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Good TZN article: Pacho, Lorena (September 22, 2023). "Singer Tiziano Ferro's difficult moment: The singer announces his divorce from Victor Allen and explains the nightmare that prevents him from taking his children to Italy". EL PAÍS English.

Irulan[edit]

Florence Pugh: Yeah, and I also think that she's allowed to grow, which is a wonderful thing. I like how, in this movie, we don't get all of her. And I like how she grows almost similarly to the book. She becomes more of an essence, so I appreciated how she wasn't just fully present; how you want to know more about her, and how she does evolve with the story. I think personally, other than the fact that obviously every book that you read has more detail in it than a script can, I appreciated that I could see her on the pages and in the book and also in Denis' script.

Florence Pugh: Yeah, totally. I think what it seems is that she's on the back foot trying to figure out information from the beginning that she's desperate to know and obviously can suss that something has happened. But I think truly, by the end of our movie, you can kind of see that she's also one step ahead. I think her rising to the occasion and her rising to the moment of agreement in this transaction is definitely something that she has been preparing for and the people around her have been preparing her for.

And probably she takes great pride in being able to, I suppose, in some way protect her father. As much shame as that might bring him, I think they have [created] a beast, and the beast now rises. It's like she's the thing that they want her to be, and now it's the time.

DM: [1] [2] [3] [4]

CoD: [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

References

  1. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (May 23, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Dune Messiah, Part One". Tor.com. Archived from the original on November 19, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  2. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (May 31, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Dune Messiah, Part Two". Tor.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  3. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (June 13, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Dune Messiah, Part Three". Tor.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  4. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (June 21, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Dune Messiah, Part Four". Tor.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  5. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (June 28, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Children of Dune, Part One". Tor.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  6. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (July 11, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Children of Dune, Part Two". Tor.com. Archived from the original on December 16, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  7. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (July 18, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Children of Dune, Part Three". Tor.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  8. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (August 1, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Children of Dune, Part Four". Tor.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  9. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (August 15, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Children of Dune, Part Five". Tor.com. Archived from the original on February 28, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  10. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (August 22, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Children of Dune, Part Six". Tor.com. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  11. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (August 29, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Children of Dune, Part Seven". Tor.com. Archived from the original on December 9, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  12. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (September 5, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Children of Dune, Part Eight". Tor.com. Archived from the original on February 15, 2020. Retrieved January 10, 2020.

Margot[edit]

  • Margot: Bardini, Julio (March 16, 2024). "Dune: Part Two's Most Underrated Scene Has a Deeper Meaning". Collider. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  • Breznican, Anthony (April 27, 2023). "Dune: Part Two—An Exclusive First Look at the Saga's Epic Conclusion". Vanity Fair. Condé Nast. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  • Another member of the Bene Gesserit is a new character called Lady Margot, played by Léa Seydoux.“Margot Fenring is a Bene Gesserit sister, but will be a secret agent in the movie,” Villeneuve says. “It was very playful to work with Léa. It’s a character full of surprises.” Is she good or evil? Villeneuve said that question doesn’t apply. “The main goal of the Bene Gesserit is to make sure that humanity will move in the right direction,” he says. “The Bene Gesserit, they don’t think about what’s good or what is evil. That’s not very important for them. What is important is to bring humanity to its full potential and to try to create a being that will bring humanity to enlightenment. It’s their full agenda, which takes place over thousands of years of planning and controlling. They are the true masters of this world. Their biggest weapon is time. They see the world in centuries.”
  • Elsewhere in the universe, Florence Pugh has joined the cast as Princess Irulan, the daughter of Emperor Shaddam IV (played by Christopher Walken), the supreme ruler of the galaxy, whose grip on the warring factions has slipped. “Her stake could not be higher because she’s afraid that her father could lose the throne, could lose everything,” Villeneuve says.
  • Villeneuve draws on another rock star comparison to describe his film’s take on this soulless assassin: “Austin Butler brought to the screen something that would be a cross between a psychotic, sociopath serial killer and Mick Jagger.”
  • Villeneuve prefers to save Feyd-Rautha’s full reveal for later in the publicity campaign, but even this silhouetted image of the Harkonnen hunter-killer suggests his ominous nature, and highlights his signature weapon of twin blades. “He’s someone Machiavellian, much more cruel, much more strategic, and is more narcissistic,” Villeneuve says.
  • Feyd-Rautha is also a lean, coiled presence, unlike his uncle, the Harkonnen family ruler known as the Baron (played by Stellan Skarsgård), who reigns as a corpulent grotesque. In the previous movie, the levitation suit that he uses to move his immense body crashed him into the ceiling after he was successfully poisoned, but the Baron lives. Damaged, but more deadly, and ready to seize more power in the galaxy and expand his clan’s corrosive dynasty. “He is a physically weaker character that has to use some devices to help him to stay alive as he keeps growing,” Villeneuve says. “I always saw the Baron as some kind of hippopotamus that, because of his weight, is more comfortable in liquid. He feels more relaxed in those baths, and as we see him in that picture, he’s smoking spice.”
  • “Rabban wants to please,” Villeneuve says. “He wants to please the baron. He wants to shine in front of his uncle, but there’s something touching about Rabban because he’s a bad strategist. He’s not very intelligent. Rabban finds himself, at the end of part one, in the position where he doesn’t have the brain to be able to manage and control all these operations. Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen is a very clever, very charismatic figure, and much more brilliant.”

