Character · from book 1
Bea
Beatrice, Carl's ex-girlfriend, Donut's owner and handler, in the Bahamas, with her ex-boyfriend along, when the world ends. Never on the page in person; present in Carl's resentment and in every one of Donut's sentences that begins 'Miss Beatrice.'
Race and class, since book 1: Human
First appears: Book 1 · Seen for what it is: Book 4
Series arc
In hindsight, after book 4
Read after book 4, Carl's reasoning in book 1 was wrong in one detail. He assumed she was asleep in a hotel in the Bahamas at five in the morning when the world ended; book 4's epilogue, told from Brad's side, has her fly home early, crying without stop after Carl dumped her over the Instagram picture, sit out the storm for hours in Atlanta, and stand outdoors in a Seattle airport garage — driven out by a man setting cars on fire — at the moment of the collapse. Book 2's 'I know she's dead' was Donut's belief, and the book took her word. Book 4 shows a woman alive in a tent a month later, singing to a stray she calls Ferdinand after going back to the apartment for Donut, then recognised by Sadir, a null bounty hunter tracking a cat, and knocked out and put in a cube by Lexis, Odette's agent. The Trace has the lines.
As of book 4. Never present, always invoked — until book 4 shows her. Carl's ex and Donut's owner: book 1 measured the two protagonists against her and let Carl reason that she died asleep in a Bahamas hotel; book 2 gave Carl her photograph and Donut the words 'I know she's dead'; book 3 kept her as a measure. Book 4's epilogue is Brad's: she flew home early from the resort in tears over the picture, was stranded for hours in Atlanta by the storm, and was standing outdoors in a Seattle airport garage when the world ended. A month later she is alive in a tent in New Queen Anne with Brad and four dentists, not working, crying herself to sleep, singing to a half-feral orange stray she calls Ferdinand after going back to the apartment to look for Donut. the null pirate Sadir stammers 'B… B… Beatrice?', and Lexis, working for Odette, takes her in a cube: 'we have a much better use for her.' The question book 2 closed is open again, and what Odette wants with her is the next one.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Whether Bea is alive | B1 ch. 4 | open · B4 ch. 35 — Alive in a tent in Seattle a month after the collapse; taken by Lexis for Odette, 'a much better use for her.' |
| Bea, alive, in Odette's hands | B4 ch. 35 | open — Cubed in Seattle, 'I don't think she's all there.'; 'we have a much better use for her.' |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 1
Never present, always invoked. Book 1 uses her to measure the two protagonists against each other: Donut loves her more than Carl and says so (B1 ch. 34); Carl learns from the cat everything he missed about the end of the relationship (B1 ch. 10, B1 ch. 20) and does not tell Donut that Bea was giving her up (B1 ch. 34). Whether Bea is alive is a question the book raises and refuses.
Through book 2
Book 2 closes her. The fan-box photograph on Brad the Chad's lap is the test and Carl passes it (B2 ch. 17); Bea's mother's advice about seeming dumb is what Carl fears for Donut (B2 ch. 12); and Donut says what both of them know (B2 ch. 24). Chappy's question on air — would Donut leave Carl for her — is the only version of the future in which she matters (B2 ch. 19).
Through book 3
Book 3 keeps her as a measure: her photograph by the bed (B3 ch. 3), her mother in Madison and in Katia's face (B3 ch. 6, B3 ch. 17), her sunglasses in Donut's goggles (B3 ch. 15), the car ride where she said Donut would go back to the breeder (B3 ch. 18), the litterbox she asked for (B3 ch. 29), and Donut's line to Carl in a trainyard: 'Who do you think I am? Miss Beatrice?' (B3 ch. 34).
Through book 4
Book 4 keeps her in the party's talk — coffee pods, a week on the couch, ten pregnancy scares, a twenty-percent tithe, the pancake morning (B4 ch. 13, B4 ch. 15, B4 ch. 32, B4 ch. 23) — and then shows her: alive in a tent in New Queen Anne a month after the collapse, with Brad and four dentists, not working, crying herself to sleep and singing to a half-feral orange stray she calls Ferdinand (B4 ch. 35). Lexis takes her in a bounty cube for Odette: 'we have a much better use for her.'
