Marta Cabrera

> "*I'm not trying to beat you. I'm creating a beautiful pattern.*"
> ― Marta Cabrera to Harlan Thrombey[source]
>
>

**Marta Cabrera** is the protagonist in the 2019 mystery film *Knives Out*, the first installment of the franchise. She works as Harlan Thrombey's registered nurse, and after his suicide, he chooses her to inherit his company and house.

She was portrayed by Ana de Armas.

## Biography

### Background

Marta Cabrera is a registered nurse hired directly by Harlan Thrombey to work in his home, and she receives a flat fee. She is not part of a VNA (visiting nurse agency). Marta is characterized as being a good nurse by private investigator Benoit Blanc as she can tell the minute differences in viscosity between Harlan's medications without looking at the bottles' labels. Harlan and her would spend a lot of time together, either talking or playing Go. Unlike the rest of Harlan's family, she treated him like a genuine friend who was interested in spending time with him not for his wealth or status, but because of his character. Because of that, the two of them got along very well, and Harlan would reveal to her several secrets of the family, including Richard's affair, Joni's double-dipping and his intent to fire Walt.

Marta's plight is complicated by a medical condition that causes her to vomit when she tells (or in some cases thinks about) a lie. In the film, she manages to overcome this by lying about Fran being alive, and holding down the vomit just long enough for Ransom Drysdale to implicate himself in Fran's murder.

She lives in the United States with an unidentified mother and a sister named Alice Cabrera. Her mother is undocumented and the dialogue throughout the film emphasizes tension about the Cabrera family's ethnicity and immigration status, the Thrombey family not being able to remain consistent on where they think she's from ; in several scenes, they claim she's from Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil.

### Harlan Thrombey's Demise

One night, when she and Harlan are playing Go, she accidentally administers an overdose of morphine. When she attempts to find the naloxone to administer as an antidote, she's unable to find it and tries calling the police. However, Harlan doesn't want Marta's family to be investigated, so he decides to commit suicide and have Marta sneak out, having an alibi for her to ensure that she isn't marked as a suspect.

When Benoit Blanc questions every member of the family, he eventually gets to Marta. Because of her inability to tell a lie without throwing up, she reveals secrets of the family Harlan had told her about. When he questions her about the circumstances of Harlan's death, she responds with half-truths without revealing the full extent of her involvement.

When Harlan's will is read, Marta is utterly shocked when she discovers Harlan gave everything to Marta instead of his family. Unsure of what to do and overwhelmed by this unexpected event, she leaves the mansion along with Ransom. The two talk, and she tells him the truth about Harlan's death. He agrees to help her in exchange for her giving him a part of the inheritance. The other members of Harlan's family attempt to blackmail her after learning about her mother's status as an illegal immigrant.

She suddenly gets a blackmail note with a print-out of Harlan's toxicology report, which would reveal the overdose of morphine. She and Ransom go to the medical examiner's office, though the building was burned down the night before. After that, she receives an anonymous email detailing a meeting with the blackmailer. When arriving, she notices Fran on the floor, overdosed with morphine. She wakes Fran up, and is shocked when she states that she knew Marta killed Harlan. Instead of allowing her to die and removing a witness to her crime, she calls the police and gets Fran to the hospital. She waits for Fran at the hospital with detective Blanc, and attempts to confess her crimes, though Blanc reveals that Ransom already confessed.

The two return to Harlan's house, where Marta considers returning inheritance to the family, though Blanc steps in and tells the family none of them deserve Harlan's inheritance due to their greed and for treating Marta so poorly for many years. Marta attempts to accept the punishment for killing Harlan, but Detective Blanc reveals that the mystery is not what any of them anticipated. The police bring Ransom in, and Blanc begins unraveling the truth about Harlan's murder. Ransom decided to kill Harlan after being cut out from the will by switching the vials, giving Harlan an overdose of morphine so Marta would accidentally kill Harlan, invoking the Slayer Rule and giving Ransom back his share of the will. However, Marta unknowingly gave Harlan the correct medication because she felt the slight difference in viscosity, meaning Harlan was perfectly fine and his life was in no danger. After learning this, Ransom burned down the medical examiner's office to destroy the evidence revealing Marta's innocence. Then, Fran, who'd learned of Ransom's actions, blackmailed him, but he confronted her and overdosed her with morphine, sending the anonymous email to Marta so she'd arrive and be blamed for Fran's death. However, Marta saved her by calling the police, and an extra toxicology report Fran stashed proved Marta's innocence.

