Character Relationship Map: The Monkey

Characters

• Hal / Bill (played by Theo James) — protagonist

  Hal and Bill are twin brothers whose lives are shaped by the lethal wind-up monkey. Hal once tries to use it against Bill, while Bill later winds it in retaliation, causing random deaths. Their confli...

• Lois (played by Tatiana Maslany) — protagonist

  Lois is the mother of Hal and Bill and the wife of Captain Petey Shelburn. She raises the twins after Captain Petey disappears, then dies from an aneurysm after Hal winds the monkey. Her memory remain...

• Petey (played by Colin O'Brien) — supporting

  Petey is Hal’s son, whose mother plans for her new husband to adopt him, threatening Hal’s place in his life. He accompanies Hal to investigate the monkey, is forced by Ricky to retrieve it, and is la...

• Barbara (played by Tess Degenstein) — minor

  Barbara is the real estate agent handling Aunt Ida’s house after Ida’s death. She tells Hal that a series of bizarre fatal accidents has struck the town during the following week. While inspecting the...

• Babysitter Annie (played by Danica Dreyer) — minor

  Babysitter Annie is caring for Young Hal and Young Bill while they are at a hibachi restaurant. During that evening, the monkey’s supernatural chain of violence causes the hibachi chef’s accident, and...

• Aunt Ida (played by Sarah Levy) — supporting

  Aunt Ida is the twins’ aunt, who takes Young Hal and Young Bill into her home in Casco, Maine with Uncle Chip after Lois dies. Twenty-five years later, her death in a freak accident brings Hal back to...

• Thrasher / Ricky (played by Rohan Campbell) — supporting

  Ricky is a local man hired by Bill to recover the wind-up monkey. His obsession with the toy leads him to hold Petey at gunpoint and force the boy to retrieve it. After Bill instructs Petey to wind th...

• Uncle Chip (played by Osgood Perkins) — supporting

  Uncle Chip is the twins’ uncle and Aunt Ida’s husband in Casco, Maine. After the monkey reappears at their home, Bill winds its key and causes a horse stampede that tramples Chip to death. His death r...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Babysitter Annie → Hal / Bill (Professional Babysitter) — Annie is responsible for the children during the first modern-era monkey killing.

  Annie is babysitting the twins while they are at a hibachi restaurant when the chef accidentally decapitates her.

• Hal / Bill → Thrasher / Ricky (Professional Hirer) — Bill employs Ricky to recover the dangerous object.

  Bill has the monkey and has hired a local named Ricky to retrieve it.

• Uncle Chip → Hal / Bill (Family Uncle) — Chip is a guardian figure whose death deepens the twins' supernatural trauma.

  The twins move to Casco to live with their aunt Ida and uncle Chip, who later dies in a horse stampede caused by the monkey.

• Lois → Hal / Bill (Family Mother) — Lois is the twins' mother and the central figure in their shared grief.

  After Petey disappears, Lois raises the twin sons Hal and Bill. Later, Lois dies from an aneurysm after the monkey is wound.

• Aunt Ida → Hal / Bill (Family Aunt) — Ida becomes the twins' guardian during their childhood relocation.

  After Lois dies, the twins move to Casco, Maine, to live with their aunt Ida and uncle Chip.

• Hal / Bill → Petey (Family Father) — Hal's damaged relationship with Petey motivates his attempt to reconnect with his son.

  Twenty-five years later, Hal is estranged from his son Petey, while Petey's mother plans for her new husband to adopt him.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Barbara → Hal / Bill (Narrative Informant) — Barbara provides Hal with information connecting the local deaths to the unfolding mystery.

  While inspecting Ida's house, Barbara reveals to Hal that bizarre fatal accidents have occurred in town during the week after Ida's death.

• Thrasher / Ricky → Petey (Conflict Hostage Taker) — Ricky directly threatens Petey while pursuing the monkey.

  Ricky forces Petey at gunpoint to retrieve the monkey from Bill's house.

Story Analysis

A cursed wind-up toy forces two estranged brothers to confront inherited grief, mutual resentment, and the consequences of trying to control death.

Plot Progression

1. The Drum Begins Its Curse — The wind-up monkey causes a fatal accident and later enters the twins' childhood. Hal's attempt to use it against Bill instead kills Lois, establishing the family's defining trauma.
2. Buried Beneath Casco — After Lois's death, the twins move to Casco and suffer another loss when the monkey kills Chip. They hide the object in a well, believing the danger has been contained.
3. The Curse Returns — Ida's death brings Hal back to Casco and reunites him with Bill's warning. Motel and house accidents confirm that the monkey has returned and that the town is being consumed by unexplained deaths.
4. A Brother's Retaliation — Bill admits that he has been turning the monkey's key to punish Hal. His demand that Petey assume the burden intensifies the conflict, while Ricky's obsession creates an immediate threat.
5. The Last Drumbeat — Ricky dies after Petey winds the key, and the monkey unleashes destruction throughout Casco. Hal and Bill reconcile before Bill dies, leaving Hal and Petey to accept their dangerous inheritance.