The Secret Zoo

Ella Jones is the leading support character in the story, filling the role of “sidekick” traditional to the adventure genre. As sidekick, she brings a contrasting perspective and complementary skills to Noah. As a female character, she is also a means for female readers to identify more with the novel.

Ella is the main means through which the novel explores the importance of friendship and the tension between Noah’s need for his friends and his inability to ask for help. Ella’s forceful personality and courage enable her to offer active help to Noah, such as when she instigates following him into the zoo. In many ways, especially when the chapters alternate between Noah’s adventure and Ella and Richie’s adventure, Ella is seen as a direct equal to Noah, navigating similar challenges but in more collaborative ways. Because the quest is not “hers,” she also demonstrates loyalty and selflessness: She has heroic qualities but doesn’t see herself as the hero.

Ella fulfills another archetype role in the novel—the “explorer” archetype. Ella is bold and curious. When the Secret Zoo’s secrets come to light, Ella asks the most questions about its past, present, and purpose. Her curiosity guides her through the Clarksville Zoo and the Secret Zoo beneath, but sometime her wish to move on to the next challenge causes her to miss clues that would help them. Richie complements Ella by being more diligent and mitigating her headlong instincts. In including her quieter friend and actively listening to his contributions, Ella shows that she is humble enough to benefit from others’ strengths.

Richie Reynolds is the quietest member of the Adventure Scouts and the most cautious of his friends. His role is as a supporting sidekick; he is often sidekick to Ella. Richie relies primarily on his intellect and knowledge to guide him through the zoo.

Richie’s primary knowledgeable group member role allows him to fulfill the “sage” archetype in the narrative. Sages are wise characters who often serve as guides to the protagonist. They do not willingly join the conflict themselves but provide ways for the protagonist or other supporting characters to enter the action and succeed in their goals. When Noah runs off to Clarksville Zoo in the middle of the night, Ella wants to go immediately; Richie hesitates until she reminds him that they must stay with Noah and help find Megan. Only after that reminder does Richie enter the expedition, and he frequently comments on his desire to return home despite the wonder around him. He is not framed as a coward, however; in some ways, his courage is greater because he is naturally less eager for adventure than his friends.

Richie’s calm and knowledgeable personality is shown to be particularly useful when more complex and adult themes are explored and when the novel enters stages of contemplation and reflective problem-solving. As the series progresses deeper into narrative complexity, Richie will help guide his friends as they learn more about the Shadow Master and his ultimate plans.

The Shadow Master is a largely absent character throughout the story; his role is to provide a sense of threat and to be the looming antagonist of the future series. He is glimpsed as an unknown danger in the early stages of the novel but is not named until Mr. Darby tells the Adventure Scouts about the origins of the Secret Zoo. Mr. Darby and Tank establish the Shadow Master as the series’ primary antagonist—he desires knowledge about the Secret Zoo, and that knowledge could put the world in danger. Very little is known about the Shadow Master, and this creates suspense and fear. He is not described, and so the reader can imagine him from their own undefined fears, prompted by his name.

Though he makes few appearances in the novel, the Shadow Master becomes increasingly developed through Mr. Darby’s and Tank’s stories about him and the knowledge that he is present throughout the book while Noah, Ella, and Richie are on the “Outside.” It is gradually revealed that the Shadow Master was Mr. DeGraff, an individual who seemingly wanted to help Mr. Jackson, telling him where to find Bhanu Lakshman. The novel creates a paradoxical identity where he both helps and harms: It is not clear whether his character goes through an alteration or whether he was acting in bad faith throughout, and these unknown details form a key part of the ongoing mystery arc.