History Characters / ExileDuology

[[center:[-[[Characters/HeraldsOfValdemar Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/DeitiesAndGeneralCharacterTropes Deities and General Character Tropes]] | [[Characters/MageWarsTrilogy Mage Wars Trilogy]] | [[Characters/LastHeraldMageTrilogy Last Herald Mage Trilogy]] | [[Characters/CollegiumChronicles Collegium Chronicles]] | [[Characters/BrightlyBurning Brightly Burning]] | [[Characters/VowsAndHonor Vows and Honor]] | [[Characters/ExileDuology Exile Duology]] | [[Characters/ArrowsTrilogyAndRelatedBooks Arrows Trilogy and Related Books]] | [[Characters/MageWindsAndMageStorms Mage Winds and Mage Storms]] | [[Characters/DariansTale Darian'sTale]]-]]]

This subsection of the Characters/HeraldsOfValdemar CharacterSheet covers the characters featured in the ''Exile'' duology.

!Queen Selenay and Companion Caryo
* AChildShallLeadThem: Zig-Zagged. Selenay was WiseBeyondHerYears and a good Queen when she first took the throne at 20. However, her advisors can't take her seriously, she's painfully naïve at times and the stress of ruling when she should be enjoying her youth nearly breaks her.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Has blonde hair and is a genuinely good person.
* TheHighQueen: What she has matured into by the "Arrows" trilogy.
* HorsingAround: Caryo deliberately lets Thanel 'catch' and try to 'break' her in order to reveal his despicable character. When she decides things have gone on long enough, she kicks him, he threatens to ''kill'' her, and public sympathy runs away from him almost immediately.
* HuntingAccident: Prince Thanel tried to arrange one. It didn't end well for him.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Talia, her Queen's Own, is almost young enough to be her daughter, but Selenay always respects her and listens to her advice.
* IronLady: She tries to be this in public, and usually succeeds (it helps to have Talia to talk to in private). Her façade breaks at least once, when a messenger brings news that a group of child hostages had been murdered in a standoff gone awry -- everyone at the Council table stares while Selenay weeps openly.
* LadyOfWar: He's not in combat much, but when she is she is definitely queenly.
* LonelyAtTheTop: Selenay is Exhibit A as to why the Monarch's Own Herald is so necessary. Talamir was an absent Queen's Own at best, leaving Selenay with no one to confide in or be friends with. This took a heavy toll on her mental and emotional state and led to to making poor decisions early in her reign.
* LoveAtFirstSight: With [[spoiler:Prince Daren]], in ''By the Sword''. It helps that they met moments after he had [[TheCavalry come in with unexpected reinforcements]] and saved the day.
* LoveMakesYouDumb: Deconstructed with her and Prince Thanel. Sure, he's a bad choice, and she definitely overlooks a few red flags because she's decided it's True Love... but she's also under a massive amount of pressure and still grieving for her father, plus her therapist/main adviser is more or less out of commission, and Thanel seems like the only uncomplicated good thing in her life. So it's more like "being under stress with no one to trust makes you vulnerable".
* MaidenAunt: Selenay sees Caryo as this; a sweet but asexual figure who doesn't understand relationships, let alone sex.
* MamaBear: Comes through in a rather obstructive, somewhat belated way to Elspeth during ''Winds of Fate,'' much to the latter's frustration. Selenay is not pleased when her daughter quite reasonably points out that she's expendable, since [[spoiler: Selenay has just had twins with Daren and Elspeth is no longer the sole Heir]]. It's hinted that Selenay feels guilty for leaving Elspeth to be raised by others, and her overprotectiveness is her way of trying to make up for it.
* MindlinkMates: She forms a Lifebond with [[spoiler: Daren]]
* ModestRoyalty: Out of combat she wears Whites like all Heralds, with no other decoration but a simple gold circlet. Talia had no idea who she was for a good portion of their first conversation. Her armor is well-made but the only concession to her rank is a small gold crown on her helm.
* ParentsAsPeople: Selenay is a Herald first, the Queen second, and a mother to Elspeth third. Between her royal duties and her very early forced maturation, she doesn't know how to treat or discipline Elspeth and mostly leaves her in the hands of her tutors, completely oblivious to the fact that one such tutor has [[EvilMentor an agenda of her own]]. Talia has to provide the parenting that Selenay can't.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: In the general tradition of most rulers of Valdemar.
* {{Seers}}: has a minor secondary Gift of Foresight. It hints to her that the offer of betrothal for Elspeth is a Very Bad Idea; it's also mentioned that it works best on the battlefield - given that good plans are made, it will tell her the ideal time to put those plans into action.
* StrangledByTheRedString: Her lifebond [[spoiler: to Daren]] is the clearest example of marriage by divine decree in the series. The gods ''need'' Valdemar and Rethwellan firmly allied to each other when the Mage Storms hit (and they need a SpareToTheThrone so Elspeth is free to take up other duties), and accordingly both of them fall in LoveAtFirstSight. [[invoked]] However, this is Reconstructed considering by the time they do get together, the audience knows that both of them are strong adults who are compatible enough that they probably would have gotten together on their own.
* {{Warrior Prince}}ss: It helps that Valdemar requires Monarchs and Heirs to be Heralds too, so Princess Selenay had rigorous academic and martial training, took an active role in her father's council, and sat in the city's courts as an adjudicator. Though understandably terrified, she accompanied her father to the frontlines of a war and while there, visited different campfires and to the sick tents to visit the common soldiers. During the opening battle of the war with Hardorn in ''Arrow's Fall'', she serves as the Field Commander, due to her Foresight working best on the battlefield (see the Seer entry)
* WinterRoyalLady: As a Herald, she's going to have a rather limited color palette -- white (though often with gold embellishments as her role as Monarch as well as black trim for mourning). However, this really comes into play during the Ice Festival, when she holds a party in an ice palace constructed on the river, with her royal regalia predominantly of white fur and diamonds.
* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: Her father's HeroicSacrifice during the Tedrel Wars thrusts her very early onto the throne. Her sense of duty keeps her carrying on and she starts becoming a quite able leader, including in dealing with an obstructive and obstinate Council. But her forced maturation, unresolved grief, feelings of isolation, and despair seethe in her with no healthy outlet for quite some time, leading to a disastrous marriage. She never quite outgrows this, but she has more trustworthy friends in later books to share the burden.
* WrongGuyFirst: Big time. Her desire for a love story of her own leaves her vulnerable to Prince Thanel. About twenty years later, when she's become TheHighQueen, [[spoiler:Prince Daren]] comes riding into Valdemar in circumstances straight out of a fairy tale and they fall in LoveAtFirstSight.


