Character Relationship Map: The Devils

Characters

• Sister Jeanne des Anges (played by Vanessa Redgrave) — protagonist

  Sister Jeanne des Anges is the neurotic, hunchbacked abbess of the Ursuline convent in Loudun. Sexually obsessed with Father Urbain Grandier, she becomes jealous after learning of his marriage to Made...

• King Louis XIII (played by Graham Armitage) — supporting

  King Louis XIII is influenced by Cardinal Richelieu's plan to centralise power and agrees that many French fortifications should be demolished. However, he forbids the destruction of Loudun because of...

• Madeleine de Brou (played by Gemma Jones) — supporting

  Madeleine de Brou secretly marries Father Urbain Grandier and becomes a target of Sister Jeanne des Anges's jealousy. After returning a religious book to Jeanne, Madeleine is attacked and denounced as...

• Father Pierre Barre (played by Michael Gothard) — supporting

  Father Pierre Barre is a professional witch-hunter summoned by Baron de Laubardemont to investigate the accusations against Father Urbain Grandier. He conducts brutal, depraved exorcisms of Sister Jea...

Canonical Relationships

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

• King Louis XIII → Father Pierre Barre (Power Institutional Counterpoint) — Louis's deception exposes the instability of Barre's exorcistic authority without ending the persecution.

  Louis, disguised as Duke Henri de Condé, introduces a relic that Barre uses in the exorcism, then reveals that its case is empty while the proceedings...

• Father Pierre Barre → Sister Jeanne des Anges (Professional Interrogator) — Barre investigates and manipulates Jeanne's alleged possession through violent exorcistic procedures.

  Father Pierre Barre is summoned as a professional witch-hunter, and Jeanne claims that the priest has bewitched her during the subsequent exorcisms.

Story Dynamics

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

• King Louis XIII → Sister Jeanne des Anges (Narrative Royal Witness) — Louis becomes an observer and participant in the public religious spectacle surrounding Jeanne.

  King Louis arrives in disguise as Duke Henri de Condé and presents an allegedly holy relic during the public exorcism of the nuns, including Jeanne.

• Sister Jeanne des Anges → Madeleine de Brou (Conflict Rival) — Jeanne treats Madeleine as a rival and directs religious and personal hostility toward her.

  After learning of Madeleine's secret marriage to the priest, Jeanne becomes jealous. When Madeleine returns a book, Jeanne attacks her and accuses her...

Story Analysis

A political and religious persecution destroys both a defiant city and the people trapped inside its fabricated witchcraft case.

Plot Progression

1. Power Over Loudun — The royal government seeks to centralize France and remove feudal resistance. Loudun remains protected by a promise made by the king.
2. Jealousy In The Convent — Jeanne's desire for a new confessor becomes entangled with jealousy toward Madeleine. Her attack on Madeleine establishes a volatile personal and religious conflict.
3. A City Under Threat — Demolition orders challenge Loudun's autonomy, while the local priest travels to seek royal protection. His absence allows accusations to gather around the convent.
4. Manufactured Possession — Jeanne's statements are transformed into a witchcraft case, and Barre arrives to direct the investigation. The nuns' claims become a public campaign of exorcism.
5. The Empty Relic — Louis appears in disguise with a supposed holy relic, but the empty case exposes the fraudulence of the spectacle. The exorcisms nevertheless descend into sacrilegious chaos.
6. Fire And Ruins — The accused priest is tortured, sentenced, and burned despite refusing to confess. The walls of Loudun are destroyed, and the survivors leave behind a city consumed by persecution.