Michel Desjardins

Michel Desjardins (most commonly called by his last name) was a magician of French descent and the former Chief Lector of the House of Life. He is now deceased, and his place has been taken by Amos Kane.

Background
Little is known about Desjardins' early life, but he was born about 200 years ago, a young age by magicians' standards. His great-uncle is Jean-François Champollion, the man who deciphered the Rosetta Stone. Because Jean-François was the first man outside of the House of Life to unleash magic, Desjardins was invited to join the House and receive training. Although Desjardins is proud of his family, he is also sensitive about being a newcomer to the House of Life. He lives in a house on Rue des Pyramides with a large magical library; it is somewhat odd that his door is red, the color of Set.

The Red Pyramid
Desjardins, along with Zia Rashid, was assigned to watch Julius Kane for any signs that he may attempt to release a god. When Julius uses the Rosetta Stone to release Osiris (as well as four other gods), the Stone is destroyed, infuriating Desjardins as he is a descendant of the man who deciphered it. However, the Stone was later repaired by magic.

After Zia retrieves the Kane siblings and brings them to the First Nome, Desjardins immediately wishes to have them executed in the fear that they are hosting gods. Chief Lector Iskandar refuses and decides instead to test them as magicians. The next evening, Iskandar dies and Desjardins becomes the new Chief Lector, ordering the execution of Carter and Sadie Kane. They escape, but Desjardins, Zia, Mel, and an unnamed magician take on the mission of killing the siblings. Meanwhile, Sadie and Carter begin to suspect that Desjardins is the host of Set, but later abandon this theory. Their uncle, Amos Kane, is later revealed to be the unwilling host for Set. Desjardins attacks the Kane siblings at Las Cruces, unleashing Sekhmet upon them, but due to their cleverness and the aid of Amos and Zia, they survive. Desjardins later joins the House on the assault on Set, but is ultimately unable to harm the god and he is only defeated once Sadie uses his secret name. When Desjardins accuses Sadie and Carter of being drunk on the power provided by the gods they are hosting, they prove him wrong by willingly asking the gods to leave them, much to Desjardins' shock. Although still reluctant to give up his belief that the way of the gods will doom them, Desjardins lets the siblings go unharmed - for now.

The Throne of Fire
Desjardins is initially portrayed as an enemy to the Kanes. He sides with Vlad the Inhaler, even though Carter continuously informs him that Vlad is trying to unleash Apophis and all his chaos on the world, which Desjardins later finds accurate. In the battle against Vlad in the Duat, near where Apophis is chained, Desjardins sides with the Kanes and dies after sealing Apophis in for a while longer.

Personality
Desjardins is angry, arrogant, and narrow-minded. He strongly believes in the way of the House of Life and refuses to even consider the Kane siblings' predicament, instead viewing them only as a threat.

Appearance
Little description of Desjardins is given, but he is noted to wear cream-colored robes and sport a forked beard. Whereas his skin is also blue, similar to Osiris.

Powers and Abilities
Like many House-trained magicians, Desjardins is a powerful magician; the fact that he was able to achieve the position of Chief Lector implies that his power is truly exceptional. He has the ability to summon Sekhmet once in his life because he is the Chief Lector (every Chief Lector can), but squanders it while attempting to hunt down the Kane siblings.

He is an elementalist. When he hunts down the Kanes, he shows that he specializes in earth, as he controls boulders and makes an earthquake. When Zia summons the pillar of fire, Desjardins first attacks it with water, which evaporates then with boulders.

Relationships
Julius Kane: Michel's main rival was Julius. The first time Julius broke the regulations against summoning gods, Desjardins started hating him. He couldn't understand how Julius got the nerve to break the rules. This made him bitter. And the fact that Julius destroyed the Rosetta Stone, did nothing more but expand Desjardins' anger. His family had links with the Rosetta Stone, and Michel felt embarrassed.

Amos Kane: Desjardins seemed to have a complicated relationship with Amos. He didn't like him as Amos was the brother of Julius Kane. On the other hand, he felt like Amos' friend. This was one of the reasons he didn't attack Amos when the magician was healing from Set's taking over. Realizing that he was dying, Desjardins gave the Chief Lector cape to the Kane siblings, to give to Amos.

Trivia
Desjardins translated into French, his native tongue, means "gardens".

Sadie calls him "Monsieur Evil" and "Monsieur Delightful".