!Weaponsmaster Alberich and Companion Kantor
->''The weapons master has no heart; his hide is iron cold''
->''His soul within that hide is steel or so I have been told--''
* AlmightyJanitor: Is officially only the Collegium's Weaponsmaster. Unofficially, he's the spymaster and (prior to Talia) the closest thing to a Queen's Own.
* BigDamnHeroes: part of Alberich's Choosing. Kantor smuggles himself into Karse to get Alberich, and when Alberich's Gift is discovered, he is imprisoned in a barn to be burned alive as a witch. Kantor kicks down a piece of wall and jumps a wall of flames to get Alberich out, then gallops through the night to get the badly-burned Alberich to the border and medical attention
* BodyguardCrush: The possibility of this is teasingly hinted at and Lampshaded by King Sendar when he approves Selenay's proposal that Alberich be her bodyguard for when she goes to the city courts. Of course, there is a foregone conclusion on Selenay's love life ([[spoiler: she's lifebonded to Prince Daren in ''By the Sword'']]), but this comes up again at the end of ''Exile's Valor'', when Alberich realizes that Selenary is worried he does have feelings for her and is able to honestly assure her that he respects her as his Monarch and that's it.
* ChasteHero: Though not a virgin (he does offhandedly mention that he's been with at least one woman... who he paid), he is adorably oblivious about romance and gets flustered when a woman pays him positive attention. Kantor notes drolly that Alberich really doesn't know how to interact with a woman who's neither unattainable nor a prostitute.
* CombatPragmatist: And ruthlessly tries to enforce that in his students.
** Kantor, too: he purposely triggers Alberich's Foresight in such a way that Alberich can no longer hide it, to shut down his options and let Kantor yeet him out of Karse to Valdemar. He wasn't expecting the 'burn the witch' part.
* ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike: Has been both the rescuer and the rescued.
* TheConfidant: Before Talia comes along, Alberich is Selenay's closest friend (Talamir being unable to perform that duty). However, he's far too busy being Weaponmaster ''and'' Spymaster to be Queen's Own too.
* CustomUniform: Refuses to wear Heraldic Whites and sticks to his gray leather outfit. As mentioned in ''Arrows'', he's a law unto himself. He actually weaponises this at one point; at Selenay's coronation, he is in diguise as a normal Herald wearing formal Whites - that can't possibly be [[OneManArmy Weaponmaster]] [[TheDreaded Alberich]], because he never wears Whites!
* DeadpanSnarker: Though Alberich wryly notes that Kantor is much better at the verbal barbs than he is, Alberich manages a few good one-liners every so often.
* DefectorFromDecadence: Was a successful captain in the enemy's army (the youngest ever, in fact) before he became a Herald.
* DrillSergeantNasty: The Weaponmaster fits the "the more you will hate me, the more you will learn" line to a tee, and quotes it (in slightly different words and Karsite syntax) at one point. Of course, he embodies the positive side of the trope rather than the negative.
* DualWielding: Both swords and knives.
* EnsembleDarkHorse: of the early books. One of the reasons he got the duology.
* GoodIsNotNice: His teaching philosophy.
* HonorBeforeReason: Struggles with this in Exile's Honor where he broods himself to pieces over his personal code of honor. It's implied that it's a response to the corrupt Karsite priesthood; a good person like Alberich needs something to believe in but Karse was so corrupt and so he turned to personal honor.
* MasterOfDisguise: Inherited from his predecessor, who was Weaponsmaster and second-in-command Spymaster. He most often takes on the role of a sword-for-hire but other roles have included a cantankerous scholar, carter, wealthy old man, priest of an obscure sect, and information broker.
* MasterSwordsman: Until Kerowyn shows up, he's the finest swordsman in Valdemar. At the time of ''Winds of Fate'', he's still top five - and two of the other top five (Elspeth and Herald Jeri) are his former students.
* NoGuyWantsToBeChased: Hilariously averted. Kantor outright ''tells'' Myste that she has to make the first move, because otherwise he'd never make one at all.
* OnlyOneName: His parents were not married (to each other), therefore Alberich has only a personal name -- last names, like lineage, come from the father in Karse.
* RunningGag: a minor one. Every so often, he'll get off a particularly good snark. Someone will do a double-take and ask "Did you just ''make a joke''????" Alberich will respond with a variation of "[[BlatantLies Of course I didn't.]] Everyone knows I have no sense of humor."
* SadistTeacher / SternTeacher: Lackey's song ''The Face Within'' is framed as a debate between these two views regarding Alberich. He has to be tougher on his students than any possible enemy... and he has to steel himself for the possibility that it won't be enough.
* {{Seers}}: Alberich has a Gift of Foresight - it doesn't kick in frequently, but when it does it's very powerful. Kantor purposely triggers it in public to speed up Alberich being discovered as having 'witch-powers', so he could whisk Alberich away to Valdemar. Safe to say he didn't expect the 'being imprisoned in a building to be burned alive' part.
* SonOfAWhore: Spent his childhood being called this. Inaccurately, for the record -- his mother only had sexual relations with Alberich's father, and never for money. But given the legal status (none) of women in Karse before Solaris, a single mother who couldn't prove she was a widow would automatically be considered a prostitute.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Valdemaran vocabulary, Karsite grammar.
** EloquentInMyNativeTongue: When he's using Mindspeech, Lackey writes it as normal grammar. Since Mindspeech acts as a universal language in this setting, he would be thinking in grammatical Karsite and being heard (by Valdemarans) in grammatical Valdemaran.
* TheStoic: as part of his professional persona, whether military or Weaponsmaster. You can tell how close he is to someone from how many facial expressions he uses around them.
* TrainingFromHell: Though in fact partly self-inflicted. Told by his armsmasters at the Karsite military academy that he's quite naturally talented, young Alberich then worked himself to the ground to prove that he's just as good as anyone else, if not better, especially because the social cards were stacked against him due to his status as an illegitimate child of an impoverished single mother, and the priesthood or the army were the only paths to any kind of success in life for such a boy.

!Herald Chronicler Myste and Companion Aleirian
* AuthorAvatar: Mild example. Her name is close to the author's nickname, and her job is literally to write down everything important that happens in Valdemar.
* BlindWithoutEm: Myste is severely myopic. Alberich notes the first thing an opponent would do is smash her glasses, and she knows it too; it's one of the arguments she uses to convince him to teach her a self-defense style based on running away rather than something more conventional.
* {{Bookworm}}
* [[DisabledMeansHelpless Disabled Means Sexless]]: Averted. As noted above, Myste is visually impaired, but she is unapologetically sexual, as well as being sexually assertive.
* GuileHero: She's the only female Herald who is ''not'' a fighter, but she uses her brains (along with a dose of ObfuscatingStupidity) to play Alberich's sidekick and get information out of places where he can't go.
* LivingLieDetector: More than most Heralds. She has a truth-sense that doesn't require the Truth Spell.
* PluckyComicRelief: She's the butt of more than her share of (affectionate) jokes.
* PluckyOfficeGirl: A medieval version; she's the one who can find (or [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught "find"]] as the case may be) any documents the Queen needs to support her position in Council. (Also, her usual role when she's spying.)
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: a side effect of the anachronistic writing order. Myste is introduced in the ''Exile'' duology, but despite being Alberich's LoveInterest and the Heraldic Chronicler is never mentioned in the ''Arrows'' trilogy, ''Mage Winds'' or ''Mage Storms'' (despite that fact that her records would have been very handy in training Talia and finding out what previous Herald-Mages did to weather patterns; and Elspeth knows about the Tayledras training Vanyel due to Heraldic records), which were written and published much earlier. Of course, her position and spy training mean that she's very, very, good at blending into the wallpaper so well everyone forgets she's there; as for Alberich, no student who gets to know him as an adult - even those he's particularly close to like Talia and Elspeth - would ever dream of gossiping about his love life!

