Orual is the main narrator and protagonist of C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces.
Published in 1956, the novel retells the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche from the perspective of Psyche’s older sister. Orual is the queen of Glome, and her account examines love, jealousy, grief, authority, and the difficulty of understanding other people’s motives.
The novel’s title comes from Orual’s developing recognition that people often hide behind self-made identities and accusations. Rather than presenting the myth from the gods’ viewpoint, Lewis makes Orual’s voice central, allowing readers to question the reliability and limitations of her interpretation.
Psyche is the sister at the center of the myth, while Bardia is a trusted soldier and Arnom is a priest. These names can cause confusion because they are prominent in the story, but Orual alone narrates the novel and drives its psychological conflict.