nobody owen's key relationship

1. Liza Hempstock-Liza is a witch who’s buried just outside of the graveyard in “unconsecrated ground,” otherwise known as the Potter’s Field. As Silas explains to Bod, the main graveyard is built on land blessed, or consecrated, by a church. As Liza explains to Bod, she was accused of being a witch, and then burned to death, some 500 years before. The twist is, Liza really was a witch, or so she claims.

2. Scarlett Amber Perkins-Scarlett only appears in two of the novel’s eight chapters, but she sure has an impact. Scarlett doesn’t seem to have any supernatural powers, but she can see Bod – even though Freedom of the Graveyard keeps him hidden from other humans when he’s in the graveyard. It could be that her ability to see Bod is just an example of the kind of connection they have.

3. The Sleer- The Sleer is both singular and plural all at once – not only does it have three snaky heads, but those heads seem to be made up of parts of other beings. In Chapter 7, Bod finally gets to check out all this creepiness: Afterwards, he was never able to describe what he had seen: something huge, yes; something with the body of an enormous snake, but with the head of what…? There were three of them: three heads, three necks. The faces were dead, as if someone had constructed dolls from the parts of the corpses of humans and of animals. The faces were covered in purple patterns, tattooed in swirling indigo, turning the dead faces into strange, expressive, monstrous things.

4. The Indigo Man-The Indigo Man appears in Chapter 2, when Bod and Scarlett visit the Sleer for the first time. The Indigo Man doesn’t seem to be a living being, but rather an image projected by the Sleer to scare off greedy treasure-seekers. He’s a huge guy with purple (indigo) tattoos all over its face. It sounds very similar to the faces of the Sleer’s three heads. The Indigo Man is only visible when there’s extreme fear in the air. When Bod and Scarlett realize this and stop being afraid, the Indigo Man vanishes.

5. Mr. Owens and Mrs. Owens-Mr. and Mrs. Owens are Bod’s graveyard parents. Including the time they’ve been in the graveyard, they’ve been married 250 years. Their one regret is that they never had kids. Good thing Bod wandered into the graveyard so they could become parents. They seem to be very nice people and pretty good parents, but they aren’t involved in any of Bod’s adventures.

6. The lady on the grey-The Lady on the Grey is another super-mysterious figure. She might be a personification of death – which means she’s death in human form, like a prettier version of the Grim Reaper. She says that everybody – and that means you, too – will eventually get to ride her white horse (called a “grey”). This might mean that people ride her horse when they die, or it might mean that there’s a world beyond the graveyard where she carries people.

7. Silas-Silas is Bod’s guardian. He takes care of all of Bod’s basic needs, like food and shelter. He’s also Bod’s idol – the guy Bod looks up to, and will always look up to above all others. Silas isn’t dead, but he isn’t alive either. He’s a sad, lonely figure, not fitting in with either the living or the dead, like when he is can’t join in the Danse Macabre. He is full of wisdom, but also full of pain.

8. Miss Lupescu-She's the person Silas found to be Bod's guardian while he's away. At first she seems like the worst kind of substitute teacher. She gives Bod lessons, but they're all super boring. She's extremely strict and demands that he pay attention. And she makes Bod eat nasty food.

9. Jack Frost- Jack Frost is The Graveyard Book’s arch-villain. He’s the guy who butchers Bod’s family with a sharp knife, and he wants to do the same to Bod. He also, it seems, lives with his grandma.

10. The Ghouls-The ghouls are the ickiest supernatural creatures in The Graveyard Book. Like many beings in the novel, they have a rich history in legend, folklore, fiction, and film. “Ghoul” is even in the dictionary, defined as, “a legendary evil being that robs graves and feeds on corpses”. Yep, they’re really that gross. Neil Gaiman expands on this basic idea to create some very memorable ghouls. Although we discuss the names of the ghouls that Bod meets in a moment, the ghouls are all pretty similar in character.