Athenor

Athenor, the little brass boy/homunculus from the chapter of the same name in Elf & Bear. If not immediately sentient upon creation, he became increasingly more so, although his creator, Dr. Gilpin, refused to acknowledge it, preferring he remain the simple tool/machine he was created to be. He was named Athenor from the alchemist's forge that he was made in, so you could say in a strange way Gilpin named him after his 'mother.' Of course, tragedy ensued as Athenor came to consider Gilpin his father, and the doctor refused to acknowledge his personhood, always calling him it. Only after the tragedy and heroic sacrifice did Gilpin finally accept him as his 'son.'