A scientist sent in with very little idea what he is walking into.
Brederling represents a different way into the Minker-Verse.
Rather than someone naturally belonging there, he’s essentially a scientist sent as part of our own government’s clandestine attempt to understand — and inevitably plant a flag in — a previously unknown world.
He’s informed, skeptical and well-meaning, but he’s also operating with an extremely limited understanding of what he’s actually walking into. I think of him a little like an unassuming Mulder from The X-Files: curious enough to keep going, skeptical enough to question what he’s being told, and still very much a human being tossed into something much larger than himself.
He’s also a way for me to explore what happens when institutions encounter a world whose fundamental rules they can’t control.