# Romance — Character guide

> Key figures in Romance by Joseph Conrad.

- [Tomas Castro](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/tomas_castro.md): Castro serves the Riego family with a loyalty that survives every scrape his masters won't own up to, and he carries their errands — and their secrets — with a face no one forgets. Carlos calls him 'as faithful as he is 
- [Carlos Riego](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/carlos_riego.md): Carlos Riego arrives aboard ship in threadbare finery, bound for an uncle he has never seen — a dying Grand d'Espagne who owns the whole town of Rio Medio and an only daughter named Seraphina. He laughs off the police, t
- [Seraphina Riego](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/seraphina_riego.md): Seraphina moves through the Casa Riego under the shadow of O'Brien's casual, terrifying power, watching her maids flee and her father's authority dissolve into a doting sleep. When she murmurs to the narrator that 'they 
- [Manuel del Popolo Isturiz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/manuel_del_popolo_isturiz.md): Manuel del Popolo Isturiz — El Demonio — haunts the novel as a name whispered in courtrooms and on decks, a legend of violence attached to ships looted and men murdered. When O'Brien and the Juez need a villain to pin th
- [Mr. Sebright](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/mr_sebright.md): Sebright moves through the ship's cuddy with the quiet competence of a man who has all the soiled duties and chipped men to attend to, listening to the narrator's account of the Casa Riego with thoughtful fingers at his 
- [O'Brien](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/obrien.md): O'Brien enters rooms like an official who owns them, his eternal smile fixed over lips that tremble and eyes ringed with dark marks, and his slightest gesture — a forefinger shaken at two frightened maids — empties a gal
- [Williams](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/williams.md): A roystering character and his wife, part of the local English community.
- [Don Balthasar Riego](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/don_balthasar_riego.md): An ancestor of the Riego family, mentioned in the narrative.
- [Father Antonio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/father_antonio.md): A local priest who interacts with the main characters.
- [Señor Ramon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/se%C3%B1or_ramon.md): An older local figure, possibly a friend of the Riegos.
- [Sir Ralph Rooksby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/sir_ralph_rooksby.md): An English baronet with connections to the story's events.
- [Juan Kemp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/juan_kemp.md): Juan Kemp is a mixed-heritage nobleman's nephew bound for Rio Medio to claim the favor of an aged, doting uncle and perhaps the hand of Doña Seraphina. He wears his rags with grace and laughs off the watch-stealing scand
- [Major Cowper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/major_cowper.md): A retired military man, part of the expatriate community.
- [Jack Rangsley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/jack_rangsley.md): A drunken sailor or local character.
- [Veronica Rooksby](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/veronica_rooksby.md): A female relative of Sir Ralph Rooksby.
- [Mr. Macdonald](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/mr_macdonald.md): A local planter or landowner, part of the community.
- [Nikola el Escoces](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/nikola_el_escoces.md): A Scottish character, possibly a sailor or mercenary.
- [Mr. Kemp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/mr_kemp.md): An older Kemp, possibly father of Juan Kemp.
- [Domingo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/domingo.md): A minor character, possibly a servant.
- [Cesar](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/cesar.md): The majordomo of the Riego household, an African.
- [Mrs. Cowper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/mrs_cowper.md): Wife of Major Cowper.
- [Lady Mary Kemp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters/lady_mary_kemp.md): A female member of the Kemp family.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/romance_se/characters