Gallant

Matthew Prior is a dynamic, tragic character whose arc foreshadows what might become of Olivia after the events of the novel. Matthew is described as being “nearly a man, tall and sapling thin, with tawny hair” (51). The “sapling” descriptor not only harkens to Matthew’s gardening work that occupies much of his time during the novel, but it also underscores the tragedy of his fate by calling attention to his youth. Matthew has never been allowed to be a carefree child because, in his childhood, he lost his entire family and has been made to bear the burden of the Prior’s curse in isolation. Haunted by nightmares that thin the walls of reality and keep him from sleep, Matthew is pushed into a state of constant irritation that characterizes most of his interactions with Olivia.

Matthew is motivated entirely by his desire to fulfill the Prior’s ordained task of keeping the master at bay. When Olivia finally understands why Matthew is perpetually angry, she also begins to realize that he is an intensely focused character who is a capable teacher and director. Matthew orchestrates Olivia’s final return to the shadow-realm, and he helps teach Olivia what she will need to know in order to survive. Unlike Olivia, though, Matthew does not aspire to have a life outside of the confines of the familial curse. In the final conflict with the master, Olivia sees that Matthew is “ready” and “willing” to die (315); he then sacrifices himself to save Olivia. Matthew most clearly embodies the suicidal ideation that all Priors seem to eventually face. His tragic arc raises questions about how Olivia will cope now that she is the lone Prior. However, unlike Matthew, she has embraced a support network in Hannah, Edgar, and the ghouls, ending the novel on a potentially hopeful note.

The master is Gallant’s primary antagonist. He is described as being both a man and not a man, “Dressed in a high-collared coat, his hair the black of wet soil, his skin the off-white of ashes gone cold” with eyes “the flat and milky white of Death” (208). The master has some of the novel’s least ambiguous motivations: He aims to get out of the shadow-realm and to enter Olivia’s world, spreading death in his wake. Over the course of the narrative, he proves to be one of the most cunning characters, evidenced by the way in which he gets Olivia to come to Gallant, the clever creation of the fake Thomas in order to lure both Olivia and Matthew into the shadow-realm, and his realization that Matthew’s blood never touches the gate’s iron.

Schwab offers little access to the master’s interiority. Perhaps the only direct characterization of the master’s internal state comes when Olivia first encounters him and she notes that despite the way his skin has been flayed open the master doesn’t seem to be in pain, “Just…bored” (209). Much of the master’s characterization comes not from Olivia’s observations of him, but from the interludes at the start of each section that describe his actions and physical condition. The master is motivated to find Olivia in part because he believes that she is a piece of him that is missing; he muses that she is “The only wound that will not close” (188). This sense of an unfillable absence is crucial to the master’s characterization; he seeks a sense of wholeness from his torturing of the Priors and escape from the shadow-realm. Unlike Olivia, the master is unable to find that wholeness by forming connections with the people around him. In this sense, he is a foil for Olivia, an example of how sheer force is insufficient to fill the emotional and spiritual gaps created by the traumas of familial history.