Times were different in the 1600s. Children weren't raised how they are now, with around-the-clock supervision and caretaking. Yet it's still hard for an adult viewer not to notice that the movie's two greatest heroes, Robyn and Mebh, are children who are alone far too often.
Robyn is expected to stay at home (and clean) while her dad hunts. She doesn't have a mom and fends for herself. Robyn does, however, have shelter, which is more than what Mebh, a girl who lives in the woods, can say. In case it's not clear, the woods are no place for a child, even if said child can turn into a wolf at night. Yet Mebh is a wolfwalker, and prefers the free lifestyle of not being surrounded by four walls. Even so, things are bad: Mebh's mother, Moll MacTíre (Maria Doyle Kennedy), has been captured by the Lord Protector. Mebh assumes her mother, whose sleeping human form Mebh guards, is out searching for a new home.
It's hard not to feel bad for these children, especially with a modern perspective, as they seemingly have to cook all their meals and don't go to school. More crucially, both girls are stuck in a purgatory of loneliness, and want to spend more time with their parents. Luckily, they meet each other, and their lives are forever changed.
