Thirty-Two
| Thirty-Two | |
|---|---|
| 'Tribal' character | |
 Nebu wolf operative and later proctor in Tribal: Bloody Beginnings | |
| First appearance | Tribal: Bloody Beginnings |
| Created by | Tony James Nelson II |
| In-universe information | |
| Aliases | 32 Proctor Jabari Nthanda |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Operative Interrogator Proctor |
| Affiliation | Nebu |
| Relatives | Tia Washington (mother) |
Thirty-Two, often written as 32, is a fictional character in Tribal: Bloody Beginnings by Tony James Nelson II. He is one of the central figures of the novel and serves as one of its primary point-of-view characters. Originally known only by a numerical designation assigned by Nebu, Thirty-Two is a conditioned tribal operative trained in interrogation, violence, and obedience.
Over the course of the Book, his role expands beyond that of an ordinary wolf operative. After a series of events tied to Tia Washington, The Dark Alpha, and Doctor Polezah, he is elevated to the position of proctor, a rare office within the tribe associated with witnessing, memory, and sacred record. His story centers on identity, dehumanization, buried memory, and the struggle between conditioning and selfhood.
Thirty-Two is also one of the key figures through whom the Book reveals deeper systems such as Ka'ru, the Tribal Bible, and the hidden structure beneath Nebu’s power.
Biography
Early life
Before his life in the Tribe, Thirty-Two was taken as a child at the age of nine. His original identity was erased, and like other Nebu wolves, he was reduced to a number rather than permitted a personal name. By the beginning of Tribal: Bloody Beginnings, he has carried the designation Thirty-Two for seventeen years.
His birth name is unknown for much of the story. Later revelations connect him to Tia Washington, establishing that he was stolen from his original life and remade by tribal systems into a weapon.
Life in Nebu
Thirty-Two is raised and trained within the brutal structure of Nebu. Wolves are conditioned to obey, suppress emotion, and carry out tribal orders without hesitation. Thirty-Two becomes an especially effective operative, specializing in extraction and interrogation.
He is portrayed as precise, disciplined, emotionally detached, and deeply shaped by violence. His narration often reflects a mind trained to observe pain clinically rather than morally. This makes him one of the clearest examples in the Book of what Nebu is capable of creating.
Interrogation of Tia Washington
One of the most important events in Thirty-Two’s arc occurs when he is assigned to interrogate a captured woman later revealed to be Tia Washington. At the time, he does not know she is his biological mother. Because of the Tribe’s conditioning, he is able to torture her without recognizing her or emotionally breaking.
This event becomes a defining moment in the story and in his character. It demonstrates the terrifying depth of his conditioning and establishes one of the Book’s central tragedies: that the system has turned him into someone capable of destroying his own blood without knowing it.
Rise to proctor
After the fallout from the Tia Washington incident, Thirty-Two is not discarded. Instead, he is unexpectedly elevated by the Dark Alpha to the role of proctor.
The office of proctor is distinct from that of an ordinary wolf. A proctor serves as a witness, recorder, and keeper of tribal truth. The role grants him unusual status and protection while also isolating him from his prior identity as a numbered enforcer. This promotion places him closer to the hidden workings of the tribe and exposes him to deeper secrets involving power, ritual, doctrine, and the Tribal Bible.
Connection to Deathwave
Doctor Polezah reveals that Thirty-Two had once been considered in relation to the Deathwave program, though he did not become a true Deathwave subject. Instead, he was redirected into another function and shaped into a different kind of weapon.
This distinction becomes important in the larger mythology of the story, as it places Thirty-Two near some of the tribe’s most dangerous experimental systems while also suggesting that his value lies in something other than raw destructive transformation. His proximity to the Deathwave line also makes him an important contrast point against figures such as Deathwave 47 and Deathwave 201.
Discovery of his mother
As his access to tribal secrets widens, Thirty-Two learns more about Tia Washington and her fate. He discovers that she is deeply entangled in the tribe’s systems and experiments, forcing him to confront the horror of what was done to her and the role he himself played in her suffering.
