Character guide

The Narrator

major

Also known as Unknown, myself, me, mine, I., yours

He arrives at the Dragon Volant flushed with the thrill of a rescue at the Belle Étoile, already half in love with a woman he barely knows. His servant St. Clair feeds him tales of guests who vanished bodily from the inn, and the host answers his questions about the Count with evasions that only sharpen his appetite. He is brave, credulous, and eager to be tested — precisely the temperament that makes an intrigue like this one so dangerous.

Count de St. Alyre

major

Also known as the Count de St. Alyre, Count de St. Alyre, The old Count de St. Alyre, The Count, the Count St. Alyre

The Count de St. Alyre moves through the Versailles crowd in mask and domino, polite to the narrator yet strangely guarded about where he lives and whom he keeps near him. His marriage is a battlefield: the conjuror's palanquin answers that he loves his wife's diamonds better than his wife, and the Marquis laughs. His possessiveness and his obsession with the Countess's jewels set the emotional weather of the whole intrigue.

Countess de St. Alyre

major

Also known as Countess, Beautiful Countess, the Countess de St. Alyre, the Countess, Countess d’Aulnois

The Countess de St. Alyre is young, lovely, and trapped in a marriage to an old, jealous, tyrannical husband who keeps her nearly friendless. Through her confidante she arranges a secret audience with the narrator at two in the morning, trusting his honour and his courage. Her loneliness and her willingness to reach for help make her the still centre around which the narrator's desire, and the plot's menace, both turn.

Colonel Gaillarde

supporting

Also known as Gaillarde, the gasconading Colonel Gaillarde, the Colonel

Colonel Gaillarde is the sort of soldier who cannot tell a story without making himself its hero, and his talk runs to duels, campaigns, and imagined slights. He attaches himself to the narrator as a companion and self-appointed authority on everything from honour to the Count's household. His bluster is comic, but it also models the code of gallantry the narrator is trying to live up to — and the ease with which reputation can be performed rather than earned.

Monsieur Carmaignac

supporting

Also known as Carmaignac, the incorrigible Carmaignac

Monsieur Carmaignac is incorrigibly witty, sceptical of every fine sentiment, and apparently well placed to know what goes on behind the polite façades of Versailles. He treats the narrator's enthusiasms with amused indulgence while dropping hints that the Dragon Volant and its guests are not what they seem. His scepticism plants the doubts that the narrator's own heart keeps trying to shout down.

Planard

supporting

Also known as Doctor Planard, the scoundrel Planard

Doctor Planard moves in the Count's orbit with the quiet competence of a man who is used to being needed and never questioned. His name carries a whiff of the scoundrel, and the company he keeps — the jealous Count, the evasive host, the strange doings at the Dragon Volant — makes his discretion look less like professionalism than complicity. He is the kind of figure whose presence in a sickroom or a corridor should make a sensible man lock his door.

Richard

minor

Also known as Dear Richard

A friend to whom the narrator writes letters recounting his adventures.

Tom Whistlewick

minor

Also known as Tom, Whistlewick, the agreeable Tom Whistlewick

A cheerful English acquaintance of the narrator traveling in France.

Gabriel Gaillarde

minor

Also known as This Gabriel Gaillarde, Gabriel

The son of Colonel Gaillarde, a young man with a mysterious past.

St. Clair

minor

A character referenced in stories about the Dragon Volant's history.

Count Château Blassemare

minor

Also known as the Count Château Blassemare

A nobleman mentioned in connection with the Dragon Volant's past.

Monsieur Droqville

minor

Also known as Monsieur the Mar⁠—to Monsieur Droqville

A mysterious figure who visits the Belle Étoile and interacts with the Count.

Mademoiselle de la Vallière

minor

Also known as XIV Mademoiselle de la Vallière, Mademoiselle

A historical figure referenced in a chapter title and discussion.

Marquis d'Harmonville

minor

Also known as Monsieur le Marquis, the Marquis d’Harmonville

A nobleman who appears late in the story with crucial information.

Doctor Hesselius

minor

Also known as Doctor Martin Hesselius

A metaphysical doctor who frames the story as a case study.

Monsieur Beckett

minor

Also known as Beckett, Mr. Beckett, Mr. Stanhope Beckett

An Englishman staying at the Dragon Volant with a secret agenda.

Pierre de St. Amand

minor

Also known as Monsieur de St. Amand, St. Amand, Monsieur Pierre de St. Amand, Pierre de la Roche St. Amand, Pierre

A character from a story-within-the-story about the Dragon Volant.

Eugenie

minor

Also known as Dearest Eugenie, The fair Eugenie

A woman mentioned in the narrator's romantic fantasies.