Since the first episodes of Carnivàle, Ben's parentage is one of the big puzzles.[15][33] As a man named Henry Scudder seems connected to everything and everyone,[17][53] it is Ben's job to piece together the mystery of his own past.[54] The progressing series indicates many characters are more closely interrelated than what both the characters and the audience would imagine at first.[55] Although these links rarely receive plot attention, the immediate genealogy of the main characters is cleared up by the end of the second season.