This is my reconstruction of who plays what role in the Game. Of
course, many of these are not specifically stated in the book; they are
just my guesses. I have a question mark next to each name where this is
the case. I might very well be wrong about many of them; if you have any
other ideas, please let me know. As you can see, there are also many
blanks; I'd appreciate it if someone could help me fill in the blanks.
NOTE: This was from 20 years ago, before The Fire was published. I've had to revise my thinking a lot. Sometime I will revise this, based on information from The Fire.
Black:
King: Talleyrand
Queen: Mireille (before her: the Abbess of Montglane)
Bishops:
1. Corday?
2. Napoleon's grandmother?
Knights:
1. Napoleon?
2. ?
Rooks:
1. Shahin?
2. Napoleon's mother?
Pawns:
1. Valentine
2. David?
3. Charlot (Mireille's son)?
4. Charlotte (Mireille's daughter)?
5. Mme. de Staël?
6. Elisa (Napoleon's sister)?
7. Wordsworth?
8. Blake?
White:
King: Marat
Queen: Catherine Grand (before her: Catherine the Great?)
Bishops:
1. ?
2. ?
Knights:
1. Philidor?
2. Paul of Russia?
Rooks:
1. Robespierre?
2. ?
Pawns:
1. Simonne (Marat's wife)?
2. Boswell
3. Benedict Arnold?
4. Zubov?
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
Black:
King: Harry (before him: Mordecai)
Queen: Catherine (before her: the 200-year-old Mireille)
Bishops:
1. ?
2. ?
Knights:
1. Solarin
2. ?
Rooks:
1. Nim
2. Kamel?
Pawns:
1. Lily
2. Thérèse?
3. Valerie
4. Wahad (or Michel)
5. Fiske
6. Carioca the dog
7. ?
8. ?
White:
King: El-Marad
Queen: Blanche
Bishops:
1. ?
2. ?
Knights:
1. Llewellyn?
2. ?
Rooks:
1. Sharrif?
2. Khaddafi?
Pawns:
1. Saul
2. Hermanold
3. Brodski?
4. Achmet?
5. The cab driver in Algiers?
6. Petard (Catherine's French boss)?
7. ?
8. ?
I'm also trying to reconstruct the previous round, before Mireille's
time. Of course, this is more difficult, and I've come up with even more
blanks. Sometimes, I'm not even sure who is Black and who is White, but
here's what I have so far:
Black:
King: Voltaire?
Queen: The Abbess of Montglane
Bishops:
1. Napoleon's grandmother?
2. Talleyrand (before he became the King; the Game doesn't always follow
the rules of chess, after all)
Knights:
1. Euler (mathematician)?
2. Benjamin Franklin?
Rooks:
1. ?
2. ?
Pawns:
1. Mireille's father?
2. Mireille's mother?
3. Franz Fesch (second husband of Napoleon's grandmother)?
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
In another article, I will try to explain why I think Mireille's
parents might have been in the Game.
White:
King: Rousseau?
Queen: Catherine the Great?
Bishops:
1. ?
2. ?
Knights:
1. Philidor?
2. Casanova?
Rooks:
1. Frederick the Great?
2. ?
Pawns:
1. Diderot?
2. Boswell?
3. ?
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
NOTE: Katherine Neville has said elsewhere that there was no previous round, and that the Game was dormant while the Montglane Service was buried for a thousand years. But it was fun to think about!
Copyright 1997 Vicki Kondelik.