Welcome to the world of Vindictus: Characters, Locations, and Plot Insights
Two thousand years leave behind a great many names, places, alliances—and enemies. This reader guide is designed as a companion to the novel, providing quick reference to the characters, ancient Houses, historical figures, and locations woven through Hannibal’s long life.
Use it when a name from the past resurfaces, when an old allegiance becomes important, or simply when you want to know where history ends and Vindictus begins.
Keep in mind this guide may contain minor spoilers. If you’ve just begun the novel, you may want to explore it as you read.
Explore the Guide
Ancient Houses | Primary Characters | Other Characters | Hannibal’s Past | Locations & History
The Soundtrack to Vindictus
Music plays an important role throughout Hannibal’s modern journey. This playlist follows the emotional arc of the novel—from memory and longing to violence, exhaustion, and plot resolution.
HOUSES of CONCLAVE
Conclave is a council of ancient family houses that remain in communication and collaborate to direct human affairs, including commerce and politics. A few ancient houses, perhaps once members of Conclave, exist outside the council. And there are rogue houses, as well. But member houses include these families:
- Bismarck (royal/noble German family since 1270)
- Cerdic (Wessex royal clan)
- Charlemagne (descendents of King—and subsequently Emperor—Charlemagne, who protected Europe from eastern invasion)
- Maher (a founding House of Conclave, from the Lebanon region)
- Masinissa (descendants of the Numidian royals in during the Punic Wars)
- Medici (Renaissance banking family)
- Mitsui (born of samurai but became merchants in the 1600s)
- Ptolemy (descendants of the Macedonian general who served Alexander the Great and became master of Egypt following Alexander’s death)
- Rockefeller
- Rothschild (the uber wealthy finance family that’s the newest member of Conclave—represented by Dame Louisa Rothschild)
- Scipio (sworn enemies of Hannibal dating back to the First Punic War)
- Wu (descendants of a Chinese emperor whom Hannibal aided to solidify Chinese rule)
Nonmember Houses
- Khan (descendants of Genghis Khan, obligated to Hannibal for his help establishing the Mongol empire)
- Romanoff (descendants of Anastasia Nikolaevna, whom Hannibal helped escape from the Communist slaughter, including her granddaughter Tatiana Smith)
- Themistocles (the most ancient of all houses, comprising descendants of the master of the Greek victory over King Xerxes and the Persian Empire)
Hannibal Barca (of the Punic Wars) teaches history at a high school in Houston. There are very few people who know he is an immortal, who has watched two millennia of history unfold.
Hannibal’s modern name is Henry Mico (“mico” means flash as in a flash of lightning); past names include Viduyt, Han Baraq, Barracus, and Barry Flint, reflecting various languages’ terminology for lightning. He once had a wife—Imilce, who was a princess of a local king on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain). Together, he and Imilce had a daughter, Elissa (named for the founder of Carthage), and a son (Aspar).
Leonardo Bostare is The Hound, a hunter in a long line of tracker descendants of Carthaginian hostage child taken by the Romans in pursuit of Hannibal. The Hound hunts or chases down leads to Hannibal’s whereabouts for House Scipio.
Maximus Fell is a director leading the Houston office of a US government agency but may be attached to Interpol or a like organization. His father was a medical doctor who served at Pearl Harbor and amateur historian.
Dimitrios Laskaris is the first male born of the modern House Themistocles of Greece. He has known Hannibal since being introduced to him by his father.
Steven Oprea is a descendant of bannermen to the Romanoff. As an assassin, he serves as a guardian angel to Hannibal as a counterpart to the Hound. Steve and Hannibal often collaborate, although they are not always on the same side.
Natalie Post (née MacCormac) is a guidance and academic counselor at Bellaire High School. She both works closely with Henry Mico and admires him. She is at the end of a troubled marriage with husband, Derek Post.
Cornelia Scipio is Lucius’s younger sister. While Lucius was raised in the vengeance philosophy by their father, Cornelia was not.
Lucius Scipio is a descendant of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, who defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in Tunisia.
Alice Wu is Jefferson Wu’s wife. An analyst for Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, she is a member of the ancient family of Kao Liang-Hui.
Jefferson Wu (nicknamed Shao Yih, which means “small Jeff”) is a high-ranking agent with the Taiwan National Security Bureau (NSB) office in Houston. His role is overseeing the local quartermaster branch, codenamed Breeze Garden. He descends from the Wu Han dynasty, and his family is a member of Conclave.
Dame Louisa Rothschild represents the Rothschild family in Conclave. She is intelligent and conniving.
Borko Ptolemy Urania Sohaemus is the eldest son of House Ptolemy of Egypt. He and Lucius Scipio have been close friends since childhood. However, Borko is also a longtime friend of Hannibal and closely associated with the survivors of House Romanoff.
Shashoujian are an almost mythical Chinese league of assassins named after the word for “assassins’ mace.”
