History Characters / ADayOfFallenNight

[[/folder]]

* AmbiguousEnding: It isn't ''confirmed'' that she is the new Maiden Officiant that Nikeya speaks to. But it's a possibility.

** Nikeya's epilogue suggests that rather than live (and be the cause of continued civil strive in Seiiki) or die on the beach, Dumai chose to return to Ipyeda and become its Maiden Officiant. Maybe.

[[folder:King Bardholt Battlebold of Hróth]]

* TragicVillain: She manipulates Tunuva at every turn, engineers the death of Siyu's lover to drive her out of the Priory, tries to break the trust between Tunuva and Esbar, inflicts a permanent magical injury on Tunuva, and attempts to rob the Priory of the Rising Jewel. Through it all, Canthe also shows genuine empathy for Tunuva's situation as a long-bereaved mother herself and admits that she didn't steal Wulf back because she knew he was happy with the Glenns. Although she can't forgive Canthe, Tunuva does recognize that she is probably the loneliest person in the entire world, and continuing in that state is punishment enough.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: He's faced some suspicion in his life over being a foundling from the haithwood and has learned to keep it secret. Karlsten, one of his lith-brothers, openly despises him for it and in the end Wulfert is forced to kill him.

* RefugeInAudacity: As a girl, Sabran V goads her by asking if she'd like to be queen. Young Sabran answers that she couldn't unless Sabran V was dead--treasonously speaking of the monarch's death ''to her face'' because her great-grandmother couldn't punish another Berethnet.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Her first appearance (after her birth) is halfway up the Orange Tree. The other sisters consider this a serious act of sacrilege, demonstrating both Siyu's adventerous nature but also her faltering belief in the Priory's purpose.

* ReformedButRejected: She develops a sense of real loyalty to Dumai before Dumai trusts her fully--Dumai points out that even saving her life could have been a way to put her under the Kuposa's control by indebting her. This causes a rift between them that isn't fully resolved for a number of chapters.

[[folder:Kuposa fa Fotaja, the River Lord]]

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: She lost Sabran (Sabran I of Inys, that is), likely by simply ''outliving'' her as an immortal. It's also likely that Canthe never got to have a relationship with her either, given what we know from ''Priory'' about how she left Inys.

[[folder:Siyu]]

-->'''Dumai:''' He thought he was winning until he died.

* CruelMercy: When she realizes that her father contracted a form of the plague in order to make his pact with Taugran, Nikeya sits and watches him die in agony rather than give him a quick end.

* HeelFaceTurn: Nikeya begins to shed her father's influence when she sees just how committed Dumai is to enlisting the help of the dragon-gods against the wyrms, while meanwhile he uses it as an opportunity to keep consolidating power.
* HeroicLineage: Her clan carries a thread of siden-granted power--not much, but enough to use the Rising Jewel and to keep them immune to the plague.

* TraumaButton: Honey. She found the dead father of her child beneath a hive he was collecting from, bleeding into the honey, and her son presumably carried off by a wild lion.

* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: Like other Berethnet queens, she suffers from "shadows" that evoke clinical depression.

* CallForward: Esbar banishes her from ever setting foot in the Priory again. Canthe points out that if she does ever choose to return, they'll ''never know'' because she can change her appearance--but she does promise not to do so while Tunuva lives. (This accounts for her having visited again under her real name of Kalyba during Ead's youth in ''Literature/ThePrioryOfTheOrangeTree.)

-->'''Dumai:''' He thought he was winning and then he died.

[[folder:Prioress Saghul]]

* SeriouslyScruffy: For most of the story she is impeccably groomed because her beauty is one of her tools. When she turns up in Dumai's "court" after having traveled on foot for days, she's so filthy, thin, and exhausted that Dumai barely even recognizes her.
* ThisIsUnforgiveable: She abandons her father for good when she learns that he was the one who hired Emperor Jorodu's killers.

* SkewedPriorities: Dumai soon learns that the previous River Lord--her grandfather--was actually an expert in irrigation and water management. Kuposa doesn't seem to do any of that himself.

** After her parents' untimely death, Glorian makes a quick marriage to the seventy-year-old Guma Vetalda of Yscal (when the original betrothed prince dies) because of the wealth he will bring to a badly-battered Inys. Most of the court has the grace to feel ashamed that they're asking a girl just of age to marry a man old enough to be her grandfather, but she goes through it anyway after getting an ironclad excuse to back out (namely, evidence that he's a wood-worshipper) because Inys still needs the cash. Fortunately, Guma isn't interested in sleeping with her either and is pleased she's already "arranged" to get pregnant--he just sleeps chastely in her room for one night to give a plausible illusion that he's the father.
* AmbiguouslyGay: It's hinted that she's aromantic and asexual. In a private argument, she tells her mother that she's never wanted a companion (despite having reached the age where she'd start feeling those desires) and expresses no interest in sexual intercourse for its own sake. Though not repulsed by the act, she only seems to engage in it as a matter of dynastic necessity.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: She stole Armul (who was raised to be Wulf) from the Priory specifically because she knew that parents and children didn't have close relationships there. When she searches high and low with Tunuva to find him, it isn't ''just'' to get in her good books--it's because she really feels bad about making her think her child was dead.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: After a year of plague, invasion by wyrmspawn, and associated hardships, he makes a pact with the wyrm Taugran to become a Flesh King and crosses the line no previous Kuposa had--attacking the Nozikens directly. And then he sacrifices his grandniece to Taugran.

