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Alma LeFay Peregrine[1] is the titular character of the Peculiar Children series. She is an ymbryne who currently runs the European Ymbryne Academy on Cairnholm, which also doubles as a home for peculiar children.
Biography
Early Life
Alma and her brothers, Jack 'Caul' and Myron Bentham, were born sometime in the 19th century. Myron was the oldest, Jack was the middle child, and Alma was the youngest.[2] Alma's powers would start showing up within the few years after her birth. Alma's parents did not accept her and her siblings being peculiar, so they would be "rather unceremoniously driven" from home.[3] By the time Alma was three, the siblings were already under the care of ymbrynes, who knew Alma was a great talent.[4] She lived at and trained as an ymbryne in Esmerelda Avocet's Ymbryne Academy, where she would be one of the youngest students that Miss Avocet had ever taught. It was decided that her brothers would join her at the Academy despite the fact that as males they could not be ymbrynes.[5] The trio would not be separated even after Jack abused Alma several times, such as when he would chase her and pluck her feathers when she practiced shapeshifting.[4]
As a girl, with Miss Avocet
During her time at the academy, she shared a room with Isabel Cuckoo, who she would sneak out with so often that Miss Avocet finally had to nail their window shut.[6] Also during this time, Alma met Louis Daguerre, the father of photography, while he was visiting the Ymbryne Academy, and he took a photo of her and Miss Avocet.[7] A Hangman and Harry show was perennially popular with the girls in her class, and it was nearly banned by Miss Avocet owing to extreme silliness.[8]
A few years after she started at the academy, she returned to her parents to try and win them over. She found that her parents had been outcasted from their village and their family due to her and her siblings' peculiarities and were living in a hovel. Despite Alma's attempts to reconcile with them, it only resulted in further fear and anger from her parents, and eventually her father chased her from the house with an iron from the fire and her mother cursed the day she was born. Years later, she learned they had committed suicide by sewing stones into their pockets and walking into the sea.[3]
In 1907, Alma was working in a loop near Cheltenham as an apprentice ymbryne,[7] likely for the Academy graduation requirement.[9] She graduated at an unknown time and changed her surname to her bird form as customary, becoming Alma LeFay Peregrine.
Sometime in 1908, Jack approached Alma about helping perform the loop collapse recipe for the Claywings so that the Claywings' internal clocks could be reset. Alma, realizing how dangerous this could be, firmly rejected the idea. A few months later, the Experiment of 1908 happened, and she would, at first, believe that her brothers died in the incident. In the years afterward, hollowgasts and then wights started to appear.
Post Ymbryne Academy graduation
By sometime in the early 1930's, Alma had started collecting wards. One was Emma Bloom, who she rescued from a peculiar slave trader.[10] For a time Alma and her charges traveled Europe as a freak show; allowing them to hide their peculiarities in plain sight.[11] After traveling for a while, Alma established a home for peculiar children on the small Welsh Island of Cairnholm, which the normals believed to be an orphan home. She would take in children from as far afield as eastern European countries such as Poland. For a time the physical isolation of the island provided her and her charges with a safe haven from the hollowgasts and wights. However, on September 3rd, 1940, the house was hit by a bomb, forcing Alma to create her first loop in order to protect her charges.[5]
She took in more children than the ones she has at the start of the series, but several would leave over the years:
- Abraham Portman: Alma found him in a Wales refugee camp. He did not stay in the loop for very long before he left to fight in World War II. After the war, he did not return, instead moving to the United States where he created a hollow hunting group and started a family.
- Victor Bruntley: After some years, he grew unhappy about living in a loop, so he left. Unfortunately, he did not get far as he was killed by a hollow. His body was retrieved and returned to the loop on Cairnholm, where it was kept in a bed in a room in the house. Occasionally, Enoch O'Connor would revive Victor.
- Marcie: In the 1980's, Marcie went to live with a common family in the countryside despite Alma's pleas for her to stay. Marcie would be kidnapped by an unknown wight not long after. He took a picture of her right before the kidnapping, which was left behind and found by Miss Peregrine.
- Charlotte: In 1985 or 1986, Alma would leave her loop to visit another ymbryne for the first time. While she was away, Charlotte snuck out of the loop. She would be found by a normal sheriff, who sent her to the mainland when she couldn't answer where she came from. It took two days for Alma to track her down, by which time she had aged thirty-five years. Because the aging process causes extreme mental distress, Charlotte was transferred to Miss Nightjar's loop. As a result of the experience, Alma never visited another ymbryne.
