jean-baptiste grenouille

Born 17 July 1738, with an innate prodigious sense of smell (and also for unexplained reasons no personal scent of his own). His awareness of scent eventually leads him to conceive of capturing human scents, specifically, those able to inspire love, which he lacks in his life. When he does succeed in this goal, he discovers it gives him no pleasure, and leads him only to dispise others for being easily fooled. Unable to find happiness, he dies at the hands of a crowd after he pours his final perfume over himself.

Characters

Jean-baptiste Grenouille

Born 17 July 1738, with an innate prodigious sense of smell (and also for unexplained reasons no personal scent of his own). His awareness of scent eventually leads him to conceive of capturing human scents, specifically, those able to inspire love, which...
Giuseppe Baldini

An old traditional perfumer with his once-great reputation now fading. He yearns for the old days when tastes in perfume did not change much over the decades, and is angry at what he feels are upstarts in the fast-moving perfume trade of his later life. S...
Madame Gaillard

She has no sense of smell, due to being hit across the face with a poker in her younger years, so she does not know that Grenouille has no scent. In charge of a boarding house, her goal in life is to save enough money to have a proper death and funeral. M...
Jeanne Bussie

One of Grenouilles many wet-nurses. She is the first person to realise he has no scent and claims he is sucking all the life out of her.more...
Father Terrier

He is in charge of the churchs charities and distribution of its money to the poor and needy. He first thinks Grenouille is a cute baby, but once Grenouille begins to sniff Terrier, the priest is highly disturbed and sends the baby to a boarding hou...
Grimal

A tanner who lives near the river in the rue de la Mortellerie. Grenouille works for him from age eight into his early youth until Baldini pays for him to be released. With this immense new income of money, he wastes it on an alcoholic binge; his drunkenn...
The Plum Girl

Her natural scent is that of sea breeze, water lilies, and apricot blossoms; it is a rich, perfectly balanced and magical scent. She has red hair and wears a gray, sleeveless dress. She is halving plums when Grenouille kills her as his first victim. Unabl...
Chénier

Baldinis assistant and apprentice for over 30 years. He is somewhat younger than Baldini. He knows Baldini is talentless, but still boasts Baldinis skills in the hope that one day he will inherit Baldinis perfume shop.more...
Marquis De Taillade-espinasse

Marquis, liege lord of a town of Pierrefort and a member of parliament, is an amateur scientist who develops indulgent and ridiculous theses (fluidal theory), which he supposedly demonstrates on Grenouille—feeding him, providing him with new clothes and g...
Madame Arnulfi

A lively, black-haired woman of around thirty. She has been widowed for almost a year. She owns the perfume business of her dead husband and has a journeyman named Druot, who is also her lover. She hires Grenouille as her second journeyman....
Dominique Druot

Arnulfis journeyman and lover. He is the size of a Hun and is of average intelligence. Grenouille works under him as second journeyman. Druot is later hanged for Grenouilles crimes.more...
Antoine Richis

Second consul and the richest man in Grasse, Laures father.more...
Laure Richis

A beautiful red-headed girl, daughter of Antoine Richis, the second girl whose scent is perceived as demanding capture by Grenouille, and his final victim....