Fenrings[edit]

  • The Count and Lady Fenring are secondary characters, and out of all the characters listed here, they are the most likely to miss Part 2. In Herbert’s book, however, they play a role in the large political machinations between the Houses. Count Fenring was in the running to be the Bene Gesserit’s Kwisatz Haderach but lost that genetic competition. He was a mentat, however, and became one of Shaddam’s closest advisors. Lady Fenring is another member of the Bene Gesserit and, in the book, had her own intrigue with Feyd-Rautha, among others.[5]
  • Count Hasimir Fenring is a Mentat assassin and political adviser to Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, as well as a member of the less-notable House Fenring (long aligned with House Corrino). He was part of the Bene Gesserit breeding program and was once seen as a candidate to be their Kwisatz Haderach, but that later turned out to not be the case due to a genetic anomaly. He’s described as “a killer with the manners of a rabbit,” who has the ability to fool others into thinking he’s not a threat until the very moment he’s ready to strike. He’s married to a Bene Gesserit agent, Lady Margot Fenring, and they often work together on Count Fenring’s projects. He was omitted from the 1984 film but was played by Miroslav Táborský in Syfy’s Children of Dune miniseries. No casting has been announced yet for the 2020 version. It is unknown whether he will appear in the first movie.[6]
  • Also missing are Count Hasimir Fenring, advisor to the Emperor, and his wife Margot, who warns Jessica of the Harkonnen trap using a Bene Gesserit code ... However, given the role Feyd-Rautha and the Fenrings play in the latter half of the novel, I wouldn't be surprised if Villeneuve is simply saving them, along with the Emperor and Princess Irulan, for his second film.[7]

