Serpent & Dove

Reid is the captain of the witch-hunting Chasseurs. After his apparent abandonment as a baby, he was raised by the Archbishop. Consequently, he regards the Archbishop as his spiritual and adoptive father and sees his word as law. Although he once hoped to marry—an unusual step for a Chasseur—he feels he understands his duty and purpose.

Of the characters in Serpent & Dove, Reid is the most dynamic. He goes from a rigid, dogmatic thinker to someone who thinks for himself. His unexpected marriage to Lou is the catalyst for this change. Her sharp criticism of hypocrisy makes him question the word of the Archbishop, and he finds a new verve for life as he observes how she embraces the world. He learns that he can love more than one person and that his role in life might go beyond duty and service.

When Reid learns Lou is a witch, he must dig deep within himself and undo the brainwashing that makes him feel all witches must die. He knows Lou isn’t evil, so he breaks with the Chasseurs. Even though he is angry that she didn’t trust him enough to confide in him, he values Lou’s love more than her betrayal. This opens him up to accept other forms of love: When he learns Hélène is his mother, he reacts with less trepidation than he would have before he knew Lou. He begins to recognize that human beings are imperfect and that everyone he knows has aspects of both good and evil.

At the close of the book, Reid has won the girl and saved the crown. He has also learned that he too is a witch—a fact that might have perturbed him if it had not allowed him to save Lou. His next journey will be to figure out who he is now that he has changed so radically from the boy he was trained to be.

To outsiders, the Archbishop seems to be an upstanding man of the clergy. His word is respected and people listen to him. He oversees the elite Chasseurs and helps to free Belterra from the threat of the evil witches. However, the Archbishop wears a costume as sure as any actor: In truth, he is a vain, unscrupulous man who uses others to hide his own transgressions.

As a young man, the Archbishop climbed to power within the Church but almost lost everything when he was seduced by Morgane. In response, the Archbishop redoubled the Church’s persecution of witches and made sure everyone saw them as vipers. He condones the murder of harmless creatures like hobgoblins and sanctions the fathers’ experimentations on sick patients. He pretends to be utterly without sin or weakness but eats sticky buns in the middle of the night, smearing icing on the sacred books. This seemingly small act symbolizes his entire nature.

The Archbishop’s relationship with Reid alternates between favoritism (he has made him captain of the Chasseurs) and criticism (he belittles his sexuality). He deliberately orchestrates an unwanted marriage to protect his own reputation, not caring about Reid’s well-being. It is unclear exactly when the Archbishop realizes Lou is his daughter, but it appears to be as early as Hélène’s letter about the heist at Tremblay’s. Nevertheless, he treats Lou with disdain and makes it clear that he thinks she is unworthy of Reid, accusing her multiple times of corrupting him. Even in great crisis, he cannot speak to Lou as a human being; his nature remains rigid and spiteful until the end.

Reid stabs the Archbishop to death to save Lou at the Chateau le Blanc, which metaphorically shows how necessary it is to dismantle the Archbishop’s outmoded ways of thinking and his corrupt religious model.

Morgane is the primary antagonist—a powerful, shapeshifting witch who leads the coven of Dames Blanches. She is well-regarded, and her disciples follow her with unthinking fervor. Like the Archbishop, Morgane uses persuasive rhetoric to convince her disciples to commit (or at least allow) heinous acts: She explains that Lou’s sacrifice is not murder but an honor in service to the trinity of Maiden, Mother, and Crone.

In fact, the sacrifice’s primary aim is to shore up Morgane’s own power. Morgane cares little for anyone but herself. Her sole goal is to destroy the royal family and the Church. Morgane is as single-minded about Belterran citizens as they are about witches, feeling they all deserve to die. She has no qualms about her disciples torturing them in horrific ways, believing in eye-for-an-eye punishments. Her inhumanity extends to her own daughter, whom she conceived only to destroy the crown. Although she seemed to dote on Lou as a girl, Morgane readily admits she never loved Lou.

