History Characters / JaneEyre

* AmbiguousDisorder Some of her appearance suggests she's hypermanic, some of her behaviour suggests severe dementia, with [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4518130/ modern medical readings suggesting she's got Huntington's chorea]]. Rochester blames her condition on bad genes, saying her family had 'three generations of idiots and maniacs' and she might be part black [[note]]People of African descent are more likely to develop a certain type of Huntington's[[/note]]. She's also been speculated to have neurosyphilis, especially since her mother went crazy in a similar way and it could ''look'' genetic and John rumors Bertha to be promiscuous. Justified, as this was long before any modern language about mental illness was in use even by experts and they were just starting to have more progressive attitudes and asylums where violent mentally ill people could be treated with kindness (one of them was ''right there in Yorkshire at the time.''). Either Charlotte didn't know about it or assumed Rochester still thought she'd be safer at home.

* IllGirl: She suffers from consumption[[note]]now known as tuberculosis[[/note]], poor lamb. It's portrayed quite realistically.[[note]]If anybody knew the symptoms of TB, it was Charlotte Bronte; she lost a brother and four sisters to it, including Maria Brontë, the model for Helen Burns.[[/note]]

[[folder:Mr. Brocklehurst]]

Characters of the novel ''Literature/JaneEyre''. Beware, reader, here there be major spoilers.

* AbusiveParent: She abuses little Jane, who is her late husband's niece and is supposed to live in her household. Mrs. Reed hates Jane and hates that her husband made her promise to take care of her.

* {{Nice Girl}}s: They are extremely nice to Jane, a stranger who knocks on their house, half starved to death and ill. They nurse her to health and offer her their home.

* NiceGirl: Definitely kind and compassionate and can't tolerate evil and unkindness.

* IllGirl: She suffers from consumption, poor lamb. It's portrayed quite realistically.[[note]]If anybody knew the symptoms of TB, it was Charlotte Bronte; she lost a brother and four sisters to it, including Maria Brontë, the model for Helen Burns.[[/note]]

[[folder: Mr. Brocklehurst]]

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: Had one with Helen Burns. It ended tragically with Helen's death.

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: She was extremely close with Jane.

* TallDarkAndSnarky: He's described as very dark and nearly black. He compares himself to Hephaistos, a Greek god of fire and black-smithery--Jane agrees. He appears intimidating to nearly everybody. It's partly his defense mechanism because he suffered a lot, but it's easy to imagine him as a snarker even at his young age with his family.

* TheHedonist: Like Georgiana, he was entirely driven by appetites--as a child, this manifested in bullying and torturing small animals; as an adult, it meant drinking, gambling, and other sundries.

A kindhearted teacher at Lowood.

* IllGirl: She suffers from consumption, poor lamb. It's portrayed quite realistically.[[note]]If anybody knew the symptoms of TB it was Charlotte Bronte, she lost a brother and four sisters to it, including Maria Brontë, the model for Helen Burns.[[/note]]

* {{Maid}}: She's a servant hired to work at Thornfield. Mrs. Fairfax describes her as someone brought in to sew and assists Leah the housemaid, but this seems to be a cover for her real job caring for Mrs. Rochester.

* GoodIsNotNice: St. John is utterly dedicated to his faith and has high moral principles but he's also severe and unforgiving, acts coldly even to the members of his own family and regards love and emotion as ignoble weaknesses. He is quite aware of this, describing himself as "a hard, cold man."

* PrettyBoy: Jane describes him as a very handsome, tall, fair-haired and blue-eyed young man. He's compared to the god Apollo from Myth/ClassicalMythology.

* HappilyMarried: They get married to excellent men and both Diana and Mary love their husbands who in turn love them. Jane thinks they are worthy of the connection, and that's saying a lot because Jane thinks very highly of her cousins.

* [[NiceGirl Nice Girls]]: They are extremely nice to Jane, a stranger who knocks on their house, half starved to death and ill. They nurse her to health and offer her their home.

St. John's love interest, whom he refuses to marry because she wouldn't be suited to the life of a missionary' wife.

[[folder: Jane Eyre]]

* [[WellDoneSonGuy Well Done Daughter Girl]]: When she goes back to visit Mrs. Reed. Jane would genuinely like to make peace with her aunt but Mrs. Reed is incapable of admitting herself wrong.

[[folder: Mr. Edward Fairfax Rochester]]

* TallDarkAndSnarky: He's described as very dark and nearly black. He compares himself to Hephaistos, a Greek god of fire and black-smithery--Jane agrees. He appears intimidating to nearly everybody. It's partly his defence mechanism because he suffered a lot, but it's easy to imagine him as a snarker even at his young age with his family.

[[folder: Mrs. Sarah Reed]]

* BigBadEnsemble: With Bertha Mason

[[folder: John Reed]]

[[folder: Georgiana Reed]]

[[folder: Eliza Reed]]

[[folder: Bessie Lee]]
The Reeds' maid

* BrutalHonesty: She's able to tell Jane in her face that she's no beauty and that she never was very pretty. She's not unkind, though. And she openly praises Jane for her accomplishments and calls her "quite a lady".

* HappilyMarried: She's happily married and has several children when she and Jane reunite after eight years.

A preacher at Lowood

* TheFundamentalist: It's unclear exactly how much of his own cant he believes, as his family certainly doesn't practice it to the same extent he forces it on others, but he preaches it loud and clear.

[[folder: Maria Temple]]
A kindhearted teacher at Lowood

[[folder: Helen Burns]]
Jane's first friend at Lowood

* WhenSheSmiles
--> '''Jane:''' ''(narrating)''' What a smile! I remember it now, and I know that it was the effluence of fine intellect, of true courage; it lighted up her marked lineaments, her thin face, her sunken grey eye, like a reflection from the aspect of an angel.

[[folder: Mrs. Alice Fairfax]]
Edward's housekeeper

[[folder: Adèle Varens]]
A little girl that Edward takes in

[[folder: Blanche Ingram]]

* OldMaid: Even Jane wonders how come Blanche is not married yet at her age. Blanche is in her mid-twenties and she hopes to snatch Mr. Rochester real fast. She's beautiful but unkind and Mr. Rochester later notes she's a shameless gold-digger.

[[folder: Grace Poole]]
Bertha's Nurse

* PlainJane: Is described as having a 'hard, plain face' and a 'set, square-made figure.'

[[folder: Bertha Antonietta Mason (aka Bertha Rochester)]]
Edward's first wife, who had lost her mind

* BigBadEnsemble: With Mrs. Reed

[[folder: Richard Mason]]
Bertha's brother

[[folder: St. John Eyre Rivers]]
Jane's paternal cousin

* PrettyBoy: Jane describes him as a very handsome, tall, fair-haired and blue-eyed young man. He's compared to a God Apollo from classical mythology.

[[folder: Diana and Mary Rivers]]
Jane's other two paternal cousins

[[folder: Rosamond Oliver]]
St. John's love interest, whom he refuses to marry because she wouldn't be suited to the life of a missionary' wife

[[folder: Mr. John Eyre]]

* NotSoDifferent: Jane considers Mr. Rochester and Grace having once had an affair and thinks it impossible because of Grace's lack of beauty despite any original qualities she might possess. However, she admits that she herself is not conventionally attractive, yet feels that Mr. Rochester trusts her.

* BigBadEnsemble: With her son and Bertha Mason

* BigBadEnsemble: With her mother and Bertha Mason

* BigBadEnsemble: With The Reeds

* AmbiguousDisorder Some of her appearance suggests she's hypermanic, some of her behaviour suggests severe dementia, with [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4518130/ modern medical readings suggesting she's got Huntington's chorea]]. Rochester blames her condition on bad genes, saying her family had 'three generations of idiots and maniacs' and she was supposed to be part black (people of African descent are more likely to get a certain kind of Huntington's). She's also been speculated to have neurosyphilis, especially since her mother went crazy in a similar way and it could ''look'' genetic. (It doesn't help that her description sounds like she's badly neglected; however difficult she is, Grace could at least do something with her hair.) Justified, as this was long before any modern language about mental illness was in use even by experts. They were just starting to have more progressive attitudes and asylums where violent mentally ill people could be treated with kindness. One of them was ''right there in Yorkshire at the time.'' Either Charlotte didn't know about it or assumed Rochester still thought she'd be safer at home.
* ArrangedMarriage: Her family and Mr. Rochester's father arranged the match. His family wanted her great dowry and her family wanted to marry her off. They weren't a great match. It shows.

* LaughingMad: Her fits of laughing scare the crap out of Jane.

* ArrangedMarriage: His father and the Masons of Jamaica arranged a marriage between young Edward Rochester, a younger son of rich, well-connected family who would not inherit anything, and Bertha Mason, an heiress of large fortune and a beauty. Unfortunately she turns out lecherous, depraved and mad.

* ByronicHero: He's dark and troubled, snarky, cynical and attractive despite his lack of good looks. Society frowns upon his loner's ways, but deep down he's a good person who suffered horribly; though admittedly, some of it was at least partly his doing and his fault.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He can sometimes come off as a downright asshole, but he takes good care of his servants, and is raising a little girl who's most likely not his biological daughter. And despite his proclaimed hatred for Bertha, it is his attempt to save her during the fire than causes him to be crippled.

* TallDarkAndSnarky: He's described as very dark and nearly black. He compares himself to Hephaistos, a Greek god of fire and black-smithery--Jane agrees. He appears intimidating to nearly everybody. It's partly his defence mechanism because he suffered a lot, but it's easy to imagine him as a snarker even in his young age with his family.
* UnexplainedRecovery: Eventually recovers from the fire at Thornfield, which Bertha caused. In particular his sight returns in one eye. His arm never grows back though.

[[folder:Mrs. Sarah Reed]]

* BreakTheHaughty: She a very proud and haughty rich woman at the beginning of the novel. Her son failed her, however, ruining their family. She's also very uncomfortable being humbled by Jane.

* {{Jerkass}}: She's mean and nasty to Jane, never showing her a shade of affection, yet believes herself to be her nice benefactress, worthy of praise and admiration.
* KarmicDeath: She never did anything to redeem herself and never regretted the way she treated her poor orphaned niece. She died when her son was dead, her family in debts and her daughters barely caring for her. A sad fate, but one she truly deserved.

* RichBitch: She's a rich gentry woman of good family who married well and she's very proud of it.

* WidowWoman: Her husband died. She's never shown missing him. She promised him she would take care of his niece, but regretted that he made her promise that.

[[folder:John Reed]]

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: As a child Jane describes him as deliberately killing pigeons and pea-chicks and setting dogs on sheep as an example of the various nasty things he does which no one punishes him for.

* MinorFlawMajorBreakup: Played with. He has unusually large lips despite being otherwise handsome, and his mother blames his inability to successfully court a woman on them. Of course the real reason is his terrible personality, but she either can't see it or won't admit it.

* SpoiledBrat: Had Mrs. Reed been a better parent, he might have turned out differently. But his mother never refused his requests, thinking he was a genius and well behaved.

* WouldHitAGirl: Frequently bullied and harassed Jane when they were younger. At one point he hurls a book at her, knocking her against a doorframe and cutting her head.

[[folder:Georgiana Reed]]

* DumbBlonde: Described as having golden curls, which explains why she's been adored since she was a child -- gold hair was seen as practically ''angelic'' on young children. Georgiana also has very little smarts, and no work ethic at all.

* TheHedonist: Jane observes she likes enjoying herself, and resents having to be in mourning because that means no parties and no fun.
* SpoiledBrat: Her mother indulged her children quite excessively and it shows. Georgiana is quarrelsome, whiny and expects others to be taking care of her.

[[folder:Eliza Reed]]

* HeelFaceTurn: Downplayed in how she treats Jane after growing up. They aren't friends, but she does admit they are equals, and when they say their good-byes she sincerely wishes Jane well.

[[folder:Bessie Lee]]

* HiredHelpAsFamily: Bessie is a maid at Gateshead. She's the only person in Jane's early childhood who treats her kindly, but she behaves rather inconsistently to Jane (being affectionate, bringing her little treats, telling her stories or singing her songs, but also smacking her for no particular reason or forgetting her completely), but she's the closest thing Jane has to a mother figure or an ally while she lives with her abusive aunt Mrs Reed. Jane is fond of Bessie both as a child and an adult, and she's always very happy to be reunited with her.
* {{Maid}}: She works as a maid in Mrs Reed's house.
* OnlySaneWoman: She's the only reasonable person in Gateshead. Pity she's a servant and has no influence.

* ParentalSubstitute: She's a much better mother figure for Jane than Mrs.Reed, and Jane always remembered her fondly after leaving the Reed home.
* TeamMom: The nanny at the Reed's home, and among the few that treated Jane more or less well. Though, ideally, she would have been more actively kind and more affectionate towards Jane.

[[folder:Mr. Brocklehurst]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: In how he provides for his family, as opposed to how he provides for the girls at Lowood. He preaches water, but drinks wine. Bites him in the ass ''badly'' later.

* SinisterMinister: As a clergyman of rich, honourable and influential family, he has quite a strong position, but he has a sick, twisted mind. For instance, he scares Jane with his idea of hell and horrible religious teachings. The pupils in Lowood nearly freeze and starve because of the poor rationing.

[[folder:Maria Temple]]

[[folder:Helen Burns]]

* DiedInYourArmsTonight: Jane climbs to her bed and they fall asleep together. Helen never wakes up. Jane only remember that somebody lifted her up and took away.

* IllGirl: She suffers from consumption, poor lamb. It's portrayed quite realistically.[[note]]If anybody knew the symptoms of TB it was Charlotte Bronte, she lost a brother and four sisters to it, including Maria Bronte, the model for Helen Burns.[[/note]]
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Nothing could break her sweet nature though she had to put up with lots of ugly things.

* KillTheCutie: It breaks readers' hearts to see this lovely girl die.

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: She was the sweetest, cutest girl imaginable and her spirit was noble and dignified (almost scary for a child). Such girls are not made for this evil world. She would suffer too much.[[note]]Helen is a portrait of Charlotte's sister Maria, who really did die of TB contracted at the school. Witnesses vouched for Helen's character as being a ''toned-down'' version of Maria's, pointing out that Charlotte had left out numerous torments suffered by both Maria and another sister, Elizabeth, who also died.[[/note]]

[[folder:Mrs. Alice Fairfax]]

* CoolOldLady: She's an older woman and very kind. She has some kind of motherly affection for Jane and Adele. Other servants at Thornfield seem a fairly happy lot, so it's clear she treats them fine.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: She's an older woman but treats Jane kindly and is happy to have an equal companion. Jane likes her though admits that Mrs. Fairfax seems a tad simpleminded.

[[folder:Adèle Varens]]

* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Mr. Rochester's ward is the daughter of his then mistress, who sent him the baby after he had dismissed her when he learned she was unfaithful to him. She said the child was his; he assures Jane that he has his doubts, and even Jane figures that Adele probably isn't his daughter (she bears virtually no resemblance to him).
* MissingMom: Her mother abandoned her and never cared for her after that, but Adele thinks she died.
* MoralityPet: To Rochester. The man has serious issues, but his treatment of Adele shows him in his best light. He gave her a good home even though she's most likely not his biological daughter. He's somewhat unaffectionate to her, but he's never abusive. All in all, what Rochester does for the little girl is admirable.

[[folder:Blanche Ingram]]

* ChildHater: She has no patience for Adèle and is making plans to pack her off to boarding school almost immediately after setting foot in Mr Rochester's home.

* ElegantClassicalMusician: She plays the piano remarkably well and she's a good singer. Mrs Fairfax says she was greatly admired by all. She also mentions that a gentleman accompanied her singing by playing on the piano and that she and Mr Rochester sang a duet.
* GoldDigger: She's from a good family, but has virtually no dowry. She wants to marry Mr Rochester for his money, his big fancy house and vast property.
* InformedAttractiveness: Blanche Ingram is supposed to be extremely beautiful, so her appearance is described in great detail. She's tall and majestic; she has a fine chest, sloping shoulders and a long, graceful neck; her olive complexion is dark and clear. Her face has noble features and her eyes are large and black, and called as brilliant as her jewels. She has gorgeous raven-black hair, thick, long and shiny and worn in a beautifully arranged hairdo. She dresses well, too, and is very elegant.

* OldMaid: Even Jane wonders how come Blanche is not married yet at her age. Blanche is in her mid-twenties and she hopes to snatch Mr Rochester real fast. She's beautiful but unkind and Mr Rochester later notes she's a shameless gold-digger.
* PrivilegedRival: She's a romantic rival to Jane as they're both after Mr Rochester (Jane loves him, while Blanche is in it mainly for the money and status). Jane is a penniless orphaned governess while Blanche is a gentleman's daughter from a good family with many friends. Though it's revealed Blanche has almost no dowry herself.
* RichBitch: She's a beautiful woman who comes from a wealthy and socially prominent family, but aside from her obvious problems of her personality, her lack of luck in marriage [[OldMaid (she's currently 25 and still isn't married)]] implies that she's not terribly popular with gentleman and doesn't have any serious suitors or marriage offers to expect. (Another problem is the fact that she herself doesn't have a large dowry.)
* WhatBeautifulEyes: She has large and black eyes, as brilliant as her jewels.

[[folder:Grace Poole]]

* {{Maid}}: She's a servant hired to work at Thornfield. Mrs Fairfax describes her as someone brought in to sew and assists Leah the housemaid, but this seems to be a cover for her real job caring for Mrs Rochester.
* NotSoDifferent: Jane considers Mr Rochester and Grace having once had an affair and thinks it impossible because of Grace's lack of beauty, despite any original qualities she might possess. However she admits that she herself is not conventionally attractive, yet feels that Mr Rochester trusts her.

[[folder:Bertha Antonietta Mason (aka Bertha Rochester)]]

* AmbiguousDisorder Some of her appearance suggests she's hypermanic, some of her behaviour suggests severe dementia, with [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4518130/ modern medical readings suggesting she's got Huntington's chorea]]. Rochester blames her condition on bad genes, saying her family had 'three generations of idiots and maniacs' and she was supposed to be part black (people of African descent are more likely to get a certain kind of Huntington's). She's also been speculated to have neurosyphilis, especially since her mother went crazy in a similar way and it could ''look'' genetic. (It doesn't help that her description sounds like she's badly neglected; however difficult she is, Grace could at least do something with her hair.) Justified, as this was long before any modern language about mental illness was in use even by experts. They were just starting to have more progressive attitudes and asylums where violent mentally ill people could be treated with kindness. One of them was ''right there in Yorkshire at the time.'' Either Charlotte didn't know about it, or assumed Rochester still thought she'd be safer at home.
* ArrangedMarriage: Her family and Mr Rochester's father arranged the match. His family wanted her great dowry and her family wanted to marry her off. They weren't a great match. It shows.
* AxCrazy: Her madness has violent nature. She bites people and likes setting things on fire. At one point she tried to stab her brother and attacks Mr Rochester when he enters her room. Finally she burns down Thornfield and jumps off the roof to her death.
* ButNotTooBlack: Or AmbiguouslyBrown. Some bits and pieces in the story mentions (or, rather, implies) she's Creole-English and has a darker complexion that the rest of the cast.

* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: She was dark-skinned and dark-haired, but when she's in Thornfield, she's creepily pale with purple face and bloated features. Jane says she looks like a ghost or 'the foul German spectre, the Vampyre.'

* PetTheDog: For a lot of the stuff she does at Thornfield, she doesn't hurt Jane while she's unconscious. In fact the only people who suffer a physical attack are her brother and Mr Rochester.
* PyroManiac: She seems to like fire a lot. She nearly burned Mr Rochester in his bed once, and she's responsible for the fire revealed at the end of the book.

* SlutShaming: When Edward talks about her, he calls her a "fallen woman". This also serves to set up a double standard as Edward's committed infidelity but his womanizing habits aren't seen as wrong.
* UnknownCharacter: In a sense, as most of what we know about her is from what we've seen and from what Edward said. Neither of those things lend much to her as character.

[[folder:Richard Mason]]

-->''"...I like his physiognomy even less than before: it struck me as being, at the same time, unsettled and inanimate. His eye wandered, and had no meaning in its wandering: this gave him an odd look, such as I never remembered to have seen. For a handsome and not unamiable-looking man, he repelled me exceedingly..."''
* WhiteSheep: He has a meek and feeble-minded nature and Jane finds his appearance off-putting, but he's one of the few members of his family who isn't a lunatic or a 'dumb idiot' as in the case of his younger brother, though Rochester believes he will end up in the same way eventually.

[[folder:St. John Eyre Rivers]]

* RescueRomance: It's not a romance but St. John ''is'' trying to 'rescue' Jane from Rochester's dishonorable wiles. He recognizes that she, like him, is a misfit in pre-Victorian England and believes that his solution - missionary work - will also work for her and keep her safe from temptation. Jane herself realizes that her cousin meant well by her in his manipulative way hence her willingness to correspond with him after she's married Rochester and he's gone to India.

[[folder:Diana and Mary Rivers]]

* ImpoverishedPatrician: Their family is noble but their father lost their property and was not rich enough to give them dowries. They must provide for themselves and work as governesses. They gain nice property when Jane splits her inheritance among them in equal share because they are cousins and all were related to the wealthy uncle.
* LongLostRelative: They take Jane under their wing, not knowing they are in fact her paternal cousins.

* ShipperOnDeck: They silently support their brother's love for Miss Rosamond Oliver and they later switch teams and think he should marry Jane.

[[folder:Rosamond Oliver]]

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Jane describes her as extremely beautiful with nearly every feature perfect. She's a bit vain, but amiable. In fact one could consider her one of the few characters of who plays this trope straight, compared to Blanche Ingram and Georgiana Reed.

* SpoiledSweet: She's a spoilt girl who knew nothing but indulgence, but she's never jerkish or proud. She helps to establish a village school for kids and she's really kind to Jane, a poor teacher with no connections. Rosamond admires Jane's education and accomplishments.

[[folder:Mr. John Eyre]]

* LongLostRelative: He's Jane's paternal uncle. He wanted to take care of Jane at one point, but Mrs Reed lied to him that Jane had died. He only finds out otherwise when Jane writes him about her impending marriage.

[[folder:Jane Eyre]]

The heroine and narrator of the novel. Jane is a young woman, looking back on her life of an orphan and a governess.

* DeadpanSnarker: "I had green eyes, reader, but for him they were newly dyed, I suppose."

* NiceGirl: Definitely kind and compassionate, and can't tolerate evil and unkindness.
* OrphansOrdeal: Both her parents died when she was very little (practically a baby). Her uncle Reed loved his sister and took her as his own, but he died soon too, and her aunt hated her like plague. Her relatives from her father's side exist, but they come in the picture much later in the story. Part of it was Mrs Reed's doing.

* PluckyGirl: Jane talks back to authority figures, stands up to her domineering love interest and generally asserts herself.
* PrivateTutor: She has been hired by Rochester to teach his ward, Adele.

* UnexpectedInheritance: She ends up inheriting a large fortune from paternal uncle, whom she never met in person.

[[folder:Mr. Edward Fairfax Rochester]]

Mysterious owner of Thornfield Hall, Jane's employer and love of her life.

* CinderellaCircumstances: She is a daughter of a rich gentry woman and a clergyman. However, her parents died. Her mother's brother kindly took her as his own daughter, but unfortunately he died as well. His wife treats her as the worst wicked stepmother there ever was.

* AmbiguousDisorder Some of her appearance suggests she's hypermanic, some of her behaviour suggests severe dementia, some of it is like very severe autism, though that was hardly going to have developed in adulthood. (It doesn't help that her description sounds like she's badly neglected; however difficult she is, Grace could at least do something with her hair.) Justified, as this was long before any modern language about mental illness was in use even by experts.

* AxCrazy: Her madness has violent nature. She bites people and likes setting things on fire. At one point she tried to stab her brother and attacks Mr Rochester when he enters her room. Finally she burns down Thornfield and jumps of the roof to her death.

* InTheBlood: Madness runs in Mason's family among women.

* AxCrazy: Her madness has violent nature. She bites people and likes setting things on fire. The gentleman who tells

%% * {{Ojou}}: She's a subversion of this, as, while she's from an upperclass family, she's spoiled and not very bright.

%% * HidingBehindReligion

%%* OneeSama

%% * ClingyJealousGirl: To Rochester, though not because she really loves him, just for his money.

%% * WalkingSpoiler: And how.

Jane's cousin

Jane's other cousin

Jane's third cousin and the nicer one