References

  1. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (December 13, 2016). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Dune, Part Five". Tor.com. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  2. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (February 28, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Dune, Part Fourteen". Tor.com. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  3. ^ Palumbo, Donald E. (July 30, 2018). A Dune Companion: Characters, Places and Terms in Frank Herbert's Original Six Novels. McFarland & Company. p. 91. ISBN 978-1476669601. Archived from the original on November 11, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2019 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Palumbo, Donald E. (July 30, 2018). A Dune Companion: Characters, Places and Terms in Frank Herbert's Original Six Novels. McFarland & Company. pp. 90–91. ISBN 978-1476669601. Archived from the original on November 11, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2019 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Armstrong, Vanessa (October 26, 2021). "Six new characters we expect to see in Denis Villeneuve's newly greenlit Dune: Part 2". Syfy. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  6. ^ Elderkin, Beth (April 23, 2020). "A Guide to Dune's Gargantuan Cast of Characters". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  7. ^ Edwards, Belen (October 22, 2021). "How Dune the movie differs from the book". Mashable. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
Tor.com rereads
  • CoD: The real interesting stuff is all about Farad’n, though, at least for my money. We find out that the kid is actually related to Shaddam’s old buddy Count Fenring, which makes a lot of sense, and is also a great way of still playing the story out through the dynamics of the characters we knew in the first book, people who have a little more context to work from. It puts Farad’n’s caution and introspective nature into perspective, and makes it clear that he’s not going to be easy to manipulate in this game.[1]
  • My father had only one real friend, I think. That was Count Hasimir Fenring, the genetic-eunuch and one of the deadliest fighters in the Imperium. The Count, a dapper and ugly little man, brought a new slave-concubine to my father one day and I was dispatched by my mother to spy on the proceedings.[2]
  • For the Fremen, what matters most is survival. This is not to say that romance has no place in their society, only that they have more pressing concerns about being bonded to one another for the sake of maintaining homes, lineage, health. While this is not exactly the same as the arrangement between Duke Leto and Jessica, we are circling similar themes—the importance of love juxtaposed with the importance of carefully considered partnerships for the sake of advancement and protection (or to political ends as we see with Count and Lady Fenring).[3]
  • No woman, no man, no child ever was deeply intimate with my father. The closest anyone ever came to casual camaraderie with the Padishah Emperor was the relationship offered by Count Hasimir Fenring, a companion from childhood. The measure of Count Fenring’s friendship may be seen first in a positive thing: he allayed the Landsraad’s suspicions after the Arrakis affair. It cost more than a billion solaris in spice bribes, so my mother said, and there were other gifts as well: slave women, royal honors, and tokens of rank. The second major evidence of the Count’s friendship was negative: He refused to kill a man even though it was within his capabilities and my father commanded it. I will relate this presently.—Count Fenring: A Profile by the Princess Irulan[4]
  • The baron realizes that Hawat is suggesting that they potentially recruit the Fremen to their cause, and has ideas on how to do it. It’s then that the baron remembers the conversation with had with Fenring those years back about maybe using Arrakis the way the Emperor used Salusa Secundus.[4]

[5] It is Feyd-Rautha’s birthday and he has killed his 100th slave-gladiator in the arena. The Baron has made the whole event a holiday on Geidi Prime, and slapped a fresh coat of paint on the place, giving the people a day of rest. But Count Fenring notes how run-down the planet is. He waits to meet Feyd with his wife, and the baron presents the boy to him. Feyd doesn’t like the count at all, thinks the man very adept at saying things in such a manner that they are insulting, but fall short of a person’s ability to say anything against him. He tells the baron that it’s impressive that his heir is such a fine looking boy given his stock (but in a slightly politer fashion, of course). Feyd is taken with his wife and says that he would make a kill in the arena in her name with her permission. She does not give it, and the baron tells Feyd to leave and gets his rest before the match.

The count asks to speak with the baron privately and his wife leaves. He directs them to a cone of silence where no one will hear them and tells the count that the Emperor is not happy with the way he handled the Sardaukar, and that Rabban is not seeing properly to the Fremen problem. Baron Harkonnen insists that most of them must be dead because the southern reaches are uninhabitable, but Count Fenring is adamant that someone on Arrakis (he hesitantly calls them a smuggler) did a flyover of the area and saw vegetation. The baron does not believe it.

The conversation turns to questions about the baron’s accounting and the fact that the Emperor is displeased that Paul and Jessica were lost in the takeover. Baron Harkonnen insists that nothing could be done about it, and they engage in a back-and-forth for leverage. The baron says that he could reveal the Sardaukar’s part in his plans, but Fending tells him that the Sardaukar would claim that they acted without orders for the chance to fight the Fremen. The baron takes no issue with having his books checked; he knows they are in order, and after bearing up under that scrutiny, any accusation leveled at him afterward would not seem credible once he’d already been vindicated. He asks why the Emperor wants the Fremen eradicated and Fenring tells him that the Sardaukar merely want practice killing. The baron suggests that he might want to use Arrakis as a prison planet to get more money out of it, and the count tells him it would be an unwise move without the Emperor’s permission.

