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Karou is a young woman living in Prague. Besides her life as an art student, she runs errands for the mysterious Brimstone, who runs a shop that buys teeth for wishes. Karou knows she is not like others but has always believed she is human.
Appearance[]
Karou is five foot six, but seems taller in the same way that ballerinas do. She is slender with long legs, a long neck, and willowy limbs. She has long, bright azure hair that grows naturally due to a wish. Before this wish, her hair was nearly black in color. Karou has large, black eyes. She is described as being very beautiful and lovely. She is bright and radiant.
She has many tattoos. The words "true" and "story" are tattooed on each wrist, and her palms have indigo, eye-shaped tattoos that are actually hamsas. Karou also has a tattoo of a serpent coiled around her ankle. She used to have a tattoo with her ex-boyfriend Kazimir Andrasko's name right over her heart, but she used a wish to remove it. She also has three bullet wounds on her stomach. Karou typically dresses in jeans with sweaters or coats. She always wears boots, which she keeps a knife in. While in Morocco, Karou wears a djellaba.
Personality[]
Karou initially appears to be like many young girls, interested in typical teenage preoccupations like boys and clothes. She is humorous, curious, and rebellious. She is very secretive and mysterious. So much so that she won't tell anyone her nationality or even her last name. Due to her extensive secret keeping, Karou finds it almost impossible to have friends. Karou is a talented artist, and drawing has always been how she processed things. Everyone thinks her drawings are from her imagination, but they are actually chimaera. She is also trained in martial arts and general self-defense, and she isn't afraid to use it. Karou can speak twenty languages thanks to one of her wishes. Karou doesn't want to be the type of girl always yearning for love and attention. She wants to be content being independent and self-sufficient.
After her world is turned upside-down by her discovery of her life as Madrigal and the war-torn world of Eretz, she matures into a brave, albeit bitter, young woman who feels betrayed by her lover, Akiva. She struggles to regain an optimistic view of the world due to her crushing experiences. She is also trying to untangle her complex feelings for Akiva.
However, even before Karou understood her complicated background as a soldier and a chimera, she showed a great amount of compassion and sympathy, as when she questioned Akiva on his stance of chimera and what they should do with the land that is theirs, along with a guilt after Akiva explained to her about wishes and their consequences, pain. She has always been upset and depressed by the death that is involved in Brimstone's acquirement of teeth. She describes her life as "magic, shame, secrets, teeth, and a deep, nagging hollow at the center of herself where something was most certainly missing. She's plagued by the notion that she isn't whole."[1] When she's alone, that inner emptiness seems to swell, so she tries to avoid being by herself.
Karou is an idealist, something that remains a part of her identity, even when she begins to work in the kasbah for Thiago, resurrecting chimera. She even has enough hope that Thiago could change his course and begin to work to uplift the chimera army from shame and slaughter, and is crestfallen when he remains bloodthirsty. Her guilt for loving Akiva and being an "angel-lover" is prominent, but soon begins to wane the more this love is used against her, and she begins to realize that it was Thiago, not her, that doomed Loramendi and all chimera by giving away their biggest secret and weapon.
Karou is known to be vindictive as she once wished for Svetla's eyebrows to thicken like overgrown caterpillars that grew back when plucked, along with having wished for "itches" to torment her ex-boyfriend Kaz. She is creative, managing to smuggle her two friends Zuzana Nováková and Mikolas Vavra away by teaching them invisibility when Thiago and Ten threaten to kill them.
Background[]
Karou's true identity is Madrigal, the former lover of Akiva, though she does not know this at first. When Madrigal was executed, she managed to push her way into Chiro's body, and later on Brimstone managed to glean her soul and place it into the body of a human infant that he made himself. He also took her memories as Madrigal and placed them inside a wishbone.
That infant was taken to the human world so she could grow up and live in a peaceful world. She was raised by Brimstone, and has lived in his shop with Issa, Yasri, and Twiga for as long as she can remember in her human life. Because of her upbringing, she was exposed to the concepts of magic and wishes at a young age. Over the years, she learned to magically alter her appearance and immediately become fluent in any language she desired through wishes. Karou attended several schools throughout the world, her latest one being a boarding school in England, before ultimately settling down in Prague. Her first school was in Manhattan. She would exit the portal each morning for school, and then would have karate and aikido lessons afterwards, before returning to the portal in the evening. After being caught one night by a friend, she was taken into DHS custody. She escaped that night and disappeared. Her next school was in Hong Kong. She has had to fabricate names of false relatives at times. From a young age, Brimstone has seen to it that Karou was trained in martial arts. He also trained Karou in the art of identifying teeth since she was small. She can read the origin and integrity of teeth from their subtle vibrations.
