History Characters / AlexVerus

[[spoiler: He finally gets his seat in ''Veiled'', and it becomes quickly apparent that Richard and he are working together, with Morden acting as a public front for the dark alliance.]]

Maybe that wasn’t such a terrible legacy to leave behind.

** He stockpiles gate stones, in order to be able to escape quickly if necessary, regularly shuffling them around or acquiring new ones to be less predictable[[spoiler: those come in handy when Alex and Anne are pursued by Levistus' men across the world]

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids / SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: An interesting case. Alex appears to sit at the middle. On one hand, Alex is certainly not blind to the grey parts of the world, and he knows that there are some things he cannot do, forcing him to make harsh choices, contrasting with mages like Sonder or Caldera who believe in the system. On the other hands, Alex still believes in decency, empathy, friendship, and that the strong should help the weak, something that put him at odds with cynics like Hekalion, Richard or Levistus.

* ComeGreatResponsability: When pushed, Alex admits that he's been helping the adepts or mages new to magic out of a sense of responsibility. If no one helps them then they'll die, and no one appeared to be willing to do it, so he had to.

* ComesGreatResponsability: When pushed, Alex admits that he's been helping the adepts or mages new to magic out of a sense of responsibility. If no one helps them then they'll die, and no one appeared to be willing to do it, so he had to.

* ProperlyParanoid: Alex is all too aware of his weakness, leading him to prepare extensively and think ahead just in case:

** He mentions that he always categorizes people in two categories: those he can trust, and those he cannot, and take care to never let his guard completely drop around people belonging in the second category
** He does his best to hide anything that can represent an edge (Starbreeze, his mist cloak, the dreamstone,...) around people he does not fully trust, regardless of how nice they appear to be
** He stockpiles gate stones, in order to be able to escape quickly if necessary, regularly shuffling them around or acquiring new ones to be less predictable

** He makes sure that everyone has a gate stone to eveyone's appartments, and takes care to refill some vial of blood, in case someone is kidnapped and he has to find them using a seeker focus

->'''Helikaon''': Anything you take into your life, you have to be able to walk away from ten seconds flat, never see it again. Anything else, anything else, it’s dragging you down. You’re asking if I’ve got anything I’d stand and fight for? No, Alex, you fucking idiot, I don’t. That’s why I’m eighty-three and still alive.

->'''Helikaon''':« Anything you take into your life, you have to be able to walk away from ten seconds flat, never see it again. Anything else, anything else, it’s dragging you down. You’re asking if I’ve got anything I’d stand and fight for? No, Alex, you fucking idiot, I don’t. That’s why I’m eighty-three and still alive.

-> '''Levistus:''' For the first time, I will devote significant resources to your removal.You will be placed under siege. Your allies will be driven away or killed. Your bases of operation will be attacked. The process will not necessarily be swift. It is possible you will survive for months or even years. However, given enough time, the end is inevitable. You will be destroyed. And when you fall, there will be no one left to mourn your passing. 

-> '''Verus''':If I hurt one side, I’d be helping the other. Whatever I did, someone I hated was going to profit from this. Was there a third option, some way I could make both of them lose? I couldn’t think of one. It was too binary—if one side was weakened, the other would profit.

* BadassBoasts: Makes a chilling one to Alex. While the contents of the threats are worrisome enough, Alex is extremely disturbed at how matter-of-factly Levistus describes how he is going to thoroughly destroy his life.
* CorruptPolitician: One of the biggest example. Levistus has agents everywhere, and often uses his connections to launch assassinations attempts on his opponents, while he himself remains safe far from the actions.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Truly believes that his being in power makes the world a better place. He is a bit too willing to kill and torture even children or to keep a slave ring in place for the reader to empathize with this sentiment though.

* LittleMissBadass

* Jerkass

* TheChessmaster

* ''{{Badass}}'': Considered by Alex as the only light mage he knows to be able to take on ''Vihaela'' in single combat.

* {{Badass}}: In the climax of ''Bound'',[[spoiler: he casually slaughter Sal Sarque's entire elite black-ops squad with minimal help from Alex]].
* FauxAffablyEvil

* {{Badass}}: As Alex notes, his way of fighting is remarkably simple but effective: he blasts his opponents with his overwhelming power, ending his 'fights' somewhat instantly. Khazad, Deleo and Cinder (three powerful dark mages themselves) never stood a chance.

