Content Warning: This section references existential dread, disaster and its aftermath, and emotional and psychological distress.

Elsa is a classmate of Mitchell’s from college. In the first chapter, another peer describes Elsa as “not especially attractive or even distinct—a small nose, reddish brown hair hanging loosely to her shoulders, soft eyes spaced a little too far apart, a delicate chin” (9). This description indicates that Elsa could be anyone, and she is in a sense a stand-in for all of humanity. Elsa has an illness called Brugada syndrome, which means her heart could stop at any moment. Mitchell feels that her Brugada makes her significant—that she is uniquely in the position of being constantly subject to catastrophe. In reality, any person can die unexpectedly, but while Mitchell knows this one some level, he behaves as though he can avert any possible disaster by worrying and planning.

Elsa’s character therefore symbolizes the lack of control, and she is key to Mitchell’s journey toward understanding the boundaries and limitations of his own fears. It is not coincidental that his communication with Elsa picks up as he leaves his work at Fitzsimmons Sherman and moves to FutureWorld; Mitchell’s struggle to understand how Elsa copes with her impending doom mirrors his struggle to accept the chaos of the universe.