Plot[]
Daughter of Smoke & Bone[]
Karou is a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague who is raised by the chimaera Brimstone, Issa, Twiga, Yasri, and Kishmish. She knows little about the chimaera apart from Brimstone's shop and lives as a normal human girl with the exception of the times when she has to complete missions for Brimstone. These normally include extracting teeth from various parts of the world. Brimstone offers wishes of varying degrees to these humans in exchange for teeth. But he has no qualms about giving Karou small wishes such as the one she used to make her hair grow naturally blue. Later, Karou would find out that the teeth are representatives of pain, which is the tithe required in exchange for magic, and that they allow chimaera soldiers to be resurrected as revenants.
Karou is on her way to her school, the Art Lyceum of Bohemia, when she is accosted by her ex-boyfriend Kazimir who tries yet again to win her back. She leaves him upon arriving at her school where she finds her best friend, Zuzana. They go into their first class of the day, Life Drawing, only to discover that their model for the day is none other than Kaz. Karou decides to use her wishes to make him become unbearably itchy in his private parts. Kaz flees the room to Karou and Zuzana's delight. After school, the two girl head to their favorite cafe, Poison Kitchen. Karou notices Kishmish's arrival and meets him in the bathroom. Kishmish delivers a message from Brimstone requesting Karou's immediate appearance. Karou leaves Zuzana at Poison Kitchen and makes her way to Brimstone's shop. Brimstone sends Karou on an errand to Paris to attend a black-market auction to acquire a matched set of tusks from a mature African bull elephant. While trying to return to Brimstone's shop, she notices a large black handprint burned into the door.
Monday Karou is sent to Paris. Tuesday she is sent to Saigon. Wednesday she is sent to Northern Canada to meet with two Athabascan hunters to collect "a sickening haul of wolf teeth." Thursday she is sent to San Francisco to meet with a herpetologist with a cache of rattlesnake fangs left over from her research subjects. On her way through the portal back to the shop, she notices another black handprint scorched into its surface, but is too tired to remember to tell Brimstone.
On Saturday, Brimstone sends her to Marrakesh, Morocco to meet with Izîl, who provides Brimstone with human teeth. During their meeting, Razgut makes Izîl ask Karou if Razgut can "have a taste of her" by licking her. Disgusted, Karou refuses. While assessing the teeth Izîl has for her, Karou finds many baby teeth. She reminds Izîl that Brimstone doesn't accept baby teeth. Izîl cryptically tells her that Brimstone has asked for baby teeth once before. Karou chalks this up to Izîl's madness. He tells Karou that he can't keep up the grave robbing, saying that he can barely hold a shovel anymore and that only death remains for him. Karou expresses sympathy for his plight. She pays him what he considers a paltry sum for the teeth, and he desperately requests that she make the trade for a bruxis in order to wish Razgut off him. Razgut bites him in retaliation. As Izîl and Razgut continue fighting, Karou hurries away. As she is leaving though, Razgut notices Akiva spying on them and drops his glamour. Karou notices and turns back, Izîl points at Akiva and calls him "malak," or angel. He then turns to Karou and yells at her that she must get to Brimstone and tell him the seraphim are here on Earth. Karou sees Akiva for the first time. She is immediately lashed with adrenaline and begins feeling a strange, chemical, and wild hum in her blood. Her body begins pounding with the word "enemy." Akiva chases her through Marrakesh back to the portal to Brimstone’s shop. He throws a knife at her. They fight one another. Just as Akiva is about to strike a killing blow, she cocks her head trying to understand why he wants to kill her, and he pauses. At the same time, she has an incredibly strong impulse to hold up her tattoos on her palms, not knowing they are hamsas, and she does. Akiva is flung back with devastating force twenty feet away. Karou runs away from the scene. She makes it to the portal but discovers the black handprint on the door and the portal no longer connected to it. Suddenly the portal reconnects, and Issa opens the door. Karou leaps through and pulls the door shut.
Later, while she is on another mission for Brimstone, Karou encounters an angel, Akiva, who attacks her. She also notices more scorched handprints on Brimstone's various portals all over the world, but has no chance to inform Brimstone of the phenomenon. As she lies semi-conscious from her injuries, she becomes aware of a never-before opportunity to explore Brimstone's workshop. Tired of secrets, she sneaks around to a forbidden door in Brimstone's workshop and encounters other revenants, one of whom is later revealed as Thiago, who tries to kill her. Brimstone saves Karou, but in his rage and worry for her safety, he casts her out. Later, the portals are all burned and Karou cannot find her way back. To complicate matters, she re-encounters Akiva, for whom she has a mysteriously strong attraction to.
