ZU × ORI: Character Summary

ZU

ZU is an imaginative 16-year-old from Hong Kong and the reincarnation of Juliet Capulet. Reflective and curious about her identity and the world around her, she spends mornings drawing on her tablet as she adjusts to New York and her new school. An aspiring artist and storyteller, she has a power at her core she is only beginning to tap.

ORI

ORI is a talented, enigmatic 17-year-old and the reborn Romeo Montague. Precocious and creative, he is the subject of attention and gossip at Trinity Rose, but little understood. Originally from L.A., he has never quite adapted to New York, nor recovered from the early death of his sister. He is most comfortable in the company of his best friend Hermes.

HERMES

HERMES is an 11th-grader and the reincarnated Mercutio. Humbled and enlightened by an intermediary life in Revolutionary France, Hermes is a Montague Initiate tasked with guiding Zu and Ori toward their destiny. Brilliant, loyal, irreverent, street-smart, fearless, and prophetic: Hermes is all of these and more.

TAI

TAI is the reborn Tybalt Capulet. Domineering and driven, he is the creative face of the House of Capulet. As a projection of his past sufferings, he creates the pain-erasing perfume Nepenthe. Wounded and rageful to the core, Tai dresses in black and yearns for a reunion with Zu, his sister in his Verona life.

PROFESSOR LAUREN

PROFESSOR LAUREN is a young teacher at Trinity Rose and the reincarnated Friar Lawrence. Unaware of her past life, Lauren is naturally drawn to both Zu and Orion, going out of her way to assist each of them. Deeply caring and possessed of easy-going wisdom, she feels a subconscious guilt for her role in Romeo and Juliet’s deaths and seeks to redeem herself.