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OOC INFORMATION
Name: Dee
Contact: oresteia
Other Characters: Enjolras starvedorestes

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Charles Macaulay
Age: The book never says for certain; mid-twenties. Probably 22-25
Canon: The Secret History
Canon Point: After Bunny's funeral
Character Information:

A synopses of the book however it doesn't cover much of Charles' history itself (of which there honestly is very little, due to Richard being an unreliable narrator), so I will expand on all that we know about his history here!

Charles Macaulay and his twin sister Camilla Macaulay were born to well off parents, but were orphaned while still infants. Their parents were killed in a tragic car crash, and so together they were raised in Virginia by various aunts and grandmothers. It is unclear what steered them to the path of Greek studies, but it does seem as though regardless of whether or not Bunny's murder had driven a rift between them and their friends, they likely would not have finished university regardless. Taken beneath Julian Morrow's wing, Charles and his sister join the incredibly unorthodox classics majors. They exist almost as a separate entity from the rest of the school, keeping only to their own group. It is here that they meet Francis, Henry, Bunny, and eventually, Richard Papen as well.

Personality:

"And then there were a pair, boy and girl. I saw them together a great deal, and at first I thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend, until one day I saw them up close and realized they had to be siblings. Later I learned they were twins. They looked very much alike, with heavy dark-blond hair and epicene faces as clear, as cheerful and grave, as a couple of Flemish angels. And perhaps most unusual in the context of Hampden--where pseudo-intellects and teenage decadents abounded, and where black clothing was de regueur-- they liked to wear pale clothes, particularly white. In this swarm of cigarettes and dark sophistication they appeared here and there like figures from an allegory, or long-dead celebrants from some forgotten garden party."

At first glance, Charles seems like quite the charming young man- if a little aloof. In the right company, from his canon point he is still polite and well-mannered, but beginning to show cracks at the edges. Richard once describes him as kind, and enigmatic, but under pressure, Charles does not function as well as he would hope to pretend, and it leads to a violent streak.

His relationship with his sister is a tumultuous one, but one that was very important to him growing up. They had only truly had one another for so long that it was almost unsurprising their bond became incestuous. In the first act of the book there is a scene during which Camilla gets a piece of glass stuck deeply in her foot, and Charles finds himself unable to remove it due to not wanting to hurt her. Yet, during the book's second act Charles becomes wildly jealous over Camilla, and his paranoia begins to throw him into fits of jealous rage that he ultimately takes out upon Francis and Camilla and finally, in the book's climax, leads him to drawing a weapon against Henry with the intent to murder him.

It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that Charles is a rather secretive individual. He values his privacy, and in part it is probably because he doesn't want anyone looking too closely into his and Camilla's relationship, but also because on some level he still wishes to protect her as well. He loves Camilla deeply, and considers them two halves of the same soul. But this love becomes twisted, manipulated not only by Henry, but by Camilla herself as well following the murder.

Charles is intelligent, but he's certainly not the smartest student of their group. He tries to be logical, but he has a tendency to allow his emotions to take him over; overwhelm him. This is shown time and time again during his descent into an almost blind madness.

He and Camilla also appear to be the most social of the group as well, as they are the first to reach out to Richard after he joins Julian's classes, inviting him over for dinner in an attempt to break the ice between them.

Charles is sometimes moody, even without the threat of being charged with murder hanging over him. Richard mentions having seen Charles suffer boughts of melancholy, though whether this is due to depression or simply a mark of his temperamental states is never truly explained. Richard is an incredibly unreliable narrator in this respect.

In times of duress, Charles has a tendency to lash out if he thinks he can get away with it. He doesn't deal very well when pressure truly begins to mount, and he turns to alcohol to numb, and inhibit his inhibitions about Bunny's murder, and his own part in it. He likes to think of himself as a 'good person'- but he's really not. Hurting those around himself in order to make it feel as though he still has some measure of control. This is especially apparent in Camilla and Francis, as he begins abusing them both, believing neither one will truly retaliate against him for it.

At first, Charles is the only one of the group who protests to Bunny's murder by necessity. They all agree that it is necessary to keep their secrets, but Charles is the only one to consider that what they are doing is wrong- insane, in fact. It's what causes him to crumble so heavily later on, his guilt and his desires for self-preservation at war with one another, driving him not only into liquor but also to lash out against Henry.

And speaking of Henry... Henry is so important to the person Charles starts to become, as he is driven to that point by Henry. It's difficult to say whether or not it was his plan all along, but Henry did choose to place Charles in the limelight during the police investigation on campus following Bunny's murder. This, looming over Charles' head begins to tear at his moral fibre, and leads him into the spiral of his break down.

His relationship with Francis is also important to understanding Charles' character. They are friends, but more than that- they're also occasionally lovers, but only ever when Charles is drunk. Francis is head over heels in love with Charles, and he knows it and uses it to his advantage. He's downright cruel to Francis sometimes, because, as mentioned, he knows that he is able to get away with it. Even so, he cares about Francis enough to sit by his hospital bed and keep him company after Francis begins to suffer crippling panic attacks. Francis himself says that every time he hardens his heart against Charles, Charles will act 'so sweet' and then he falls in love with him all over again.

He's a complicated man, and a little immature. Placed into an unfortunate set of circumstances influenced by other's choosing. He is not, however, a victim of circumstance. He is an active participant in the murder of Bunny Corcoran, and even though he's not the one who pushes his former friend over the cliff, he also agrees to it's necessity. It shows that he is dangerous; wildly unstable, but also sometimes frighteningly immature in how he decides to cope with events in his life.

5-10 Key Character Traits:

→ Charming
→ Unstable
→ Intelligent
→ Paranoid
→ Aloof
→ Abusive
→ Jealous
→ Temperamental
→ Manipulative

Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, or EITHER?

Either.

Opt-Outs:

→ Kelpie
→ Faerie
→ Minotaur
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→ Demon (Enjolras)

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