# Alina — Master Flea character guide

> Alina in Master Flea by E. T. A. Hoffmann.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** old Alina, Mistress Alina, the honest old Alina

**First appearance:** 0000-i-first-adventure

## Snapshot

The honest old Alina keeps the Tyss household running, a servant whose plain good sense quietly anchors a story otherwise swarming with magi, fleas, and lovesick philosophers.

## Who they are

Within the Tyss household she is the trusted old retainer, the one who knows where everything is kept and who has watched her master's nephew Peregrine grow from a brooding recluse into a man suddenly keeping strange company. Her honesty is her defining trait, and in a tale where almost everyone conceals a second thought, she stands as one of the few figures whose words and intentions actually match. She matters because she gives the early chapters a grounding in ordinary domestic loyalty against which the fantastical intrusions of Master Flea and the Swammerdam circle register as genuinely strange.

## Relationships

### [Peregrine Tyss](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/master_flea_se/characters/peregrine_tyss)

_romantic_

Alina is deeply in love with Peregrine, though their relationship is complicated by magical and social entanglements.

### [Mr. Swammer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/master_flea_se/characters/mr_swammer)

_social_

Alina and Swammer are acquaintances, with Swammer occasionally involving her in his plots.

### [Peregrine Tyss](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/master_flea_se/characters/peregrine_tyss)

_romantic_

Alina is deeply in love with Peregrine, though their relationship is complicated by magical and social entanglements.

### [Peregrine Tyss](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/master_flea_se/characters/peregrine_tyss)

_romantic_

Alina is deeply in love with Peregrine, though their relationship is complicated by magical and social entanglements.

### [Mr. Swammer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/master_flea_se/characters/mr_swammer)

_social_

Alina and Swammer are acquaintances, with Swammer occasionally involving her in his plots.

## In the story

### [First Adventure](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/master_flea_se/chapters/i-first-adventure)

Peregrine's old, ugly servant who manages his Christmas boxes and is called 'the Queen of Golconda.'

### [Fifth Adventure](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/master_flea_se/chapters/v-fifth-adventure)

Reveals to Peregrine that Dörtje is in the house with Mr. Swammer, and recounts the struggle between Swammerdam, Leeuwenhoek, and Pepusch.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/master_flea_se/characters/alina
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/master_flea_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/master_flea_se/characters