Leigh Bardugo's The Familiar Character Guide

Summary Luzia, a maid with powers, and Guillén, an immortal familiar, spark an intense love story in 1500s Spain.

The story unfolds against the backdrop of war and the Spanish Inquisition, threatening to upend Spain.

A galaxy of characters, each with their own secrets and motives, weaves the spicy and sweet tapestry of "The Familiar."

Leigh Bardugo's new book The Familiar was recently released and it features a sprawling collection of characters, both fictional and real historical figures. The Familiar's story is set in late 1500s Spain, during the height of the Spanish Inquisition and Spain's war with England. Against the backdrop of the war and the looming tension and terror of the Inquisition, an unconventional, intense love story unfolds.

Those lovers are Luzia Cotado, an impoverished maid with magical talents, and Guillén Santángel, an immortal familiar who has been alive too long. Their chance meeting catalyzes a chain of events that threatens to upend all of Spain. However, they are not the only two characters; a galaxy of other characters come in and out of their story, all helping to weave the spicy sweet tapestry that is Leigh Bardugo's The Familiar.

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Main Characters In The Familiar

The Most Important Figures Around Which The Story Turns

Luzia Cotado - Luzia is the main protagonist of the story, a poor scullery maid in the employ of a lower-level struggling nobility. As Luzia preps food and scrubs the floors, she dreams of a better life. This desire for more leads her to use her powers of creating small miracles or "milagros" to escape the drudgery of her day. It puts Luzia on a path to have a greater, grander life than she might ever have hoped for - if she can survive a competition and hide her Jewish faith to become the king's next miracle worker. Luzia uses her sharp wit and keen observation skills to better her circumstances, but she's not prepared for the game she's playing.

Guillén Santángel - Santángel is like no one else on Earth, an immortal familiar in the employ of Victor de Paredes, bound to the de Paredes family forever. He's existed for hundreds of years and life no longer holds any excitement or interest for him - until he meets Luzia. As he teaches her how to awaken and harness her powers, they grow close. But Santángel is a man with many secrets and who has been forced to do many terrible things, and his reputation as a killer and a demon are just as much of a danger to him and Luzia as her own gifts for making miracles happen.

Aunt Hualit Cana/Catalina de Castro de Oro - Hualit is Luzia's aunt, but a mercurial presence in Luzia's life. Long ago, she decided to use her charms and physical sexuality to seduce her way to a far better life. Now she's refined and elevated as the mistress of Victor de Paredes, going by the name of Catalina de Castro de Oro. Despite her borrowed wealth and comfortable station, however, she doesn't take Luzia in, both not wanting the responsibility and also fearing Luzia's power will draw attention to both of them and not in a good way. While she genuinely loves Luzia, she will always put herself first.

Doña Valentina Ordoño - Valentina is Luzia's employer, the mistress of Casa Ordoño and lady of the house who feels desperately trapped in her unremarkable life with a husband who holds no passion for her. She comes across as uptight, small, and cruel, but there is a larger-hearted, more confident woman struggling to get out. Valentina and Luzia recognize a kindred nature in one another, a nature to want more and dream bigger after having been stifled and held back all their lives.

Víctor de Paredes - Víctor is a wealthy merchant, called the luckiest man in Spain, though there are rumors that his luck is tied to his strange, unsettling companion whose name - Santángel - is whispered in hushed tones. Because of this, Víctor is a cruel captor - ruthless, manipulative, and not above having someone murdered to get his way. Anything and anyone that threatens his empire, including his lucky ticket to the king, Luzia, his lover, Catalina, and his familiar, Santángel, will be crushed without Víctor so much as blinking.

Teoda Halcón - Teoda, known as The Holy Child, is one of the competitors in the race to see who can be the king's miracle worker. Teoda receives visions of the future and the past from her angel, visions that are astonishingly accurate or that she couldn't possibly know. Despite her young age, she seems much wiser and older than her years, perhaps because her gift has forced her to grow up so quickly.

Fortún Donadei - Fortún is a poor farmer's son from the countryside and another competitor. Fortún's special abilities come through song. Through his lute, he can conjure up physical manifestations of birds, sheep, and other objects, or manipulate people's emotions. Thanks to him and Luzia being the only two in the competition used to a life of toil and hard work, he takes a liking to Luzia and quickly tries to befriend her.

Supporting Characters In The Familiar

They All Have Small But Important Parts To Play

Custom image by Yeider Chacon

Don Marius Ordoño - Marius is the husband of Valentina and Luzia's other employer. Marius' family is minor nobility, though his family name has fallen on hard times and now is mostly just a languishing vineyard and their house. Don Ordoño has also been thwarted in life; however, unlike his wife, Valentina, Marius no longer has any passion or dreams of a better, grander life. While he's never abusive or cruel to Valentina, he shows no passion for his wife or much interest in her, which may be crueler yet.

