Between Two Fires

Content Warning: This source material contains sexual assault and the threat of sexual assault on minors, as well as alcohol addiction and extreme instances of body horror. It also depicts societal anti-gay bias and antisemitism.

Thomas is the protagonist of the narrative. He is a dynamic and round character, as he exhibits complex and even contradictory traits and impulses, which evolve over the course of the novel. He is a tall, strong man with a distinctive scar on his cheek from an arrow at the Battle of Crécy. Thomas’s name carries symbolic significance because of the biblical Thomas, known for doubting Jesus’s resurrection until he physically put his fingers into Jesus’s wounds. Similarly, Thomas does not believe in Delphine’s divine powers until the very end of the narrative; even then, he does not understand that Delphine is Jesus until she saves him from Hell. Thomas’s skepticism also prevents him from believing in Delphine’s goodness at first, but he comes to love and admire her as they spend more time together.

Thomas’s cynicism largely stems from experience, but his character arc demonstrates The Possibility of Redemption. Thomas derived his sense of identity from his title and his land, so when the Comte d’Évreux stole Thomas’s land and family, Thomas lost hope and became obsessed with vengeance.