OTHER NOTABLE CHARACTERS
Agent Cantrell is an aide to Director Fell and long-time resident of Bellaire.
“Mac” MacDonald is the principal of Bellaire High School. He’s known Henry for many years and they are close colleagues.
Gaius Terentius Varro was a Roman consul at Cannae. He survived and recorded eyewitness accounts from soldiers.
Henry Mico’s Students
- Travis Gleason
- Tytus Powers
- Carter Toomey
- Danielle West
Taiwanese Contingent
- Yen Tung Lin—Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Kwan Hua Pan—local Houston National Security Bureau director
- Ray Chen Wu—elder of House Wu and great-uncle of Jefferson Wu
Hackers
- Atoz
- Omega
- Spectre
- Doctor Xin
Romans
- Aurelia—niece of Timidus Sulla and daughter of the Roman nobleman Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus
- Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina—fought Hannibal’s father, Hamilcar Barca, in the First Punic War. It was then that Asina lost the battle and surrendered the treasured sword of the Scipio family.
- Timidus Gaius Sulla—emissary of Rome and of a noble family.
- Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus—Roman nobleman and military leader who developed the successful “delayer” strategy to combat Hannibal. His daughter was Aurelia, and he was related by marriage to Timidus.
Incidental But Notable Characters
- Alan Bourdillion Traherne (Mississippi)—a fictional character from the western film El Dorado
- Archimedes—ancient mathematician and inventor who lived on Sicily
- Aspar—Hannibal’s son
- Batsalon—Elissa and Bostar’s son, grandson to Hannibal
- Betty—bartender at Little Woodrow’s
- Bostar—Elissa’s husband, son-in-law to Hannibal
- Brittany—an agent who works with Cantrell and Fell
- Special Agent Burke—US National Security Agency agent
- David Christopher—attorney for Hannibal and Natalie Post, a grown version of the fictional character from the novella Lancelot’s Brother: A Champion’s Chronicle.
- Derek Post—Natalie Post’s ex-husband.
- Elissa—Hannibal’s daughter
- Lamont Cranston—pulp-fiction character whose alter ego was The Shadow
- Mago—one of Hannibal’s brothers
- Marie Laveau—a purported Voodoo queen of New Orleans in the 1870s
- Marta—Dame Louisa Rothschild’s assistant
- Nikki—bartender at The Continental Club
- Shaun—bubbly parent of one of Hannibal’s students
- Tatiana Smith—descendent of Anastasia Romanoff
Hannibal’s Past Loves (in order)
- Imilce
- Adrina
- Freyja
- Nohai
- Lidia
- Abigail
IMPORTANT LOCATIONS
Bellaire, Texas, is a small incorporated city of about 15,000 people within a 3.6 square mile area, surrounded by the Houston metropolis. This fiercely close community is home to Bellaire High School, a Houston public school but with the largest student population in the Houston Independent School District and a reputation for academic excellence. Hannibal teaches history there.
Carthage, North Africa, was a powerful coastal port located in what is now Tunisia. It was an important city state and constituent of ancient maritime power of Phoenicia. Carthage went to war with Rome three times, known as the Punic Wars. The conflict ended with Rome destroying the city and slaughtering most of its citizens, except for a relatively few taken as slaves.
Castulo, Spain, was the home of Hannibal’s wife, Imilce. It was also the site of a Carthaginian victory over a Roman army with the aid of local Iberian mercenaries. Rome ultimately made a pact with the residents of city, betraying their former Carthaginian allies.
Kitzbühel, Austria, is a small Alpine town between Innsbruck and Salzburg in the western Austrian province of Tyrol. Now a fashionable winter resort, upscale shops and cafes line the streets of its medieval center.
Konya, Turkey, is the geographic center of Turkey. Just outside the city is Mount Takkeli, which is the location of Gevale Castle at its crest, now under archaeological excavation. This ancient fortress secretly houses Conclave.
Rome, Italy, was established at Palantine Hill, the central of the Seven Hills of Rome by Romulus after he murdered his brother, Remus, whose preference was Aventine Hill. The latter, however, remains prominent, overlooking the Tiber River, Circus Maximus, and the Forum. It is an affluent area.
Saguntum (modern name Sagunto) was a Roman city in ancient Iberia and what is now Spain’s Valencia province in the extreme northeast of the country. Hannibal’s siege of the city triggered the Second Punic War.
Trebia, Italy, a northern region of the Italian peninsula, is the site of the Battle of Trebia, the first major engagement between Roman forces after Hannibal led his army through the Alps into Italy. The battlefield is along the Trebia River, which is notably swampy.
Battle of Zama was held near the modern-day Tunisian city of Sakiet Sidi Youssef, then known as Naraggara, a day’s or more march from Carthage. The Battle of Zama was the final encounter between Scipio and Hannibal. Hannibal lost and retired into public service.
