The Inquisitor’s Tale

The first of the three magical children we meet, Jeanne has the power of sight and prophecy. Her childhood origin story—being saved from a snake by her saintly dog, Gwenforte—sets up a life of strange happenings, including the ability to see into the future. Jeanne is a peasant and uses the snobbish assumptions of people higher up the social ladder as a weapon against them. She’s also courageous, empathetic, and just, and she often uses her talent for prophecy to fight for people who, like her, are underestimated or overlooked.

William, the second of the three magical children, is strong in both body and mind. He’s a real scholar, who loves debate and intellectual precision; he also has a miraculous strength which allows him to shatter stones and fight huge crowds. As a biracial character in a predominantly pale-skinned medieval France, he has a special insight into some of the book’s points about close-mindedness and exclusion. Over the course of the story, he suffers from feelings of isolation and loneliness, even when he’s part of a group: his life has taught him that the people around him will often treat him as an outsider, and he struggles to overcome his assumption that he’ll always be left out.