Fearing asks after Hawat, who was supposed to be dead according to what the baron had told the Sardaukar. The baron insists that he needed a Mentat and that the man was useful. Count Fenring tells him to kill the man, but the baron refuses unless he gets sealed orders from the Emperor himself on that account. Fearing makes it clear that the Emperor is concerned about Baron Harkonnen’s behavior and is considering charging him with treason. The baron pretends to be worried and hurt over the words, knowing that if he were ever formally charged, all the Great Houses would flock to him and he could overtake the throne. They head out to the arena with the spectators and Fenring makes it clear that he’s come to observe Feyd-Rautha as the Emperor has not yet sanctioned him as the baron’s successor. The baron is irritated that the Emperor had promised him free selection in that regard.

But Feyd does not want it. Instead, he places the man’s knife in his heads and asks that he be buried with it because he earned it. The baron thinks that he’s insulted the crowd, but Lady Fenring knows it’s the opposite—the crowd adores him for the gesture. The baron orders a fete in his name to reward him, knowing that the people are enamored of him tonight. The count and his lady speak in their code language (the humming they both do in the midst of their sentences is its own hidden language); now that they’ve seen what the boy is made of, Lady Fenring agrees that they must preserve this bloodline, and that she will seduce the boy and have his child. The count wonders how impressive Feyd might have been raised by the Atreides, and laments the death of Paul. But Lady Fenring tells him a Bene Gesserit saying: that you can never count a human dead without seeing their body, and even then you can make a mistake.

Commentary

Weird aside to begin this section: Herbert makes a point of noting that the hall that Count and Lady Fenring are standing in isn’t all that large, but that the pillars have been tapered and the ceiling arched to give the effect of a bigger space. Tricks like this are one of my favorite little tidbits about architecture and again harkens back to ancient Greece and Rome; the Greeks perfected that subtle curve to make a space or building look larger, and the Romans were all about their curved ceiling basilicas. But in the case of the Harkonnens, everything that they have is tainted with an underlayer of grime and mistreatment. They keep their subjects frightened, dirty, and overworked—even in a time of celebration it is clear that this is a carefully controlled state.

As Count Fenring notes that they are observing Feyd to learn about him on the Emperor’s behalf (and Lady Fenring is doing the same on behalf of the Bene Gesserit), we are also observing Feyd more closely than the narrative has ever allowed us. And he is pure ambition and cunning. Like, he’d be one of those kids who barely had the Sorting Hat touch his head before it shouted “Slytherin!” More importantly, he has no compassion for anyone and no inclination to anything but power. Still, he has enough intelligence to note when a “softer hand” will elevate him in the public eye. It’s an odd moment where the baron forgets what he has been training Feyd for; he presumes that the crowd will be angry with him for refusing the gladiator’s head, but Feyd knows exactly how to play the scene, insisting that the man be buried “respectfully.” (Still extra bemusing considering the conniving way he was murdered, but I’m sure that if you live around the Harkonnens, any gesture at all amounts to kindness.)

I have a weird liking for Count and Lady Fenring, I think maybe because of their secret language. The fact that they use the odd hums in their conversations to relay information back and forth is one of my favorite bits in the whole novel. While I wouldn’t trust the duo in a pinch, they are intriguing in their dual goals as a married Mentat and Bene Gesserit. They work together expertly, and it’s fun to observe how they manipulate others with so little effort. Which is really just an odd way of noticing that when so many characters in a book are so expertly manipulative, it’s easy to latch on to the characters who embody these traits, but are slightly less awful than, say, Baron Harkonnen.

The more you learn about the Bene Gesserit breeding program, on the other hand, the more disgusting it gets. Really just from the top down. So while the Fenring’s are fun from a certain standpoint, as soon as Lady Fenring brings up seducing Feyd, my brain just nopes right outta there. Ugh.

And then we end on an old Bene Gesserit saying, which also happens to be a saying for anyone who enjoys fiction: you can never count someone dead until you see the body, and even then, something can always come up. She knows it. We know it. We also know that Paul and Jessica are alive anyhow, but the irony is still funny.

[6] The Emperor tells the Reverend Mother that they need a plan, and she agrees. Their plan is treachery. She tells him to send of Count Fenring.

The Emperor and his people are coming, Gurney has checked them all for throwing weapons. Paul worries that he might lose Gurney as he has lost Stilgar. Gurney tells him that Fyed is among them, and a Reverend Mother, and also Thufir Hawat. Gurney explains what he’s been doing all this time, and that he’d thought it best to lead him to it. Paul sees one version of the future where Hawat carries a poison needle that the Emperor will command him to use. Paul marks the people who have approached with the Emperor, and sees Count Fenring—he fears the man’s face, but he does not know it, nor has he ever seen it in any vision of the future or past. He asks his mother about him and she tells Paul his identity. Paul realizes that though he has seen many futures with his death, he has never seen how he dies, and wonders if this man is to be his killer.

Paul stands and look to the Emperor and Count Fenring, He can tell that the Emperor is asking the Count to do away with him. Paul realizes that the reason he never saw Fenring in any of his visions is because the Count himself was an almost-Kwisatz-Haderach, prevented only by a flaw in his genetics, by being a eunuch. The Count declines the command to kill Paul. The Emperor punches him across the jaw, and Fenring decides to forget this out of friendship.

We have the fight with Feyd-Rautha, and while the story does an excellent job of making him an intricate opponent for Paul, it seems such an odd place to go. The fight is interesting but reads as unnecessary, a move to make sure that Feyd is out of the way because he’s just a troublesome guy. If it hadn’t been Paul, it would have been Gurney. He’s not the person who Paul cannot see (Fenring), so while he makes a good show, he doesn’t have that mysterious veil of threat hanging about him.

We’ve had a hint that Count Fenring had an important role here from Irulan’s earlier text indicating that Fenring’s greatest act against her father was refusing to kill a man when he commanded it. And while I appreciate that cool bit of warning I’m not sure it plays out well here with that reveal. Fenring is a cool character, but to insist that he is another Kwisatz Haderach potential? I dunno, the segment is strangely written, and it seems like the suggestion is that being a eunuch (or the traits that made him correct to be a eunuch, which who the hell knows what they are) is the reason why he couldn’t be “the One.” Which… like, what? So, he doesn’t have genitalia and that’s somehow a prerequisite for being the chosen dude? Sorry, I’m just going to need a little more explanation for that to fly because right now I’m not buying it.

I still do love Fenring’s defiance before his buddy the Emperor, and his instance that he’s fine with the choice and will overlook his friend decking him. It’s just classy.

Category:Groups of fictional characters

References

  1. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (August 1, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Children of Dune, Part Four". Tor.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  2. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (February 14, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Dune, Part Twelve". Tor.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  3. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (March 7, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Dune, Part Fifteen". Tor.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Asher-Perrin, Emmet (March 14, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Dune, Part Sixteen". Tor.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  5. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (February 28, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Dune, Part Fourteen". Tor.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  6. ^ Asher-Perrin, Emmet (April 11, 2017). "Rereading Frank Herbert's Dune: Dune, Part Twenty". Tor.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.

Mayfair Witches[edit]

Supporting cast (hidden)