After seeing her wishbone, Akiva tells her that he knows who she is. They break the wishbone, and Karou's memories as her life as Madrigal, a chimaera soldier who was beheaded for falling in love with an angel, returns to her. She realizes that Akiva is that lover, but feels only fleeting joy, as shortly after, Akiva confesses something devastating. Akiva thought Brimstone and the others that lived with him were with the other chimaera who were responsible for Madrigal's execution. He tells her that he killed them, not knowing they were the only family she had. He also helped the angels win the war against the chimaera. Instead of killing Akiva, Karou just leaves him. She picks up Razgut and heads through the portal he was dropped through, and into the world of Eretz.
Days of Blood & Starlight[]
Karou is grieving the loss of Brimstone and her family. She is also riddled with guilt from the belief that she is responsible for the enslavement of the chimaera and the seraphim winning the war. She is working with Thiago and the remaining survivors of the defense of Cape Armasin, about sixty chimaera, to resurrect soldiers of the chimera army. To stay hidden from the seraphim, Karou has found a base for them in a kasbah in southern Morocco on Earth. She has become far more somber, losing much of her light-heartedness and humorous outlook on life.
Despite her sacrifices, the chimaera do not trust her. Firstly because of her previous betrayal, but more than that, because Thiago has been secretly and constantly reminding them that she cannot be trusted. Karou quickly realizes that Thiago is having his personal guard, Ten, shadow her so Ten can eventually take over as resurrectionist and then he can kill Karou. Eventually, these facts are revealed to her by Ziri. Her life also takes a turn for the better when Zuzana and Mik come to find her, amusing the chimaera with their antics and lending her emotional support. She also has a brief, heated meeting with Akiva, wherein she attacks him with her hamsas but cannot bring herself to kill him, and he gives her a thurible with Issa's soul.
She also discovers that Thiago has been attacking not just seraphim soldiers but also killing their civilians, including innocent women and children. She tries to rally support from the others but is thwarted by Thiago, who then brutally attacks her and tries to rape her. She kills him, and with Ziri's insistence, puts Ziri's soul into his body. Her face in particular is badly marred during Thiago's attack, including a torn earlobe, and the damage is not healed until they find a magical spring with healing powers.
Akiva later emerges, and tells them that Jael has released the seraphim soldiers disguised as holy angels to rally support from the humans and gain the advantage of their technologically advanced weapons. The rebel seraphim and the chimaera are forced to unite, and the rest remains to be seen.
Dreams of Gods & Monsters[]
When Zuze and Mik see the news reporting the appearance of the Dominion, they immediately go to the kasbah where Karou and the chimaera rebels are based to warn them. Upon arriving, they are shocked to see Akiva and Liraz there as well. Akiva has come proposing an alliance between the Misbegotten and the chimaera rebels in order to defeat now-Emperor Jael.
Issa quietly tells Karou that her "heart is not wrong" and that she doesn't have to be ashamed about loving Akiva. Issa reminders her of this when she needs to hear it again.
When Karou and the rebels leave the kasbah to return to Eretz to join the Misbegotten, there are eighty-seven chimaera. Zuze and Mik go with them.
Night of Cake & Puppets[]
...[]
Relationships[]
Akiva[]
Upon breaking Brimstone’s wishbone, Karou is given Madrigal’s memories, and learns the truth from Akiva about what has happened to Brimstone and the chimaera. Karou refuses to have anything to do with Akiva and leave him. Akiva is riddled with guilt and driven to atone for his past behavior and choices, but nothing seems to be enough to compensate for the horror of her lost family and the genocide and enslavement of her people. Karou, for her part, struggles with still having feelings for Akiva and feelings of shame and guilt for them, especially as she spends time living with the chimaera in the kasbah.
They reach an uneasy truce when Jael sets his sights on the human world, bringing the chimaera and the Misbegotten onto the same side. Akiva is able to find Karou by feeling and Karou can sense Akiva’s presence and absence.
Zuzana Nováková[]
Zuzana is Karou's best friend. They have known each other ever since Karou moved to Prague. She represents Karou's normal, human life. Zuze doesn't mind Karou's secretive and mysterious nature. They are very protective of one another. Karou tells Zuzana that she is her anchor. Karou hates the way Brimstone keeps secrets from her, so she hates even more having to do the same to Zuzana. She loves Zuzana's willingness to play out her silly scenarios with her.
