The Windigo is a motif that is threaded throughout the novel to parallel Cork’s increasing disconnection from his friends and family. The Windigo also highlights the presence of Anishinaabe traditions in the community. It is introduced in the Prologue, when Sam Winter Moon explains the mythical monster to 14-year-old Cork. Sam describes the Windigo as “a giant, an ogre with a heart of ice. A cannibal, a cold and hungry thing. It comes out of the woods to eat the flesh of men and women. Children, too. It doesn’t care” (6). Further, Sam tells Cork how to kill the Windigo: “You got to become a Windigo, too. […] But you got to be careful, because even if you kill the Windigo, you’re still in danger […] of staying a Windigo forever. Of being the ogre you killed’” (6). As the story continues, the metaphorical significance of the Windigo to Cork becomes clear; one of the journeys that Cork takes over the course of the novel involves his loss of faith in humanity, and his descent into a need for revenge after Sandy kills Molly.

At the beginning of the novel, Cork hears the Windigo call his name—30 years after the story by the campfire.