- Salvador Tatterleg: He was found by Miss Avocet and sent to Alma's loop. Because he could not adjust well to the environment, Alma put in an official transfer request and he was moved to a warmer loop.
Some of Alma's other former wards may have included the Twins, Oliver Wattle, the Boy-Faced Dog, the Contortionist Child, and the Girl in the Bottle.
Franklin Portman claimed that Alma visited him once when he was young in America after Abe called her.[citation needed] It's unknown if this actually happened.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
At this point Alma's current wards are Emma Bloom, Olive Abroholos Elephanta, Enoch O'Connor, Claire Densmore, Hugh Apiston, Horace Somnusson, Fiona Frauenfeld, Bronwyn Bruntley and Millard Nullings.
A few months after Abraham Portman's death, Jacob and Franklin Portman arrive on Cairnholm. Knowing that Jacob is a peculiar and that he had been told about the peculiars by his grandfather, Alma assumed that he would come and visit soon. Curious as to why he didn't enter the loop, she seeks him out in bird form. After he spots her in bird form, she flies away. Eventually, Emma and Milliard lure him into the loop. After meeting Jacob, Alma realizes that he doesn't know as much about the peculiar way of life as she had hoped, and helps him piece together the blanks in his understanding.
Afterwards she would introduce him to the rest of her wards. When the children decide to do a demonstration of their abilities, she joins them as the first act. Several weeks after Jacob's initial arrival on Cairnholm, Miss Avocet's loop is attacked by wights, and Miss Avocet flees to Alma's loop. After recovering slightly, she explains what had happened, and Alma puts her loop under lockdown in order to not draw attention to them. After Malthus kills Martin Pagett, Enoch, Bronwyn, Millard, Emma and Jacob would sneak out of the loop so that Enoch could resurrect him for questioning.
Malthus and Golan would use this incident to find the loop entrance. Golan threatens to kill the kids if Alma and Miss Avocet didn't go with him. Wanting the children's safety, Alma and Miss Avocet turn into their bird forms and are caged and taken away by Golan. At some point during the children's attempt to rescue the ymbrynes, Alma is switched with her brother Caul, who also has the ability to turn into a peregrine. Caul fools the children into thinking that he is his sister and is saved from the sea by them, while both Alma and Miss Avocet remain in the wights' possession.
Hollow City
After being kidnapped, Alma and Miss Avocet would be taken to the Wights' Fortress. They are kept with several other already-captured ymbrynes while the wights attempt to track down Balenciaga Wren.
Library of Souls
After Miss Wren is brought into the Fortress, Alma and the other eleven ymbrynes would be forced to reopen the Abaton loop, so the wights could get to the Library of Souls within. During their rescue mission, Emma and Jacob eventually find the ymbrynes. In desperation while facing a hollow, Jacob starts to use a vial of ambrosia, but Alma stops him and convinces him that he doesn't need it.
Upon her release, Alma and the others fight Caul's forces and very nearly escape. Myron tracks the group down and tries to reconnect with his sister, but she rebuffs him. A few minutes later, Caul shows back up and recaptures everyone. Even though she could fly away, she chooses to stay with her wards. Caul and Myron (who has rejoined his brother) take some of the peculiars back into the Fortress and into Abaton. Inside the Library of Souls, Myron has a last minute change of heart, and starts fighting against Caul. Before he starts fighting his brother, Myron gives the recipe for loop collapse to Jacob, who then gives it to Alma. Alma and the rest of the ymbrynes in the loop perform the collapse and everyone inside, minus Caul and Myron, are barely able to escape.
Because Alma doesn't have a loop to return to, she decides to stay in Devil's Acre. She moves into Myron's old house with her wards. Jacob eventually decides to try and reconnect with his parents. So Jacob, Emma, Alma and Sharon use the loop's entrance to get into present time. After convincing Franklin and Maryann Portman that everything is fine, Sharon, Emma and Alma return to Devil's Acre.
Not long after, she discovers that her internal clock had been reset. After not hearing from Jacob for some time, Alma decides to see what is going on. She and her wards use a Floridian loop to get to the United States. After taking several buses, they arrive in Englewood, Florida. After saving Jacob from his family, she decides that she and her wards would stay in Florida for a while.