Brimstone[]
Brimstone and Karou have a father-daughter relationship, as he is essentially her foster father and guardian. He is a chimaera, as Karou once was, and has raised her since her resurrection. He cares for her particularly because of all she had gone through as Madrigal. Karou wants more freedom and wants Brimstone to explain things to her, which he consistently doesn't. He counsels Karou to save herself until she finds her soulmate. Like many parents, Brimstone doesn't approve of Karou's tattoos. They love each other. As Karou becomes older, their relationship is also that of a boss and employee. Brimstone is not stingy with scuppers for Karou. He lets her refresh her necklace with them as often as she likes. He pays her in bronze shings for the errands she runs for him. Karou often forgets who and what Brimstone really is because she has grown up with him as her parent. She doesn't see a beast, but a creature who raised her with tenderness. Brimstone has always allowed her to go anywhere in the world where there wasn’t a war. For example, when she had a craving for mangoes, he opened the door to India on the condition that she bring some back for him too. However, even Karou is dependent on the whim of Brimstone to admit her. Sometimes he doesn’t, but he’s never yet stranded her during an errand. Karou is devastated by Brimstone's death, and feels indebted to him. She begins working with Thiago as the new resurrectionist because she feels she owes it to Brimstone to continue his work.
Kazimir Andrasko[]
Karou and Kazimir were in a relationship until she caught him cheating on her. He was her first serious relationship. Their relationship began with Karou "worshipping his beauty, and Kaz reveling in it." Karou decides to sleep with him, believing that they are in love, and that he's worth losing her virginity to. Kaz embarrasses her by telling his friends the details and that it was her first time. Kaz is always frustrated that he can't surprise her and scare her. He calls Karou "Roo Roo." Once the two separated, he constantly attempted to scare her everyday, doing nothing but aggravating her. Throughout the rest of the story, he continues to act as if he cared, though he see's her no longer. He talks to reporters and lies to them, seeing that Karou still had use.
Thiago[]
Karou dislikes Thiago and fears him. When Thiago attacks her and attempts to rape her, it's implied that Thiago targets her face deliberately so everyone would know what he did. Karou is well aware that the only reason Thiago hasn't killed her for the second time is because she's the only resurrectionist. Even with Ziri's control over the body, Karou still feels extreme discomfort being within proximity of Thiago's body after his attempted rape. She has to stifle the urge to reveal her trauma whenever his body is near her. Ziri tries to keep a respectful distance from her, sensing her discomfort.
Madrigal[]
Though she doesn't have her chimaera body, Madrigal's soul is in Karou's body. Therefore, Karou and Madrigal are technically one and the same. After breaking the wishbone, and regaining Madrigal's memories, Karou works to adjust to her new identity. She describes having her own memories and Madrigal's as disorienting, "a brief vibration between two selves that would always be separate, like two yolks in one shell."
Ziri[]
It is hinted that Ziri had a crush on Karou, like he did with Madrigal, since Karou and Madrigal are technically one and the same. Ziri is very loyal to Karou, and they consider one another to be good friends. After Thiago's attempted rape, Ziri finds a shaking Karou along with the souless husk of Thiago. To prevent Karou from reliving the experience again, Ziri forms a pact with her. The pact is his soul is to be put into Thiago's body and he will act the role to keep the real Thiago from ever returning. Karou feels indebted to him and develops a strong sense of affection towards Ziri as a friend for saving her from resurrecting Thiago. Ziri has loved Karou since she was Madrigal but realizes almost immediately that he has no chance with her since she's already in love with Akiva.
Memorable Quotes[]
Daughter of Smoke & Bone[]
- "I work. What do you think I live on, rainwater and daydreams?" - Karou to Zuzana Nováková
- "You know they roast guinea pigs in Peru, skewered on little sticks, like marshmallows?" - Karou to Zuzana Nováková
- "Yearning for love made her feel like a cat that was always twining around ankles, meowing Pet me, pet me, look at me, love me."
Days of Blood & Starlight[]
- “A dream dirty and bruised is better than no dream at all.”
- "Dead souls dream only of death, small dreams for small men. It is life that expands to fill worlds. Life is your master, or death is."
- "Perhaps Fate laid out your life out for you like a dress, and you could wear it or go naked."
Trivia[]
- Karou is a surname invented by the aunt and uncle of Laini Taylor's best friend.[2]
- Karou has ninety sketchbooks. Zuzana keeps them safe when Karou leaves Prague.
- Her first language was the chimaeran language.
- Even as a baby, Karou has always found herself reaching for Brimstone's wishbone.
- The animal market in Saigon is one of her least favorite places in the world due to all the animals in cages being sold as food. Brimstone sends her to Saigon every few months to collect teeth from an "old crone of a butcher's mother."
Gallery[]