Álvaro - Álvaro is Víctor de Paredes' bodyguard. He's a huge mountain of a man and shadows de Paredes whenever Guillén Santángel can't. Álvaro has a reputation for being cruel; whereas Santángel has no taste for the violence Víctor makes him dole out, Álvaro has a taste for it and it's made him a bully.

Gracia de Valera - Gracia, otherwise known as the Beauty, is the fourth competitor in the race. She's wealthy, utterly stunning, and full of charm. It's not entirely clear what her abilities are, though they appear to be similar to Luzia's gifts of the miraculous. Gracia's presentation is far more ostentatious and grand than Luzia's, however.

Antonio Pérez - Antonio Pérez is the king's former secretary, now disgraced after the war against England soured and Pérez carried out a rumored unsanctioned assassination on a high-ranking official. To get back into King Philip's good graces, he agrees to hold the competition at his villa, La Casilia, which is large and opulent enough to hold all the competitors and their guests. Pérez is hoping that should he find the king a champion, he can regain his title and position; otherwise, his situation in Madrid is precarious.

Perucho - Perucho is a famous dressmaker and costumier in Madrid. He dresses all the women in the story, and for Luzia, he creates a special nun-like, holy warrior "armor" dress for her performances. If one needs a special design, fabric, or costume, Perucho is the one to make it.

Quiteria Escárega - Quiteria is a famous female playwright in Madrid and the talk of the town thanks to her scandalous habit of going through lovers, both men and women, like pieces of candy. Despite the gossip, Quiteria doesn't care a single bit about what people think of her and lives her life exactly as she sees fit.

Águeda - Águeda is the cook and Luzia's coworker in the Ordoño household. She's surly and cranky, as most of her thoughts are consumed with anger and worry for her son, who has become besotted with Quiteria and spends most of his time with the playwright instead of at home helping out the family. When Luzia's station in life starts to rise, Águeda takes no pleasure in it.

Concha - Concha is a maid belonging to Víctor de Paredes who is lent to Luzia during her time at La Casilia. Concha is trustworthy and loyal, but Luzia always has to remember that Concha's loyalties lie with de Paredes and so must watch her words around the maid.

Blanca Cotado - Blanca is Luzia's mother, who died when Luzia was young. Like Luzia and Luzia's late father, Blanca was a Sephardic Jew, and passed her Jewish faith down to Luzia. Through her mother, Luzia also started to learn the magic of the "refranes" that bring her little miracles to life. Unfortunately, Blanca died poor in a pauper's hospital, so Luzia's training went unfinished until her aunt taught her a bit more.

Ana - Ana is Aunt Hualit's longtime, loyal maidservant and handmaiden who knows all of Hualit's secrets, and Luzia's - she is also hiding her Jewish blood. This is perhaps why Ana has always been so kind to Luzia, or it may be because Ana secretly disapproves of Hualit not taking in her young niece, instead leaving her to a life of drudgery.

Lucrecia de León - Lucrecia is a clairvoyant and young woman who famously had visions. She was beloved and thought to be touched by God until her visions started predicting that the Spanish Armada would be destroyed and how King Philip II would die. After that, the Inquisitors arrested her, and she's been locked up in the Inquisitors' prison in Toledo ever since.

King Philip II - The King of Spain. When things are going well for the nation, he's liked, or at least tolerated, by the people. When things are going poorly - as they are now - he's called the Austrian interloper and usurper. King Philip is in the last years of his reign and his life, and as his health fades, he's desperate to turn his fortune around and defeat the armies of England's Queen Elizabeth I, the so-called "heretic queen."

Doña Beatriz Hortolano - Doña Hortolano is the wealthy heiress who acts as Fortún's patron. Unfortunately for Fortún, she's also his lover; though he has no real love for his patron, she's in love with him. Considering that, it's not always clear who holds the real power in their relationship.

Vicar of Madrid - The vicar is a ruthless and judgmental man of the cloth, prone to seeing heretics and blasphemers everywhere he looks. He travels to La Casilia to determine whether the competitors are all pure of faith. If so, they can proceed. If their gifts are determined to be anything but God-given, however, they may find themselves clapped in Inquisitor irons.

Tello de Paredes - Tello is long-since gone by the time the events of the story begin, but he's still an important figure. As Guillén Santángel's best friend and confidante, he has a front row seat to the events that find Santángel bound to his family, and the part he plays in The Familiar is significant.