Guest

  • Tobias Jelinek as Daniel Lemle, a top investor in the hospital where Rowan works
  • Cameron Jade Inman as a younger Deirdre
  • Deneen Tyler as Delphine, the Mayfair maid
  • Billy Slaughter as Dr. Vernon Lamb, Deirdre's new physician
  • Jordan M. Cox as Max, a bartender friend of Rowan's
  • Nadine Lewington as Aoife, Suzanne and Florie's mother
  • Sylvia Grace Grim as Dr. Noreen Davis, a psychologist at Rowan's hospital
  • Leslie Castay as Alicia Mayfair, Tessa's mother
  • Joshua Mikel as Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder
  • Chris Coy as Arlo Whittle, the leader of an anti-witch cult
  • Anissa Matlock as a Mayfair cousin
  • Kerry Cahill as a cult member
  • Eduardo Losan as Alonso, a scry the Mayfairs summon to find Tessa
End credits
  • Melissa Chambers as Mawbel, the receptionist of the Talamasca
  • Jim Gleason as Dr. Norman Keck, Rowan's supervisor and the Chief Surgeon
  • Danielle Lyn as Dr. Maya Kang, Rowan's colleague
  • Joseph Meissner as Father Duffy, a priest loyal to the Mayfairs who is aware of Lasher
  • Sam Evans as Patrick, a young man hired by Cortland to seduce Deirdre
  • Jay Howard Thames, the sinister village glovemaker in Donnelaith, who becomes Suzanne's enemy
  • Victoria Patenaude, a New Orleans "ghost" tour guide
  • Richard Haylor as Sam, the Mayfair butler
  • Kellan Rhude as Stuart Townsend, Ciprien's predecessor at the Talamasca
  • Terese Aiello as Delia Mayfair
  • Sophie Marie White as Beth Mayfair
  • Mary Claire Smythe as Shelby Mayfair
  • Samantha Beaulieu as Lilia Mayfair
  • Trina Anestasia Lafargue as Kit Mayfair
  • Olive Abercrombie as Daphne Mayfair
  • Laura Flannery as Angelique Mayfair, one of Rowan's ancestors
  • Sam Evans as Patrick
  • Carly Roland as Deborah, one of Rowan's ancestors
  • Casey Groves as Julien Mayfair, Cortland's father
  • Chelsea Edmundson as Antha Mayfair, Deirdre's mother and Rowan's grandmother

Talamasca[edit]

Character
The Queen of
the Damned (1988)
Lasher (1993)
Taltos (1994)
Merrick (2000)
Prince Lestat (2014)
 Portrayals in media
Queen of the Damned
(2002 film) 		Mayfair Witches
(2023 TV series)
David Talbot Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Paul McGann Does not appear
Jessica "Jesse" Reeves Yes Yes Yes Marguerite Moreau Does not appear
Aaron Lightner [a] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Does not appear Tongayi Chirisa (as Ciprien Grieve)
Merrick Mayfair Yes Yes Does not appear Does not appear
Teskhamen Yes Yes Yes Yes Does not appear Does not appear
Stirling Oliver Yes Does not appear Does not appear
  1. ^ Aaron Lightner also appears in the Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy (1990–1994).

David Talbot[edit]

David is the Superior General of the secret organization the Talamasca, which researches and investigates the supernatural. David is introduced in The Queen of the Damned (1988). He meets both Lestat and Louis at the end of the novel. Lestat taunts David, offering to turn him with his powerful vampire blood, which David soundly refuses. In The Tale of the Body Thief (1992), it seems he and Lestat have become friends. After Lestat tries to end his immortal life by flying into the sun in the Gobi Desert, he visits David. He also seeks advice from David when Raglan James offers to switch bodies with him, though he doesn't listen to what David has to say. David helps Lestat regain his body. In the struggle with Raglan James, David switches into a much younger body, described as that of an Anglo-Indian with dark brown hair, while Lestat returns to his preternatural body. Lestat kills David's old body, which is possessed by James. At the end of the book, Lestat forces the blood upon David, making him his fledgling. David becomes somewhat of a confidant to Armand, and eventually records the story of his life in The Vampire Armand (1998). He is also described as having sexual preferences for young women and men, preferring men in The Tale of the Body Thief. David also appears in Merrick (2000), where he contacts the title character, who also happens to be part of the Mayfairs. In this book, Merrick raises the spirit of Claudia for Louis. In the end, it is revealed that Merrick has been using Vodou to bring both David and Louis to her so she can attain eternal life. This plan works, as Louis gives her the blood and makes her immortal. After he makes Merrick his fledgling, he tries to commit suicide by placing his coffin in the open where he would be burned to death when the sun rose. He nearly succeeds, but he is too old for the sun to end his life. David, Merrick, and Lestat find him and give him their blood to heal his burned form. Their combined blood makes Louis stronger than he had been before. The four then form a coven in New Orleans, but the Talamasca, enraged that three of their members had taken the blood, threaten the vampires and demand that Merrick, David, and Jesse return to them. Lestat wants to retaliate against the Talamasca, but David talks him out of doing anything rash, and the four leave their home in the Rue Royal.

Jessica "Jesse" Reeves[edit]

Jesse is a modern-day descendant of the ancient vampire Maharet, portrayed by Marguerite Moreau in the 2002 film Queen of the Damned.

