City of the Beasts

Nadia Santos is described as a honey-colored girl of about twelve or thirteen. She travels with her father,César, and though she does not attend school, she knows a great deal about the natural world and speaks several languages, including some of the native people. Nadia’s mother, who was not able to stand life in the village, is mentally ill and lives in her home country of Canada. Nadia is accompanied everywhere by Borobá, a small tame monkey who behaves like an extension of Nadia herself. 

Wise and calm for her age, Nadia serves as Alex’s guide to the world of the Amazon and impresses him with her intuitive abilities and deep connection to animals. Where Alex is skeptical and rational, Nadia is trusting and imaginative, and her ability to communicate easily with all kinds of beings—from outsiders like Alex, to natives like the People of the Mist, to mystical figures like Walimai—is key to the duo’s success in their quests. After she and Alex are kidnapped, Nadia’s abilities are further tested, as she is tasked by the People of the Mist with serving as the chief for soothing the volatile Rahakanariwa. She is also forced to confront her immense fear of heights, and once she does, she discovers that her true nature is that of the eagle, “the queen of the sky” (292). By communicating with Walimai and relying on Borobá for help, Nadia is the one who opens the passage to the city of the Beasts and who sets the stage for the salvation of the People of the Mist by collecting the valuable crystal eggs. Nadia’s quick thinking saves the People of the Mist from Dr. Torres’s viruses and though she is traumatized by the violence that follows her actions, she nonetheless musters the strength to moderate a final agreement between the expedition and the tribe. At the conclusion of the novel, Nadia gives the crystal eggs to Alex to use in funding protection for the People of the Mist and she promises him that they will remain connected by their deep friendship, demonstrating once again her role as a powerful mediator between different worlds.

Kate Cold, Alex’s paternal grandmother, is a famous adventurer and journalist. She is sixty-four years old and very strong for her age, with wild hair and eccentric clothing. Kate’s apartment is filled with relics of her world travels and Alex describes her as a frightening but thrilling figure in his childhood, who played tricks on him and his sisters and sometimes put them in dangerous situations, but who also impressed them with her daring stories and fearless personality. Kate takes a tough-love approach with her grandson Alex, refusing to coddle him but occasionally showing subtle signs of affection and making it known that she feels her actions are the best way to help him grow and mature. 

During most of their journey together, Kate ignores Alex, focusing instead on her own work and leaving him to entertain and fend for himself. Though her behavior sometimes seems uncaring and Alex wonders whether she loves him, he eventually comes to appreciate that her insistence on his self-sufficiency has been crucial to his growth as a person. Kate also holds her own as a professional woman, eagerly facing off against condescending men like Ludovic Leblanc. After Alex and Nadia are kidnapped, Kate’s insistence on finding them leads to the expedition’s encounter with the People of the Mist, and Kate’s journalistic skills and professional standing are ultimately key to the group’s plan to protect the tribe. Kate plans to start a foundation to fund the protection of the People of the Mist, and she also plans to use her platform at International Geographic magazine to convince the outside world that the Beast is a myth, so protecting the ancient creatures from outside interference. Alex mentions at the end of the novel that Kate has been assigned another story by the magazine and will next be traveling to the Himalayas. 

Ludovic Leblanc is a renowned anthropologist who claims to be an expert in native Amazon peoples. He is short, thin, and about fifty years old, dressed like a stereotypical jungle adventurer and fond of referring to himself in the third person. Despite his grandiose claims, Leblanc is quickly revealed to be cowardly and lazy; he avoids any work on the expedition and panics in dangerous situations. Leblanc is also impatient with the pace of the trip and convinced that the native people, who he considers savages, are behind the gruesome acts attributed to the Beast. Leblanc’s contributions to the expedition are essentially nonexistent until the final encounter with the People of the Mist, during which he suddenly realizes, upon seeing a native infant orphaned by the fight, that he and his people are far more savage than the Indians themselves. At that point, he commits himself to protecting the tribe and comes up with the idea to flatter and distract Captain Ariosto, which allows Nadia to execute her plan with Walimai and the tribe to overcome Ariosto. At the end of the book, Leblanc joins forces with Kate to start a foundation and use his professional influence to protect the People of the Mist.