* AltarDiplomacy: Marries the seventy-year-old Guma Vetalda because of the wealth he will bring to a badly-battered Inys. Thankfully, he is glad that she's already made "arrangements" to get pregnant and simply sleeps in her bedroom one time, chastely, to give the illusion that he's the father.

* AsskickingLeadsToAuthority: He became the king of Hróth by defeating the man who murdered his aunt and persuading other clans to unite against their common foe.
* BoistrousBruiser: He's huge, brawny, and jovial. Wulf says that he never slaps you on the wrist when catching someone at a minor misdeed--he slaps you on the back, and it knocks you over.

* TheMagnificent: "Battlebold" is just one of the titles he's earned.

* AffectionateNickname: Bardhold calls her "Ranna" in private.

!The East

[[folder:Unora, the Maiden Officiant]]
Dumai's mother. In her youth, she sought the palace to redress the wrong done to her father and conceived a child with Jorodu, but retreated to the safety of Mount Ipyeda to hide her daughter from court.

* {{Determinator}}: In her youth, she dragged herself from her drought-stricken province to wake a dragon in its shrine.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: After a lifetime of teaching Dumai about mountain safety and setting an example in the temple's rules, Unora runs out with no gear to pursue the "saltwaker" who leaves and nearly dies of exposure. Dumai has no way to account for it until it becomes clear that Unora was trying to stop the capital from learning of Dumai's existence.

[[folder:Kanifa]]

* HeroicSacrifice: When he ends up dangling over a ledge on the mountain Bhrazat and Dumai lacks the strength to pull him up, Kanifa cuts himself loose so she can survive.
* IncompatibleOrientation: He has been in love with Dumai for years even though he knows she's only attracted to women.

[[folder:Emperor Noziken pa Jorodu]]
Dumai's father. He brings her to court in order to have an heir who is not controlled by the Kuposa clan.

* DidntSeeThatComing: For decades the Nozikens could trust that the Kuposa wouldn't commit actual violence against them for fear of offending the gods. That holds until the current River Lord allies himself with the wyrm Taugran and assassinates Jorodu.
-->'''Dumai:''' He thought he was winning and then he died.
* PuppetKing: He knows that the Kuposa clan controls everything and he doesn't like it. He works tirelessly to set up Dumai as a ruler who won't be ruled by them.

[[folder:Lady Kuposa pa Nikeya]]
The daughter and heir of the River Lord. Known as the "Lady of Faces" in court, she attaches herself to Dumai as a part of her father's plans.

* FishOutOfWater: Just as Dumai is out of her element in court, Nikeya flounders when it comes to the rigors of travel at altitude.

Daughter of Unora, the Maiden Officiant of a mountaintop temple. She is also the illegitimate daughter of the Seiikinese emperor, and this upends her life quickly into the story.

* SpareToTheThrone: She's forced to return to the capital when her father, Emperor Jorodu, discovers her and decides to use her as an heir the Kaposas have no influence over.

** Nikeya's epilogue suggests that rather than live (and be the cause of continued civil strive in Seiiki) or die on the beach, Dumai chose to return to Ipeyda and become its Maiden Officiant. Maybe.

* HeroicLineage: He learns late in the story that his resistance to plague and cold are because he's the daughter of a mage from the Priory.

!Inys and the North

* SilkHidingSteel: Bardholt illustrates this when he describes Sabran as a warrior to their daughter. She may not

** Although not a ''disease'', the coloration of her skin is described in such a way as to evoke [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiligo vitiglio]].

[[folder:Emperor Noziken pa Jorodu]]
Dumai's father. He brings her to court in order to have an heir who is not controlled by the Kuposa clan.

* DidntSeeThatComing: For decades the Nozikens could trust that the Kuposa wouldn't commit actual violence against them for fear of offending the gods. That holds until the current River Lord allies himself with the wyrm Taugran and assassinates Jorodu.
-->'''Dumai:''' He thought he was winning and then he died.
* PuppetKing: He knows that the Kuposa clan controls everything and he doesn't like it. He works tirelessly to set up Dumai as a ruler who won't be ruled by them.

[[folder:Lady Kuposa pa Nikeya]]
The daughter and heir of the River Lord. Known as the "Lady of Faces" in court, she attaches herself to Dumai as a part of her father's plans.

!Inys and the West

!The South
[[folder:Prioress Saghul]]
The Prioress at the beginning of the story. Saghul is measured and perceptive.

* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed:
** Although not a ''disease'', the coloration of her skin is described in such a way as to evoke [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiligo vitiglio]].
** After years of apparent good health, she starts feeling malaise and then goes into a steep decline. Later, the Priory's main healer finds a malignant growth and says that such things can develop for years, but the first symptoms herald a swift death--so it's apparent that Saghul died of stomach cancer.
* LetMeTellYouAStory: When Tunuva suggests that Siyu be given an assignment in the Lasian court, Saghul tells a parable of how not everyone can resist the appeal of sun wine, while some can leave half in the glass, and then tips hers over the table to illustrate her point. When she later does agree, Tuva reminds her of this exchange--Saghul replies "I merely voiced some thoughts on sun wine."

[[folder:Munguna Esbar]]
Saghul's munguna, or second-in-command and successor. She is also Tunuva's romantic partner.

* HotBlooded: Saghul describes her as a fire arrow, sure to reach its mark but heedless of what may be torn in its wake--which is why she needs Tunuva to keep her grounded.

Dumai's father. He brings her to court in order to have an heir who is not controlled by

* DidntSeeThatComing: For decades the Nozikens could trust that the Kuposa wouldn't commit actual violence against them for fear of offending the gods. That holds until the current River-lord allies himself with the wyrm Taugran and assassinates Jorodu.

The daughter and heir of the River-lord. Known as the "Lady of Faces" in court, she attaches herself to Dumai as a part of her father's plans.

* DaddysLittleVillain: Her mother did her best to raise Nikeya to be a good person, but after her death, the River-lord made his affection conditional on how well Nikeya worked for him.
* HeelFaceTurn: Nikeya begins to shed her father's influence when she sees just how committed Dumai is to enlisting the help of the dragon-gods against the wyrms, while meanwhile the River-lord uses it as an opportunity to keep consolidating power.

* ThatRemindsMeOfAStory: When Tunuva suggests that Siyu be given an assignment in the Lasian court, Saghul tells a parable of how not everyone can resist the appeal of sun wine, while some can leave half in the glass, and then tips hers over the table to illustrate her point. When she later does agree, Tuva reminds her of this exchange--Saghul replies "I merely voiced some thoughts on sun wine."

* AmbiguouslyGay: She may be asexual. Although she isn't repulsed by the act, she notes that she's never had any real desire for it either and only seems to engage in it for dynastic necessity.

** After her father is killed, Dumai sees that rather than try to outmaneuver the River-lord or submit to him, her best option is to stop engaging with him entirely. She leaves the capital with Furtia to defend Seiiki's people directly.

!The East

[[folder:Unora, the Maiden Officiant]]
Dumai's mother. In her youth, she sought the palace to redress the wrong done to her father and conceived a child with Jorodu, but retreated to the safety of Mount Ipyeda to hide her daughter from court.

* {{Determinator}}: In her youth, she dragged herself from her drought-stricken province to wake a dragon in its shrine.

[[folder:Emperor Noziken pa Jorodu]]
Dumai's father. He brings her to court in order to have an heir who is not controlled by

* DidntSeeThatComing: For decades the Nozikens could trust that the Kuposa wouldn't commit actual violence against them for fear of offending the gods. That holds until the current River-lord allies himself with the wyrm Taugran and assassinates Jorodu.
-->'''Dumai:''' He thought he was winning and then he died.
* PuppetKing: He knows that the Kuposa clan controls everything and he doesn't like it. He works tirelessly to set up Dumai as a ruler who won't be ruled by them.

[[folder:Lady Kuposa pa Nikeya]]
The daughter and heir of the River-lord. Known as the "Lady of Faces" in court, she attaches herself to Dumai as a part of her father's plans.

* AltarDiplomacy: Marries the seventy-year-old Guma Vetalda because of the wealth he will bring to a badly-battered Inys. Thankfully, he is in agreement that they shouldn't consummate the marriage.

* TakeAThirdOption: After her father is killed, Dumai decides that the best way to deal with the River-lord is to stop trying to play his game. She leaves the capital with Furtia to defend Seiiki's people directly.

* TheJinx: He fears that he is a curse on the people around him when the dragons return, being the only one to survive Fýredel's attack on the royal ship and subsequent trip through lethally cold seas, the only one who can survive the plague, and eventually being left with only one other person from his lith alive.

* SpareToTheThrone: She's forced to return to the capital when her father, Emperor Jorondu, discovers her and decides to use her as an heir the Kaposas have no influence over.

Dumai's mother. In her youth, she sought the palace to redress the wrong done to her father and conceived a child with Jorondu, but retreated to the safety of Mount Ipyeda to hide her daughter from court.

[[folder:Emperor Noziken pa Jorondu]]

* DidntSeeThatComing: For decades the Nozikens could trust that the Kuposa wouldn't commit actual violence against them for fear of offending the gods. That holds until the current River-lord allies himself with the wyrm Taugran and

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: