open/close all folders
The Heroes
Blanche Brier later Denniston
'I think that if a real princess was lost in this modern world and she could be whatever she wanted, she would be a musician,' Blanche said slowly. 'A violinist, or a harpist. That would be the only place where she could find solace for her lost kingdom."
- Babies Ever After: She and Bear have a son named after Ben.
- Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally- especially in the first book when she acts as a straight man to Rose.Blanche (after Rose gets enthusiastic about a ridiculous furry blue coat, only to find it's way over their budget): "They know how to keep dangerous garments off the streets."
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Responsible Sibling to Rose's Foolish Sibling.
- Happily Ever After: She and Bear, of course.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Tiny Girl to Bear's Huge Guy.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Has bright blue eyes and is a kind, decent person.
- The Ophelia: During Black as Night, her mental state has badly frayed from fear and paranoia over being stalked. It's to the point that in her POVs, she is always called "the girl" instead of "Blanche".
- Properly Paranoid: In the second book, she spent her summer with an increasingly-growing sense that she was in danger and that someone was following her, which escalated into paranoia and depression. Due to various factors, she only ended up sharing the vaguest details with her mom, sister, and coworkers, who as a result were concerned but didn't think much of it. Turns out, Blanche was completely right to be afraid.
- Proper Lady: Calm, responsible Blanche enjoys staying at home reading or sewing and never gets into scrapes.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Her defining physical traits. She doesn't see her pale skin as a pretty thing, though.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue Oni to Rose's Red.
- Shrinking Violet: She's non-confrontational, anxious, doesn't have a lot of confidence, and reserved. She even thinks to herself that she's the type of girl who would send a Straw Feminist into a rage for not being "strong" enough to handle things on her own.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Blanche can be very cold to people she doesn't trust, but she's actually a very nice girl and loyal friend.
Rose Mary Brier
"Have you ever felt that there was something going on in life that not everyone was aware of? As though there’s a story going on that everyone is a part of, but not everybody knows about?"
- Big Brother Instinct: Inverted. She's the little sister and always furiously leaps to Blanche's defense against her bullies.
- Broken Pedestal: Reconstructed. In Waking Rose, a turning point in her relationship with Fish is when he confides the full extent of his trauma to her, then gently chastises her for having an idealized version of him in her head. While she is a bit crushed that he's not the Knight in Shining Armor she imagined, she rebuffs him for believing she could think less of him for what he's been through, and later thinks to herself that his scars don't make her love him any less.
- Class Princess: In contrast to her shy sister, Rose is a social butterfly, an actress, and a bubbly person who quickly becomes popular at her college.
- Cloudcuckoolander: She views life as a fairy tale (though in this series, she's right), doesn't hesitate to become a Kid Detective following Mr. Freet into his house when she overhears he's stolen Mass instruments, which actually turns out better than it might have if she'd just called the police, and it's hinted that she's even right to think she can change the color of her eyes.
- Fiery Redhead: Rose does have a temper, but she's overall very sweet and agreeable.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Foolish Sibling to Blanche's Responsible Sibling, although she is actually fairly responsible on her own most of the time.
- Genre Savvy: She has a wild imagination and likes to label people, things, and places with fairy tale archetypes. Since she's in a series based on fairy tales, this means her musings are usually accurate—for example, she correctly guesses Mr. Freet's keycode just because it "seems evil".
- Happily Ever After: The road there is bumpier than Blanche and Bear's, but she gets there eventually with Fish.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: To cold, detached Fish. She's the popular free spirit who helps him open up more.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red Oni to both Blanche's and Fish's Blue.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Energetic Girl to Fish's Savvy Guy.
- Smitten Teenage Girl: Acts like this around Fish, which annoys him as he usually enjoys her company when she isn't gushing over him. She grows out of this, learning how to love him with patience, maturity, and respect for his boundaries.
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: Her beauty is often remarked on, and she gets attention from Fish, Paul, and no less than half the Sacre Coeur guys.
Arthur "Bear" Denniston
"Every once in a while you just have to decide to do something very crazy and very right—just to dare yourself to live. I don't mean doing something stupid and destructive—just something fun and good and beautiful."
- Big Brother Instinct: Do NOT mess with his little brother (or Blanche and Rose) or you'll find out the hard way why they call him "Bear".
- Cultured Badass: Is a tough fighter, but loves architecture and poetry- even written his own.
- Determinator: He will stop at nothing to bring Father Raymond's murderer to justice. Also applies to his relationship with Blance—nothing says "determination" like chasing the car that kidnapped the girl you like on foot until you catch up.
- Genius Bruiser: He has the build of a football player but writes excellent poetry and is a talented architect.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Huge Guy to Blanche's Tiny Girl.
- Manly Tears: Twice- when Jean and Rose Brier arrive to help him find Blanche, who seems impossible to track down, and when his stepmother dies- as complete a monster as she was, he didn't want her life to end that way.
Benedict "Fish" Denniston
"She couldn’t picture anyone falling madly in love with such a person as Fish. What a name, Fish... Fish: think cold, slippery, detached. Benedict: think dry scholarly monk from the Dark Ages. Denniston: think English preparatory school, stolid country squire. Nothing about his name sounded the least bit romantic."
- Act of True Love: Making a three-hour round-trip drive every day for months to visit the comatose Rose, tanking his health, his job, and his grades in the process.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: A particular talent of his. Out of him, his brother, and the Brier sisters, he's the best at putting together clues and making educated—and often accurate—guesses at what's really going on. Best shown in Waking Rose, when he catches Dr. Prosser's slip of the tongue regarding his rape to deduce that they've been talking to Rose, who is supposed to be in a coma, and ergo there's a way to wake her up.
- Badass Bookworm: While he prefers using his brain to handle situations, he's also a registered gun user who frequently trains at the range and scrappy fighter due to his time in juvie and on the streets.
- Brains and Brawn: Brains to Bear's Brawn.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: A male version in Waking Rose. He cares about Rose and they are genuine friends, but he's also keeping her at arm's length because of her immaturity, her pushiness about her romantic interest in him, and because he has his own issues he's working through. Her growing respectful of his boundaries allows him to open up to her about those issues, to the point she becomes the only one besides Bear who knows the full details.
- Determinator: Becomes this in the second half of Waking Rose, when he spends months juggling his classes, his job, his spiritual life, his friendships, his visits to Rose, and his work on investigating the truth behind her coma.
- Face of a Thug: He has this by Waking Rose, because of all the scars he's collected.
- Happily Ever After: The road there is bumpier than Blanche and Bear's, but he gets there eventually with Rose.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Fish is cranky, sarcastic, dismissive, and outright rude. But, when people need him, he always goes the whole hog in pulling through for them, the best example having to be when Rose falls into a coma: he makes the hour-and-a-half drive every day to visit her and works himself to the bone trying to find who did it.
- Knight in Sour Armor: He's been so burned by the world that he's become Sour Outside, Sad Inside and at times gives up on trying to change it. His devout Catholicism and strong sense of justice never let him give up for long, though.
- Made of Iron: The list of injuries he accrues in the climax of Waking Rose include a compound fracture on one ankle, severe bone trauma on the other, three broken ribs, first-degree burns, lung trauma from smoke inhalation, and a concussion. Bear lampshades it by saying he's not sure how he's alive after all that.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Savvy Guy to Rose's Energetic Girl.
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside: He's perpetually cranky, sarcastic, detached, and when pushed, rude. He's also dealing with trauma from the same Dark and Troubled Past as his brother, on top of trauma from being kidnapped and tortured and raped for three days.
Raphaela Zilberger Birth name: Teresa "Teresita" Torrode
The heroine of Rapunzel Let Down. Raphaela is the young adopted daughter of a feminist scientist with a budding new femininity and curiosity about the gender she's been hidden away from growing close to for most of her life- men.
- Brainy Brunette: She's 16 and so good with the sciences that her tutor suggested she's ready to start working at a lab.
- Damsel in Distress: She laments on this after Hermes helps her and their twins escape risking his own life, noting that every book she'd read had the heroine save herself. She realizes that it takes courage to save oneself to save another and that it's nothing to be ashamed of.
- Kind Hearted Cat Lover: She looked after the barn cats before they disappeared and was heartbroken when she found out.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: Symbolizes her growing femininity and foil to her mother.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Raphaela is considered very beautiful to Hermes, though her mother is much more 'extremist' than mad until things get pretty bad.
- Pregnant Badass: Raphaela sneaks out of the hospital undetected when her mother is almost forcing her to have an abortion or at least give up her babies. She survives by passing as a student on campus borrowing clothes and a backpack from Lost and Found centers, washing produce in exchange for food, depending on food drives, all the while studying medicine at the library where she hides and sleeps. Later she hikes to another town to stay at a women's home, then to ANOTHER town to work in a woman's basement as a telemarketer, THEN gives birth by herself in a cabin in the woods. And did we mention sneaking her infants down the tower and over a fence to save them?
- Proper Lady: She dresses very well, has good table manners, does what her mother tells her, and is polite.
- Spicy Latina: Averted. Raphaela is innocent, sweet, and doesn't even know what her Latino nationality at first.
- Teen Pregnancy: True to the fairy tale, Raph gets knocked up and does not know it until Elma notices.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Interestingly, this book defies the normal "Ladylike mother vs. Spirited Young Lady daughter". Elma, her mother, is the tomboy, a second-wave feminist biologist who disapproves of her daughter's like of long hair, embroidery, and feminine clothes (but still indulges her).
- Traumatic Haircut: When Elma realizes Raph is pregnant.
Herman "Hermes" McCaffrey
The 'prince' of Rapunzel Let Down. The risky son of a popular Conservative Catholic senator and often feeling second-best to his two older brothers, he meets Raphaela by pure chance.
- Always Someone Better: How Hermes has always felt towards his big brothers Christopher and Matt, particularly the former for his good looks and irresistible charisma.
- Hero with an F in Good: His failure to live up to his own moral standards causes half the problems in the book.
- Meaningful Name: His nickname is Hermes- the god of thieves and gambles. Hermes 'steal's Raphaela's innocence and loves taking risks.
Minor Characters
Kateri Kovach
A childhood friend to the Brier sisters, Kateri is a half-Vietnamese/half-Polish girl from a large family of political activists. She's very outspoken, honest, and loyal. She can hold a grudge but will own up if she was in the wrong.
- Action Girl: Especially next to Rose and Blanche.
- Braids of Action: She usually wears her hair like this and is very pro-active about her causes.
- Dance Battler: When Kateri finally does the fan dance in Alex O'Donnell and the Forty Cyberthieves.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: She has loads of brothers and sisters.
- Soapbox Sadie: She can come off as this to people.
Alex O'Donnell
A boy Rose meets during her first year of college. Proud of his nerdiness, Alex is enamored with samurai swords, Japanese action films, and is the leader of the faux-knighthood made up by him and his friends, Sacra Cor. He gets his own book in Alex O'Donnell and the 40 Cyber Thieves.
- Cloudcuckoolander: One of the things he gets his group to do is set a couch on fire outside their dorm while singing "This Little Light of Mine".
- Cool Sword: Sword? He has a whole collection of these! And knows how to use them!
- Nerd Action Hero: He turns into this to help Fish save Rose.
Paul Fester
One of Alex's friends, med student Paul is not quite as geeky as Alex but is very into knighthood as well. He gets his own book in The Midnight Dancers.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: He's a soldier, medic, juggler, and ninja.
- Prince Charming: Fish jealously sees him as this when handsome, popular Paul becomes good friends with Rose.
- Friend to All Children: Teaches Rachel's little sisters juggling.
Anagonists
Mr. Freet
A crankily erudite treasure collector.
- Number of the Beast: Uses 666 as a lock combination.
- Straw Misogynist: Openly despises women and girls, even calling them uglier than men.
- Wicked Cultured: Reads the works of George Bernard Shaw and pre-Christian Gnosticism. Knowledgeable about the sculptures of Michelangelo Buonarroti.
Dr. Elma Zilberger
A reclusive feminist scientist who adopted Raphaela from Central America. She emphasizes privacy and doesn't like for Raphaela to meet boys.
- Evil Matriarch: But it takes a lot for this to really come out to Raphaela.
- The Kindnapper: She truly sees herself as this. Raph's birth family were poor Mexicans with 14 children. Elma caught her father stealing lettuce from Elma's scientists' greenhouse to feed his starving pregnant wife. She catches him, is disgusted that he's 'forced' his wife to not use birth control, and only lets him go if she can have their baby.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Well, not 'mad' exactly, but an extremist scientist.
- Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: A firm believer of this that she tries to instill in Raphaela, and the main reason she hasn't let her embrace her Hispanic heritage, because they teach girls to be "subservient".
- Straw Feminist: Does not like men and looks down on traditional femininity.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to her daughter's girly girl, and the contrast is the conflict at times.
- Wicked Witch: Raphaela's biological family thinks she's an actual witch.
