Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Ralon of Malven

We dislike Ralon from the first glimpse we get of him. He sneers and shows his crooked teeth as he wrestles Alanna around the pages' common room, then goes on to both verbally and physically assault Alanna every chance he gets. Even worse, he's a tattle-tale: rather than uphold the code of chivalry and take his beatings like a man (or woman), he rats out Raoul and gets Raoul punished.

This combination of unsavory traits makes Ralon someone we love to hate. We're slapping an antagonist badge on him because of his intentions toward the protagonist, our Alanna. He wants to grind her into the dust, break her will, and make her acknowledge his power over her. When we put it like that, it makes him sound extremely icky—and makes us extremely happy when Alanna manages to turn the tables on him.

Duke Roger

Duke Roger makes Alanna—and us—feel uneasy, but it's something of a mystery as to why. He's a snappy dresser, but this isn't a Hollywood movie, so that's not enough to make him a villain. He's also a very powerful sorcerer, but we never see him do magic to hurt anyone. It is pretty mysterious that he's one of a handful of sorcerers powerful enough to magically send the Sweating Fever to the palace and just so happens not to be around to stop it, but that's hardly proof.

It's also kind of suspicious that Duke Roger is next in line to inherit the throne if something should happen to Jonathan, and a little weird Duke Roger is the one to hypnotically suggest that Jonathan go check out the Black City while he's in Persopolis. As if that weren't strange enough, Thom writes to Alanna telling her that Duke Roger's been snooping around the City of the Gods trying to dig up dirt on Thom…and people who don't like Duke Roger tend to disappear.

Hmmm. We never get any hard evidence that Duke Roger is a bad guy, but we're with Alanna in having a bad feeling about him. We wouldn't trust him not to send Jonathan to an early grave, and he seems ruthless enough to take out anyone in his way. Like Alanna. Watch your back, girl!