While Reid wounds Morgane in battle, she remains alive at the end of the novel—a fierce enemy who will continue to target the protagonists as she seeks vengeance. Like the Archbishop, her character reveals the importance of Resisting Dogma.

Cosette Monvision, who goes by the name Coco, is a Dame Rouge. Every time Coco does magic, she covers the resulting scar with makeup or clothing. Coco is a powerful witch—a fact not fully displayed until the end of the book, when she performs a location ritual and uses blood and honey magic to heal Hélène.

Lou and Coco have been friends since childhood, and Coco is devoted to Lou, exemplifying Loyalty Within Friendship. She helps Lou retrieve Angelica’s Ring, trains with her, and refuses to run away from Belterra when she thinks Lou needs her. She even disguises herself as an infirmary aide named Brie Perrot to remain close to Lou. Although Coco doesn’t know all of Lou’s secrets, she loves her unconditionally, even when they argue. Coco is particularly sympathetic regarding Lou’s abusive mother and is determined not to let Lou waste her time in unproductive relationships, as with Bas.

As the novel progresses, Coco develops a relationship with Beauregard, the king’s son. This relationship seems lighthearted, but under duress in the Forêt des Yeux, they fall to quarreling. While Ansel is also smitten with Coco, she pushes him away since she feels he’s too good for her and fears she might ruin him. This shows that she values Ansel, and they form a friendship instead. Though Coco initially doesn’t like Reid, she ultimately bonds with him over their shared love for Lou.

Wary of her powerful aunt, Coco is nonetheless willing to go to her if doing so will protect her friends. As the novel ends, Coco is guiding her friends to her coven. Since the next book is called Blood & Honey, the type of magic blood witches perform, Coco will likely play a greater role in Lou’s next chapter.

Ansel is a 16-year-old initiate to the Chasseurs. At first, Ansel seems rather innocent, but he shows himself to be one of the stronger characters in the book. Ansel’s ethics are sound, and he always errs in the direction of sympathy. When he sees Lou in trouble, as she is in her conversation with Jean Luc, he tries to intercede. Ansel admires Lou’s goodness and willingly accepts her as a witch because of her noble sacrifice for Estelle. He is also willing to tell Reid uncomfortable truths, knowing that it might strain their friendship but valuing Reid’s well-being more. He is brave, kind, and a true friend to both protagonists, though his young age does show when he is around his crush, Coco.

Though supposedly Reid’s closest friend, Jean Luc’s envy of Reid’s advancement in the Chasseurs has undermined their bond. At first, Jean Luc alternates between caring about Reid and goading him, but as he begins to suspect Lou is a witch, Jean Luc becomes more aggressive and less trustworthy. He looks for his opportunity to take Reid down a peg and to expose Lou. He reveals his self-serving nature when Reid can no longer support the Archbishop, jumping at the chance to become captain of the Chasseurs.

A beautiful redhead, Hélène is the madam of The Bellerose, a brothel in the East End. Hélène appears to be a vain, self-interested, and slightly threatening minor character, but her role in Serpent & Dove evolves into a major one. Initially, her desire for Lou and Coco to join The Bellerose seems like a way to manipulate them so she can make more money. She hires Andre and Grue as bodyguards to intimidate others, and she harasses Tremblay over the magical ring, implying that his daughter Célie will suffer the same fate as her murdered sister if Tremblay does not sell it to her. Lastly, she alerts the Archbishop to Lou’s plan to steal the ring, seeming to target Lou.

However, Hélène has a hidden side. She consistently (if covertly) protects Lou despite the risk of exposing herself as a Dame Blanche. The tip to the Chasseurs, for example, was a way of forcing the Archbishop to keep his daughter safe inside the church. Rejecting Reid’s dangerous pride, she enlists the help of Jean Luc in the battle at the Chateau, knowing the Chasseurs can increase the chances of saving Lou.