Aaron Lightner[edit]

Aaron is a member of the Talamasca who possesses a particular interest in the Mayfair Witches. Introduced in The Queen of the Damned (1988), the character appears in the entire Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy (1990–1994) as well as the 2000 crossover novel Merrick.

Merrick Mayfair[edit]

Introduced as the title character of Merrick (2001), Merrick is a member of the Talamasca and is acquainted with David Talbot. Merrick is suddenly contacted by David Talbot, now a vampire, after his "death". He asks her to raise the spirit of Claudia for Louis de Pointe du Lac. Louis wants to know if Claudia is at peace after her death. Merrick can do this since she is a powerful witch, as are many of the Mayfairs. When her godmother, Great Nannane, died there was no one who could take care of her because her sister (Honey in the Sunshine) and her mother (Cold Sandra) were deceased. There is also a matter of her raising. The Mayfair Family is Louisiana Creole and are of African and European extraction, but all are distanced from Merrick's immediate family. Orphaned, the young Merrick is taken in by David Talbot and Aaron Lightner and the Talamasca. As she grows her power increases and she studies to learn all that she can. She goes to high school and a university. Meantime she bonds with David and Aaron. When she is an adult she returns to become a full member of the Talamasca. When David suddenly dies, she knows something is not right and Aaron tells her nothing. When she says farewell to David's dead body her suspicions are confirmed. She decides to find papers where information about David has been filed. Merrick finds out that David has helped the famous vampire Lestat de Lioncourt. Lestat's powerful vampire body has been stolen by a former member of the Talamasca, Raglan James. When they got Lestat's body back Raglan stole David's body instead and David ended up in the body of a young man. David's original body is destroyed when Raglan, in David's original body, tries to trick Lestat into giving him "the Dark Gift". When David contacts her, years later, Merrick knows all of this. She agrees to raise the spirit of Claudia. When Merrick meets Louis, they fall in love, more or less. After the ceremony, Louis and Merrick express a desire to talk and David goes out. The next night he finds that Merrick has been made into a vampire by Louis. Merrick later confesses to David, Louis, and Lestat that it is what she's wanted ever since she found out about what happened to David. She also revealed that her ancestors had visited her dreams with a similar message of her fate. She used magic to bring David and Louis to her. When Louis later is dying after his attempt to burn himself in the sun to join Claudia, Lestat fully awakes from his sleep. He saves Louis by letting him drink from his powerful blood. Merrick is also allowed to drink and joins the little coven. Later a young vampire named Quinn calls upon Lestat and asks for help in Blackwood Farm (2002). The spirit of his dead twin brother (named Goblin) had been haunting him all his life, and now, when he is a vampire, Quinn is the victim of several attacks. Lestat can not help Quinn on his own and asks Merrick for help, and she agrees. She explains the nature of spirits and says that Goblin refuses "to go into The Light". She performs a kind of exorcism, but to make the spirit "go into the Light" she ends her own life and they both "go into the Light" together. It was earlier revealed by Lestat that Merrick was suffering, which all new vampires do due to their new nature.

Teskhamen[edit]

Teskhamen is the "Blood God" from the grove, maker of Marius de Romanus, elder and founder of Talamasca.

Stirling Oliver[edit]

Stirling Oliver is an elderly member of the Talamasca, introduced in Blackwood Farm (2002). A observer of the Mayfairs, he is attacked by Tarquin Blackwood, but saved by Lestat, who warns him not to report to the Talamasca that Quinn is a now a vampire.

Mayfair Witches[edit]

  • Dennis Boutsikaris guest stars as Albrecht, the local leader of the Talamasca.
  • "The Thrall (Mayfair Witches)" (2023): Ciprien has a vision of his predecessor Stuart Townsend, a Talamasca agent who had been assigned to Deirdre's mother, Antha Mayfair, but disappeared. Stuart warns Ciprien not to die in the Mayfair house, or Lasher will trap him there forever.

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  1. ^ Schepp, Calie (October 6, 2022). "Mayfair Witches' Harry Hamlin admits he 'couldn't get through the whole' 50-hour audiobook". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on January 8, 2023. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
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