Caraval

Donatella Dragna, better known by her nickname Tella, is the youngest daughter of Governor Dragna and Scarlett’s younger sister. Tella has a fair complexion like her father with “honey-blond curls” (13). She has a penchant for “beautiful things, like the young man waiting for her behind the barrels” (14). She is a flirtatious, wild spirit with a thirst for adventure and an appetite for life.

She is playful and unafraid to take risks, and this leads many, including Scarlett, to believe she doesn’t think ahead or plan carefully. However, by the end of the story, Tella’s brilliant planning of the entire game reveals just how thoughtful and clever she is. Tella isn’t afraid to go after what she wants, and she’ll take the plunge of faith when it’s needed, as we see literally when she jumps from the balcony.

Governor Dragna, the antagonist, rules the conquered Isle of Trisda and is the father of Scarlett and Tella. His wife, Paloma, left him years ago, and ever since, he hasn’t been the same. Governor Dragna smells of lavender and rotten plums. He physically and mentally abuses his daughters to maintain control over their lives and behavior, though he truly only cares about Scarlett’s ability to gain him political favor by marrying a count. Despite his outwardly awful behavior, he presents himself as “[t]he picture of civility” and dresses “impeccably[...] keeping with the latest fashion[s]” (20).

Governor Dragna is a static character throughout the novel as he begins and ends as a murderous, violent abuser. Though Scarlett tries to rationalize his behavior by stating “he’d gone rabid once Paloma left him,” Governor Dragna remains an ultimately flat character, since even his moments of seeming kindness and redemption come from a place of manipulation (51). He is portrayed as mostly evil, greedy, and power-hungry, apart from his love for Paloma, Scarlett and Tella’s mother.

Julian, the charming devilish actor brother of Master Legend posing as a sailor, is Scarlett’s love interest who challenges her to grow and be brave. Fundamentally, Julian is an actor playing a character in the world Tella and Legend conceived together, but deep down, even the real Julian cannot help but fall in love with Scarlett.

Julian plays a flirtatious, self-assured young man who enjoys making Scarlett a little uncomfortable with his behavior. He’s described as attractive: “thick lashes lined his light brown eyes, just made for convincing girls to lift their skirts and open their arms” (18). He has a “Southern Empire accent, and everyone knew the Southern Empire was a lawless place” (18). He is “taller” than Governor Dragna and wears a “patched brown coat, and [...] loose breeches tucked into scuffed, knee-high boots” (20). At Caraval, however, he wears a “midnight-blue cravat around his throat” and “a fitted burgundy waistcoat,” though the remnants of his sailor persona still remain in “the knife belt slung over the hips of his slender pants” (65). His attractiveness is a hallmark of the Santos family.

When Caraval ends, Julian reveals himself to be a much more subdued version of himself, but he is a dynamic character because he learns to break out of his role even while in the game. He finds something that transcends theater: love. Throughout the novel, Julian proves himself to be a round character, one moment confident bordering on arrogant, the next vulnerable.

Nana Annalise is Scarlett and Tella’s grandmother who tells many stories about her time at Caraval. She was the love of Master Legend’s life, but when he made a deal with a witch, she ultimately opted for another man, which broke Legend’s heart. When she tells the girls stories, she “perche[s] upon a tufted chair as if it were a throne” and wears “coils of black pearls” and a “starched lavender gown” (40). She was once pretty and comes from a wealthy background, which she seems to have maintained, given her mannerisms and attire.

She is secretive, evident in how she tells the story of Legend’s “love for the elegant Annalise. With golden hair and words made of sugar” (40). Scarlett doesn’t know Nana Anna is talking about herself, and since she refers to herself in the third person with such positive terms, she also seems a bit narcissistic, though the only glimpses of her character come from Scarlett’s memory.

Dante, an actor in Legend’s troupe, is a handsome tattooed man who plays one of Scarlett’s potential love interests. He always wears all black and is “the type of boy Tella would have called uselessly pretty, while thinking of ways to gain his attention” (138). His arms are covered in “[t]attoos, carnal and intricate, arcanists’ symbols, a mourning mask, lips curved into an alluring pout, bird talons and black roses,” which are “at odds with his appearance” (113). When Scarlett first meets him, he appears to be a gentleman by offering her his room for the night. However, he quickly turns cold when Julian pretends to be her fiancé and he looks at her “as if she had ceased to exist” (138).

In the game, Dante’s backstory is that his fiancée, Rosa, cheated on him with Legend in the previous game, and she killed herself. He won the last game but is miserable without her and seeks revenge against Legend. He claims his sister has also been taken by Legend in the middle of the game and takes advantage of Scarlett when she’s dying to try and coerce her into helping him. It’s later revealed that, in the game, Julian is Rosa’s brother, and he was working with Dante to get back at Legend. Whether any of this is true beyond the game remains hazy.

Master Legend, the leader of Caraval, is an elusive figure throughout the story. He is portrayed by an actor, Caspar, when Scarlett encounters him. Therefore, the only time he’s truly in the story is through his letters to the sisters and in Nana Annalise’s stories. Master Legend came from the large Santos family who were all blessed with good looks but no money and little talent. Nana Annalise describes Legend as someone who “mostly lived on charm and stolen hearts, and Annalise claimed it was enough for her, but her father, a wealthy merchant, would never allow her to wed a pauper” (40).

The actor who plays Caspar makes Legend appear over-the-top charming and, at times, mad, particularly towards the end. Though Caspar’s rendition of Legend is slippery, “his eyes still sparkled with the same mad gleam, as if there was something unhinged behind them, and he didn’t care about hiding it” (340). Caspar hides that he is only playing Master Legend until the end of the novel. The true nature of Master Legend is yet to be seen, since the closest proximity the reader gets to him is through letters and secondhand memories.

Aiko is an actor in Master Legend’s troupe. In this game, she plays an observer who carries a large book of photos of Scarlett and the history of Caraval. She’s “as pretty as a watercolor and dressed as bold as a trumpet in a golden gown, daringly sleeveless, with ruffles up to her neck and a bright chartreuse bustle,” though she is quiet and appears mysteriously throughout the game (181).

Even though she is a bit more introverted than the other participants, the character she plays has a mischievous, fun-loving side, like when she encourages Scarlett to mislead the other players. She offers Scarlett sound advice throughout the game, most of which Scarlett doesn’t take. She comes across as a wise and whimsical character due to her mysterious journal, sage advice, and random appearances.