Hélène’s actions are a result of her painful past with Morgane, who stole her son at birth. This loss and her need to rectify it drive her character. When Hélène realizes Reid is her lost son, her main concern is that he is a good man. Knowing it will take time for him to accept her, she holds back from revealing herself as his mother until necessary. In the interim, she helps her children escape to the Dames Rouges while determining to speak to King Auguste on behalf of Lou and Reid. Rather than self-interested and cruel, Hélène emerges as someone willing to sacrifice anything for those she loves.

Estelle is a witch who blends into society by working as an actress at Soleil et Lune. At first, she seems to be an ally, helping a bloodied and bruised Lou attempt to escape Reid and magically humiliating the Archbishop. However, after the performance of La Vie Éphémère, Estelle recognizes Lou from childhood and attempts to kidnap her. Making her loyalty to Morgane clear, she proves she isn’t Lou’s ally. Nevertheless, Lou is deeply affected by the pain inflicted upon Estelle during the latter’s execution. Lou even takes the suffering from Estelle’s body as she burns, noting that no one deserves to die so horribly. This drives home the cruelty of the Chasseurs’ dogma. Estelle helps establish a major theme in the novel, showing that each person is capable of both good and bad actions.

Manon is Lou’s former childhood friend and a devoted follower of Morgane. Manon is assigned to guard Lou following the latter’s capture. Manon thinks she loves Lou and doesn’t understand why Lou doesn’t see her sacrifice as an honor. Manon’s sister Fleur was killed by the Chasseurs at the age of 11, so Manon has reason to believe that Morgane is acting in the right. However, she is unscrupulous in pursuing what she sees as right, manipulating Lou into promising that she won’t try to escape a second time. At one point, Coco suggests that Manon is her opposite.

In the kingdom of Belterra, witches who can perform magic using the power of the external world are called Les Dames Blanches, the White Women. The Dames Blanches descend from Angelica, a powerful witch whose tragic love affair ended her life. When these witches call up magic, they see golden threads that they can pull. Each magical act demands a sacrifice, which may involve surrendering a memory, breaking a bone, or losing a sense.

Angelica’s people used to own Belterra, but the king’s ancestors conquered it. The Dames Blanches are determined to reclaim their land. Most of these witches submit to the will of their leader, La Dame des Sorcières, Morgane le Blanc. Several unnamed witches provide the distraction for Morgane when she first tries to kill the king in Chapter 2. Others form the acting troupe Ye Old Sisters, and most come to the Chateau le Blanc to celebrate Mondraniht. These unnamed witches underscore that witches can act with vengeance and cruelty, showing that devotees of Morgane are as dangerously zealous as the Archbishop’s followers.

Blood witches work by mixing blood with other ingredients to sense the future. When they perform spells, it scars their skin, so they have a harder time blending into society than Dames Blanches. La Voison, Coco’s aunt, is the leader of their coven and is considered very powerful. The Dames Rouges and the Dames Blanches do not get along, as La Voison despises Morgane le Blanc.

Beauregard, or Beau, is the prince of Belterra. He initially seems to be a playboy like his father, interested only in frivolity and flirtation. However, as he becomes close to Coco, he turns into a significant player on the team rescuing Lou from Morgane. He complains incessantly about roughing it, but he is also quick-thinking: He prevents Reid from exposing them too soon in the Chateau and orchestrates a diverting performance of “Big Titty Liddy”—accompanied by an impromptu strip tease—as Reid rescues Lou. He does not shy away from physical battle with the witches and is a loyal teammate, if not an unselfish one. Beau doesn’t have the best relationship with his father and is surprised and dismissive of Hélène’s regard for the king. He is Reid’s half-brother, although their relationship goes largely unremarked upon in this novel. Coco seems to lose her attraction to him at the end of the novel due to his tendency to be vain and demanding.

King Auguste is a descendant of the king who drove the witches out of Belterra. He likes to honor Chasseurs for killing witches and is known for funding the Church’s program. His many romantic entanglements are a subject of gossip. One such relationship—with Hélène Labelle—produced Reid, of whom the king is unaware. While Beau thinks his father is a terrible person, Hélène defends him and seeks his aid at the end of the book.