!King's[=/=]Queen's Own Herald Talamir and Grove-born Companions Taver[=/=]Rolan
* DeathSeeker: After Taver's death, Talamir seems to always have one foot in the grave and on the edge of death.
* TheConfidant: Talamir is this for Sendar and is supposed to be this for Selenay... but in practice, as a man of advancing years he finds it difficult to connect with and properly advise a much younger woman. It doesn't help that he's traumatized from Taver's death and having been mostly dead himself.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: While he didn't connect all the dots on Orthallen's treachery, he did realize that Elspeth was becoming the Brat. Orthallen had him killed before he could send her as a foster to another household that wouldn't tolerate her behavior (which would have spoiled ThePlan).
* HonestAdvisor: Again, Talamir is this for Sendar and is ''supposed'' to be this for Selenay.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: While he's incompetent as an advisor and confidant to Selenay, and he's half-dead inside after losing Taver and Sendar, there's nothing wrong with his ''brain''. He's the first one in the Court who realizes that [[RoyalBrat Elspeth]] is in need of a course correction if she's ever to qualify for the throne.

!King Sendar and Companion Lorenil
* FriendlessBackground: It's hinted that Sendar didn't really have close friends before he was Chosen for whatever reason. It's how Orthallen was able to earn Royal favor and become so powerful; he deliberately sought out and befriended Sendar before he was Chosen as heir.
* GoodParents: Between what we see of him in ''Honor'' and what Selenay thinks of him in ''Valor'', it's made very clear that Sendar is as good a father as he is a king, and has a very close bond with his daughter despite all his responsibilities.
* HappilyMarried: to Selenay's mother, until her fatal illness. It's mentioned ''she'' proposed to ''him''!
* HeroicSacrifice: He dies in the Tedrel Wars, and Selenay nearly follows him.
* HotBlooded: His FatalFlaw. Sendar wants to fight and acts before he thinks which is what causes his death.
* ModestRoyalty
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: A rare deconstruction. Sendar's insistence in being on the front lines and leading the charge ends up killing him.

!Lord Orthallen
See entry on the Characters/ArrowsTrilogyAndRelatedBooks page.