Trace
The thread line by line, in reading order: its presence before anyone could see it, and the lines that made it legible. Each line is verbatim from the cited book.
| Where | The line | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Book 1, Ch. 1 | She went to the Bahamas for a New Year’s thing with a bunch of friends. | On a New Year's trip with her ex-boyfriend; book 4 has her fly home early and stand in a Seattle airport garage at the collapse. |
| Book 1, Ch. 4 | It’d been 5 AM in the Bahamas when it had happened, which meant she’d probably been asleep in her hotel. | Carl's reasoning that she is dead, which assumes she was still there. |
| Book 2, Ch. 24 | I’m not as dumb as I pretend to be. I know she’s dead. | Donut under the glass case; the book takes her word. |
| Book 4, Ch. 35 | They’d been on the same flight as Bea and Brad, all coming back from the Bahamas. | Brad's chapter: she flew home early, and was outdoors in an airport garage at the collapse. |
| Book 4, Ch. 35 | “B… B… Beatrice?” he asked in heavily accented speech. | Sadir, the null pirate, recognises her in the tent. |
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl | 21/48 | 1, 3–6, 8–10, 12–13, 15, 19–20, 24, 30, 32, 34, 36, 41, 43, 45 · the book's own page |
| 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario | 11/26 | 5–6, 8–9, 12–15, 17, 19, 23 · the book's own page |
| 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook | 11/35 | 3, 6–7, 9, 15, 17–18, 20, 25, 29, 34 · the book's own page |
| 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods | 9/35 | 13, 15, 19, 23–24, 28–29, 32, 35 · the book's own page |
By book
Bea in book 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl
Beatrice is in the Bahamas with someone else when the buildings fall (ch. 1); her father is a lawyer out of Yakima, which is why catnapping Donut would never have worked (ch. 8). Every fact Carl learns about the end of his relationship comes from the cat: the other guy who came over on Carl's gym days (ch. 10), the three at once, counting Angel's owner, a woman (ch. 20), the leggings pyramid scheme (ch. 32), the Gossip Girl rewatches (ch. 36), the 'Daddy tax' (ch. 45). Donut still loves her more than Carl and says so (ch. 34); Carl does not say back that Bea was giving her up. He taught himself to brush the cat because Bea showed him (ch. 41).
Bea in book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario
A fan box gives Donut a framed photo from Bea's Instagram, the one of Bea on Brad_the_Chad69's lap that ended the relationship, and Carl finds the weight is gone (ch. 17). Her mother's Thanksgiving advice — seem dumber than you are — is what Carl fears Donut inherited (ch. 12); 'It doesn't take much to make him happy' is what Bea said about him (ch. 12). Chappy, an elf in a top hat, asks Donut on air whether she would leave Carl for Bea (ch. 19); under the glass case Donut says she knows Bea is dead (ch. 24).
Bea in book 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
Her photograph on Donut's bedside table (ch. 3); her mother in Madison's face-lift and in Katia's cosmetic-surgery look (ch. 6, ch. 17); her sunglasses in D'nadia's goggles (ch. 15); the car on the way to a Christmas party where she said Donut would go back to the breeder (ch. 18); the electric litterbox she asked for and was angry to get (ch. 29); and Donut's answer to why she came through the wall: 'Who do you think I am? Miss Beatrice?' (ch. 34).
Bea in book 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods
The measure
Bea in the party's talk: coffee pods and a week on the couch, an article about fights and proposals (ch. 13); ten false pregnancy scares that terrified Carl (ch. 15); a drawer of sex toys and 'that Brad fellow' (ch. 24); her parents' twenty-percent tithe (ch. 32); the pancake morning that ended in an emergency room (ch. 23). Watching Donut, once Bea's show cat, on Mongo, Carl thinks: 'She's not a pet anymore' (ch. 11).
New Queen Anne
The epilogue finds her alive: back from the Bahamas with Brad and four dentists, in an airport parking garage when the world went, a month in a tent under a bridge, crying herself to sleep, not working, singing to a half-feral orange stray she calls Ferdinand — her neighbour's Gravy Boat, who came to the window when Princess was in heat — with her face scratched raw: 'I'd take it all back and let you in.' She went back to the hole where the apartment was to look for her cat. Lexis and Odette's people take her in a bounty cube, — 'I don’t think she’s all there' — for 'a much better use' (epilogue).