The House of the Scorpion Characters

Matt (Matteo Alacrán)

By the end of the book, Matt is the ruler of his very own country (we bet Max from Where the Wild...

El Patrón

El Patrón gets compared to a vampire multiple times throughout the novel, and it's never a...

Celia

We'd just like to go on record saying that Celia is amazing She's Matt's mother in all the ways...

Tam Lin

Tam Lin, Matt's mentor and guardian, is not someone you want as an enemy. He's huge and menacing...

María

As Matt's love interest, María could have just as easily been a dolt – nothing but...

Tom

Tom isn't the ultimate villain of the story. That honor goes to El Patrón. But Tom is...

Mr. Alacrán

Mr. Alacrán is El Patrón's great-grandson and the heir to Opium. This might seem...

Felicia Alacrán

Felicia is Mr. Alacrán's wife and she, more than anyone else, reveals what a horrible...

Steven Alacrán

Steven is a lot like his mother and father in terms of his ability to surprise us. When we first...

Chacho

Chacho is a Lost Boy who becomes one of Matt's best friends. In fact, you might say he's Matt's...

Fidelito

Fidelito is only eight years old, and he has a spectacularly bad time in the custody of the...

Ton-Ton

Ton-Ton is a Lost Boy at the Plankton Factory with a bad case of acne, a speech impediment, and a...

The Other Lost Boys

The name "Lost Boys" is a shout-out to a Shmoop-personal favorite: Peter Pan. Peter Pan was the...

The Keepers

Jorge is – let's face it – a sociopath. The guy is nuts. A Keeper to the extreme,...

El Viejo

Though he's El Patrón's grandson, El Viejo actually appears to be a lot older than El...

Senator Mendoza

Senator Mendoza is a United States Senator and a somewhat associate and ally of El...

Emilia Mendoza

It's rather fitting that Emilia marries Steven; they have a ton in common. Both start out the...

Esperanza Mendoza

Esperanza Mendoza is Senator Mendoza's ex-wife and the mother of Emilia and María. She...

Mr. MacGregor

Mr. MacGregor might be even creepier than El Patrón, which is really saying something....

Daft Donald

Daft Donald is a mute bodyguard who works for El Patrón. He's also a good friend to Tam...

Rosa

Rosa seems to be in the running for the ultimate villain at the beginning of the book. When we...

Willum

Though he's a fairly competent doctor, Willum is a pretty awful person. He really has it in for...

Mr. Ortega

Mr. Ortega, Matt's music teacher, is one of the few nice adults in our young hero's life. Mr....

Teacher

Matt's first teacher is an eejit woman who only knows how to do a few simple things, like count....

The Farm Patrol (Hugh, Ralf, and Wee Wallie)

These guys are all members of the dangerous Farm Patrol. They are all criminals from the United...

Felipe

Have a looksee at this scene between Matt his and clone-daddy, El Patrón:"Is that the...

Seriously Minor Characters

Benito is Steven's brother and the eldest son of Felicia and Mr. Alacrán. He never really...