Daniel Arlington

## Daniel Tabor Arlington V

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**Darlington** (born Daniel Tabor Arlington V) is a supporting character in Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House. He is a senior student at Yale University and a member of Lethe House as its newest Virgil. When Alex Stern takes the position of Dante, Darlington helps her navigate Yale and the Houses of the Veil, all the while grappling with the mysteries of New Haven and Alex Stern herself.

## Biography

### Early Life

Danny, as Darlington was called in his youth, grew up at his family estate of Black Elm, a few miles off Yale's campus in Westville, New Haven. His mother, Harper, was a professor of Renaissance art, and his father was nebulously involved in finance. Although the Arlington estate was not as extensive nor as wealthy as it used to be, Danny's grandfather Daniel Arlington III remained rich enough to provide financial support for his layabout son and daughter-in-law as well as Darlington's education.

Darlington's parents had no interest in actually parenting him, and so his grandfather—not wanting Darlington to be raised by nannies and yearning for further familial connection— bought the couple an apartment in New York City in exchange for being the primary caretaker of young Danny. Danny was thus raised by his grandfather and the housekeeper Bernadette at Black Elm. Along with his public school education, his grandfather hired a variety of tutors who taught Danny fencing, world languages, boxing, mathematics, and piano. Driven by a thirst for knowledge, Darlington pushed himself to excel at everything he learned.

Darlington's parents, although living in NYC off his grandfather's money, would periodically come back to Black Elm for more money and to argue about selling the house. After years of inattention and listening to their routine arguments for his grandfather, Darlington started leaving the house whenever they would visit.

#### Belief in Magic

At 11 years old, a formative event occurred during a picnic organized by the Knights of Columbus at Lighthouse Point. Brought there for the day by Bernadette, Darlington wound up playing games with a group of boys and wandering to the edge of the park, where one boy suggested taking a ride on the roller coaster next to the pier. None of the others were able to see the roller coaster, and the boy quickly backtracked his statement, feigning a prank.

Months later, Darlington saw a photo of the Thunderbolt roller coaster in the newspaper, with a note on how it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1938. He cut the picture from the paper and taped it above his desk as a reminder of that strange experience— a seed for his initial belief in magic and the otherworldly.

#### Grandfather's death

When he was 15, his grandfather fell ill with cancer and became bedridden at home, ultimately becoming comatose and passing away. Although unconfirmed, Darlington may have mercy-killed his dying grandfather as the estate stipulated that the money could only go to the man's son, but Black Elm itself would be held for Darlington until he turned 18, along with money (although there was less than 30k in the account).

Despite Darlington's parents pushing him to sell the estate, he stubbornly decided to keep Black Elm, both to honor his grandfather's wishes and because he genuinely loves the house. His parents left him there. Biding his time until he came of age, Darlington lived in the empty house by himself, at one point weathering 6 weeks without electricity or heat. When his parents came back at Christmas, Darlington locked the door and refused to let them in, and he has been estranged from them ever since. He picked up odd jobs— at the luncheonette; laying out manure and seed; ticket-taking at a theater — plus selling off objects from the house to try to make ends meet and keep the lights on. At some point, Darlington took in the white cat that roamed Black Elm's grounds and named him Cosmo.

When he was 17, Darlington obsessively researched and attempted to brew the Orozcerio, a notoriously difficult magical elixir which allows people to see the dead. He had spent days at the Beinecke Library and the Peabody museum for weeks researching. He failed at the attempt; the UPS man found him on the house steps the next morning, bleeding from his eyes and ears. Darlington woke up in the hospital with Dean Elliot Sandow by his side, where he was extended an offer to join Lethe House as its new Dante.

