Character Relationship Map: Down a Dark Hall

Characters

• Kit (played by AnnaSophia Robb) — protagonist

  Protagonist sent to Blackwood Boarding School for delinquent behavior. She experiences possession side effects, investigates the school's library, uncovers the scheme of deceased geniuses, helps free...

• Madame Duret (played by Uma Thurman) — protagonist

  Eccentric and domineering headmistress who channels deceased famous minds into troubled students. She explains that students are donors sacrificing themselves for these geniuses. During the fire, she...

• Izzy (played by Isabelle Fuhrman) — supporting

  One of the four teenage students at Blackwood. She gradually suffers from the same possession side effects as Kit and Ashley. In the final fire, she succumbs to the beauty of the flames and dies.

• Veronica (played by Victoria Moroles) — supporting

  Initially the only student showing no progress, annoying Duret. She partners with Kit to search restricted school areas, discovers old records, gets chained up by Duret, and is eventually freed to esc...

• Ashley (played by Taylor Russell) — supporting

  A talented student who writes disturbing poetry and stories. She experiences intense possession side effects and ultimately jumps to her death to stop the dead genius from completely taking over her b...

Canonical Relationships

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

• Madame Duret → Izzy (Power Exploiter-Donor)

  Izzy develops the same possession side effects as the other students and later dies during the fire.

• Madame Duret → Ashley (Power Exploiter-Donor)

  Ashley produces disturbing poetry and stories as possession takes hold, eventually jumping to her death to stop it.

Story Dynamics

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

• Madame Duret → Veronica (Conflict Captive And Captor)

  When Duret discovers Veronica alone, she chains Veronica in an unused part of the school.

• Kit → Ashley (Social Fellow Student)

  Kit and Ashley are among the students whose creative work becomes linked to possession by deceased minds.

• Kit → Izzy (Social Fellow Student)

  Kit and Izzy are students at Blackwood and gradually experience the same troubling possession side effects.

• Kit → Veronica (Alliance Investigation Partner)

  Kit convinces Veronica to search the restricted areas of the school, where they find old student records.

• Kit → Madame Duret (Student-Headmistress Conflict)

  Kit investigates Blackwood's secrets, calls the police, and confronts Madame Duret about the possession scheme.

Story Analysis

A troubled student uncovers a boarding school's plan to sacrifice teenagers as vessels for deceased geniuses.

Plot Progression

1. Arrival Behind Blackwood Walls
2. Talents With A Dark Cost
3. The Dead Minds Revealed
4. The Donors' Terrible Truth
5. Fire Beneath The School