Character interaction issues

[Ireth]

One other thought:

Possibly the outside rescurer of the blinded vampire is a 'unknown'? As in not a fae, not human (but probably passing himself off as human) and not native to the region at all? Or possibly even the world?

Possible alternative, though you probably don't want to go there - a human wizard?

The locals would know the 'man of mystery' as a traveling pedlar or mystic or healer of some sort.

I'm not sure how much mystery I want to add to the story just for the sake of being mysterious; I'm afraid of this unknown character coming off similarly to Tom Bombadil, who is either loved or hated by LOTR fans.

The only "unknown" I can think of who would actually make a lick of sense would be another god(dess), someone other than the Crone, but unfortunately I'm not sure which of the Celtic deities would fit the bill. It would have to be one whose power lies in death and/or winter, simply because of the nature of those gods and the limits to their power and specific times of activity. Someone like the Maiden or the Mother, who are both linked to the Crone as three aspects of the same goddess (to my understanding), would not work because their time is spring and summer, not winter, and their power is life, not death. It also can't be the Horned God Cernunnos, because his death at harvest-time is the mythological reason for winter, when the Crone mourns him and waits for his rebirth in the spring.