### Ninth House

During his freshman year as Dante, his Virgil was Michelle Alameddine, who showed Darlington the ropes at Lethe House. He took to his new responsibilities with gusto. For his freshman and sophomore years, he lived on-campus in Davenport College with boys named Jordan and E.J. The trio got along well and Darlington enjoyed being pulled into attending social events with them, although he often had to be absent due to Lethe duties. Darlington made the excuse of being in a band with guys from University of Connecticut. The summer of his sophomore year, Darlington traveled to Paris. He asked out Angelique Brun but the date ended quickly once Darlington realized she used the same perfume as his mother. Darlington fell out of touch with his roommates after he moved back to Black Elm for his junior year and became consumed by his academics, Lethe duties, Black Elm renovations, and then mentoring Alex. To supplement his income, Darlington worked summer jobs at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

#### Fall

When the time came for Darlington to select his own Dante recruit in his senior year, the selection was thrown askew by Galaxy "Alex" Stern being appointed by the Lethe board as the new Dante due to her ability to see ghosts — Grays — without aid. As her Virgil, Darlington teaches her how to use magic, how to repel ghosts, and how to keep an eye on the magical societies of Yale. The two are complete opposites, with Alex approaching magic with caution and suspicion. Darlington tries to show her the wonder of magic by disguising her tattoos with address moths. Darlington held a lot of skepticism over Lethe's selection of Dante, at one point angry at how she reacted to the Grays at the fall Aurelian ritual. When Alex yelled back, resentful at Lethe for not protecting her until she became useful to them, Darlington realized the depth of Alex's struggles and promptly helped her smash Il Bastone's glass and china, the pair of them getting drunk on expensive wine. Darlington and Alex reached an understanding, and he came to find that he and Alex they work well together.

At a Manuscript Halloween party, Darlington is dosed with a drug which makes him hallucinate, lose control, and experience a surge of libido. When he regains lucidity, he's embarrassed to find that he had been pushing up Alex's skirt, bracing his hands on her thighs. He's humiliated by his loss of control; she helps him away from the party and back home to Black Elm to sleep it off, and tells him she'll write up the report to Sandow about Manuscript's misbehavior. Alex stayed the night at Black Elm in the narrow bed with Darlington.

The fall season continues, with Darlington also continuing his research on the side into the history of New Haven, trying to understand the nature of the town, why it never properly flourished, and how its magical nexuses are created. This sets him on the path of researching a series of historical deaths, such as the infamous Bridegroom murder, which seemed natural or unconnected, but which he's started to connect to the creation of each Yale society tomb. In a passing interaction with Dean Elliot Sandow, Darlington told him his theories that the death of certain young women throughout history were connected to the creation of the nexuses. This led Sandow to set a trap in the Rosenfeld Hall basement.

On December 10th, he and Alex are undergoing a routine purging of electrical energy at St. Elmo's, when she accidentally clues him into the fact that she can be possessed by ghosts, and that she brutally murdered the men in the 'Ground Zero' incident which led to her being noticed by Lethe. Darlington pretends he isn't going to report her, but they both know he will. Before they can talk it out, however, he notices something in the corner of the basement — which he assumes to be a portal left behind by Scroll & Key, but he realizes it's a mouth, just as the Hellbeast swallows him into hell. Paralyzed by indecision and knowing he was going to turn her in, Alex does not help him.

#### After Rosenfeld Hall

When Alex informed Sandow of Darlington's disappearance, Sandow feigned shock. Wanting to keep his disappearance quiet, Sandow created a cover story for Darlington's absence, that he was in Spain to study the nexus beneath San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. Later on, a group of people including Alex, Sandow, Dawes, and Michelle went to Black Elm to try to summon Darlington back, but they instead summoned a demonic presence. They concluded conclusion that a hellbeast had consumed Darlington's soul and that the voice they heard with Darlington's voice was merely an echo.

Later, Alex realizes that he survived being devoured and has become a demon, which can only happen to those guilty of the sin of murder. The ghosts she sees refer to him as the "gentleman demon", and are frightened of him. At the end of the novel, Alex, Pamela, and Michelle decide that they're going to go into hell to get Darlington back.

## Personal Attributes

### Personality

Daniel has a somewhat magnetic personality that draws people to him. He is polite and often emphasizes manners, etiquette and duty; he is often referred to as the "gentleman of Lethe." Darlington is intelligent, well-read and well-versed in six languages and several musical instruments. He has a thirst and passion for the hidden knowledge and insight of how magic shapes the world. Darlington is also noble, and often saw Lethe as shepherds and guardians, believing in its mission and seeing more in it than others such as Dean Sandow or even his former mentor Michelle.

