Miss Lupescu Character Analysis

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.