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Miss Lupescu is a Hound of God—that is, a werewolf—who acts as Bod’s guardian whenever Silas is away. According to Miss Lupescu, Hounds of God don’t see their transformation to a wolf as a bad thing—rather, they see it as a gift from God. And because of this, Hounds of God are fierce defenders of everything good and will pursue foes into Hell. Miss Lupescu seems like a bit of a strange figure: she looks relatively young but has gray hair, wears oddly formal clothing, and feeds Bod greasy food. She also takes a more formal approach to Bod’s education—giving him lists of boring facts to memorize—which he detests. As far as Bod is concerned, Miss Lupescu doesn’t effectively tell him why he should care about anything she teaches him, and he deeply dislikes her. But when Bod accidentally goes through a ghoul-gate with several ghouls and finds himself in grave danger, he discovers that Miss Lupescu was actually teaching him useful information all along. Thanks to her lists, Bod remembers how to call for help in the night-gaunt’s language (giant birds that inhabit Hell), and he knows that he should do everything he can to avoid getting to the ghoul city of Ghûlheim. He finally learns that Miss Lupescu is a werewolf when she rescues him at Ghûlheim’s gates in her massive wolf form. The rescue results in a tender relationship between the two—Miss Lupescu takes to calling Bod “Nimeni,” and she returns yearly to teach and spend time with him. In addition to her role as a second guardian to Bod, Miss Lupescu is a member of the Honour Guard with Silas. She dies fighting the Jacks of All Trades to protect Bod.
Miss Lupescu Quotes in The Graveyard Book
The The Graveyard Book quotes below are all either spoken by Miss Lupescu or refer to Miss Lupescu. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 3 Quotes
Silas had brought Bod food, true [...] but this was, as far as Bod was concerned, the least of the things that Silas did for him. He gave advice, cool, sensible, and unfailingly correct; he knew more than the graveyard folk did, for his nightly excursions into the world outside meant that he was able to describe a world that was current, not hundreds of years out of date; he was unflappable and dependable, had been there every night of Bod’s life, so the idea of the little chapel without its only inhabitant was one that Bod found difficult to conceive of; most of all, he made Bod feel safe.
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Miss Lupescu Character Timeline in The Graveyard Book
The timeline below shows where the character Miss Lupescu appears in The Graveyard Book. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...later, runs back to the chapel. There, Bod finds a woman, whom Silas introduces as Miss Lupescu . She’s not pretty and looks disapprovingly at Bod. After circling him and sniffing, Miss...
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Silas tells Bod he’ll be in good hands, but Bod shouts that Miss Lupescu is horrible. Bod apologizes only because he knows Silas is leaving and doesn’t want to...
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Later, Miss Lupescu sets down her first meal for Bod: beetroot-barley stew and a salad dripping with vinegar....
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Miss Lupescu ’s preferred teaching method is to make Bod memorize lists, and she spends three days...
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...stupid and sick. When he catches sight of night-gaunts—huge winged beasts—Bod makes the cry like Miss Lupescu taught him. A night-gaunt starts to descend, but the ghouls shush Bod. As the night-gaunt...
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...on his ankle, twists it, and falls off the cliff. He hears the wolf, in Miss Lupescu ’s voice, say, “Oh, Bod!” Bod is terrified. Something grabs him and begins to rise....
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When they reach the boundary between Hell and Earth, Bod looks up at the stars. Miss Lupescu offers to teach him their names as they resume their journey. Moments later, Bod is...
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...Bod tells Silas he learned a lot and points out several constellations. Both Silas and Miss Lupescu say that they learned things as well. Miss Lupescu suggests she might come back next...
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Chapter 6
...from leaving the graveyard. Silas says that they can work something out. He suggests that Miss Lupescu could take Bod to a football match when she visits next. Silas also says that...
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Chapter 7
...busy. He often leaves the graveyard for days or weeks at a time. Bod enjoys Miss Lupescu ’s visit over Christmas, but she leaves for “The Old Country” after three weeks—leaving Bod...
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...help him with his grave rubbings. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in Krakow, Poland, Silas, Miss Lupescu , and the Abyssinian mummy Kandar enter deep underground caves. The group lost its fourth...
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...can’t make it work right. She dreams instead of wandering Glasgow. Meanwhile, in Krakow’s caves, Miss Lupescu falls. Silas cradles her bloody head and says he won’t leave her. She tells him...
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...Bod where the men are and assures Bod he can do this without Silas or Miss Lupescu , who are still abroad. Bod asks that Mrs. Owens keep an eye on Scarlett...
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...tree that lightning struck 20 years ago. As Bod hurries there, he tries to remember Miss Lupescu ’s old lessons. He finds an ugly, water-stained grave and knows it’s the ghoul-gate when...
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...to in Krakow, Melbourne, and Vancouver. When Silas says he wasn’t alone, Bod asks if Miss Lupescu helped—but the look on Silas’s face is concerning. Silas says that Miss Lupescu fell while...
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...saved Scarlett’s life and they’re both alive. Bod pauses for a moment and asks how Miss Lupescu fell. Silas says simply that Miss Lupescu died in battle, protecting others. He then suggests...
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...Silas was able to figure it all out. Bod asks if “we” refers to Silas, Miss Lupescu , and the Honour Guard, a question that shocks Silas. But Silas tells himself that...
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