Marta gets a call from the hospital saying that Fran is alive, causing Ransom to become confident since his crimes are minor. However, Marta vomits, revealing that Fran died from the drug overdose. With nothing left to lose, Ransom attempts to kill Marta with a nearby knife, but it turns out to be a stage knife - Harlan had earlier stated that Ransom's arrogance has stopped him from being able to tell the difference between a fake knife and a real one. As the police walk Ransom to their car, Marta converses with Blanc one last time. He tells her he was able to tell from the start that Marta had a role in Harlan's death, due to a spot of blood on her shoe (he presumably still trusted her because he was more concerned with who hired him). He also explains that Marta defeated Ransom by playing the game her own way instead of Harlan's, just like when they were playing Go.

As the rest of the family leaves the house, Marta still unsure of whether to give the inheritance back to the family. Blanc tells her that he's confident she'll do the right thing. She then watches as the family leaves while standing on top of the balcony.

## Personality

Marta is an incredibly compassionate and generous woman. Unlike the rest of Harlan's family, she was the only one who was genuinely friendly to him and didn't attempt to use him for his money. It is because of her honest and generous nature that Harlan chose her to inherit his estate, viewing the rest of his family as too greedy and dependent on his wealth to sustain themselves. In contrast to Harlan's family who were eager to hear what they'd receive from Harlan's will, Marta is not thrilled when she's given everything in Harlan's will despite knowing the immense wealth she gained. Instead, she is shocked and unsure of what to do about this new money. She considers giving the estate and company back to Harlan's family, and the only reason she considers otherwise is because she just wanted to honor Harlan's wishes.

One of Marta's most notable features is her forgiving and kind nature. She indeed possesses pure integrity bordering on incorruptibility and an extremely shy nature. Marta held no anger toward Meg even when she betrayed her and revealed to her family that Marta's mother was an illegal immigrant to try and force her to give the inheritance back. When she saw Fran had been overdosed on morphine, despite believing that Fran knew she'd killed Harlan, instead of letting her die to keep her secret, she decided to call the police and get her to the hospital. Also, even after learning that Ransom was responsible for Harlan and Fran's death, he'd lied and manipulated her, then tried to kill her, she never showed any hatred toward him. Finally, even after learning the Thrombeys' true nature, she still feels an inclination to use her inheritance to help them, though it's left unclear whether she does.

Actress Ana de Armas characterizes Marta as having strength, self-control, and clear priorities. Her family is important to her. She's also timid and prone to blaming herself for everything, readily taking responsibility for things that may not even be her fault.

## Appearance

Marta is a young woman with brown hair and brown eyes. She often wears a gray coat over a purple shirt. She also carries a pink, yellow and red-colored scarf with her and wears large boots and a teal woolen pair of fingerless gloves when she's outdoors. The script describes her as a "pretty Latina caretaker."

## Relationships

### Harlan Thrombey

Harlan hired Marta directly to be his personal nurse. Harlan then paid her extra to stick around for more hours. Marta realized Harlan needed a friend and gladly took on that role. They developed a tight friendship and because Marta treated Harlan with genuine kindness, she is the one that he left his entire inheritance to, much to the chagrin of the Thrombey family.

### Thrombey Family

Marta's relationship with the Thrombey family is complex. She seems to have a good friendship with Meg and tries to be tolerant with the rest of the family as anybody would but it does get complicated. She then decides its best to not financially support the family as its what Harlan would have wanted (not to mention most of them tried to threaten or blackmail her when she got Harlan's inheritance).

* Mrs. Cabrera (mother)
* Alice Cabrera (sister)
* Fran (close friend)
* Harlan Thrombey (best friend-employer)
* Meg Thrombey (best friend)
* Benoit Blanc (partner-in-crime (temporary); later good friend)
* Ransom Drysdale (former friend turned enemy)

## Trivia

* Marta's age is not stated but her email address is martacabrera989@gmail.com, likely implying that she was born in 1989, making her 29 or 30 years old during the events of the film.
* She's good at Go (a game notoriously difficult to master), so much so that Harlan admits the only two people who can beat him at Go are Ransom and her and Marta has beaten Harlan more times than Ransom.