Reynard "Reynie" Muldoon
"'Is that really the best you can say? An average-looking boy? An awful lot of boys are average-looking, S.Q.!' And poor S.Q., he just kept arguing that 'this boy was especially average-looking." ~ Kate Wetherall, The Mysterious Benedict 'Society.
Reynard Muldoon is a former orphan, and part of Mr. Benedict's society of talented children. He may be average-looking, but he is the very epitome of cleverness. He, most of the times, is the leader, planner and organizer of the group. They always turn to him when they encounter riddles and puzzles. Personally, however, he has a negative side for he always doubts himself. What he fears the most is losing his friends and he always tries his best.
Etymology[]
Reynie's name could be pronounced "REH-nee" or "RAY-nee", as most fans tend to pronounce it. This is because "Reynard" is pronounced "REH-nard."
Part of the reason he is named so could be because the name "Reynard" is French, with the meaning "Fox." Reynie has devised numerous plans throughout the series and is a reliable strategist, along with solving several puzzles and unraveling logic puzzles. One notable circumstance displaying this quality was in the third book The Prisoner's Dilemma, in which Reynie devises "Option C," or to break out of the room they are in before making a decision.
Personality[]
Reynie's personality, however, is definitely not average. He has a sense of right and wrong, though to him things seem to appear in shades of gray at times. Reynie has an incredible sense of logic which aids him during the test.He cares deeply for his friends, though in the second book it's shown that he worries about their opinions of him and doesn't trust him with knowledge of the false diamond Captain Noland gave him. He seems to doubt himself and his decisions a lot over the series, as opposed to Kate's eternal confidence and Sticky's eternal low self-esteem.
History (before the series)[]
Reynie was an orphan residing in Stonetown Orphanage in the beginning of The Mysterious Benedict Society. He disliked it there because he was constantly bullied for not fitting in. An example of this is when Reynie mentioned a fellow orphan who teased him when he said he found the book he was reading "enjoyable".
His parents, the original Muldoons, died of an unknown cause and he has lived in the Stonetown orphanage since, being taught by Miss Perumal when he finished all of the curriculums. He was currently working at a senior high school level and is ready to go to college by the end of the series [so far].
History[]
The Mysterious Benedict Society[]
- In The Mysterious Benedict Society, Reynie starts out as an orphan. He sees the advertisement in the newspaper, and Miss Perumal, his tutor, tells him to go for it. She drops him off at the place the test is, and Reynie passes it with flying colors. He then meets a girl named Rhonda Kazembe. She had dropped her pencil down into the sewer, and she asked him to help. Reynie cut his own pencil in half, aiming to sharpen his half, making two pencils. Rhonda offers him the answers to cheat, but he declined the opportunity. The questions to the second test were very hard. Reynie had to skip questions untill he got to question 21. Then he realized that it stated the answer to question 1 in it. He quickly went back and looked at question 2 and 22 and the same trick applied. He barely answered all the questions in time.
- It was announced that Reynie was the only one in his group that passed the second test. He was told to remain in a room where he sat alone for awhile. Then, a bald boy with large glasses comes in. He tells Reynie that his name is Sticky Washington. Reynie and Sticky talked a lot. Sticky said something about a very short girl that had passed the first test also, but then disappeared. After that, another girl ran in. She carried a bucket with her, and she said her name was Kate Weatherthall. They immidiatly came to like Kate, but then had to go to their third test.
- The third test Reynie, Sticky, and Kate passed quite easily. They then came to the hardest test. Inside a building, there was a maze. They each had to make it through the maze- on their own. Rhonda (who apparently worked for the test designer, and was actualy a small, young woman) said that they could do it with their eyes closed. Every room in the maze is identical, and all the walls are painted black. Reynie noticed a pattern, so he went through easily. He then waited for Sticky and Kate.
- After everyone had passed, he learned that he had made it to the gifted children. He went to go meet a man named Mr. Benedict. Mr. Benedict tells them that another person should show up soon, named Constance. Constance shows up soon enough, and is the small girl Sticky saw. Mr. Benedict tells the four of them that there are people who are sending out messages that just appear in your head. He tells them he wants them to stop the person. To stop the person, they have to go to a special academy, for that is where "the Messenger" lived. After a little research they find out "the Messenger" is the headmaster named Ledroptha Curtain.
- The foursome ends up at the academy, two rooms apart. Mr. Benedict tells the kids that he wants them to contact him through Morse code. The four kids meet Jackson and Jillson, two big executives. They take them to class, which they both teach. The classes seem pointless, so Reynie doesn't try at all, but aces all of his tests. Sticky and Reynie soon become messengers, which are the kids that send out the messages. Sadly, Constance and Kate aren't doing well, so in a complicated riddle, Mr. Benedict tells them to cheat. Sticky and Constance get caught, but Reynie and Kate are fine, and the test scores go up.
- Reynie and Sticky's first messenger job had arrived, and Jackson blindfolds them so they can go to the "Messenger Room." They go to a machine called "the Whisperer" and they make the messages. When Sticky was going, Reynie looked around to see how they could get in. They finally finished and scurried back to Constance and Kate.
- Constance, Kate, Reynie, and Sticky make a plan so they can try to stop Mr. Curtain. They end up poisoning the food so all the other messengers would get sick. Then, Reynie and Sticky go to their messenger job. Kate and Constance overslept, so they had to run the whole way there. The two girls ended up climbing to the tallest tower instead of taking the inside way. The two girls almost die in the attempt, but Milligan, the body guard for the foursome, swoops in to save them. It turns out that Milligan is actually Kate's father. Milligan and the girls break through the window and steal "the Whisperer." Mr. Curtain had ran away with his executives.
- They take "the Whisperer" onto Mr. Benedict's boat. The boat soon arrives at his house, where Sticky meets his parents, and Reynie meets Mrs. Perumal. Mrs. Perumal ends up adopting Reynie, and Constance is adopted to Mr. Benedict. Reynie goes home with his new mother.
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey[]
Quotes[]
The Mysterious Benedict Society[]
- "Is this what family is like: the feeling that everyone’s connected, that with one piece missing, the whole thing’s broken?"
Trivia[]
- Reynie is the only member of the Society with brown hair.
- Reynie is the only member of the Society who has been shown to speak mutliple languages: English, and a little Spanish and Tamil.
- He is the only one who knows Kate's secret (she is practicing to cough up keys).