Princess Irene is a dynamic character, who matures as the story progresses.

During the course of the action she gradually, and at times painfully, learns that there is a supernatural reality beyond the observable world, a truer reality whose power is tapped by having faith in the unseen. In the first part of the story Irene struggles to convince herself that Grandmother actually exists and is concerned with the health of her soul. At first, Irene is frustrated because Lootie will not believe such a being exists, but later Irene herself begins to think the whole experience was only a dream. Midway through the story, Irene's faith wavers for the last time. One of the goblin's malformed creatures surprises Irene in her bedroom. Instead of going upstairs as Grandmother instructed, "her heart failed her" momentarily and she rushed foolishly outside where the goblins could...