### Physical Description

Darlington carries himself in a respectful way, dressing nicely. He has messy brown hair and blue eyes. His skin was described to be pale. He is noted to have a pretty face and a lean frame, and is physically fit.

## Powers & Abilities

* Death words
* Warding
* Undoing spells

## Relationships

### Family

* Daniel Arlington III: Beloved grandfather, formative influence, and his primary caretaker while growing up.
* Daniel Arington IV and Harper Arlington: His absent parents. Based in NYC, and with little interest in their own son.

### Alex Stern

His Dante, the new incoming Lethe representative and Darlington's protégé. She isn't what he would have chosen in a Dante, doubting she had what it takes to succeed in Lethe and almost envious of her innate magical ability. However, the pair start to get along, hit a quick rapport, and work together well. Despite their differences and the secrets they have kept from each other, Darlington admires Alex's intelligence and nerve, and believes in her potential to be a great Dante. The two are also attracted to each other.

### Pamela Dawes

Oculus, the grad student who maintains the Lethe residences and serves their research assistant. Pamela adores him and Darlington is fond and friendly to her; he's the only one who calls her *Pammie*.

* Elliot Sandow: Sandow and Darlington had a strong professional-advisory relationship as Dean and Virgil as, outwardly at least, both were comfortable in their position at Lethe and their expertise in the supernatural.
* Michelle Alameddine: His Virgil and former mentor, who taught him the ropes and left him a rare bottle of brandy and an inspirational note when he took over the Virgil bedroom.

## Quotes

* He was too old to believe in magic, but he needed to believe that there was more to the world than living and dying.
* “He’d told himself he was giving her a chance, being fair to this girl who had washed up on his shore. But he’d let himself think of her as someone who had made all of the wrong choices and stumbled down the wrong path. It hadn’t occurred to him that she was being chased.”
* “New Haven needed a new map, a map of the unseen, and Darlington wanted to be the one to draw it, and maybe, in the lines of its streets, the quiet of its gardens, the deep shadow of East Rock, there would be an answer to why New Haven had never become a Manhattan or a Cambridge, why, despite every opportunity and every hope for prosperity, it had always foundered. Was it merely chance? Bad luck? Or had the magic that lived here somehow stunted the town even as it continued to flourish?”
* **Alex**:“Why did he call you the gentleman of Lethe?' **Darlington**: “Because people who can’t be bothered with manners pretend to be amused by them. Onward, Stern.”
* “He knew what he was attempting was dangerous. But he’d run out of things to believe in. Magic was all he had left. He was a boy on an adventure, not a boy swallowing poison."
* “Magic had almost killed him, but in the end it had saved him. Just like in stories”
* “A true gentleman doesn’t boast of the title, and a true scholar has better uses for his time than downing flaming Dr Pepper shots" (Chapter 15).

## Gallery

by PhantomRinby PhantomRinby PhantomRinby PhantomRinby Alice Dukeby E.K Belsher

## Trivia

* Speaks English, French, Mandarin, and passable Portuguese. Understands Latin, Greek, and Dutch.
* Runs 6 miles every morning.
* Goes to church every Sunday from habit and family tradition more than earnest belief; his grandfather was adamant about their responsibilities in attending.
* Knows Brazilian jujitsu, how to fence, and how to rewire an electrical box. Can play the cello, upright bass, guitar, piano, and something called an oud.
* Rarely uses profanity, and classes it with declarations of love: "Best used sparingly and only when wholeheartedly meant."
* Drives his grandfather's old wine-colored Mercedes.
* While outwardly Darlington pretends to admire and appreciate the architecture of Manuscript's tomb, he privately thinks it falls flat and is unable to make himself feel more than grudging respect for the severe line of mid-century architecture. Alex, in contrast, believes Darlington's admiration at face value.

## References

1. ↑ (*"He wasn't entirely sure what his father did—micro-investing, portfolio building, foreign-market hedges. It seemed to change with every visit and it never seemed to be going well"*).
2. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 1 (Winter)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 *Ninth House* Chapter 10 (Last Fall)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Ninth House* Chapter 6 (Last Fall)
5. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 11 (Winter)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Ninth House* Chapter 13 (Last Fall)
7. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 3 (Winter)