A Map of Days
Alma encourages trips to the beach and the mall with Jacob, who she expects to teach them about the present. Jacob notices that the children have all grown up quite a bit since he first met them. Quite a few, particularly Millard and Enoch, are willing to challenge Miss Peregrine's authority and disobey her frequently.
When Jacob's parents refuse to accept him as a peculiar, Frank Portman demands that Miss Peregrine wipe any memory of peculiars including an incident he witnessed with Abe as a child. She does so and comforts Jacob in his despair that his parents will not accept him as he is. She shares her own story of her disownment from her parents due to her peculiarness, which played a role in their outcasting from society and eventually their deaths. So Jacob and the other children can easily visit with each other, she creates a pocket loop in Jacob's garden shed that leads right into Devil's Acre. The children have been taking on tasks to help the peculiars of raided loops and restore Devil's Acre now that the wights are no longer in control. Most of the children are unsatisfied with their mundane tasks assigned by the Council of Ymbrynes. The council is very busy with important tasks but the ymbrynes seem to want to handle all the more complicated jobs by themselves. When Jacob, Emma, Enoch, Millard, and Bronwyn run away to complete a mission from H without telling Miss Peregrine about it, she is very worried and upset. She attempts to call Jacob over twenty times and goes on frequent searches for them.
After being kidnapped by Frankie , Enoch is able to escape her property and contact Miss Peregrine who tracks them down. She negotiates their release from Leo Burnham the night before Jacob has been sentenced to die. He is relieved to see her and, despite her anger, she embraces him when they meet. Miss Peregrine reveals the the Council of Ymbrynes has been working for a long time with the American clans to arrange a peaceful agreement and that her wards have set them back tremendously by interfering with their society and contacting Noor Pradesh. She is more stressed than the children have seen her, claiming she hasn't slept in days. Miss Peregrine scolds and distributes punishment to them all one by one. Jacob, still concerned about Noor being stuck with Leo's clan, asks Miss Peregrine her plan to rescue Noor. Upon learning that no action is to be taken, as it would only harm their relations with America more, Jacob get frustrated. He and Miss Peregrine begin to argue, causing her to shout and him to storm out of the room.
Jacob sneaks out to speak to H about his grandfather again without Miss Peregrine's knowledge. Doing this gives him the clues he needs to continue his mission.
The Conference of the Birds
Upon Jacob's return to Devil's Acre, he finds that Miss Peregrine has moved the children to a more private location. She is angry at him for leaving but hides the intensity of her feelings on the matter. Her main priority at this point is to help the American gangs make peace. While she is at the important conference to do so, there is a prison break at the Panloopticon which frees both the wights and the hollow charging it. This causes Miss Peregrine to be stuck in a loop until it is fixed. Once they are able to reach her, Jacob, Emma, and Enoch arrive to help settle a dispute among the gangs as a result of members going missing. She spots a dogflower near the scene of the crime and tells Jacob to pretend that he saw evidence of a hollow. This leads them all to eventually find real evidence. Later on it is revealed that she did this because she suspected the wights had Fiona but didn't want to lead the gangs to be suspicious of her. Once the group learns that the wights are trying to resurrect Caul, they search Myron Bentham's home for the list ingredients needed to do so. They quickly find that there are only two left to be collected, one of which seems to allude to Miss Peregrine herself. As they hunt down the wights, she is told to stay behind due to her possible value to them. However, she does fly in her bird form to attack Percival Murnau in the final battle but he ultimately escapes. Although it feels like an apparent win, Miss Peregrine was not the final ingredient and Murnau collects the real final ingredient in order to bring back Caul.
The Desolations of Devil's Acre
Miss Peregrine is found by Jacob, Noor, Emma, Enoch, Bronwyn, and Addison in Bentham's office, shouting at Perplexus, as she blamed him for the desolations in the Acre. Afterwards, she greets Jacob and Noor, and with Miss Avocet listens to their story of Caul's return. Miss Peregrine then accompanies them back to the house the children are living in, staying just long enough for the others to be told the story, before going to an emergency meeting of the Ymbryne Council.
At the all-Acre assembly, Miss Peregrine leads the line of ymbrynes on the stage and speaks to the peculiars about Caul's return. She tries to calm the crowd down after Caul's illusion scares everyone, and comes to Jacob and Noor's side after they are almost murdered. After she and Miss Wren escort them away, they all discuss what had just happened and Caul's new powers. After, Miss Peregrine, Miss Wren, and Miss Cuckoo tell the children about the loop protection they are planning, the Quilt.