* {{Badass}}: Can take out the likes of Caldera and Slate in one move and without breaking a sweat

* {{Badass}}: While his strategic abilities are...limited, there is no denying that his battle power is off the chart. He told Alex that he had never been defeated by anyone except Alex equipped with the fatewaver, and Alex considers him as strong as Morden or close. While he might be slightly lacking in technique, he has overwhelming speed and power as well as excellent battle instincts and experience.

* ComesGreatResponsabilities: When pushed, Alex admits that he's been helping the adepts or mages new to magic out of a sense of responsibility. If no one helps them then they'll die, and no one appeared to be willing to do it, so he had to.

The ruling body of the light side of the magic world. Composed of 7 voting members (who form the Senior Council), and 6 non-voting members (forming the Junior Council), it is the highest authority of the light side of the magic world. It has juridiction over all aspects of the light magic world, its official decisions are laws, and it is accountable to no one. While they like to present a veneer of legitimacy, this effectively means that the council can virtually pass and enforce any arbitrary decision at any time, provided enough its members manage to agree on it. [[spoiler: After Morden's proposal finally goes through, not only are dark mages eligible to a seat, they have one seat reserved for them, occupied at several point by Morden (De Jure), and then Alex (De Facto).]]

One of the most influential member of the council. Alex earned his enmity early on, [[spoiler: which worsened after his refusal to let the slave ring White Rose alone]] and he has been one of the more dangerous of Alex's (numerous) ennemies.

* MightMakesRight: Believes quite strongly in the 'True Path', where only power matters, and right and wrong are only decided by a person's ability to enforce his values on others.

* TheyLookLikeEveryoneElse: Richard Drakh doesn't look impressive or imposing, and appears rather ordinary. His mage name doesn't distinguish his magic type either, or is in any way outspoken. That does not mean he should be underestimated - he is the top dog among Dark mages for a reason. [[/folder]]

* Cloudcuckoolander: Can often come accross as scatterbrained. He is far from stupid though, and is far more lucid and perceptive than most.

** [[spoiler: Tt is revealed in ''Fallen'' that most of those unusual abilites come from his having contracted a jinn.]]

[[/folder]]

Morden's Chosen. While he lacks both the social grace and the intellect of Morden, Onyx relies on his powerful force magic to be one of the deadliest fighter in the books.

* TheBrute: Onyx is a thug. All strength and no finesse, who only knows strength.

* CombatPragmatist: As a diviner, Alex is almost always disadvantaged in a straight fight. As a result, most of his move is about making the fight as unfair as possible in his favor and stacking the deck.

* GoodIsNotNice: While he is uncomfortable about it, Alex killed more people in a few years than the average dark mage does in all his life. He can also be ruthless against those who threaten him and/or his friends

* MortonsFork: Has a knack for finding himself in such situations
* MyGreatestFailure [[spoiler: His guilt over leading Tobruk and the other apprentices to Catherine is still a big sore point for him, and he to the present day, he still considers that one of his worst decision ever. The fact that he had a hand in the murder of her brother as well (when the kid came after him to get revenge) did not help.]]

** He does his best to stay in shape. While he'd be hard-pressed to boxe with an elemental mage, being able to run faster and longer than most people is a big factor in his prolonged life.
** He makes sure that everyone has a gate stone to each appartments, and takes care to refill some vial of blood, in case someone is kidnapped and he has to find them using a seeker focus

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids / SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: An interesting case. On one hand, Alex is certainly not blind to the grey parts of the world, and he knows that there are some things he cannot do, forcing him to make harsh choices, contrasting with mages like Sonder or Caldera who believe in the system. On the other hands, Alex still believes in decency, empathy, friendship, and that the strong should help the weak, something that put him at odds with cynics like Hekalion, Richard or Levistus.
* SmallStepsHero: Unlike the great players, Alex has no grand plan or vision. However, he helped countless newcomers knocking at the door of his shop learn and understand better the ways and dangers of the magical world, when they had nowhere and no one else to turn to, probably saving their lives. While he readily admits that this may not seem like much to the powerful men like Morden or Levistus, he nonetheless feels great pride at having been able to do that much.

* WeakButSkilled: As a diviner, Alex does not have the battle power of elemental mages for examples. He relies on his preparations, weapons, CombatClairvoyance and wits to survive.

