A Discovery of Witches unfolds in a hidden world where witches, vampires, and daemons live under strict laws and older prejudices. The cast revolves around a dangerous manuscript, Ashmole 782, whose reappearance destabilizes ancient balances and binds unlikely allies. At its heart is a romance that challenges the rules of the creature world and forces characters to choose between tradition and change.
Main Characters
Diana Bishop
Diana is a brilliant historian who has spent years denying her witch heritage, only to unearth the bewitched manuscript Ashmole 782 in Oxford’s Bodleian Library and become the epicenter of a three-species storm. Intellectually rigorous yet untrained in magic, she grapples with the tension between reason and power as witches, vampires, and daemons converge on her discovery. Her wary alliance with Matthew evolves into a forbidden love that defies the Congregation’s laws and forces her to confront both her lineage and her capabilities. Threatened by enemies like Peter Knox and Satu Järvinen, she awakens rare powers—from witchwater and witchfire to timewalking—while drawing strength from her aunts, Sarah Bishop and Emily Mather, and the reluctant protection of the de Clermonts. By the end, she embraces her identity as a powerful witch and chooses to timewalk with Matthew to secure knowledge and safety for their future.
Matthew Clairmont
Matthew is a 1,500-year-old vampire—scholar, biochemist, and predator—whose century-long pursuit of Ashmole 782 collides with Diana’s discovery and rekindles emotions he has long buried. Worldly, influential, and burdened by a violent past, he oscillates between protective devotion and controlling instincts, especially as threats mount around Diana. His complex ties to the de Clermont family—his formidable mother, Ysabeau, and rule-bound brother, Baldwin—and his leadership of the secret order, the Knights of Lazarus, pull him into old loyalties and power struggles. Supported by his modern-minded vampire son Marcus, his sharp colleague Miriam, and his daemon confidant Hamish, he confronts the Congregation and his own nature. Ultimately, love transforms his scientific quest into a personal crusade, compelling him to reclaim authority, defy ancient laws, and timewalk with Diana to safeguard their shared future.
Supporting Characters
Sarah Bishop
Sarah is Diana’s fiery, plain-spoken aunt, a powerful witch of traditional craft who raised Diana after her parents’ deaths. Protective to a fault and skeptical of vampires, she clashes with Matthew and with Diana’s avoidance of magic before rallying to her niece’s defense. Her steadfast loyalty anchors the nascent cross-species alliance and tests the limits of her prejudice.
Emily "Em" Mather
Em is Sarah’s gentle, intuitive partner and a skilled witch whose quiet foresight and emotional intelligence steady the Bishop household. A born mediator, she supports Diana’s choices and softens tensions between Sarah and Matthew. Her empathy and quiet courage make her the heart of the family.
Ysabeau de Clermont
Ysabeau is Matthew’s ancient vampire mother, all elegance and steel, who presides over Sept-Tours and initially despises witches. Grief and history have hardened her, but Diana’s resolve and bravery gradually shift her hostility into a fierce, pragmatic protectiveness. She ultimately extends the de Clermont shield to Diana, signaling a seismic change in old enmities.
Marcus Whitmore
Marcus is Matthew’s vampire “son,” a physician with a modern, impulsive streak who quickly befriends Diana and offers a lighter counterpoint to Matthew’s gravitas. Loyal and curious, he becomes an early, open supporter of their alliance. When Matthew departs, Marcus is thrust into leadership as Grand Master of the Knights of Lazarus, forcing rapid growth.
Baldwin Montclair
Baldwin is Matthew’s elder brother and head of the de Clermont family, a formidable strategist who values order and tradition. Initially opposed to Matthew’s relationship with Diana on covenant grounds, he is nonetheless constrained by clan loyalty and political calculation. His presence embodies the collision of family duty with inflexible law.
Peter Knox
Knox is a powerful Congregation wizard and chief antagonist who covets Ashmole 782 and seeks to restore witch supremacy. Manipulative and ruthless, he preys on academic and political networks, exploiting Diana’s past and her parents’ secrets. His escalating coercion forces Diana and Matthew into open defiance and flight.
Satu Järvinen
Satu is a fearsome Finnish witch whose obsession with Diana’s unique magic turns sadistic. Operating alongside—but not beneath—Knox, she kidnaps and tortures Diana at La Pierre in a bid to “open” her power. Her attack becomes a crucible that unleashes Diana’s latent abilities and hardens the conflict.
Gillian Chamberlain
Gillian is an Oxford witch and classicist whose envy curdles into betrayal after Diana rebuffs her overtures. As Knox’s informant, she monitors Diana at the Bodleian and amplifies the danger from within the academic world. Her complicity ends disastrously when she is killed by Matthew after delivering a threat.
Minor Characters
- Miriam Shephard: A razor-sharp vampire geneticist in Matthew’s lab who distrusts Diana at first but proves unwaveringly loyal once convinced of her resolve.
- Hamish Osborne: A wealthy daemon and Matthew’s closest friend, he offers clear-eyed counsel and a pragmatic bridge between species.
- Agatha Wilson: A daemon on the Congregation and celebrated designer who appeals to Diana for access to Ashmole 782 on behalf of daemon survival.
- Nathaniel and Sophie Wilson: A young daemon couple—Sophie has witch ancestry—whose unborn witch child signals a destabilizing shift in creature genetics and law.
- Gerbert of Aurillac: An ancient, scheming vampire on the Congregation with a sinister fixation on witch power, he maneuvers behind the scenes to endanger Diana and Matthew.
- Domenico Michele: A Venetian vampire and Congregation operative with old grudges against the de Clermonts, he thrives on rumor, leverage, and menace.
- Marthe: The devoted vampire housekeeper at Sept-Tours who swiftly becomes a maternal presence to Diana and a guardian of the household’s fragile peace.
Character Relationships & Dynamics
Diana and Matthew form the story’s gravitational center: a witch and a vampire whose bond violates the covenant enforced by the Congregation. What begins as scholarly caution turns into a transformative partnership, with each challenging the other’s instincts—her reliance on reason over magic, his possessiveness and secrecy—until they forge a united front. Their love forces them into outlaw territory, drawing attacks from Knox and Satu and political pressure from the Congregation’s vampire members, including Gerbert and Domenico.
The Bishop-Mather household grounds the narrative in family loyalty. Sarah’s protective ferocity and Em’s empathy create a maternal dyad that both resists and eventually adapts to Matthew’s presence. Their support—practical, emotional, and magical—becomes essential as Diana’s powers surge and danger escalates, culminating in their willingness to stand with vampires and daemons against witch orthodoxy.
Within the de Clermonts, family politics collide with personal loyalty. Ysabeau’s evolution from witch-hater to protector reframes centuries of animosity, while Baldwin’s adherence to law pressures Matthew to choose between clan expectations and personal conscience. Marcus, with his modern sensibility, sides decisively with Diana and Matthew, stepping into leadership when the Knights of Lazarus need a steady hand.
Opposing forces coalesce around the Congregation’s power struggles. Knox weaponizes fear and prejudice, exploiting Gillian and aligning opportunistically with Satu, whose fanaticism escalates the violence. Gerbert and Domenico play the long game, using surveillance, intimidation, and political leverage to weaken the de Clermonts and isolate Diana.
Out of these tensions emerges the “conventicle,” an unprecedented cross-species alliance that unites witches (Diana, Sarah, Em), vampires (Matthew, Marcus, Miriam), and daemons (Hamish, Nathaniel, Sophie). This coalition counters the Congregation’s segregationist doctrine with shared purpose, signaling a new model of belonging built on chosen bonds rather than inherited enmities—and setting the stage for the struggle to come.