Juan Martín el Empecinado - Characters

 

SPOILERS!!!

These are the characters in the novel for further reference:

REGULAR CHARACTERS

• Gabriel Araceli (17) is the narrator and main character. He was born in Cadiz and his mother was the only person who cared for him. There was also an uncle who was very cruel. When his mother died, Gabriel ran to Medina Sidonia where he met Don Alonso and Doña Francisca, who hired him as a page, and he was happy with them. Gabriel was in love with their daughter, Rosita, but he was disappointed when she fell for someone else. Gabriel was with his master in the Battle of Trafalgar at the age of fourteen and saw too many horrors. After Trafalgar Gabriel went to Madrid where he came to serve an actress, Pepita González. After Pepita he started to work in the printing press of the Diario de Madrid. He then fell in love with Inés, and when her mother died, she was forced to live with some cruel cousins, and Gabriel managed to rescue her. Then Gabriel discovered that Inés was the illegitimate daughter of a duchess, who he calls Amaranta.  The family told everybody that Ines was the daughter of Don Felipe, Amarata's uncle.  In the last book Gabriel returned to Cadiz and Amaranta asked him to help her with Ines because Doña María wouldn't let her see her. Gabriel was tortured by jealousy whenb he was made to believe that Ines loved Lord Gray. At the end of the book Gabriel killed Lord Gray because of the way he treated Asunción de Rumblar. In this book Gabriel joins the guerrillas and leaves Ines and Amaranta on their way to Madrid. Yet, they are unable to reach the city, and Gabriel discovers that Santorcaz has taken Ines while Amaranta was sick in Cifuentes. 
• Inés (16) is the girl who Gabriel is in love with. Inés's mother, Juana, was a seamstress, but she died. Inés moved to live with  her uncle, a priest, in Aranjuez where he was given a post there. Inés was not doña Juana's real daughter, but the child Amaranta gave up when she was very young. Later Inés was forced to live with her cruel cousins when they discovered that she was the daughter of a rich woman, and they tried to get her to marry rich Don Mauro. When she refused, she was locked in her room, but Gabriel managed to release her. Then they were caught during the 2 May uprising, and Gabriel and Ines were separated when Gabriel was arrested. The girl was sad when she was told that Gabriel had died, but then Gabriel surprised her when she turned up to warn her against Diego, who wanted to kidnap her.  Ines ended up in Cadiz, almost a prisoner of Maria de Rumblar. At the end of the book Doña María did not want her to marry her son and told Gabriel to take her with him. Ines and Amaranta are on their way to Madrid after Gabriel leaves them. Yet, they are unable to reach the city, and Santorcaztricks Ines into seeing him, and then he takes her while Amaranta issick in Cifuentes. 
• Amaranta is  a rich woman who Gabriel met throughout Pepita, the actress he used to work for. Gabriel discovered that as a young woman she fell in love with a young man who her family disapproved. Amaranta got pregnant and had a baby who she gave up. That baby was Inés. After many occurances Amaranta finally told Ines that she was her mother. In this book Santorcaz tricks Ines into going with him while Amaranta is sick.
• Luis de Santorcaz is Ines's real father. He and Diego became friends when they met at the Battle of Bailén. Gabriel found some letters in his saddlebags, which proved that he was Ines's father, so in Madrid Gabriel gave the letters to Amaranta, making her realise that Gabriel knew the truth. In Madrid Luis became part of the police and was adamant to find Gabriel to arrest him, which he did in the end. In this book, Luis tells Gabriel his story about falling for Amaranta and being forbidden to see her. That was why she went to France and joined the French Revolution. Santorcaz tricks Ines by pretending to be Gabriel in a letter that she receives, amnd when she goes to see Gabriel, Santorcaz kidnaps her. 

CHARACTERS IN THE NOVEL

• Anton Trijueque is a priest from Aragon who joins El Empecinado. Trijueque has aspirations to be a great general, but when El Empecinado refuses to ask him to lead a unit, he gets angry and betrays him, turning to the French. El Empecinado eventually forgives him but tells him to go back to his parish, which makes him even angrier.
• Gorito Santurrias is a character that we saw before, but we find him now in El Empecinado's guerrillas. He used to be Don Celestino's sexton. He is a widower and has several children. It is Santurrias who reported Celestino for his support to Godoy. In this book he looks after El Empecinadillo.
• Viriato, whose real name is Aniceto Tortuera, is Sardina's assitant. He is a young university student who decided to leave and join the war.
• Damiana is a woman in the guerrilla.
• Cid Campeador is another young man in the guerrilla.
• Don Pelayos is another young man in the guerrilla. He betrays Gabriel because the letter that he gave to hand Ines ends up in Sartocaz's hands. Santorcaz gives him a letter, imitating Gabriel's writing, tricking Ines into meeting him. 
• Narices is another man in the guerrilla. 
• El Empecinadillo (2) is the orphan child that is with the militia. Gabriel ends up with him when he is imprisoned. Then when he escapes, the child is left with his French gaoler.
• Orejillas is also a man in the guerrilla. 
• Plobertin is Gabriel's jailer. His son who is the same age as El Empecinadillo died, and in the end he keeps the boy. 
• Blas Perogordo is the inn keeper where Gabriel take refuge.
• Barbara is the inn keeper's wife. She is more courageous that her husband. 

CHARACTERS WHO HAVE RELEVANCE IN THE SERIES.

• Diego Hipólito Féliz de Cantalicio Afán de Ribera, Count of Rumblar, is the young man that Ines was forced to get engaged to. When Amaranta and Don Felipe discovered that Don Diego actually led an indecent kind of life, they decided he was not the man Ines should marry. Although Diego didn't like Inés, he thought that it was through her that he could get rich and enjoy all the pleasures he likes. So he planned to  kidnap Ines and marry her in secret. When he told Gabriel, the latter rushed to tell Amaranta, and he ended up talking to Inés, and that was when he was arrested. Diego finally decides not to marry 
• María Castro de Oro, Countess of Rumblar, is Don Diego's mother. She is very strict to her daughters and Ines, and hardly lets them go out. Her plan is for her daughter Asunción to be a nun and for her daughter Presentación to be a spinster. When she discovers that Asunción tried to elope with Lord Gray, she disowns her, but she is thankful to Gabriel for killing the Englishman. Then she tells him that he needs to escape, and he can take Ines with her because she does not want her to marry her son. 
• Asunción is Doña María's daughter. She has grown up to become a nun. Yet, when she met Lord Gray, all she could think about was him. Asunción agreed to elope with Lord Gray, but he soon realised that it was a mistake. He mistreated her. When she returned home, Doña María claimed that she was dead to her.
• Presentación is Doña María's other daughter. Maria wants her to remain a spinster. When Presentación goes to the Parliament, she finds everything fascinating. She is more than what her mother gives her dredit for. 
• Doña Flora de Cisniega owns the house where Amaranta lived in Cadiz. Gabriel first met her when he was getting ready for Trafalgar as Doña Flora was Don Alonso's cousin. Doña Flora is in her fifties but tries to look young by using any kind of make-up, hairdo or garment. 
• Marchise of Leiva is the head of Amaranta's family and who decided to keep Ines away from Amaranta. 
• Don Felipe de Pacheco y López, Marquis of Barrientos, is Amaranta's uncle. He told everybody that in his youth he had a daughter, Inés. Now Felipe is dead.