In 1903, he was only 9 years old when his home in Kuyucak was raided by bandits and his parents were murdered before his eyes. District Governor Salâhattin Bey, who came to investigate the incident, adopted this orphaned child. When they moved to Edremit, Yusuf could never adapt to the hypocritical, self-interested people and corrupt structure of this town. He frequently breaks away from his surroundings and escapes into nature, building walls in his inner world. His deep and reticent love for his foster sister Muazzez is the only thing that ties him to life. He displays a solitary, silent, but fierce resistance against the games of Şakir and his circle to obtain Muazzez and the internal decay within the house. When events spiral out of his control and Muazzez is drawn into the polluted world, he commits murder. Finally, he tries to save his wife and flee to the mountains, but with her death on the road, he rides toward eternal loneliness.
Born in the village of Aydın Kuyucak, he witnessed his parents being brutally murdered by bandits at age 9. His right thumb was severed during this scuffle. His entire childhood and youth were shaped around the bloody memory of that night. Although he was taken in and raised with compassion by the District Governor, he always remained 'wild' by temperament; he has always lived outside the rotten rules of the city.
He is a handsome young man with dark skin, a sturdy build, very strong, broad-shouldered, wearing a red fez and an aba jacket, with his right thumb missing from the root, silent but with sharp, piercing eyes.
Ali
The only friend with whom he remained clean; he suffers severe agony thinking that his own plans caused his death.
Şakir
The center of evil that winks at injustice; he considers him a representation of rotten authority that must be crushed.
Muazzez
The most valuable entity in his life; his obsessive attachment to her has been both his greatest strength and his downfall.
Salâhattin Bey
He is grateful to him; he is the missing father figure, but he constantly experiences disappointment due to the man's weaknesses.
Şahinde Hanım
The person he loathes and avoids as the embodiment of the corruption in the world.