Amari And The Great Game

Elsie Rodriguez has been Amari’s best friend since they met the previous year at the Bureau’s summer camp. Although she describes herself as Amari’s sidekick, she has a significant role in the narrative, as Amari points out: “Els, you’re nobody’s sidekick. I wouldn’t even be here without your help” (96). She is characterized as extremely loyal and smart, although she sometimes struggles with self-confidence. She is very supportive of Amari and often provides crucial advice or help in dangerous situations. When Amari almost gives in to foul magick at the end of the book, for instance, Elsie’s intervention helps her regain control of her emotions and make the more moral choice.

Elsie is described as having curly, dark hair and wearing glasses. She is characterized as smart, kind, and a genius inventor, which earns her a place in a gifted student program in Oxford. Although Amari is saddened by Elsie’s upcoming absence, she supports her best friend when she realizes how excited Elsie is about the opportunity. Indeed, Elsie is always busy creating intricate machines or making elaborate plans, which often comes in handy during her and Amari’s investigation.

Significantly, Elsie is a weredragon. She is able to perceive her friends’ moods because “[r]eading auras is a perk of being a weredragon. Emotions give off certain colors, called auras, which Elsie can see” (16). However, Amari explains at the beginning of the story that Elsie has “never been able to fully shift. The closest she’s come is blowing fire a few times. Between her books and her dragon expert adoptive mom, all she knows is that shifting for the first time requires a great act of courage. As the last of her kind, I know it’s something that really bothers her” (13). At the end of the book, however, Elsie dives in front of Dylan’s magical fire to protect Amari, which causes her to shift into a full dragon for the first time. This reveals Elsie’s true courage and enables her to gain confidence, and it ultimately cements Elsie and Amari’s sisterhood.

Lara Van Helsing is Maria and Dylan Van Helsing’s sister, and all three are the children of Director Van Helsing, the Head of the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Although the Director is cruel and manipulative, Amari explains: “Maria is also the reason I can’t take all the credit for changing folks’ minds about magicians. She’s way more famous than me, not only as a Van Helsing, but also as one-half of VanQuish, along with Quinton. Before he got cursed, they were one of the most accomplished Special Agent teams ever” (31). The Van Helsing family has a storied history in the supernatural world, evidence of The Impact of Familial and Cultural Legacy. Though this is not directly mentioned in the text, their surname is a nod to the character Abraham Van Helsing, the fictional doctor and polymath who defeats Count Dracula in Bram Stoker’s 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula. Versions of this character—and characters claimed to be his descendants—have appeared in numerous novels and films since the publication of Dracula, and the presence of a Van Helsing family in Amari and the Night Brothers alludes to the gothic horror genre from that many of the novel’s supernatural elements derive. This history also makes the name a sort of shorthand, immediately establishing the family’s power and prominence in this universe.

Through Director Van Helsing’s intervention, Lara was admitted into the Junior Agent program despite having failed the Junior Agent tryout the previous year. This leads her to be ostracized by most of the other Junior Agents, who resent the privilege that she enjoys because of her family’s name. However, circumstances lead Lara and Amari to become partners after Amari refuses to side with Tristan Davies, another arrogant, opportunistic student. Lara, who resents her father’s schemes and wants to prove herself, then makes a deal with Amari. They decide to help each other become successful partners and Junior Agents. This leads Lara to take part in Amari’s investigation, and even to go against her father by manipulating and lying to him.

Although Amari does not fully trust Lara at first, she gradually learns to lean on her. At the end of the story, Lara seemingly betrays Amari and Elsie when they are caught by the authorities despite being forbidden to investigate. However, Lara reveals that she only pretended to collaborate with her father to avoid suspicions. By the end of the book, Amari has forgiven Lara and they have grown much closer:

‘We’re friends,’ I say.

Lara stiffens. ‘You mean that?’

I nod. ‘I do.’

‘Good.’ She grins. ‘Because if this doesn’t work, at least I can say I got kicked out of the Bureau for a friend’ (393).

Dylan Van Helsing is one of the main antagonists in the novel. He is Amari’s former partner, and Maria and Lara’s brother. He is also a magician, and has the ability to control technology as well as shadows. In Amari and the Night Brothers, Amari defeated Dylan after he betrayed her and tried to gain more power for himself. He was then sent to the Sightless Depths, a nightmarish prison designed to keep the most dangerous supernatural criminals locked up. At the beginning of the book, Dylan escapes the Sightless Depths. Having now fully given in to his darker impulses, Dylan has mastered foul magick and Amari comments, “His face has gone deathly pale, with dark circles beneath eyes I no longer recognize. Gone are the blue eyes I smiled into so many times last summer. They’ve been replaced by a deep red that makes him look unnatural. Like a monster” (175).

Still intent on gaining power, Dylan agrees to a magical challenge, the Great Game, that may enable him to be crowned Vladimir’s successor and leader of the League of Magicians. Throughout the challenges, although Amari is unable to defeat Dylan’s powerful magic, she outwits him and steals glimpses into his deeper motivations. She learns that he grew up fearful of his father and of his own magic, which pushed him to seek refuge with Moreau. At the end of the book, Amari tries to remove Dylan’s negative memories from him, which briefly lets him go back to the innocent, harmless version of himself. However, Cozmo quickly returns Dylan’s memories to him and the young magician eventually defeats Amari. He steals her magic, leaving her powerless, and earns Vladimir’s Crown—and thus the League of Magicians’ Allegiance—which he uses to start a war. As a result, Dylan’s character is set up to be an even more powerful antagonist in the next book in the series.