History Characters / HeraldsOfRhimn

* BoyishShortHair: From a metatextual perspective; when paired with Gildhe's flamboyant skirts, it helps ease readers into their in-between gender identity. In-universe, [[NonHeternormativeSociety short hair is considered "ungendered"]] in Gadhi.

* [[BigBrotherBully Big Sibling Bully]]: To [[SiblingRivalry Meparik.]]
* [[TheDutifulSon The Dutiful Child]]: Is one of the oldest fey Courtfather Snow takes care of, and spends most of their time helping him out.

One of the young fey under Courtfather Snow's care.

* [[BigBrotherBully Big Sibling Bully]]: [[SiblingRivalry To Meparik.]]

* NonHumanNonBinary: PlayedWith; Gildhe is fey, but the fey aren't much different from humans anyway.
* SicklyChildGrewUpStrong: Their loyalty to Snow stems from the fact that he nursed them back to health when they were younger.

!! The Gods
[[folder:Silamir, Goddess of Reincarnation]]

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtropes_silamir.png]]
[[caption-width-right:270:"All you have to do is not struggle. How simple is that?"]]
A powerful goddess long thought to have been killed by Gardhe in the Immortal Reckoning. Her domain encompasses the broad categories of shadow, void, death, and rebirth, and in the past she was known as the Ashen Phoenix. Her Herald is Navaeli the [[TitleDrop Shadow Herald]].

* BackFromTheDead: Gardhe killed her in the Immortal Reckoning. [[{{Necromancer}} She got better.]]
* BlackEyesOfEvil: A natural trait of hers, as a goddess of the void. More akin to Black Eyes of Jerkass in her particular case.
* CollapsingLair: Invokes this with her temple when Jeidhe taunts her more than is wise -- both to spite him, and to spite Gardhe by preventing him from destroying it himself.
* GodInHumanForm: When she "borrows" Navaeli's body.
* GodIsDispleased: Frequently.
* GodOfTheDead: As the goddess of death and rebirth, this allowed her to eventually claw her way back to relevancy after being killed by Gardhe in the Immortal Reckoning, and resurrect Navaeli as her Herald.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Frequently twists conversations to be about her needs and desires. Sometimes accuses Navaeli of doing this instead.
* LargeHam: When she's able to steal Navaeli's body, [[CardCarryingVillain she makes sure to let everyone know just who is gracing their presence.]]
* LaughingMad: Switches between this and rage very easily.
* NotInThisForYourRevolution: The reason why she's helping the Romne and the fey fight against the Irongardhe is because it provides her an opportunity to take revenge on Gardhe.
* PayingEvilUntoEvil: Her reasoning for trying to kill Gardhe.
** "I want the fall of he who slew the rest of our heavenly host. I want his temples shattered, their stones ground to dust. I want his knights to scatter, terrified, before me. I want the head of his Herald piked upon the wall of his precious Talimour!"
* ThePhoenix: There's a reason why she's known as the Ashen Phoenix. She rises again after Gardhe killed her the first time, and [[spoiler: "borrows" Navaeli's body in order to summon her pet phoenix, Ailith.]]
* {{Reincarnation}}: One of her godly aspects.
* WingedHumanoid: Bears a pair of broken black wings.

[[folder:The Romne, Gods of the Earth]]

Fraihz and Thah are twin gods of winter and summer respectively, who survived the Immortal Reckoning through cunning. Their domain aspects also include prophecy, the earth, crows, and acorns. While they're aware of Silamir's more sadistic tendencies, they've taken her side in the conflict between her and Gardhe [[LaResistance in order to prevent more injustices from being done to the fey.]] Their Heralds are Ainzel the Summer Herald and [[spoiler: Meparik the Winter Herald]].

* BlindSeer: PlayedWith. Both Fraihz and Thah's domains include prophecy, and Thah's blindness has nothing to do with their predictive powers -- instead being a result of a failed assassination attempt on Ainzel.
* [[DisabledDeity Disabled Deities]]: The Irongardhe blinded Thah through Ainzel and killed Fraihz's previous Herald, inflicting the latter with an eternally-bleeding wound which will eventually kill them too.
* NatureSpirit: The Romne embody the seasons and the earth.
* PolarOppositeTwins: With their seasonal domains. [[{{Pun}} Thah]] represents summer, while [[{{Pun}} Fraihz]] represents winter.
* TheSpeechless: Fraihz. After the Irongardhe slit their previous Herald's throat with an enchanted knife, they lost the ability to speak, getting by instead with [[HandSignals Gesture]] and mental images.

[[folder:Gardhe, God of the Sun]]

A god of forging and sunlight. In a bid to become the sole god of Rhimn, he killed most of the other gods in his pantheon in an event known as the Immortal Reckoning. Instead of all of Rhimn, the noble faction of his followers -- known as the Irongardhe -- govern the northernmost country of Rhimn, Gadhi. His Herald is Herald-Regent Elaina Lilisie Ayowen, the Sunlit Herald.

