Caraval characters

Appears from the start

The elder Dragna daughter, cautious to the point of paralysis, who has spent her life shielding her reckless younger sister from their father. She experiences emotions as colors, which makes other people's moods vivid to her and her own difficult to hide. For years she has written to Legend, master of the traveling performance called Caraval, asking for tickets. By the time an answer arrives she has been promised in an arranged marriage to a count she has never met, and she has decided that the wedding, not the game, is how she will get herself and her sister off the island.

Also known as Tella

Appears from the start

Scarlett's younger sister, impulsive where Scarlett is careful, and unwilling to accept the marriage her sister has arranged both their lives around. She takes risks their father punishes them both for, has attached herself to a sailor named Julian, and is the one who forces the trip to Caraval when the long-awaited tickets finally arrive.

Appears from the start

Governor of the island of Trisda and the sisters' father. He rules his household by violence and has learned that the surest way to control either daughter is to hurt the other one, which keeps Scarlett obedient without his having to touch her. He has arranged Scarlett's marriage for his own advantage and treats disobedience as a debt to be collected.

First appears in chapter 2

A sailor Tella has taken up with, dark-haired and easy with a lie, who offers the sisters passage to the island where Caraval is staged. He is more capable, and far better informed about the game, than a passing sailor has any reason to be, and he consistently avoids saying anything true about himself.

Appears from the start

The master of Caraval, a performance game staged once a year that is half theater and half wager. Nobody outside his company claims to know his face or his real name; he is known through his letters, his performers, and the stories that have collected around the game. Scarlett has written to him for years, and the reply that finally comes sets the whole book in motion.

Appears from the start

Scarlett's betrothed, a wealthy man from beyond Trisda whom her father chose and whom she has never met. His letters are courteous, and Scarlett has staked her entire plan for herself and Tella on the marriage being an escape rather than another cage.

Appears from the start

The sisters' mother, who left Trisda when they were children and never came back. No one has explained why. Her disappearance marks both daughters differently: Scarlett has given up on her, and Tella has not.

First appears in chapter 14

A tall, heavily tattooed young man Scarlett meets inside Caraval, unhurried and hard to read. He knows the game's streets and its rules far better than a first-time player would, and Scarlett cannot tell whether he is a competitor, a performer, or something arranged for her benefit.

First appears in chapter 19

A tattooed fortune-teller working inside Caraval, who reads cards for players willing to pay his price. What he offers is presented as part of the show, and Scarlett has no way to judge how much of it is meant to be true.

First appears in chapter 24

A player who is compiling an illustrated history of Caraval and who trades in stories rather than coin. She is willing to help Scarlett, but only in exchange for something she can use, and her interest is in the game's legend rather than in Scarlett's sister.