Adam, called the Harlequin (Adán in some transcriptions), is a damned paladin among the companions of the descent through the Inferno. He bent the cursed hunter Bertrand with a Suggestion, took his lantern of Divine Flame, bonded it to himself and led the descending faction into the third circle.
| Type | Character (paladin) |
| Nicknames | the Harlequin; Suga; “the one with wings” |
| Houses of the Cycle | ☷ House of the Descent · ⛎ The Throne That Is Not Named |
| Spanish entry | Adam, el Arlequín |
Description
He wore bells all over his body, had black hair and a black crest, and moved in an improbable, dancing way; later days remember him simply as “the one with wings”. His bells announced him before he was seen.
Powers and abilities
He bore his order’s gift of sensing the infernal before seeing it, and used it early in the Pit to recognize presences the others only suffered. His hands healed by touch and his voice could summon thunder.
History
He fought Minos, the judge of the entrance.
Toward the end of a day in the second circle, he cast the Suggestion on Bertrand and forced him to hand over the lantern of Divine Flame. Once the hunter’s bond was broken, Adam bonded the lantern to himself — bondeada (“bonded”), in the ritual formula of the Pit — and led the descending faction with Swedenborg, while Sven stepped in to cover him. The company split after that act; Helter stayed with the castle group, without the light. The power over another’s will is not one the paladin’s order teaches; the Archive records the harlequin, figure of the mask and double game, stealing the light as archetypal consistency rather than simple betrayal.
During the passage he was nicknamed Suga among those descending. With the lantern he crossed into the third circle. The days recorded afterward mention him only in others’ memory, as absent.
Relationships
Adam shares the same soul as Arian, the elf of the first noon, and Auro, the golden hero. The line traces an arc of degradation or transmutation — from divinity to heroism, from heroism to the mask. Whether it is blood, echo or successive mask is not fixed.