Identity, Names, and Erasure

This flow traces how characters use or lose names, and how identity becomes a contested record rather than a simple fact.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

Carax and Fortuny

A Name Chosen Against Expectation The Mother's Surname Julián uses Carax rather than the surname of Antoni Fortuny, marking an identity that does not fit the household's account of paternity. A Child Defined by Others His father calls him a son of sin, but books and imagination allow him to invent a self beyond that accusation.

Miquel's Disappearing Life

A Man Outside His Family Rejected by Inheritance Miquel loses his home and money to his brothers, who see his philanthropic choices as a misuse of the family fortune. A Chosen Identity He gives his resources and eventually his life to friendship, making his worth independent of the name and property he has inherited.

The Morgue's False Name

A Body Reassigned Identity Substituted Miquel dies under Carax's passport, and Fumero confirms a false identity despite evidence that the body is not the novelist. A Person Officially Erased The record creates a dead Carax and an absent Miquel, showing that state authority can make names serve power rather than truth.

Nuria as Requejo

A False Lawyer Protects a Life A Useful Fiction Nuria invents a lawyer and a nonexistent office to receive funds tied to the Fortuny properties. Identity as Shelter The fabricated name gives her a way to feed Carax and hide him, making deception an act of protection rather than exploitation.

Carax Becomes Coubert

A Fictional Identity Survives A Name from a Novel The burned author adopts the name of the devil in his own book and acts as if the character has taken possession of him. Identity Recovered Through Others Daniel and Nuria continue to address him as Carax, offering a human name that he cannot yet accept for himself.

Julián's childhood

1934-1936

Summer 1936

Late 1930s onward

After 1936