Character Sketch Essay

Austin S.                                                                                                                            1/13/2011

Mrs. Zurkowski                                                                                                                       Purples

Character Sketch: Lemorel Milderellen

“Souls in the Great Machine” by Sean McMullen

Lemorel has always been unlucky in love.  In Sean McMullen’s novel, “Souls in the Great Machine”, Lemorel is one of many main characters living during the aftermath of a great apocalypse few humans survived in the far future.  Her past is revealed piece by piece in the book, and is revealed in an almost cloak and dagger fashion. At the start of the story, the reader knows Lemorel has been driven by love to do terrible things in her past and now is trying to run away to a new life.  She starts out well and even becomes the personal advisor to one of the leaders of the country she lives in. However as the story continues, her past comes back to haunt her and she is greatly affected by it.  She changes for the worse and since Lemorel starts out as already being a close companion to one of the most powerful people in the known world, her actions have a great impact.  The storyline for the book actually is based off a lot of the effects of Lemorel’s actions.  But to better understand Lemorel’s actions, it is important to know her reasons, history, and personality.

Lemorel is a young girl in her mid-twenties who has been hurt badly in her past.  As a result, Lemorel is a lonely person who is continually beating herself up or feeling depressed and angry.  She tries to hide from this and even starts a new life, using her great skill as a scholar to advance herself farther and farther into higher social circles.  But occupying herself with work doesn’t work forever and she eventually falls for a new person.  Sadly, this new romance does not last long and Lemorel becomes angry.  As a person in a position of power she tries to finish him, but she fails.  Because of his mathematics skill, her false lover (John Glasken) has come to the attention of people even more influential than her and they take him away to work for them, leaving Lemorel fuming.  Her anger and a need for revenge is all that drive her towards the end of the book, and she betrays her country and leads a war to try and strike back at all the ones who have ever hurt her.  

There have been many people who have hurt Lemorel in her past and many situations where she has been put down.  The first terrible event that happened to her occurred when she was much younger. She had her first lover, but he was more of a poetic man who could not satisfy her lust. One day she was walking home when one of the men from the village seduced her. Her lover found out and committed suicide. Then she challenged her seducer to a duel, who she thought was the cause of all the trouble. When she killed him, others retaliated and Lemorel went on a legal vendetta against her prosecutors. In the course of it, she killed nine men and one woman. Lemorel had felt betrayed, sad, hurt, and angry. She took her revenge and then covered her actions under the mask of the law.

Another event that happened in the event that changed her was when Lemorel met a new lover and trusted him. Their first encounter was from Pg. 77-80, where John Glasken, helps to defend her against two assassins meant to attack her companion. After fending the men off and the authorities arrived, Glasken starts to reel Lemorel in. For instance as soon as they leave the alley, Glasken re-introduces himself and acts like a gentleman, saying “I am honored, Frelle, and charmed besides…” She falls for him, feeling relieved and joyful thinking that she had finally found the right one. She was distraught when she found out he was just using her on Pgs. 114-117, and she was bent on making him suffer.

This is the part in the story where Lemorel changes the most. When her superiors move Glasken out of her grasp, she becomes enraged and tries to get him back but is unsuccessful. This was the last straw for Lemorel and she snapped. She left her home country to help rebels in the southern provinces strike back at her country, using her tactical skills to become their army commander. For instance, she took out several senior officers who opposed her methods and this is mentioned on Pg. 409 that “…She was said to be fond of personally executing senior officers who failed her…” She burned four major cities in her conquest and nearly captured the capital of her homeland. Lemorel felt that by destroying her home country, she was destroying her past and was symbolically striking back at everyone who had ever hurt her.

In the end, Lemorel is merely someone who was driven mad by love, who helped set the storyline in motion for the rest of Sean’s book, the “Souls in the Great Machine”. The author uses her to show that love is a powerful force and can make, or break, a person. The character seems to leave the impression that people should watch their step and know what they are getting into.