Incarceron

Claudia is the novel’s other protagonist, and many sections are also filtered through her perspective. Like Finn, she is about 18 years old; she is brave, smart, and morally upright, but unlike Finn, she lives beyond Incarceron. Despite not being incarcerated, Claudia feels like she is less than “free” because her future has already been dictated by her father, the Warden. He and others have decreed that she must marry Caspar, the heir to the throne, and become queen after Sia. This is a privileged life, but it is still not ideal because her society is corrupt and restrictive. At court, Claudia will be constantly surveilled and will be compelled to conform to rigid expectations. The degree to which Claudia is restricted despite her relative “freedom” highlights the theme of The Ambiguity of Imprisonment and Freedom.

Claudia’s character arc, like Finn’s, also complicates The Distinction Between Appearances and Reality because she has been deceived about her origins and identity. She is not the Warden’s biological daughter; he actually bought Claudia as a newborn from an inmate who couldn’t afford to take care of her. Legend has it that Sapphique was the only person to ever leave Incarceron, but Claudia escaped it, too, with the help of the Warden. Claudia also engages in deception herself, for she routinely tricks the Warden by projecting a hologram of herself in the window of Jared’s tower, so that it looks like she’s studying when she’s really elsewhere getting into mischief.

Keiro is another inmate in Incarceron. He is Finn’s oathbrother. This means that both characters have taken a vow to protect each other and to avenge the other’s death if necessary. At the beginning of the novel, both Keiro and Finn are members of a gang called the Comitatus, which has taken over a Wing of the prison as their territory. Keiro is charming and funny, but he is also duplicitous, untrustworthy, and conniving. Born inside the prison, he adheres to an “every man for himself” policy, with the alleged exception of oathbrothers. He is also willing to resort to violence, lying, trickery, and other immoral activities in order to survive. Because of these qualities, most other characters, including Gildas, Attia, and Claudia, dislike Keiro and treat him with suspicion. However, Finn continues to trust Keiro and insists on his potential to do the right thing despite his past transgressions. Keiro’s character arc emphasizes The Distinction Between Appearances and Reality because many people misjudge him at first, but also, he is secretly a half-man, and nobody realizes it until the novel’s end. This means that he, like many inmates, is made of both organic material and metal, similar to a cyborg, even though he looks the same as everyone else.

Keiro isn’t perfect, but he does save Finn’s life multiple times, upholding his vow as an oathbrother and proving that loyalty and morality can thrive even under the worst of conditions. Although Keiro’s status as a half-man prevents him from using the key to escape Incarceron, Finn vows to enlist the kingdom’s brightest minds to forge a new key that will let Keiro escape. The friendship between Keiro and Finn defies all odds and is a beacon of hope in the novel’s dystopian world.

The Warden of Incarceron, John Arlex, is Claudia’s father. He is not her biological father, but he raised her with the help of nurses and servants; however, he lies to her for most of the novel, claiming that he is her biological father. In reality, he purchased Claudia from an inmate when she was a baby. He always intended to marry her off to the throne’s heir, and initially, he regarded her as part of his plot to obtain more power. However, over time, John develops genuine love for Claudia. Throughout most of the text, John appears to be a villain because he is dishonest, conniving, and duplicitous. He aided Queen Sia in faking Giles’s death and imprisoning him in Incarceron, and he is trying to install Caspar as king. Also, like other Wardens before him, he lies to everyone about the true state of the prison, claiming that it is a paradise rather than a dystopian mess. This makes it seem like the Warden is willingly perpetuating large-scale harm amongst Incarceron’s myriad inmates, as well as plotting schemes that hurt the kingdom as well as his own daughter. However, the Warden illustrates The Distinction Between Appearances and Reality because he only goes along with Sia’s plots because she is blackmailing him. Furthermore, he keeps Incarceron’s failure a secret because he has no way of freeing the inmates.

John further illustrates the distinction between appearances and reality because he can appear as an inmate inside the prison, taking on the persona of Blaize. Finn, Gildas, and Attia meet “Blaize” and believe that he is a reclusive Sapient who lives alone. As Blaize, the Warden attempts to convince the group that there is no “outside world,” and that Incarceron encompasses the entire universe. He also tries to poison them. While this is certainly villainous behavior, “Blaize” also saves them from the monster to which Finn was meant to be sacrificed, and at the end, the Warden helps Claudia and Jared to orchestrate Finn’s escape. Due to Sia’s anger, the Warden commits himself to Incarceron to avoid being killed, but he does this for the sake of Finn and Claudia, demonstrating that he has at least a partial moral compass as well as genuine love for his daughter. Like Incarceron itself, the Warden is shown not to be a complete villain; instead, he is someone who has been put in impossible circumstances and makes inevitable mistakes. However, he does partially redeem himself by aiding Claudia and Finn in their mission.

Jared is Claudia’s private, live-in tutor, and she receives her education almost exclusively from him. Jared is a Sapient, an intelligent person who has studied as extensively as the kingdom allows. Jared is intellectual, curious, and kind, and he is willing to break rules for the sake of knowledge and discovery. For example, he keeps many illegal devices, such as telescopes, because they are learning tools. For much of the text, Jared is the only person Claudia trusts. He always helps with her plans, and she knows that he won’t tell anyone about her own rule-breaking. Jared also provides Claudia with objects or knowledge that she needs to succeed in her quests.

