Dan is the main antagonist in the story. Dan is very self absorbed and kills his wife rather than let him leave her. It appears that Dan didn't necessarily want his wife to stay, as is shown by the fact that Dan was having a very serious affair with Hixie, but rather wanted Joy's glaze and the fame that would be brought from the pieces. Any time that Dan is talking he is typically quick to explain how wonderful his own art pieces are and how anyone that doesn't speak highly of them is someone who is a moron and doesn't know what they are talking about. When Dan speaks in a room it usually ends all conversation from anyone else that happened to be speaking.