# Spalatro — Short Fiction character guide

> Spalatro in Short Fiction by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** The Spalatro, the renowned and unhappy Spalatro, the wretch Spalatro

**First appearance:** 0013-spalatro

## Snapshot

A condemned bandit in a Venetian prison who tells a confessor a story so strange it threatens to unmake the priest's sanity.

## Who they are

Spalatro sits in his cell as Fra Giacomo's most baffling penitent—a man who denies the sacraments yet insists he has seen things no lips dare repeat. He suffers epileptic fits, speaks of destiny with cold certainty, and claims knowledge of the afterlife that mocks the Church's prayers. His confession, told with groans and tears, pulls the reader into a labyrinth of illusion and doubt where nothing—not even the priest's faith—remains stable.

## In the story

### [Spalatro](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/chapters/spalatro)

The protagonist and narrator, who recounts his supernatural ordeal and near-destruction by a beautiful destroyer.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters/spalatro
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_31_se/characters