* PassingTheTorch: [[spoiler: She ends up buying, rebuilding and running the Arcana Emporium after it becomes clear that Alex's precarious position in both light and dark mages society will probably never allow him to set up his shop again in the foreseeable future, if at all.]]

* BenevolentBoss: Morden insists that while he can (and does) force people to work for him on occasions, he prefers willing servants. Alex is surprised to find that Morden is never petty, always pragmatic, willing to listen and explain things to his underlings and usually pleasant enough to talk to. As long as you make clear that you understand that he ''is'' your boss, Morden is a pleasant to work for.

* TheResenter: Onyx is a powerful battle mage, and as such is unable to comprehend the value of anything but raw power. Verus, a physically weak mage, defeating him and making him run for the first time since he'd become Morden's chosen was a [[ItSPersonnal solid blow to his pride]]. Morden continuously speaking of Verus, in a futile way to make Onyx see the value of more intellectual skills, added to his irritation. The final straw was Morden choosing Verus as his aide over him. This convinced Onyx that Morden had replaced him and he became obssessed with proving that he was better than Verus.

* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:After futilely trying to redeem her for years, [[MagnificentBastard Alex finally manages to turn her against her master through manipulations by playing up her feelings of insecurity]], leading her to destroy the dreamstone he used to restrain Jinn-Anne. ]]
* TooDumbToFool: A variation. Alex often has trouble predicting her actions, because her AxCrazy tendencies means that she can quickly change her mind (seriously affecting his abilities to predict the future), and often acts as soon as she takes a decision, leaving little time for an early warning even with divination magic.

* AffablyEvil: While he is a ruthless man, and a brutal fighter, he is also all too happy to go to a McDo with you if you are not ennemies at the moment.

* TheResenter: Onyx is a powerful battle mage, and as such is unable to comprehend the value of anything but raw power. Verus, a physically weak mage, defeating him and making him run for the first time since he'd become Morden's chosen was a [[ItsPersonnal solid blow to his pride]]. Morden continuously speaking of Verus, in a futile way to make Onyx see the value of more intellectual skills, added to his irritation. The final straw was Morden choosing Verus as his aide over him. This convinced Onyx that Morden had replaced him and he became obssessed with proving that he was better than Verus.

* FightsLikeANormal: Richard usually fight relying mostly on basic spells, focuses and weapons. (in fact, upon seeing him figth Alex is slightly disturbed by how similar it is to his own fighting style). As a result, nobody is quite sure what is his magic type.
** [[spoiler: When needed, Richard can call upon his contracted Jinn's power. So far, it let him create gate stone from and to anywhere (ignoring usual interdiction fields), create shields, and create black lances which can pierce common elemental shields)]]

* Badass: While his strategic abilities are...limited, there is no denying that his battle power is off the charts
* TheBrute: Onyx is a thug. All strength and no finesse.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: One of the big reasons that Alex is so terrified of Richard is that he knows that while he survived by outsmarting people, Richard can outsmart ''him''.

* {{Badass}}: In the climax of ''Bound'',[[spoiler: he casually slaughter Sal Sarque's entire black-ops force with minimal help from Alex]].

* HurtingHero: Alex is constantly plagued by guilt over his choice to follow Richard in his youth and what he did. He is also often forced to make hard decisions just to stay alive, protect his friends, or simply be decent while almost everyone around him either distrusts and/or despises him even when he does his best to help them.

* MyGreatestFailure [[spoiler: His guilt over leading Tobruk and the other apprentices to Catherine is still a big sore point for him, and he to the present day, he still considers that one of his worst decision ever. The fact that he had a hand in the murder of her brother as well (when the kid wanted to get revenge did not help.]]
* NoSympathy: Most people refuses to believe that he could be anything else but Richard's apprentices, regardless of what he does. Even after he risks his life to try to impede Richard or save life, most mages refuse to revise their judgements, and are a bit too eager to turn on him.

** He makes sure that everyone has a gate stone to each appartments, and takes care to refill some vial of bloood, in case someone is kidnapped and he has to find them using a seeker focus

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids / SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers
* SmallStepsHero: Unlike the great players, Alex has no grand plan or vision. However, he helped countless newcomers knocking at the door of his shop learn and understand better the ways and dangers of the magical world, when they had nowhere and no one else to turn to, probably saving their lives.

[[/folder]]

* HurtingHero

* ProperlyParanoid