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Harry Balter is one of the few white people in Lauren’s community, and he was coupled with Lauren’s friend Joanne Garfield before the Garfields moved to Olivar. After their community is destroyed by pyros, Harry and Zahra Moss are the only two known survivors whom Lauren finds. Like Lauren, Harry was already planning to leave the community and go north, so the three form a band and travel together. Harry is strong, practical, and capable, but his relatively protected life in their gated community has made him a stranger to cruelty and violence. As such, Harry sometimes clashes with Lauren and Zahra on matters of necessary or justified violence. Harry has a strong moral code and is disturbed by the idea of killing others. Lauren’s hyperempathy, which necessitates the swift murder of opponents to minimize her own pain and disablement, concerns Harry, because he wants to avoid killing others at all costs. Additionally, Harry is also uncomfortable with becoming distrustful and suspicious of all other people as a survival technique because he dislikes the idea of a world in which he can never extend help or kindness to strangers.

Harry does come to accept that he will need to become comfortable with a certain amount of violence, but he never loses his staunch code of ethics. While he’s skeptical of Earthseed, his kindness and willingness to build community makes him a natural member. Although Harry does not become a true convert to the Earthseed philosophy by the end of the book, he does gain a convivial respect for Lauren’s worldview, and he defends the religion’s principles to newcomers.

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