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SPOILER WARNING
Plot details follow. Caution is advised!

Actually, I don't care about that. I mean, the cards are very interesting and I don't want to discount what you do. But I didn't really come here to have my future told to me. I'm quite okay with finding that out myself.

—Gansey, after receiving the Death tarot card

Richard Campbell Gansey III, mostly referred to just as Gansey, is a student who attends Aglionby Academy. He is friends with Ronan Lynch, Adam Parrish, Noah Czerny, and Blue Sargent, who are aiding him in the search for the supposedly sleeping Welsh King, Owen Glendower.

Biography[]

As a ten year old child, Gansey, who has a deadly allergy to wasps, bees, and hornets, stumbled across a nest of hornets in the woods outside of the home of a family friend. He was viciously attacked, but as he lay dying, he heard the words: "You will live because of Glendower. Someone else on the ley line is dying when they should not, and so you will live when you should not." Gansey miraculously survived this encounter, though it left him traumatized, and it sparked his intense desire to find the ancient Welsh King Owen Glendower.

Gansey went to a variety of high schools, though never for long. He leapt from place to place, often following the ley lines, continuing his research regarding Glendower. These travels led him to various places around the world, including Britain, where he met Professor Roger Malory, a supernatural enthusiast with a sensitivity to energy, who had already conducted his own research into the ley lines. He stayed in Britain for a fairly long amount of time. However, while traveling along a line with Malory, he would sometimes suffer from panic attacks, triggered from the memory of his near-death experience. He got into a terrible argument with Malory and left Britain without a word. At some point, his travels took him to Poland, where he met a man who was able to follow the directions of the ley lines, as long as he was singing, a memory Gansey later recounts to Blue.

Eventually, Gansey came to Aglionby Academy, in Henrietta, Virginia. He purchased an abandoned building, Monmouth Manufacturing, and converted it into his home.

At Aglionby, he met fellow student Ronan Lynch, the son of a wealthy Irishman, Niall Lynch. The two became close friends, despite their seemingly clashing personalities. Later when Niall was killed by The Gray Man, Gansey helped Ronan survive the loss, allowing Ronan to move into Monmouth with him when he was forbidden from returning home. The two consider each other brothers.

Maggie Gansey 01

One of Maggie Stiefvater's drawings of Gansey

Later, Gansey met Adam Parrish, a local boy who had gained a scholarship to Aglionby. The two first became friends when Adam passed by Gansey on the side of the road with his broken down Camaro and Adam, who has experience as a mechanic, taught Gansey how to fix it. They became good friends despite their contrasting backgrounds, though this remains a point of contention between the two. Adam and Gansey do fall out regularly for brief spots of time, generally concerning Adam feeling as if Gansey is "trying to buy Adam" or for his "unwanted pity." However, they consider each other best friends, sharing a deep platonic love.

At some point, Gansey met Noah Czerny and befriended him. Eventually Noah moved into Monmouth with Gansey and Ronan, though neither can remember exactly when that happened.

Gansey meets Blue Sargent when he approaches her at Nino's Pizza where she is working. He tries to act as a wingman on Adam's behalf. In the brief conversation they have, he manages to deeply offend Blue by offering to cover her salary at Nino's for the time it would take for her to speak with Adam, which Blue took to mean that Gansey saw her as a prostitute. However, she feels drawn to him and the other Raven Boys and their quest.

After admitting they both have feelings for each other, Blue and Gansey begin a secret and cautious relationship. They are apprehensive about Blue's curse and don't want to hurt Adam as Blue and Adam had recently ended their own relationship. Gansey becomes sick of hiding their relationship and tells Adam and Ronan that he and Blue are together. Adam, who had already figured it out, thanks him for telling him.

Gansey befriends fellow Aglionby student Henry Cheng. Their friendship begins when Blue and Gansey attend Henry's toga party, where they proceed to make rough plans to travel together to Venezuela after graduation. Henry shares personal secrets with Gansey, strengthening their newborn trust. The two become closer extremely quickly, surprising even them. Henry describes their friendship as jeong, or blood brothers and instant friends. Upon graduation, Gansey, Henry, and Blue do indeed begin their at least year-long travels.

Personality[]

Gansey is optimistic and positive, even in an apparently bad or difficult situation. He is extremely popular with both students and faculty at Aglionby. There is noted to be "two Ganseys," particularly by Adam. One is fragile, slightly eccentric, and passionate who is dedicated to his dogged search for Glendower. This version of Gansey is an insomniac, chews mint leaves, drives a loud, orange Camaro, and has a miniaturized model of Henrietta in his apartment. On the inside, Gansey is a mess of anxiety, sadness, resentment, and PTSD. He believes that his privileged upbringing means he needs to make a difference in the world and has no excuse to feel bad about anything ever. The second version of Gansey is charismatic, sociable, persuasive, and rules as the "king of Aglionby Academy." On the outside, he comes across as incredibly intelligent, charming, handsome, and wealthy. He does his best to constantly appear friendly and good-natured. The difference between the two Ganseys is said to be visible in his expression. Most people fail to see beneath his effortlessly handsome exterior and confident smile. He's often polite even when others expect him to be irritated, which Blue believes is a way of retaining power for himself.

While Gansey may seem like a rich snob at first, his most noble trait is his fierce loyalty to his friends. He would do anything for them, and he doesn't choose them because they are popular or rich. Instead, he chooses his friends because he sees something valuable in each of them even if they don't see it in themselves. His kindness and deep love for his friends goes far beyond surface level. For example, he wanted to use Glendower's favor to bring Noah back to life, despite knowing that he's dying himself.