!Prince Karathanelan

* BitchInSheepsClothing: He and Selenay have so much in common! He's so charming and witty and nice! He's going to be a great husband! He's... actually a massive JerkAss who deliberately seduced her in order to bump her off and become regent once they have a child.
* BlackSheep: He does an excellent job of alienating himself from his brothers and marking himself as unfit for the throne of Rethwellan. When his father dies, the Rethwellan court sends word of the death... ''after'' the oldest brother is crowned.
* HuntingAccident: He attempted to assassinate Selenay and call it this. Also the official explanation for his death when he and his assassins are killed in the act.
-->'''Talia''': I suppose that's marginally true. They ''were'' hunting Selenay.
* PrinceCharmless: When he starts showing his true colors... and then he morphs right into TheEvilPrince.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Thanel turns out to be his own worst enemy. He seduces and marries Queen Selenay -- and then promptly blows up all his goodwill by throwing a fit when he learns it doesn't make him the King. When he goes out to put a saddle and bridle on ''Selenay's own Companion'' to prove a point, everyone knows exactly the kind of person he is.
* RoyalBrat: Tarma notes sourly in ''By the Sword'' that he was horrifically spoiled by his mother and had no redeeming features except for oily charm that he used to great effect in riling his brother Daren up and pinning trouble on him. When no one in Rethwellan is willing to put up with him, he turns his sights to Valdemar, where his reputation is not as well-known.
* TooDumbToLive: Not understanding exactly what Heralds and Companions are? Understandable, since even Valdemarans don't know all the details. Not understanding that he must be Chosen to rule, after having had it explained to him multiple times by multiple people, including in his marriage contract? Incredibly dumb. Trying to ''break a Companion to saddle'' and then threatening to murder her when he fails? ''Unforgivably'' dumb. (For bonus idiocy points, he also expected Selenay to take his side.)

!Healer Crathach
* DeadpanSnarker
* DeadlyDoctor: Excellent Mind Healer and terrifyingly skilled with knives. He gets added to Sendar's bodyguard detail during the Tedrel Wars as a result. As he tells Alberich, "Healers know how bodies are put together. We can take them apart far more easily."
* GoodIsNotNice: After several years of seeing to the wounded and traumatized at the Healers' Collegium, he has no compunction about killing would-be Tedrel assassins.

* LonelyAtTheTop: Selenay is exhibit one as to why Queen's Owns are so necessary. Talamir was an absent Queen's Own at best, leaving Selenay with no one to confide in or be friends with. This took a heavy toll on her mental and emotional state and led to to making poor decisions early in her reign.

* {{Seers}}: has a minor secondary Gift of Foresight. It hints to her that the offer of betrothal for Elspeth is a [[{{Understatement}} Very Bad Idea]]; it's also mentioned that it works best on the battlefield - given that good plans are made, it will tell her the ideal time to put those plans into action.

* {{Seer}}: has a minor secondary Gift of Foresight. It hints to her that the offer of betrothal for Elspeth is a [[{{Understatement}} Very Bad Idea]]; it's also mentioned that it works best on the battlefield - given that good plans are made, it will tell her the ideal time to put those plans into action.

* {{Seer}}: Alberich has a Gift of Foresight - it doesn't kick in frequently, but when it does it's very powerful. Kantor purposely triggers it in public to speed up Alberich being discovered as having 'witch-powers', so he could whisk Alberich away to Valdemar. Safe to say he didn't expect the 'being imprisoned in a building to be burned alive' part.

* YoungAndInCharge: Forced to take the throne after the untimely death of her father. Deconstructed in that she struggled to convince the Council to respect her authority. Furthermore mature as she is, Selenay is still a teenager and prone to youthful mistakes - to disastrous consequences

* {{Adorkable}}: He is scary as all hell -- until he falls flat on his face in love, at which point he turns into a clueless, adorkable schoolboy.

* MasterSwordsman: Until Kerowyn shows up, he's the finest swordsman in Valdemar.

* BigDamnHeroes: part of Alberich's Choosing. Kantor smuggles himself into Karse to get Alberich, and when Alberich's Gift is discovered, he is imprisoned in a barn to be burned alive as a witch. Kantor kicks down a piece of wall to get Alberich out, then gallops through the night to get the badly-burned Alberich to the border and medical attention