Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Keeper

At first Keeper doesn't seem like such a bad guy—after all, he's nice enough to let the girls come dance in his magical pavilion every night. But then little things start to make Azalea uneasy. It's weird when he strokes her hand, and she has to wipe "her hand on her skirts, trying to get rid of the silky feeling of Keeper's thumb stroking her palm" (18.88), for instance.

But then the situation gets worse than him just being creepy: it turns out that he's the High King D'Eathe who's sworn vengeance on Azalea's family. Once he gets the King and the girls in his power, he says he'll kill the girls "Eldest to youngest" (27.16) and make the King watch before killing him as well. If that's not enough to make someone a story's antagonist, we don't know what is.