Tobo, also known as Shiki and Thi Kim, is the son of Ky Sahra (a Nyueng Bao) and Murgen (a white northerner) who would become a key member of the Black Company in the last two Books of Glittering Stone. Born with a natural magnitude for sorcery on account of his bi-racial ancestry ("big, hybrid talent" according to One-Eye), Tobo's calm, inquisitive, and patient nature enabled him to become a powerful wizard. His strange bond with the Unknown Shadows would play a major role in Sleepy's Protectorate war in Soldiers Live.
She Is the Darkness[]
Ky Sahra gave birth to Tobo during her imprisonment at the Vinh Gao Ghang Temple of Ghanghesha, deep in the Nyueng Bao delta west of Taglios, along the great river where it merges with the western ocean. She had been shuttered away by her own people, most prominently her mother Ky Gota, for conceiving a child with a foreigner. However, Murgen would visit them both in his spectral form. Sahra eventually took great comfort in the invisible presence of her husband, but Murgen realized that his infant son, an "absolutely beautiful drooling lump," was frightened by him. Tobo continued to be raised by Sahra alone after Murgen was trapped by Soulcatcher in the Cave of the Ancients beneath Shivetya's fortress at the center of the glittering plain.
Water Sleeps[]
Underground in Taglios[]
At the start of Water Sleeps, Tobo was 14 years of age. He came of age in Taglios during the time of the Protectorate, which was Soulcatcher's tyrannical rule of the city and its vast imperial holdings. Raised in and around Banh Do Trang's riverside warehouse, Tobo was surrounded by the underground members of the Black Company and a tight-knit community of Nyueng Bao.
Tobo aided the Company in major and minor ways under the direction of Sleepy and Sahra. Tobo's mother Sahra often infiltrated the Palace of Taglios in the guise of Mihn Subredil, and Tobo occasionally joined her in the guise of Mihn's daughter Shikhandini, or "Shiki" for short. He also received training from Goblin and One-Eye to use his magical talents so that he could one day replace them within the Company, as was foreseen by Sahra's mother Hong Tray.
Southward trek toward the Shadowgate[]
After Banh Do Trang died of old age, Sleepy decided it was finally time to leave Taglios and to move everyone south toward the Shadowgate. The Company was divided into different incognito groups to attract less Protectorate attention during the trek. Tobo, Sahra, One-Eye, and Surendranath Santaraksita traveled via the river route: through the Nyueng Bao delta and upriver on the Naghir River. Tobo later reunited with Sleepy's separate group, which took an overland route. He enthusiastically showcased his early talent with a frightening glamour when they first encountered Suvrin and his Protectorate Shadowlander force outside the New Town.
Encounter with Kina[]
Tobo accompanied everyone onto the dangerous glittering plain. After they were safely behind the Shadowgate, Tobo defiantly lifted the golden pickax high in the air to insult their enemy Soulcatcher, who was present but unable to stop them. Later, beneath Shivetya's massive, prehistoric fortress at the center of the plain, Tobo's curious nature got the best of him, and he was lured down to the prison of the dread goddess Kina. Goblin sacrificed himself to buy time for Tobo, Sleepy, Suvrin, and Master Santaraksita to escape when fiery tendrils from Kina's nostrils attacked them. Also beneath the fortress, Tobo's father Murgen and uncle Thai Dei were liberated from the Cave of the Ancients. Crossing the remaining half of the plain, he settled with the Company and the accompanying Nyueng Bao "Community" in the Abode of Ravens in the strange new world called Hsien, the origin of his mother's distant ancestors.
Soldiers Live[]
In the four years between Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live, Tobo received a thorough and careful education in the ways of sorcery from Lady, One-Eye, Goblin, and even the captive Longshadow. Lady eventually suggested that Tobo "might possibly become a match for her in her prime." He maintained a mental connection directly with the stone golem called Shivetya, their most powerful ally.
Relationship with the Unknown Shadows[]
His newest unique talent was the ability to communicate with the Unknown Shadows, the titular residents of the Land of Unknown Shadows (the Nyueng Bao name for Hsien). As his power grew, so too did his influence over these "hidden folk" until he was finally able to deploy them as informants, spies, messengers, and in some cases, killers. On the surface, this connection resembled Longshadow's use of "undomesticated" shadows from the glittering plain, but on closer inspection, Tobo's relationship with the Unknown Shadows was quite the opposite. Whereas Longshadow had a master/slave relationship with the shadows (and lived in genuine terror of them), Tobo's bond with the fiercely intelligent Unknown Shadows was deeply respectful. He actually loved them and gave each of them names.
Shadowgate repair[]
Using the knowledge stolen from Khang Phi, Tobo became a master of Shadowgate access and repair. He created 10 new Shadowgate keys to replace the golden pickax and the lost Lance of Passion. He later fixed the homeworld's Shadowgate by removing the haphazard tapestry of jury-rigged spells placed on it by Longshadow, who had been forced to seal it with his own true name. When Tobo finished, the magic structure was stronger than it ever was.
In the Protectorate war[]
The young sorcerer played a significant role in Sleepy's new war against Soulcatcher and her Protectorate minions. He spent significant time teaching their young Voroshk guests, successfully turning two of them (Shukrat and Arkana) into allies who helped them for the remainder of the campaign. Shukrat eventually became his girlfriend. After his mother Sahra disappeared during the Battle at the Shadowlander cemetery, and his father was killed in an ambush set by Mogaba at the start of the Siege of Taglios, Tobo's gentle nature was tested by a desire for vengeance. He sent his most dangerous Unknown Shadows to torture Mogaba, Ghopal Singh, and two of Singh's cousins to death, even though they were fleeing on the great river. He then attempted to covertly assassinate Aridatha Singh, but was outsmarted and put into a coma after sustaining a dreadful head wound. Unconscious and slowly dying in a hidden Taglian prison cell, Tobo was finally rescued by Croaker, Shukrat, and the Unknown Shadows. He recovered and helped heal Lady, who had been seriously wounded in a rumel attack by the Daughter of Night. The Company – especially Shukrat – put him back on the path of becoming the positive force that his great-grandmother Hong Tray had foreseen.