Gansey comes from an old-money family and it shows. He owns his own apartment instead of living in the dorms at his private school, tries to pay people for their time, and thinks nothing of spending large amounts of money. One of his major flaws is that he tends to accidentally say offensive or condescending things, then makes it even worse when he tries to explain himself. He is also "stupid about money" as Adam remarks, without meaning to be. Gansey admits that he doesn't mean to be careless, it's just that he never seems to realize the consequences of his actions until it is too late. He spends a lot of time trying to separate himself from his money and his father in particular but can't help where he comes from.

Gansey is driven to do something with his life to make it meaningful. He believes the quest to find Glendower is going to define his life, and so he’s indefatigable when it comes to reaching his goal. Gansey is described as psychically "very loud," along with Ronan and Adam, by Maura SargentPersephone Poldma, and Calla, when they go for a reading.

Maggie Gansey 03

Physical Description[]

Gansey is described as handsome with an “all-American war hero look to him.”[1] He has a square build, tousled brown hair, hazel eyes, and a strong, straight nose. His school uniform, with its raven monogram, tie and chinos, is impeccable. At home, Gansey wears a different kind of uniform: khaki shorts, colourful collared shirts, and Topsiders. In Maggie Stiefvater’s book trailer, Gansey is portrayed as white. He wears contact lenses to correct his poor vision and dons wire-framed glasses in private.

Special Abilities[]

Gansey can command spirits. He brings a horde of decayed animal skeletons back to life in the caves below Henrietta, and exorcised Noah of the Demon by commanding he, “be Noah.” With the help of Gwenllian’s mirror abilities, he demanded to be shown the way to Glendower and was guided by a flock of ravens. He can also magically command certain things to happen.

Possessions[]

  • Camaro: Gansey has an orange 1973 Camaro, which he affectionately calls "The Pig." On one hand, the Pig is a classic, sporty muscle car with an insanely powerful engine. On the other hand, it rattles, breaks down constantly, is super cramped on the inside, smells like gasoline, is so loud people have to yell to be heard whenever they drive places in it, and the radio and air conditioner are almost always weak or broken.
  • Journal: Gansey collects information about his search for Glendower in a leather-bound journal. It is bloated with glued-in book passages, maps, notes, and doodles.
  • Mint plant: Gansey keeps a mint plant on his desk. He stashes a handful of leave in his pocket to chew on.
  • EpiPen: Gansey tries to carry one with him due to his deadly allergy to bees, hornets, and wasps. However, he considers his EpiPen useless because it's not powerful enough to overcome his reaction after even just one sting. In book 1, when hiking in the woods with Gansey, Blue chides him for leaving it in the glove box of the Camaro; later Ronan mentions bringing Epi pens back from dreams for Gansey.

Relationships[]

Romances[]

Gansey is Blue's true love. At their first meeting, Blue considered Gansey to be just another rich playboy snob. In fact, their first meeting is so disastrous, that Blue goes on to regard him as a condescending jerk. She is not impressed by his suave ways or taken in by his handsome features. She can’t imagine how she would ever fall in love with him. Blue does discover early on though that Gansey's genuinely unaware of his own condescension. However, Blue can't deny how enormously attractive Gansey is. They become solid, good friends before dating. Gansey tells Adam that he thinks Blue is his true love because, something about her makes him feel “quiet in the way Henrietta does,” and because he can sleep after talking to her, despite his insomnia.

Friends[]

Gansey and Ronan became friends before Niall’s murder. Ronan was Gansey’s first friend at Aglionby. Gansey worries over Ronan frequently, especially when Ronan goes drinking, racing, or missing in the middle of the night. He repeatedly chides Ronan to behave properly. Gansey is often “cleaning up” Ronan’s messes. He breaks up fights between Ronan and Declan, and blackmails Headmaster Child to keep Ronan from being expelled. Ronan is extremely dependent on Gansey after his father’s death and subsequent banishment from his home. They think of each other as brothers. Both suffer from insomnia and occasionally spend time together when neither can sleep. Their friendship is close enough that Kavinsky is convinced Ronan must be in love with Gansey, which is not true. Though Ronan definitely finds Gansey physically attractive despite not having romantic feelings for him. He repeatedly gets angry at himself for noticing how good Gansey looks when looks like a “normal person” by wearing jeans and a t-shirt, rather than his usual “polished, unattainable self.”

Adam and Gansey become close friends a few months after Adam begins attending Aglionby Academy. Adam notices that Gansey's Camaro was broken down on the side of the road. Knowing how to fix cars, he stops and offers to help. Gansey readily accepts Adam's help and they become fast friends. However, their friendship can become tense and stressed at times because Gansey continues to offer money to Adam, which is something Adam despises. Gansey eventually accepts Adam's notion of independence. Adam seems to be slightly envious of Gansey. He admits to studying Gansey's mannerisms and easy-going gestures and it's the only master class that he has never gotten good at. Gansey can’t quite understand why Adam would sacrifice himself. But Adam sees it as his way of trying to lay claim to himself and his destiny.

Noah and Gansey are best friends. Gansey is horrified by the fact that he is only alive because Noah died on the ley line at the same moment as Gansey was dying from a wasp sting.

Henry and Gansey are close friends. Gansey has admitted on several occasions that Henry is one of the few people who truly knows him.

Family[]

Appearances[]

Trivia[]

  • Maggie Stiefvater has said that Gansey's nickname of "Jane" for Blue is a reference to Dick and Jane.[2]
  • Gansey's Camaro is based off Maggie Stiefvater's own car.[2]

Gallery[]

Maggie Stiefvater[]

Fanart[]

References[]

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