Physical Appearance
Books
Miss Peregrine as shown in the books.
Miss Peregrine is said to be a relatively short, yet distinguished woman with green eyes[12] and dark hair that is always pinned atop her head in a tidy bun/top knot. She began wearing glasses during childhood,[5] which she also wears in the graphic novel but not in the film adaptation. Her age, physical or actual, is never explicitly stated, though she is stated to be one of the youngest of the ymbrynes. It can be inferred that Miss Peregrine, physically, probably appears to be in her mid thirties to early forties at the oldest, though she looks older in the graphic novel.
In her first appearance, she wears a high collared blouse that is buttoned tightly at the throat and lace gloves, and is always dressed in black formal Victorian full-mourning clothes in remembrance of Victor Bruntley. Miss Peregrine also walks with a limp that appears to make stairs and uneven terrain more challenging for her to navigate. She did have a limp in the first book but it disappears for a few books before coming back in A Map of Days. In his live about Library of Souls, Ransom Riggs said that she has arthritis and that it is sometimes so bad that it causes her to limp, but she is seeing a bone mender about it.
Film
In the film, Miss Peregrine is portrayed by Eva Green. She is shown as a young woman with pale skin and black hair streaked with dark blue - a nod to her bird form that, based off of Miss Avocet's hair (white streaked with black, also like her bird form) may be an aspect of their peculiarity. She has long fingernails reminiscent of talons and her eye makeup is similarly reflective of her avian nature. She also displays far more bird-like mannerisms than her book counterpart - she often grasps objects, and food, in much the same way as she would in bird form, her movements are also very bird-like. Miss Avocet acts in similar ways, once again suggesting that this is also an aspect of being an ymbryne, rather than simply being mannerisms unique to Miss Peregrine.
Miss Peregrine as depicted in the film.
She wears a whimsical dark blue 1940s suit, with a fluted skirt and a jacket with a large feather embroidered on the shoulder of each sleeve and, on occasion, wears a black leather overcoat with the same silhouette. She is never seen without her French Railway watch, which she uses to ensure that her charges are always on time, right down to the second (a necessity due to the complexity of the loop). She is not quite as conservative in dress as in the books, in large part due to her clothes being from the 1940s rather than the Victorian era, similarly although she still mourns Victor, she doesn't dress in mourning clothes or exclusively in black. Though her hair is still in an updo, it is not the tidy bun that she wears in the books - once again it is inspired more by the era she is currently living in rather than the era that she was likely born in. Despite the other changes in her appearance, she still smokes a traditional tobacco pipe.
Peculiarity
She is an ymbryne, which gives her the power to manipulate time in various ways and turn into a bird, specifically a peregrine falcon. Out of the ymbrynes, she is one of the only birds of prey noted. She is also able to selectively erase moments in people's memory, often done by reciting her name and then tickling the subject under the nose with a feather.
Miss Peregrine is noted to be the youngest of the fully trained ymbrynes, or at least the youngest to have been taught by Miss Avocet. She is also said to be exceptionally powerful and talented.
Relationships
Abraham Portman
When Abraham was a boy, he was sent to the UK from Poland by his parents in the hope that he would be safe there. Once he was in the UK he was found by Miss Peregrine and brought to Cairnholm. During his time on Cairnholm Abe became an integral part of the group of peculiars living there. However, despite his respect for Miss Peregrine he began to resent the way in which she protects him and her other wards. Eventually Abe chose to leave Cairnholm, finding Miss Peregrine's protection suffocating, however, this did not sour any of his relationships with those on the island. He and Miss Peregrine were still communicating with each other via letter until around the late 1990s. Miss Peregrine admits to loving Abe as though he were her own child.
Emma Bloom
Emma Bloom is one of Miss Peregrine's charges. According to Emma, Miss Peregrine rescued her from a circus when two other peculiars were attempting to kidnap her in order to sell her. Emma and Miss Peregrine are very close with Emma seeming to act as Miss Peregrine's right hand during their time on Cairnholm. They are also incredibly protective of each other; Emma regularly putting Miss Peregrine's welfare first during the journey to rescue the ymbrynes and Miss Peregrine even goes so far as to warn Jacob of the consequences should he, even inadvertently, hurt Emma. They also appear to consider each other family, often acting like mother and daughter; Emma chooses to celebrate her birthday on the anniversary of the day that Miss Peregrine rescued her and Miss Peregrine has said that she loves Emma like a daughter. However, despite their closeness their relationship can be somewhat tense; Emma growing weary of the loop on Cairnholm and of Miss Peregrine's protection.