Dr. Omayra Torres is a Venezuelan woman described as “a beautiful mulatto, about thirty-five years old” (53). She joins the International Geographic expedition in order to find and vaccinate the native Amazon peoples, who are in danger of contracting fatal diseases from their contact with outsiders. All the men on the expedition admire Dr. Torres’s beauty and vie for her attention, and she struggles to be taken seriously as a professional, especially by Leblanc, who frequently belittles her expertise. Alex and Nadia feel that Dr. Torres is one of the only trustworthy adults on the expedition and Nadia even hopes that Dr. Torres might become her stepmother. Dr. Torres continues to seem like a sympathetic and noble character until the night in Tapirawa-Teri when Nadia witnesses her kissing Mauro Carías. It turns out that Dr. Torres has actually been helping Captain Ariosto and her lover Carías decimate the native populations by injecting them with viruses rather than vaccines, in order to clear the way for Carías and Ariosto to take advantage of the land’s natural resources. After the bloodshed in the village, Dr. Torres leaves with the injured Carías for Venezuela. Kate vows to bring her to justice for her crimes, using the evidence secured by Timothy Bruce and César Santos.

César Santos is the hired guide to the International Geographic expedition. He is a middle-aged Brazilian man with dark hair and “the sharp profile of a bird” (65). Like his daughter, Nadia, César Santos has a strong connection to the natural world and serves as a mediator between traditional native culture and outsiders. He remains a calm and knowledgeable presence throughout the journey, helping the expedition face dangers like the anaconda and advocating for the interests of the natural world, as when he kills Mauro Carías’s jaguar in order to set it free. Santos is the only one on the expedition who knows Karakawe’s true identity, and he convinces Leblanc to hire Karakawe. Santos’s skills as a pilot are also crucial to saving the group when he flies them by helicopter out of Tapirawa-Teri, and he provides a key piece of evidence against Torres and Carías by recovering one of Torres’s vials before they are destroyed.

Walimai is an ancient shaman, described as a very small man dressed in necklaces and tokens of various materials. His age is not specified, but he appears to have lived for much longer than a normal human lifespan. He is accompanied everywhere by his angel-wife, a benevolent spirit who is usually invisible but sometimes appears in the form of a beautiful young girl. Walimai befriends Nadia in the jungle near Santa Maria de la Lluvia and, after Alex arrives, warns her of the return of the Rahakanariwa. He gives Nadia an amulet to protect her in the dangerous times to come and tells her that she and Alex have been called to participate in the expedition. Using the amulet, Nadia calls to Walimai to help resolve the conflict in Tepariwa-Teri that ensues after Mokarita dies. Walimai helps Nadia communicate with the People of the Mist and conveys important information about the role that the expedition will play when it arrives. Most importantly, Walimai serves as Alex and Nadia’s guide to the city of the Beasts, guiding them through the labyrinth on the way to the city and mediating the discussion in which the Beasts agree not to attack humans anymore. Walimai also helps Alex and Nadia learn to harness the power of their animal totems and aids in their success in their trials inside the city. Finally, Walimai comes to Nadia’s aid in the chaos surrounding the vaccines and helps her reestablish trust with the People of the Mist.

Mauro Carías is a powerful entrepreneur who lives in Santa Maria de la Lluvia. He is known to have international business dealings and homes in several countries, and he is also said to be seductive and attractive to women. Nadia tells Alex that Carías “didn’t have a heart in his chest but carried it in a tote bag” (76). Carías initiated the organization of the International Geographic expedition and hosts its members lavishly at his compound, where Alex encounters the jaguar that leads to his first glimpse of his true nature. As Alex and Nadia overhear him in conversation with Ariosto, they learn that his true motive is to exterminate the natives and gain natural resources, but they don’t know how he plans to accomplish this. Later, it becomes clear that he and Ariosto convinced Dr. Torres to work with them and that together, Carías and his accomplices have been responsible for countless deaths among the natives. Carías had hoped that having the journalistic team present would provide evidence that vaccinations were provided, but his plan backfires when Karakawe reveals his identity and the team captures footage of the ensuing conflict. Alarmed by the appearance of the Rahakanariwa, Tahama clubs Carías on the head, causing permanent brain damage. At the conclusion of the novel Carías is in a hospital in Venezuela, accompanied by his lover Dr. Torres and doomed to prosecution upon the discovery of the evidence of his crimes.

Captain Ariosto is the commander of the military forces in Santa Maria de la Lluvia and charged with protecting the nearby tribes. He becomes a menacing figure when Alex and Nadia overhear him plotting with Mauro Carías to exterminate the natives, but his full motivations do not become clear until the conflict in Tapirawa-Teri. When Karakawe reveals his identity and states his intention to prosecute Carías, Ariosto fatally shoots him and leads the soldiers in killing several members of the tribe. It becomes clear that Ariosto was working with Carías to get rid of the natives and exploit the natural resources of their land, in order to increase his own wealth and power. Ariosto attempts to take command of the situation after Karakawe’s death, but he is lulled into a false sense of security by Leblanc’s flattery and is ultimately killed by a Beast summoned to help the tribe.

Mokarita is the name that Nadia gives to the chief of the People of the Mist, who leads their kidnapping and demands that they climb to the top of the waterfall with the tribe. His true name is not revealed. Mokarita is very old, has a kindly demeanor, and wears a crown of yellow feathers. During the climb to the top of the waterfall, Mokarita slips and falls down the rock face, coming to rest on a tree branch. Alex rescues him and brings him to rejoin the tribe, but Mokarita is severely injured and dies shortly after the tribe’s arrival in their village. Before his death, he informs Nadia that she and Alex are the first foreigners ever to enter the village and that they are destined to play a role in helping the People of the Mist. It is during Mokarita’s funeral that Alex and Nadia fully discover their animal totems and, by drinking broth made with Mokarita’s bones, become members of the tribe

Iyomi is a very old member of the People of the Mist who is married to Mokarita. She comforts him before his death and, after he dies, she becomes the new chief of the tribe. Iyomi is the first female chief in the tribe’s history. Shortly after being named chief, Iyomi names Tahama, Nadia, Alex, and Walimai as additional chiefs. She also instructs Alex to undergo the rites of passage that lead him into manhood. Later, when the expedition reaches her village, Iyomi is the central negotiator on behalf of the tribe and helps save them from ruin after the conflict with the outsiders. A portion of the narrative in the chapter “Protection” is told from Iyomi’s perspective and provides the narrative’s most immediate glimpse into the People of the Mist’s experience of the novel’s events.

Karakawe is an Indian man who the expedition meets in Santa Maria de le Lluvia. Having spent a lot of time in the company of outsiders, he has been partially assimilated into their culture. At César Santos’s suggestion, Leblanc hires Karakawe as his personal assistant for the journey. Karakawe is brusque and sometimes rude, and Nadia and Alex are suspicious of him because they see him looking through Dr. Torres’s cases of vaccines on multiple occasions. Later, when Nadia reveals the vaccines themselves to be the dreaded Rahakanariwa, Karakawe announces that he is actually an officer of the Department for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples and has been investigating the causes of the mysterious deaths plaguing native tribes. Karakawe states that he suspects Carías of wrongdoing, at which point Captain Ariosto shoots and kills Karakawe.

Timothy Bruce is a laconic English photographer who has worked with Kate on many previous assignments for International Geographic. He joins the Amazon expedition to document the Beast and is soon traumatized when his assistant, Joel Gonzalez, is badly injured by an anaconda. Bruce does not speak much throughout the narrative but is on hand to document its key moments and support Kate in her investigations. At the end of the story, it is Bruce who provides one of the key pieces of evidence against Carías in the form of film documenting Karakawe’s death and Ariosto’s actions.