Character guide

Little Jack

major

Also known as Jack, dear little Jack

Little Jack moves through a landscape where brooches, pins, and water people have their own grievances and wisdom, and where human children are watched more closely than they know. His youth makes him vulnerable to the vanity that the fairy folk so often punish, yet it also leaves him open to love in a way that hardened hearts are not. He matters because the tales turn on what he learns — and on whether he learns it in time.

Vain Lamorna

major

Also known as Lamorna, worthless Lamorna, dear Lamorna, Dear Lamorna

Lamorna bends over the brook daily, praising her own brown eyes and rosebud mouth while the tiny water people beneath the surface shake their heads and sigh. She stays past six o'clock, forgetting her father's supper and his anger, because her reflection matters more than anything waiting for her at home. Her vanity is not merely a flaw but a kind of blindness, and the story watches to see what the world will make of a girl who cannot see past her own face.

Rupert

supporting

Rupert rides through the countryside with trumpeters and hounds, part of a glittering world that passes ordinary cottages without a glance. His beauty and rank make him an object of longing for those who watch from doorways, though he himself seems unaware of the quiet hearts he leaves behind. He matters because the stories measure the distance between the splendid and the overlooked, and because his indifference sets longing in motion.

Blanchelys

supporting

Also known as Princess Blanchelys, cousin Blanchelys

Blanchelys stands at the cottage door whenever the King's son rides past, opening the gate and gazing after him while her cousin Zaire mocks her for it. She grows thin and pale from a love no one returns, and when she finally creeps out at night to kneel beneath the yew-tree with a hidden candle, she calls up a winged boy who announces himself as Love. Her willingness to ask for what she wants — and her fear once it appears — sets the tale's central bargain in motion.

Queen Blanchelys

supporting

Also known as Blanchelys, cousin Blanchelys, Poor Queen Blanchelys, poor Queen Blanchelys

Queen Blanchelys carries the weight of a love that began at a cottage gate and led her to summon Love himself beneath the yew-tree. Whatever she asked for that night has shaped her into a woman the tales call poor, and her suffering is bound up with the very desire that once made her bold. She matters because her story shows what happens after the wish is granted — and because the price of love, once named, cannot be unspoken.

Siegfrid

supporting

Also known as little Siegfrid, poor Siegfrid

Siegfrid is small enough to be called little and poor enough to be pitied, yet he is the one who travels with Handa into places where brooches tell stories and water people watch from beneath the surface. His youth and vulnerability make him an easy target for the tricks and trials that the fairy folk devise, but they also make his courage matter more. He is the reader's companion through the stranger corners of the book, learning what the tales have to teach.

Zaire

supporting

Also known as cousin Zaire, the Princess Zaire, Princess Zaire

Zaire shares a cottage gate with her cousin Blanchelys, and where Blanchelys sighs after the passing royal hunt, Zaire sneers — furious when the horses' dust flies in her face, scornful of a love that wastes a girl's looks. Her mockery sharpens the story's central contrast: she measures worth in husbands and advantage, while Blanchelys measures it in longing. When Blanchelys slips out at night to summon Love himself, Zaire sleeps on, the practical foil whose disbelief makes her cousin's risk feel real.

Ursula

supporting

Also known as little Ursula, the Princess Ursula, Princess Ursula, the real Ursula, Poor Ursula, poor Ursula

Ursula is the motherless heir whose christening, mourning, and upbringing are managed with impeccable politeness and no warmth; she is scolded for saying she doesn't want dinner and left to watch birds through the window. Her loneliness is the engine of the tale: the fairy Taboret, spying on the nursery, finds a pale child with no playthings and resolves to act. What Taboret purchases — a made-to-order Princess from a wizard's shop of spells — sets the story's central doubling in motion.

Taboret

minor

Also known as dear Taboret

A character who appears in the fairy tales, possibly a servant or friend.

Handa

supporting

Also known as little Handa

Handa accompanies Siegfrid on his journeys, a girl whose role is companionship and witness rather than spectacle. Where Siegfrid drives the quest forward, Handa's presence gives the wandering a human texture — someone to share the road, the dangers, and the small hours. Her loyalty and youth make the adventures feel lived rather than merely told, anchoring the middle of the book in a relationship rather than a series of feats.

Erick

minor

Also known as poor Erick, dear Erick

A character who appears in the fairy tale narratives.

Princess Pyra

minor

Also known as the Princess Pyra, Princess

A princess who appears in the story of the opal.

The Sunbeam

minor

Also known as Sunbeam

A personified sunbeam that interacts with characters in the fairy world.

The Seeds of Love

minor

Also known as Love, sweet Love

Personified love that appears as a character in the story.

The Moonbeam

minor

Also known as Moonbeam

A personified moonbeam that appears in the fairy tales.

The Owl

minor

A wise or talking owl character in the fairy world.

Ralph

minor

A human character who interacts with the fairy world.

Trevina

minor

Also known as Poor Trevina, lovely Trevina

A fairy or princess who appears in the narratives.

The Nightingale

minor

Also known as Nightingale, dear Nightingale

A singing nightingale character in the fairy tales.

Prince Fluvius

minor

Also known as Prince

A prince who appears in the story of the opal.

The Old Bullfinch

minor

Also known as Bullfinch, the Bullfinch

A talking bullfinch bird character.

The Brooch

minor

A personified brooch that appears as a character.

Poor Hare

minor

Also known as The Hare, kind Hare

A talking hare character in the fairy world.

Alys

minor

A minor character mentioned in the fairy tales.

Mark

minor

A minor human character.

Oliver

minor

A minor human character.

The Hair Tree

minor

Also known as Hair Tree, the real Hair Tree

A magical tree that is central to the story of the hair tree.

Moonbeams

minor

Personified moonbeams that appear in the tales.

Moon

minor

Also known as the Moon

The personified moon character.

Bell

minor

Also known as little Bell, Mary De Morgan

A minor character, possibly the author's self-insertion.