Jacob Portman
When Jacob first arrives on Cairnholm, Miss Peregrine immediately considers him to be one of her charges and therefore under her protection, whether he likes it or not. Initially their relationship is one of tentative trust as Jacob is aware that she is keeping information from him but feels some sense of obligation to aid Miss Peregrine and charges given the way that she took in his grandfather. As time goes on Jacob's opinion of Miss Peregrine begins to fall more in line with that of the other peculiar children she has taken in and protected, he soon considers himself to be one of her charges, despite his initial misgivings. By the time that he and Emma find Miss Peregrine and the other ymbrynes in Devil's Acre he considers her to be a second mother, a feeling that is reciprocated.
Caul
Caul is Miss Peregrine's evil brother who can transform into a peregrine falcon. As a child he regularly abused his sister; pinching her to make her cry when she was an infant and when they were a little older catching her and plucking out some of her feathers when she was in bird form. Miss Peregrine is said to have distanced herself from her brother at a young age, already aware of the path he was heading down. Their relationship is strained at best, dangerously antagonistic at worst. Caul is intensely jealous of his sister's abilities and the power and respect she commands as a result. It was this jealously that spurred him to begin the Claywing movement, with the aim of overthrowing the Ymbryne Council. As an adult, Caul takes sadistic delight in tormenting Miss Peregrine, whether by hurting her or by threatening to hurt those she cares about.
Myron Bentham
Myron Bentham is the oldest of Miss Peregrine's two brothers. Myron and his sister are not on very good terms with each other; he blames her for his exile in Devil's Acre and she blames him for his part in the Claywing movement, the creation of the hollowgasts and his theft of Abe's second soul (all of which he is guilty of). Though Myron does not resent his sister in the way that Caul does he is more than willing to betray her to serve his own purposes. However, despite Myron's regularly changing allegiances, when it matters he does choose to side with his sister over his brother, an act that saves peculiardom but ultimately appears to have led to his own demise. He has shown to care for himself more than his sister.
Millard Nullings
Millard often comes across as a sycophant in regards to Miss Peregrine. However, despite Millard's sycophantic tendencies he can be obnoxious and deliberately disobey/misunderstand instructions Miss Peregrine gives him. Though Millard is completely invisible when nude, Miss Peregrine appears to be the only person who can still tell when Millard is nearby. Miss Peregrine regularly tries to instill some manners in Millard, such as not using his abilities to eavesdrop on conversations and not walking around, attending dinner etc. in the nude, though it has not appeared to work very well.
Miss Avocet
Miss Peregrine has an enormous amount of respect for Miss Avocet, who was her mentor and a maternal figure.[7] There is a great deal of affection between the pair; when Miss Avocet and Miss Bunting's loop is raided Miss Avocet's first port of call is Miss Peregrine's loop to ensure her protégé's safety and Miss Peregrine is often seen caring for Miss Avocet as a child would care for their elderly parent.
Trivia
- On the official peculiar calendar, her birthday is September 13.
- She is a foot shorter than Jacob Portman.
- In the film, she calls her wards by only their first names, unlike the books. (e.g. in the book she would call Bronwyn "Miss Bruntley," but in the film she calls her by just "Bronwyn.")
- Ransom Riggs said in his live video about Library of Souls that Jeremy Bentham is an ancestor of Alma and her brothers, which is mentioned again in Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders.
- Aside from being the editor of Museum of Wonders, she is also the author of How to Appear Normal, Certain Death and How to Avoid it, and Fifty-Two Loops to See in a Lifetime.[13]
Gallery
References
- ↑ Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Chapter 2)
- ↑ When asked by a fan, Ransom Riggs stated that Myron is the older brother of Caul, and Caul the older brother of Alma. However, in the first book, Alma does not correct Jacob when he observes that her brothers look younger than her in a photo.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 A Map of Days (Chapter 2)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Library of Souls (Chapter 4)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Chapter 6)
- ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (Ymbrynes)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (Photography: A Peculiar Art Form)
- ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (Peculiar Games and Entertainments)
- ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (The Ymbryne Academy)
- ↑ Library of Souls (Chapter 3)
- ↑ Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Chapter 7)
- ↑ Library of Souls (Chapter 7)
- ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders