Elinor Loredan

Elinor Loredan is a plump, elderly lady that lives in Italy. She is the aunt of Teresa Folchart who has a passion for books and has collected them her whole life.

Approached by the Folcharts
Meggie and Mortimer Folchart moved in with Elinor in the hopes of avoiding Capricorn, and she was instructed to keep Inkheart safe, as Elinor had many, many books all over her house, her most valuable ones in her library, and the book perhaps could just blend in. But her house was then ransacked as Capricorn's fire-raisers searched the house to find what they were looking for, the book. They took the book and Mo, but Meggie soon realized Elinor had actually swapped the books and they'd taken the wrong one. Fearing her father might have been harmed because of this, Meggie, along with Elinor and Dustfinger, went to Capricorn's village. When Elinor came back to her house in Italy, she found her favourite and most valuble books burnt and a red rooster hanging on her bookshelf. All her books were destroyed by the fire-raisers, thus she insisted on finding the evil Capricorn to avenge her beloved books.

Mortola's revenge
Meggie read herself into Inkworld with Farid, leaving her family shocked and depressed by her absence. Soon after, Orpheus, Basta, and Mortola broke into Elinor's house; Resa, Mo, Basta, and Mortola were read into the Inkworld by Orpheus, leaving Elinor and Darius behind and still being locked in her own cellar. Elinor eventually started sobbing and tried to persuade Darius to read her into the book, too. Daruis refused, as he stuttered while he read and this left people deformed after travelling into a new story.

Family reunion in the Inkworld
Elinor had been angry and complained about anything as she missed Meggie, Mo, and Resa and it had been months without any news from them. Elinor starts to get fed up with being crammed in her house without the Folcharts or anyone else to keep her company besides the stuttering Silvertongue and Orpheus' dog. Much later, Elinor managed to get Darius read them both into the Inkworld to join Mo, Resa, and Meggie.

She later lived with Darius and began to build up her collection of books again.

Personality
She dislikes children, but makes an exception for Meggie. She has an aura of an extremely knowledgeable person around her. Meggie thought Elinor was rude at first.

Elinor loves books and has a hobby of buying old books. It is known she receives book catalogues. Elinor is not very social, receiving very few visitors, preferring the company of her books. She isn't really a nervous person. Elinor cares little for her appearance. She is rather impatient and often irritated. Elinor doesn't like children, because she feels that they harm her books, shown when Mo reassures her that Meggie would not "get jam on your books or tear out the pages to wrap up dead frogs".

Physical attributes
Elinor is an older woman with a stern face and short neck. She has gray hair that is pinned up but falls out around her face due to being hastily done. She dresses quite plainly, mostly in grays. Her eyes are also quite small, as Meggie describes them as looking like pebbles.

Meggie Folchart
Meggie disliked Elinor at first but they gradually warmed up to each other.

Dustfinger
Elinor didn't trust Dustfinger when Mo brings him to her residence. This dislike deepened to hatred when they realise Dustfinger had betrayed them to Capricorn.

Behind the scenes

 * In the film adaptation of Inkheart, Elinor wears a long skirt and a coat and usually a hat when she's outdoors.