
...moviegoers enter the lobby. Ellie finds Mom and Dad by the bathrooms and explains that Kirby had a fit. But Mom and Dad aren’t listening; they’re looking at their phones and...
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Chapter 5
...and stop Al. But both he and Ellie fall 30 feet into the river below. Kirby appears and, given his relaxed demeanor, Ellie figures they’re safe. But she also remembers that...
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...how quickly they could’ve died, Ellie asks if she told Jay about the “howl incident” (Kirby gave everyone in Ellie’s sixth-grade class nosebleeds, and Ellie was suspended). Ellie says that afterward,...
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Chapter 6
...culture. At one point, Ellie saw the argument starting and distracted them by showing off Kirby’s tricks. While Lenore was impressed, she declined Ellie’s offer to teach Lenore’s kids to wake...
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Chapter 7
Ellie calls Kirby and studies a display case, unsure of what she should do with her hands to...
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Chapter 8
...the freeway, and Ellie takes in the cacti, shrubs, and mesquite trees. From the backseat, Kirby barks—a warning that there’s danger ahead. A sign announces Willowbee’s city limits and population, and...
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Chapter 10
...do anything in public but reasoning that he’s capable of anything. She reminds herself that Kirby could howl, if need be, or Ellie could summon Grandma’s mammoth and get it to...
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...Abe points to the shimmer next to Ellie and asks what it is, Ellie asks Kirby to appear. This shocks Abe, and he laughs knowingly but politely when Ellie says that...
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Chapter 12
...A trail leads to a tree with a huge gash in the trunk. Ellie commands Kirby to keep watch, approaches the tree, and begins taking video with her phone. She narrates,...
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Chapter 13
...video she took earlier and takes Gregory to his playroom. There, Gregory and a visible Kirby play together. Finally, Vivian shouts for Ellie, and Lenore says Trevor’s phone is in the...
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...hungry. Ellie eats and then returns to the basement to look through Trevor’s school materials. Kirby accompanies her, and Ellie calls the trilobite’s ghost too. She promises Kirby that if she...
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...to protect Gregory, while Vivian shouts at the vampire now looking in the front windshield. Kirby refuses Ellie’s command to attack, so Vivian says that the area along the Kunétai is...
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Chapter 15
...accepted Al’s proposal, and their parents are incensed. They decide to visit tomorrow. Ellie takes Kirby on a walk to the nearby park, where she settles on a bench and calls...
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...She can barely walk—it feels like she’s pushing through water. The trilobites swarm over her. Kirby’s bark causes them to fall away. Kirby also seems like he’s underwater, and everything is...
(full context)
Chapter 16
...pass as Ellie hides behind some coral, losing a flip-flop in the process. She grabs Kirby, fearing that one of the whales might eat him, and is shocked that he’s solid...
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...about the dead” until they speak to an elder, and to not call ghosts, including Kirby, either.
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Chapter 18
...eye contact with a staring waitress for several seconds, Ellie suggests they shouldn’t proceed without Kirby. She hasn’t called Kirby in days, and she misses his company. Jay asks to get...
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Chapter 22
Ellie hasn’t seen Dan since she (or, more accurately, Kirby) gave her classmates nosebleeds. Ellie was giving a speech on Six-Great developing a method for...
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Ellie calls Kirby, and when Dan expresses interest (or perhaps concern), Ellie tells Kirby to become visible. Upon...
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Chapter 26
Ellie wakes up with Gregory in bed with her. She calls for Kirby and then yells for Vivian, who’s asleep on the sofa. Finally using Trevor’s name, Ellie...
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...tonight, as he’s haunting the Allerton mansion. They have to go there and free Al; Kirby can track him. Ronnie and Jay agree to meet Ellie at the Ring Transport Center...
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Chapter 27
...they arrive, Jay and Ellie will stay with the car while she, the women, and Kirby go in.
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...is similarly crowded. Everyone gets out of the van, and Ronnie hands Ellie Al’s sweater. Kirby sniffs it and disappears, yapping a moment later. He leads Vivian, Ronnie, Jess, Martia, and...
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...reveals that nobody was fooled by the fainting spell and that they all know about Kirby.
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Chapter 28
Glorian counts down from 10. Unwilling to call Kirby or wild animal ghosts, Ellie decides to take a chance. She calls Grandma’s mammoth and...
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Chapter 29
Glorian charges at Ellie, but something invisible throws Ellie to the ground. She sees that Kirby is biting and attacking Glorian, so she takes the opportunity to find blood in the...
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Chapter 30
...decide not to take the man’s gun—bullets don’t work on the dead, anyway—and head upstairs. Kirby whines as they reach a corridor filled with mangled bodies. Ellie tells Trevor he didn’t...
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Alone now, Ellie calls Kirby to her and closes her eyes. The corpses begin to flop, and Ellie opens her...
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...here and the underworld, but Ellie refuses to help. As glass cuts her, she commands Kirby to howl, which protects her from the glass as she runs for the door, finding...
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Chapter 32
...the exorcists descend on the emissary, the junk in the air explodes like a bomb. Kirby protects Ellie and Jay and howls when Ellie commands him to. The emissary calls Ellie...
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Chapter 33
...they’re both “vast and frightening.” Slowly, the dogs appear as Jay disappears. Ellie picks up Kirby, kisses him, and promises to play fetch with him tomorrow. By now, Dr. Allerton is...
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...knows: he’ll follow her. With Trevor’s Swiss Army knife, Ellie chops her braid off, and Kirby attacks Dr. Allerton. Ellie thinks of home and calls Kirby, but when she reaches for...
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Chapter 34
...the rental car with Vivian and Dad, headed back to Lenore’s. Vivian assures Ellie that Kirby will come back, but Ellie isn’t so sure. She dozes as dawn arrives and jerks...
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...house on the seat. The bag reeks of breakfast sausages, which makes Ellie think of Kirby and tear up. Back in her coyote form, the woman offers Ellie a sausage and...
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...asks what happened last night. Ellie starts her story from the beginning—the day she adopted Kirby from the pound—and hopes that if she tells his story, he’ll find his way back.
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Chapter 35
...packing to leave a few days later, Lenore texts her to meet in the park. Kirby doesn’t respond to Ellie’s call, so Ellie goes to the park alone. Lenore is there...
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Chapter 36
...yanks her out, screaming. Jay points to a floating skull with googly eyes—and Ellie commands Kirby to appear. He does, and after greeting Ellie, he and Snickers play for a while...
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