61 pages • 2 hours read
Scarred
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Character Analysis
Sara Beatreaux
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, physical abuse, pregnancy termination, and death by suicide.
As the female protagonist in Scarred, Sara is a dynamic character who changes dramatically throughout the novel. She is 21 years old and has lived in Silva all her life before she goes to Saxum to become betrothed to King Michael. Her father was a duke, but he was put to death when he visited Saxum and pleaded for the crown to help Silva. Sara’s father was her best friend and the only one in her life who supported her, and she was overwhelmed by grief after his death. She is now determined to kill Michael and the others in the Faasa line—including Tristan—to gain revenge for the crown’s murder of her father.
Almost immediately, Sara experiences The Struggle Between Duty and Personal Desire when she finds herself becoming attracted to Tristan. Because he is Michael’s brother, and the next in line to the throne, Sara’s mission requires her to kill him just as she plans to kill Michael. It is also clear that if she acts on her desire for Tristan and is caught, she will be put to death for disloyalty to Michael, her betrothed. Sara feels that her highest duty is to kill her father’s murderer, but the specific target of her wrath shifts later in the novel, when her uncle changes his story and declares that the “rebel king” (Tristan) is really the one who killed her father. However, Uncle Raf is manipulating Sara. When she finds out that Tristan is the “rebel king,” she has an opportunity to kill him but does not because she has already fallen in love with him. Tristan then denies killing her father. At the end of the novel, Raf admits that he is the one who killed her father in order to further his own ambitions.
When she finally kills her father’s true murderer—Raf—Sara realizes how unsatisfying revenge really is, and she is forced to contend with The Consequences of Vengeance, which she finds to be quite disconcerting. While Sara has proceeded on the belief that avenging her father will give her some form of peace, she finds nothing but a vague sense of dissatisfaction upon putting her uncle to death. Yet even with this lesson at the forefront of her mind, Sara does not relinquish her vengeful mindset. For example, when she later has an opportunity to forgive the treacherous Ophelia and save the woman’s life, Sara opts to let her die by suicide instead, thinking to herself, “[F]or just a moment, I think of trying to save her life. But then I remember all I went through because of her and I peer over the ledge, watching to make sure she drowns instead” (331). Thus, Sara chooses revenge over forgiveness, even though she knows that vengeance will offer her no lasting sense of satisfaction. By contrast, her life with Tristan makes her feel “like the luckiest girl in the world” (332), and by juxtaposing these scenes, the author indicates that even those characters who remain morally compromised—like Sara—can still find a form of equilibrium and peace.
Prince Tristan Faasa
As the male protagonist of Scarred, Tristan is the younger brother of King Michael and is known as “the scarred prince” because of the facial scar that Michael gave him when they were children. When the two were boys, Michael bullied and abused Tristan relentlessly, jealous that their father preferred Tristan to him. Now, Tristan’s primary goal is to destabilize and dethrone Michael before killing him and everyone associated with him.
Tristan also embodies The Struggle Between Duty and Personal Desire, given that his traditional duty would be to support his brother, who is the rightful heir to the throne. However, because Tristan wants power and revenge, he decides to overthrow his brother in retaliation for Michael’s decision to murder their father. Tristan must also undergo another such struggle when he unwittingly falls in love with Sara, his brother’s betrothed, and realizes that he is willing to give up the throne in order to have a relationship with her. In the end, he fails in his duty toward his people when he gives in to his own desires and sets the capital and the castle on fire in order to free Sara.
As a morally ambiguous character, Tristan is callous and bloodthirsty in his attempt to overthrow his brother, but his kind treatment of Simon foreshadows the possibility of his redemption. From the very beginning of the novel, it is clear that Tristan sees himself in Simon because both characters are viewed as different and are bullied because of that difference. Ultimately, Tristan’s relationship with Simon shows that he has the capacity to grow and change. Although his initial goal is to seize the throne and the power that it represents, he eventually passes the crown to Simon, demonstrating that his love for Simon and Sara is greater than his own desire for power.
King Michael Faasa
King Michael is an antagonist whose murderous actions incite the plot. Before the novel’s primary plotline begins, Michael colluded with his mother and Xander to kill his father. When Tristan suspected what they did, he decided to incite and lead the rebellion against them. Michael is shown to be a ruthless bully who tormented Tristan throughout their childhood, even hitting the young Tristan across the face with a fire poker and giving him the scar that earned him the nickname “the scarred prince.” Throughout most of the narrative, Sara believes that Michael is the one who killed her father, so she remains determined to kill him in revenge. She also finds him arrogant, self-important, and indifferent to the plight of his people. The narrative suggests that Michael either does not realize or does not care about how much suffering exists beyond Saxum.
Michael also exudes predatory traits and toxic masculinity. In the past, he impregnated a scullery maid named Kara, who bore his son (Simon), although Michael does not acknowledge the boy. Several times throughout the novel, Michael displays a keen interest in servant girls, and he also seduces Sara’s lady-in-waiting Ophelia and uses her to spy on Sara. This liaison also results in Ophelia’s pregnancy, but Michael forces her to abort the baby, asserting that “one bastard child [i]s enough” (331). Michael then uses Ophelia’s information to stop the original rebellion plan and capture Sara and Tristan. Despite these bold actions, Michael is deeply afraid of the opinions of his people, and when he begins seeing his father’s ghost, he attempts to hide this from everyone. However, Tristan uses this information to manipulate Michael. Ultimately, Michael is unrepentant even when Tristan and Sara kill him for his crimes.
Simon Faasa
The 10-year-old Simon is a secondary character and the son of King Michael and a scullery maid named Kara. Throughout most of the novel, Simon’s heritage is kept a secret because if Michael were to officially acknowledge Simon as his son, the boy would become the rightful heir to the throne. Simon’s mother has darker skin than Michael or the rest of the Faasa family, and Michael is therefore also motivated by unfair bias against him. Seeing Simon’s darker skin, other children in the castle bully him because he is different.
Tristan sympathizes with Simon and comforts him in the aftermath of this bullying, showing a softer side of his own character. (Because Michael once bullied Tristan, Tristan now sees himself in Simon.) Simon looks up to Tristan and wants to be like him. He even asks Tristan to be his father, but Tristan tells him that he will be his friend instead. Simon is sent away when the rebels attempt to free Tristan. Seven years later, Simon returns, and Tristan passes the crown to him, finally acknowledging that Simon is his nephew. Ultimately, Simon’s existence provides Tristan with a path toward redemption.
Uncle Raf
Uncle Raf is a secondary character and an antagonist in Scarred. He and his son, Xander, have orchestrated matters so that Raf’s niece, Sara, will go to the capital, get engaged to Michael, and kill him and the rest of the Faasas. However, the narrative eventually reveals that Raf has spent years planning to overthrow the Faasas and become king himself, and he is willing to sacrifice Sara in order to enact this secret plan. Raf also killed his brother (Sara’s father) to gain more power, and then he used Sara’s grief to further his own ambitions. However, his plans are thwarted when Xander is taken captive by Tristan. When Raf realizes that the rebel king is a greater threat to him than Michael is, he lies to Sara, claiming that the rebel king is the one who killed her father. Ultimately, Tristan kills Xander, and Sara kills Raf after he finally admits to killing her father.
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