Gothikana

Vad Deverell is one of the point-of-view characters of Gothikana, as well as Corvina’s love interest and English professor. Though Corvina is quickly attracted to Vad, she does not trust him for much of the novel, reflecting Honesty and the Challenges of Trust. Since Vad is initially dishonest with Corvina about his past, she struggles to trust him. Even though that trust increases somewhat as time goes on—and as Vad begins to open up about his history with Verenmore—Corvina does not consider him fully trustworthy until the end of the novel.

Vad fulfills many of the archetypes of the gothic hero. He is intense and brooding and has a dark, mysterious past that plagues him. Corvina, who understands gothic novel conventions, spends a good portion of the novel uncertain whether he fulfills the role of the morally ambiguous ally or the secret villain. She falls in love with him before she makes this determination, though she is ultimately pleased when Vad proves himself trustworthy. Vad notes, moreover, that his name means “untamed”—another quality that aligns him with the gothic hero, who often suffers from an excess of unruly emotion. Vad’s gothic qualities are further represented through his silver eyes, which parallel Corvina’s purple eyes.

Vad is determined to do whatever is necessary to defeat the evil that lurks in Verenmore, something that he feels is his duty because of the murders that his grandfather committed decades prior. When Vad found out that his grandfather killed many villagers, he implies (but does not confirm) that he killed the old man in retribution. Vad’s sense of responsibility toward the school is increased because he is the owner of the mountain and the castle, a role that he keeps secret to increase his ability to move without detection in the school.

Though Vad’s role as an English professor is a front for his investigation of the mysteries of the castle, he genuinely enjoys the work. When he and Corvina settle into their lives in the Epilogues, he continues to work as an English professor at a nearby university. Though the bonus scene material highlights that there are many unsolved mysteries that remain at Verenmore, including those that Vad declines to share with Corvina, he lacks any interest in returning to Verenmore; when he and Corvina plan to return to the castle in the second Epilogue, it is because Corvina wishes to do so. This suggests that Vad’s sense of responsibility toward the castle and mountain that he owns extends only to revealing the crimes that his grandfather committed. One he reveals these murders and kills the false Jade, who intends to be a new generation of the Slayers, he focuses his attention on his future with Corvina. He intends to stay by her for the rest of their lives, regardless of whether she develops a mental illness or dementia.

Jade Prescott is Corvina’s roommate and, as is revealed in the novel’s climax, the antagonist of the novel. Though this antagonist is not the real Jade Prescott—whom she murdered so that she could take the original Jade’s place and identity at Verenmore—she does not reveal her real name. She does, however, explain that she is descended from the Deverell family via Vad’s grandfather. False Jade’s grandmother was pregnant when Vad’s grandfather turned against the Slayers; she escaped and went on to raise a child and, later, her daughter’s child, Jade. Unlike Vad, who is horrified to learn that his ancestor perpetuated cruel and violent murders, Jade is nostalgic for the time when her grandmother was able to mix indiscriminate violence with sex and substance use.

Jade reveals that she killed Alissa out of jealousy because Alissa had sex with Vad. Jade believes that she and Vad are destined to be together due to their mutual ancestor, and thinks that they are fated to rule over Verenmore together. This incestuous desire aligns with the conventions of gothic literature, which often shows its villains as having incestuous intent. Jade’s gender provides a twist on this convention, as generally incestuous villains in the gothic tradition are older men who threaten the gothic heroine. Jade, who befriends Corvina and even insists that this friendship was genuine as she tries to murder Corvina, hides her malice between a kind and sweet veneer.

Jade also murders Troy because he begins to suspect her in Alissa’s death. She commits her murders using a mysterious, possibly mystical drug called “Devil’s Breath,” which allows her to command her victims’ bodies in an almost hypnotic fashion. At the end of the novel, Jade dies because Vad pushes her to her death from the topmost tower of Verenmore, something that parallels the way she forced her victims to jump to their own deaths.