Jared complicates the theme of The Use and Abuse of Technology because although many of his devices are illegal, he always uses them for morally upstanding purposes, and he never harms others. For example, he uses scanners to detect whether danger is nearby so that he may protect himself and Claudia. He also supports Claudia’s decision to steal her father’s key to Incarceron, which they use to help free Finn, even though stealing is illegal. At the novel’s end, the Warden entrusts Jared with his watch and charm, which contains the shrunken Incarceron. This act suggests that John, like Claudia, trusts Jared with the task of becoming the new Warden. It is a nearly impossible job, but if anyone possesses the intellect, dedication, and moral compass necessary to solve the mystery of how to free Incarceron’s inmates, it is Jared.

Queen Sia is the Queen of the Realm, due to her marriage to the now-deceased King. She is a sorceress of great mystery; nobody knows how old she is, who her parents were, or where she is from. She is one of the novel’s main villains and is power-hungry, deceitful, and uncaring. She wanted her biological son, Caspar, to become king, rather than her stepson Giles, so after her husband dies, she fakes Giles’s death and blackmails John into wiping Giles’s memory and imprisoning him in Incarceron as Finn. Sia is an effective villain because she is smart, manipulative, and skilled at deception. The only way the other characters defy her is through extensive teamwork.

Caspar is Sia’s son. As a result of Giles’s “death,” he is poised to inherit the throne. He is also betrothed to Claudia, much to her dismay. Caspar is irresponsible, vapid, and superficial, lacking all the qualities that Claudia and John believe would make a good leader. Even Sia knows that Caspar would make a terrible ruler, for he can barely manage his personal affairs. Because of Caspar’s shortcomings, Sia believes that Claudia would be a suitable wife for him because she, unlike Caspar, would make a good ruler. However, Sia underestimates Claudia and assumes that she can mold and manipulate the girl into doing her bidding, when in reality, Claudia is smarter than Sia bargained for and bests her at her own game.

Gildas is an inmate of Incarceron and a companion of Finn’s. He is a Sapient and is descended from those who created Incarceron and entered its premises, hoping to ensure its smooth operation. Gildas was also part of the Comitatus, but he left with Finn and Keiro when they obtained the key. Like most Sapients, Gildas is intellectual and curious; above all, he wants to escape Incarceron and find out what the Outside is like. He is obsessed with the legends of Sapphique’s miraculous escape from Incarceron, and he believes that Finn’s memories are “visions” sent by Sapphique to guide them toward freedom. This detail suggests that although Gildas is intelligent, his limited knowledge leads him to incorrect conclusions. He is also gullible; because he wants to escape so badly, he is willing to believe anything that suggests that escape is possible. Still, he is a good teammate to Finn, even though he dies before finding the escape that he so desperately seeks.

Gildas represents The Dangers of Romanticizing the Past. Inside Incarceron, books and knowledge are so limited that he has access to even less of the truth than people outside, like Jared. As a Sapient, Gildas studies extensively, learning medical treatments and other valuable skills, but his knowledge pales in comparison to Jared’s. When Jared hears about Gildas’s treatment methods, he reflects that such methods are largely ineffective and are rarely used in the outside world. When Attia gets poisoned and Gildas gives her an “antidote,” it doesn’t work. Instead, Finn saves her with Jormanric’s magic ring, which Gildas was convinced was rubbish. Gildas does not realize that he is practicing outdated medicine; he simply uses what information is available. Still, this dynamic illustrates the dangers of cutting off access to modern scientific knowledge and tools as a result of romanticizing the past.

Attia is an inmate of Incarceron and another of Finn’s companions. At the beginning of the novel, she was enslaved by Jormanric. Her task was to taste his food and drinks to make sure they weren’t poisoned. Attia illustrates The Distinction Between Appearances and Reality because, while enslaved, she disguises herself in layers of rags so that nobody realizes she is a woman. This subterfuge keeps her safer than she would have otherwise been. She also covers herself in fake sores to make it seem like she has a disease; this makes most people avoid her. Only when Jormanric is dead does Attia shed her disguise and reveal her true identity, at which point she also joins Finn, Keiro, and Gildas in their mission to escape Incarceron.

Finn helps to remove Attia’s shackles and insists on taking her with them, whereas Keiro tries to convince him to leave her behind. Because of Finn’s kindness, Attia is extremely loyal to him, and she dislikes Keiro. She also is enamored of Finn and dislikes Claudia because of her prior engagement to Finn/Giles. Nobody pays much attention to Attia, but that is because she has learned to blend into the background to avoid unnecessary danger in prison. In reality, she is one of the most resourceful characters, and she is the one to discover the truth about Claudia’s origins in Incarceron. Although she dislikes Claudia, she still graces her with the truth because ultimately, sharing knowledge between inmates and outsiders is the only way for both groups to get closer to freedom.