This revelation contributes to the gradual destabilization of his identity and raises questions about whether any part of his original humanity survived beneath the conditioning.
Sacred knowledge and awakening
As Thirty-Two’s role deepens, he also becomes tied to the Book’s sacred and metaphysical systems. He is one of the clearest known readers of the Tribal Bible, and his ability to use its pages sets him apart from even some of the most powerful figures around him.
This places him inside the deeper structure of Ka'ru, spiritual access, prophecy, and tribal memory. It also suggests that his importance is not limited to being a trained operative; he is tied to forces the system itself does not fully control.
Rimitorry and renaming
A major turning point in Thirty-Two’s arc comes through his relationship with Rimitorry. Unlike most people around him, Rimitorry sees the number 32 as an act of erasure rather than identity. In rejecting his designation, she gives him a new name: Jabari Nthanda.
This renaming is one of the most symbolically important moments in his character development. It represents an attempt to restore personhood to someone who was stripped of it, and it marks a shift in the way he is seen both by others and, gradually, by himself.
Personality
Thirty-Two is calm, observant, and intensely controlled. He rarely speaks or thinks in exaggerated emotional terms, and much of his narration is marked by blunt honesty and detached precision. Years of tribal conditioning have made him emotionally restrained and frighteningly functional under pressure.
At the same time, he is not entirely empty. Beneath the training, fragments of curiosity, conscience, and buried selfhood remain. These qualities become increasingly important as he begins to question the systems around him and recognize that his life has been built on stolen truth.
One of the most important tensions in his character is that he is both highly conditioned and increasingly awake. The Book repeatedly shows him standing at the edge between instrument and person.
Abilities and traits
- Skilled interrogator and extractor
- Advanced combat training
- High tolerance for pain and stress
- Conditioned obedience and emotional suppression
- Strong observational ability
- Access to the role and privileges of a proctor
- Ability to read and activate the Tribal Bible
- Emerging connection to Ka'ru and deeper sacred knowledge
- Narrative and symbolic importance within the hidden structure of the tribal world
Relationships
Tia Washington
Tia Washington is Thirty-Two’s biological mother. Their relationship is one of the darkest and most tragic in the Book, as he is made to brutalize her without realizing who she is. Her existence becomes central to his later unraveling and search for identity.
Doctor Polezah
Doctor Polezah is one of the figures most responsible for shaping the systems that made Thirty-Two what he is. Their relationship is clinical, manipulative, and deeply unsettling, with Polezah viewing him less as a person than as an outcome.
The Dark Alpha
The Dark Alpha is the tribal ruler who elevates Thirty-Two to proctor. This act changes his position in the tribe and draws him into a deeper layer of tribal power, secrecy, and expectation.
Rimitorry
Rimitorry plays a transformative role in Thirty-Two’s life. She challenges the legitimacy of his numbered identity and gives him the name Jabari Nthanda, helping initiate one of the earliest major acts of rehumanization in his arc.
Deathwave 47
Deathwave 47 is part of the larger weapon system that helps contextualize Thirty-Two’s place in Nebu’s hierarchy. Deathwave 47 also serves as a dark contrast to Thirty-Two: where Thirty-Two becomes a proctor and witness, 47 becomes a perfected instrument of force.
Deathwave 201
Deathwave 201 is another part of the same larger experimental structure surrounding Thirty-Two’s world. His existence reinforces the scale of the system that shaped the people around Thirty-Two and nearly absorbed him into a different function.
Themes
Thirty-Two’s character is strongly associated with several of the Book’s major themes:
- Identity and erasure
- Conditioning and free will
- Violence as structure
- Memory and witness
- Rehumanization after dehumanization
- Sacred knowledge and selective access
- The struggle between number and name
Trivia
- Thirty-Two is 26 years old at the beginning of the story.
- He was taken at the age of nine.
- He has carried the name Thirty-Two for seventeen years.
- He later receives the name Jabari Nthanda.
- He is one of the most important early and continuing perspective characters in Tribal: Bloody Beginnings.
- He is one of the clearest known readers of the Tribal Bible.