Quentin Coldwater is the protagonist and main character in the novel. Quentin comes from a middle-class family, has a high GPA, and good friends, but is unhappy with his life. He also reads Christopher Plover’s fantasy series Fillory and Further  to escape from his unhappiness. The Fillory series is why he still believes there is more to life than what the everyday world offers. These beliefs get tested when he is invited to Brakebills to study magic. 

Being a student at Brakebills has its ups and downs for Quentin. He meets Alice, Eliot, and the other members of the Physical Kids, and for a time feels that he has finally made it and found the home he’s been looking for. Yet a prank he plays on Professor Fogg allows the Beast to enter and leads to the death of fellow student Amanda Orloff. Quentin never quite forgives himself and over time his optimism wanes and a sense of melancholy and anxiety gain greater hold over him. 

Melancholy is not new to Quentin, and will periodically resurface when things aren’t going the way he expects them to. His expectation that anything good is always on the verge of being lost forever defines how he manages relationships and plans for the future.