The Master is an unassuming but opinionated asylum inmate. His account of the difficulties of writing his novel about Pontius Pilate, which mirrors Bulgakov's experience, makes the Master appear to be a stand-in for the author himself. For now the Master is remarkable for being the only person to immediately believe Bezdomny's story. This gives him a heightened status in the story because he is cognizant of certain things that the reader knows to be true. In fact, his knowledge of Pontius Pilate makes him nearly on level with Woland on at least one subject, a status which has so far escaped every other mortal character in the novel.