Who's Who in the Game

This is my reconstruction of who plays what role in the Game. Of course, many of these are not specifically stated in the book; they are just my guesses. I have a question mark next to each name where this is the case. I might very well be wrong about many of them; if you have any other ideas, please let me know. As you can see, there are also many blanks; I'd appreciate it if someone could help me fill in the blanks.

NOTE: This was from 20 years ago, before The Fire was published. I've had to revise my thinking a lot. Sometime I will revise this, based on information from The Fire.

Mireille's story

Black:
King: Talleyrand
Queen: Mireille (before her: the Abbess of Montglane)
Bishops:
1. Corday?
2. Napoleon's grandmother?
Knights:
1. Napoleon?
2. ?
Rooks:
1. Shahin?
2. Napoleon's mother?
Pawns:
1. Valentine
2. David?
3. Charlot (Mireille's son)?
4. Charlotte (Mireille's daughter)?
5. Mme. de Staël?
6. Elisa (Napoleon's sister)?
7. Wordsworth?
8. Blake?

White:
King: Marat
Queen: Catherine Grand (before her: Catherine the Great?)
Bishops:
1. ?
2. ?
Knights:
1. Philidor?
2. Paul of Russia?
Rooks:
1. Robespierre?
2. ?
Pawns:
1. Simonne (Marat's wife)?
2. Boswell
3. Benedict Arnold?
4. Zubov?
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?

Catherine's story

Black:
King: Harry (before him: Mordecai)
Queen: Catherine (before her: the 200-year-old Mireille)
Bishops:
1. ?
2. ?
Knights:
1. Solarin
2. ?
Rooks:
1. Nim
2. Kamel?
Pawns:
1. Lily
2. Thérèse?
3. Valerie
4. Wahad (or Michel)
5. Fiske
6. Carioca the dog
7. ?
8. ?

White:
King: El-Marad
Queen: Blanche
Bishops:
1. ?
2. ?
Knights:
1. Llewellyn?
2. ?
Rooks:
1. Sharrif?
2. Khaddafi?
Pawns:
1. Saul
2. Hermanold
3. Brodski?
4. Achmet?
5. The cab driver in Algiers?
6. Petard (Catherine's French boss)?
7. ?
8. ?

I'm also trying to reconstruct the previous round, before Mireille's time. Of course, this is more difficult, and I've come up with even more blanks. Sometimes, I'm not even sure who is Black and who is White, but here's what I have so far:

Black:
King: Voltaire?
Queen: The Abbess of Montglane
Bishops:
1. Napoleon's grandmother?
2. Talleyrand (before he became the King; the Game doesn't always follow the rules of chess, after all)
Knights:
1. Euler (mathematician)?
2. Benjamin Franklin?
Rooks:
1. ?
2. ?
Pawns:
1. Mireille's father?
2. Mireille's mother?
3. Franz Fesch (second husband of Napoleon's grandmother)?
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?

In another article, I will try to explain why I think Mireille's parents might have been in the Game.

White:
King: Rousseau?
Queen: Catherine the Great?
Bishops:
1. ?
2. ?
Knights:
1. Philidor?
2. Casanova?
Rooks:
1. Frederick the Great?
2. ?
Pawns:
1. Diderot?
2. Boswell?
3. ?
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?

NOTE: Katherine Neville has said elsewhere that there was no previous round, and that the Game was dormant while the Montglane Service was buried for a thousand years. But it was fun to think about!

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