Legend

Day is a 15-year-old criminal from the slums of Los Angeles and one of the two protagonists and narrators of Legend. He lives on the streets of the Lake sector with his companion, Tess, and he commits crimes to provide for his family and serve the underprivileged people of Los Angeles. Although he is a famous wanted criminal, the government doesn’t know what Day looks like, and there is an air of mystery and awe surrounding him and his legendary superhuman abilities.

Day is handsome, and June describes his face as “perfectly symmetrical, a mix of Anglo and Asian, beautiful behind the dirt and smudges” (125). He has long blond hair and is charismatic and charming. June is very taken with him, and she sees a complexity in Day that fascinates her. She says he doesn’t act like a homeless kid raised on the street: “He has so many more sides to him that I wonder if he has always lived in these poor sectors” (130).

Like every child in the Republic, Day took his Trial when he was 10 and was led to believe that he failed. However, June discovers that Day didn’t fail his Trial but earned a perfect score.