- "Are you really an owl, Auntie? he wanted to ask. Are you really a true Snowy Owl descended from Glaux, come from the North Kingdoms — or are you a white demon?"
- ―Soren’s thoughts while receiving food from Aunt Finny, The Capture, page 90
Finny, also known as Aunt Finny, Auntie, or Nursey, was a pit guardian (and later eggorium supervisor) at St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. She was a female Snowy Owl, or Bubo scandiaca.
History[]
The Capture[]
When Soren and Gylfie were taken to St. Aggie's, Soren was placed with Finny as his pit guardian. She gave out numbers to all the owlets who fell under her care. Finny numbered Soren as 12-1, claiming it was a very special number, and had a peculiar way of treating the owlets that she attended to. She insisted that they call her "Auntie" and would often give them extra rations of food and even allow them to ask a few questions: an action that was greatly discouraged at St. Aggie's. Soren was no exception. She also tried to assign Soren to work as a Cricket Hunter, but when he suggested the Pelletorium, Finny reluctantly agreed to his request.
Later, Soren's feathers were plucked out during laughter therapy, for he had accidentally asked a question, so Auntie and Hortense took care of him afterwards. She asked him if there was anything she could do, so he asked her to tell him about the legends of Ga'Hoole. To this demand, she seemingly shriveled with fear and fainted.
Her true nature was finally revealed when she, along with Skench, Spoorn, Jatt, and Jutt, caught Hortense smuggling eggs out of St. Aggie's with the help of the two bald eagles, Zan and Streak. A battle ensued in which Auntie threw Hortense off the cliffs to her apparent death. She snarled her satisfaction after having done this. It was during this battle that she was scarred across the throat by one of the eagles. The scar darkened, making her once white feathers darker than normal.
The Siege[]
The Band, along with the rest of the Chaw of Chaws, returned to St. Aggie's where they saw Aunt Finny again and found out that she had been promoted to an eggorium supervisor. Her scar had healed, but one of her eyes was cloudy and wept continuous tears. Soren noticed that she smells oddly like eggs. She permitted Soren and Martin to work as moss tenders. Ruby revealed to them that Finny often came up to the hatchery to eat some of the eggs, and also eat hatchlings that "aren't quite perfect."
When she recognized Soren, she chased after him as he tried to escape, but was stopped by Twilight. She also recognized Gylfie, and was about to kill her, but Soren opened up the scar in her throat, killing her.
Personality[]
When Soren first met Finny, he thought she was the best owl of all of the St. Aggie's owls. She acted very sweet to Soren and his pit mates, giving extra tidbits of food, permitting them to ask questions, and allowing them to sleep in tiny crevices of the canyons if they ever had trouble sleeping.
However, all of this was just a cover, hiding a truly dangerous, murderous, and mentally-ill owl. When the Chaw of Chaws went to St. Aggie's, Finny seemed to be suffering what was most likely severe depression, but despite this, she would still act kind to the captured owls. It's revealed that Finny was also a cannibal, sneaking into the eggorium to steal and eat eggs or newly hatched owlets, much to the horror of the Chaw of Chaws. She was also a very dangerous fighter, nearly killing Soren until Gylfie recited the legends of Ga'Hoole.