Keeper of Enchanted Rooms

Merritt is the second protagonist and another point-of-view character in the novel. Merritt is tall, just shy of six feet, with blue eyes and light brown hair that he wears shaggy. He wears a multicolored scarf knit by his sister Scarlet, a token of the family he lost when his father disowned him when he was 18.

Merritt is 31 when the story opens, and he learns that he has inherited Blaugdone Island and Whimbrel House. Merritt isn’t aware that he has magical abilities, and so magic, to him, is simply a concept he studied in school and a matter of intellectual interest. Merritt, like Hulda, has had a series of unrequited romantic attachments. When he was 18, he was in love with a girl named Ebba, who liked to play the flute. When Ebba told him that she was pregnant, Merritt decided to marry her. He was crushed when his father disowned him, preventing Merritt from seeing his mother or two sisters, Scarlet and Beatrice, but he was truly devastated when Ebba disappeared without a trace. The pain of learning that she was never really pregnant, and that she never really loved him, stayed with Merritt. Even though he later felt attracted to other women, including his friend Fletcher’s sister, he is a bachelor who tends to keep to himself. Having an expanded household at Whimbrel House, including people around him whom he comes to care for, answers a need for companionship that he hadn’t admitted to himself.

Merritt’s previous job was as a journalist, but he has published a novel and is writing a second. Impressed by Hulda’s competence—which is the name he later gives her in the allegory he writes of their love story—Merritt comes to rely on her guidance in dealing with his mischievous house, and then, as he gains further glimpses into her personality, he becomes fascinated with and attracted to her. Merritt has a gentle personality, not prone to aggression or anger; the only time he loses his temper is when the house steals his scarf. Merritt is curious about other people and likes to ask questions, which is how he finds out that Baptiste is a chef.

Though he is initially a somewhat self-involved character, thinking mostly of his own comfort and future, as he comes to care for the people around him, Merritt grows concerned about their well-being. This change of heart is best illustrated in his decision about the exorcism. While he initially wants to exorcize the house of its resident wizard to ensure his own comfort, Merritt feels a sense of connection to and empathy for Owein when he realizes that this 12-year-old boy is the source of the magic. Touched by the fact that Owein’s gravestone became separated from the graves of the rest of his family, and reminded by this of his alienation from his own family, Merritt decides to let Owein stay and gradually learns to get along with the boy, pranks and all. By the end of the book, when Owein transfers into the body of a dog and can communicate with Merritt telepathically, the two have become companions.

Merritt’s softening toward and connection to others, especially Hulda, corresponds with him learning about the situation of his birth: He is actually the son of Nelson Sutcliffe, with whom his mother had an affair. The Sutcliffes are distantly related to the Mansel family to which Owein belonged, making Owein a distant great-uncle to Merritt. After he comes to terms with Ebba’s rejection and betrayal, Merritt lets go of that past hurt and acknowledges what he feels for Hulda. His attraction to her is strong, but so is his sense of protectiveness, which helps him locate her when she is abducted and which helps him fight Silas when he sees Hulda being attacked again. Though he feels guilty that he took a man’s life, Merritt, on Hulda’s advice, takes a practical approach to that as well. It is a surprise to him to learn that he has magical abilities, especially a talent for communion, but this new aspect of his personality represents the other possibilities opening up for Merritt’s future at the conclusion of the book.

Silas is the antagonist of the book and an occasional point-of-view character. He was born in England in 1802, the son of two people with magical talent, and he has a younger brother, Christian. Silas was abused as a youth by his father, Lord Hogwood, and after he killed his father in a combination of aggression and self-defense, Silas decided that no one would have power over him again. When he learned that he possesses the unique ability to steal magic from other entities, both houses and people, he set about amassing power as a form of self-protection. Although it initially disturbed him when he reduced his mother to one of his shriveled dolls, he later justified this as the price for gaining her magic for his own. He likewise justifies draining his brother’s magic when, during a quarrel, Silas knocks his brother unconscious and sees an opportunity to prevent Christian from thwarting his plans.

Silas is unable to feel empathy for the people he harms and is instead more concerned with building his own power and not getting caught by the authorities. When Hulda turns him in, Silas is filled not with guilt but with rage. He comes to the United State in part at Myra’s behest, as she is the one who helps him escape prison, and he is interested in Whimbrel House first for its magic and then as an opportunity for revenge when he learns that Hulda works there. Silas first attempts a nonviolent means of acquisition, posing as a man named Maurice Watson when he offers to buy the house from Merritt.

When this strategy is unsuccessful, Silas resorts to stealing. He is the wolf that Beth and Hulda both foresee, and when he perceives Beth’s psychometric ability as a possible barrier to his plan, Silas decides to simply remove her. He feels no remorse for his actions and no consideration for taking the lives of others, especially when it benefits him. Myra insists that Silas is a man of his word, but this doesn’t make him trustworthy. By the end, Silas is consumed by his own vengefulness and greed. He has no compunction about killing, and so his murder by Merritt feels like narrative justice in the end.