A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

Spindle is a 10-year-old street thief, as well as the second major character. Spindle is a relatively static character, as he does not experience substantial growth or change throughout the events of the novel. Instead, he acts as a helper to Mona on her journey. He enters Mona’s life after his sister, Tibbie, is killed by the Spring Green Man in Mona’s bakery. Spindle is stubborn, rebellious, and mischievous. He and his sister have always been poor and lived on the streets or in the Rat’s Nest. He and his sister were once part of a group of thieves, though he appears to work on his own by the time he meets Mona. He resists efforts by Aunt Tabitha to clean him up and make him respectable, though he has agreed to live with them by the end of the novel.

Like Mona, Spindle has a strong sense of justice that often manifests as anger. However, he is also deeply cynical and has no respect for authority. He knows from experience that the law does not care about the poor like him. Also, unlike Mona, Spindle has a vindictive streak that appears several times. He wants to kill Elgar (the Spring Green Man) outright the moment they capture him and gleefully imagines stabbing the Carex invaders’ eyes out while they sleep. His violent imagination disturbs Mona somewhat, but his commentary often lends dark humor to otherwise grim situations.

Knackering Molly is an important secondary character. She is a poor woman who lives in the Rat’s Nest, whom Mona believes to be mentally unstable, but with a “sharp, glittering intelligence” (43). Like Mona, Molly possesses a minor magical ability that works only on specific things—in her case: dead horses. Molly can raise dead horses and make them move, a talent she finds useful in the city. She is always seen with her bone horse called Nag, who has been dead for longer than Mona has been alive. Molly often rambles and rants about things Mona does not understand, especially her distrust of the government and army. 

If Molly is psychologically unstable, which is unclear and may be a misconception on Mona’s part, it comes from her experience with the army as a young woman. According to rumors, as a young woman, Molly was forced to help the army by raising many dead horses and sending them into battle. Some rumors say she was even forced to raise dead men. The experience was deeply traumatic, and she was never the same when she returned. This experience makes Molly suspicious of those in power, like Lord Ethan. She wishes to stay out of the current conflict and refuses to help until the end, at which point she gives her life to protect Mona and the city. This change makes her a dynamic character and shows her character growth. Like Mona, she did not want to be a hero. Though she dies saving the city, Mona and Spindle know that she would not want to be celebrated that way.

Aunt Tabitha is Mona’s aunt and, along with her husband Uncle Albert, Mona’s guardian. Tabitha is a static character who remains largely unchanged throughout the story. She owns the bakery where Mona works. Mona describes her as “large and pink” (5), always wearing flowery dresses and bright colors. She is polite, friendly, and very practical. Most importantly, she is “one of those competent people who always knows what to do” (2) no matter the situation. Mona believes that Aunt Tabitha can handle anything, which proves true during the Carex siege when she takes charge of the palace kitchens and even helps defend the walls. However, Aunt Tabitha also has firm ideas of propriety and decorum, leading to her desire to civilize Spindle and her focus on Mona’s heroic image.

The Duchess is the ruler of the city-state Riverbraid. She is a middle-aged woman with a tired, down-to-earth look, though Mona imagines her as more imposing at first. Mona believes that the Duchess should have more power as the ruler of the city, but the Duchess says that she possesses little power against the council and the army. However, the Duchess could have done more to stop Oberon sooner. She only finds her courage after Mona and Spindle break into the palace, which Mona resents. Still, this development shows the Duchess’s character development and gives her a dynamic role in the story. The Duchess is kind and soft-spoken, with an underlying core of strength that she calls upon when she rallies her guards against Oberon and when she faces the Carex invaders at the wall. She is not interested in being a conqueror.

Inquisitor Oberon is one of two antagonists in the novel and remains static, unchanged as the story progresses. He wears dark purple robes and glasses with “tiny, fussy metal frames” (17). He orchestrates the betrayal of the Duchess and the entire city, as well as the secret murders of several wizards and minor magickers—though the Spring Green Man carries out the actual violence. Oberon does not possess magic and is suspicious of magic because it is a kind of power he cannot control. Power is Oberon’s primary goal and motivation. He wants to amass power in any way he can. He began by trying to convince the Duchess to attack and conquer other city-states, which she refused to do. He then tries to gain power for himself, using the Duchess as a scapegoat, and then finally turns to the Carex as the instrument by which he can seize control. Oberon is intelligent, manipulative, and a consummate liar. The novel leaves it ambiguous if he dies or escapes in the end.