* ColdIron: Gardhe's irritation with the fey's existence causes them to be burned by his sacred element, iron.
* AGodAmI: A god with a god complex. It isn't enough for Gardhe to be part of a pantheon; he'd rather be the sole god of Rhimn.
* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: His color scheme falls under this, along with metal tones.
* LightIsNotGood: Gardhe and his knights have little qualms about committing murder when it suits their needs.
* OmnicidalManiac: Killed most of the other gods -- including Silamir, [[BackFromTheDead though she got better]].
* PowerOfTheSun: He is the sun god, god of the sun.
* UltimateBlacksmith: One of his domains is forging. It's said that he was the one who created Brightfate, his Herald's heirloom sword, as well as a form of enchantment [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast known as bloodforging]] which is commonly abused by the Irongardhe regime.

[[folder:Alluari, Goddess of the Stars]]

A goddess of starlight and rain who rules Ullua, the desert country to the south. It is said that she survived Gardhe by equaling him in combat. Her Herald is the Starlit Herald, the Matrius of Ullua.

* CelestialBody: Implied through her fountain statues, which are hewn of black quartz with bright flecks in them like stars.
* ElementalHairComposition: Has water for hair, also implied through teaser.
* {{Matriarchy}}: Considering that her Herald's title is "Matrius"...
* WeatherManipulation: Helps bring rain to Ullua during the dry season.

!! The Irongardhe Knights
[[folder:Herald-Regent Ilaina Lilisie Ayowen]]

Herald to Gardhe, ruler of Gadhi, and leader of the Irongardhe knights.

* BadBoss: If Atevia's fear of returning a failure says anything.
* BigBad: Though technically Gardhe is the [[GreaterScopeVillain Bigger Bad]] working through her, Regent Ilaina serves as a physical Big Bad [[RunOrDie for Navaeli to run away from.]]
* TheDreaded: Even her own knights are a little afraid of her.
* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: Her sword, Brightfate. Even the name is badass. It glows, burns, absorbs the souls of anyone it kills -- oh yeah, and if you kill a Herald with it, it will also kill the god they're bound to.
* KnightTemplar: For Gardhe's glory.
* RankScalesWithAsskicking: Is an accomplished hunter who [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame doesn't limit her quarry to animals and monsters.]] Navaeli is currently her most elusive -- and prized -- target.

[[folder:Civility Commander Jain Rigol Atevia]]

A higher-up among the Irongardhe knights who prefers to solve her problems with as little violence and fuss as possible.

* CruelMercy: Silamir spares her after she fails to carry out Regent Ilaina's orders. Atevia doesn't look forward to explaining herself to her superior.
** "Serve your Regent by relaying my message, and perhaps Ilaina herself will grant you . . . mercy."
* JustFollowingOrders: [[ThePawn Up to a point.]]
* RagsToRiches: Implied to be a relatively mild version of the trope in the glossary; her last name means "attic dweller", referring to someone who lives in a rented attic.
* RejectedApology: Meparik gives her an earful when she asks him to forgive her of her actions as an Irongardhe knight.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: With Knight Jeidhe.
* WouldntHurtAChild: Is unable to bring herself to [[EvenEvilHasStandards kill Meparik.]]
** Leads to a VillainousBSOD.

[[folder: Knight Jeidhe]]

One of the younger Irongardhe knights. He doesn't let his lack of experience get in the way of his ego, nor will he let anything get in the way of him pleasing Regent Elaina.

[[folder:Gildhe of the Frostbitten Court]]

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hor_gildhe_cutout.png]]
One of the young fey under Courtfather Snow's care.

* [[BigBrotherBully Big Sibling Bully]]: [[SiblingRivalry To Meparik.]]
* [[TheDutifulSon The Dutiful Child]]: Is one of the oldest fey Courtfather Snow takes care of, and spends most of their time helping him out.
* NonHumanNonBinary: PlayedWith; Gildhe is fey, but the fey aren't much different from humans anyway.
* SicklyChildGrewUpStrong: Their loyalty to Snow stems from the fact that he nursed them back to health when they were younger.

[[folder:Charlan the Shopkeep]]

A smuggler from the Upper Reaches who Meparik regularly buys books from.

* [[CatGirl Cat Man]]: Has a cat's tail, sometimes purrs, and is often described as "feline".
* TheCharmer: Frequently convinces the other fey in the Reaches to buy things they don't need, but he's enjoyable enough to be around that they don't mind.
* IWorkAlone: He keeps himself a "solitary fey" without court affiliation.
* MundaneLuxury: Sells these at the Luxury Shoppe.

[[folder:Courtfather Snow of the Frostbitten Court]]
%% Note to self; this folder needs to be checked for crosswicking.
The parental figure leading one of Talimour's three feyrie Courts.
----
* TheFagin: Out of necessity. There's not many options for fey to get by in Talimour besides theft, and Snow has an entire court of children to support, some of whom are sick.
* FreeRangeChildren: Seems to be a part of his style of parenting. May not be a good thing, given that Gildhe goes to Charlan for alcohol while he's busy, and the fact that Meparik was allowed to move out by himself...
* ParentalFavoritism: To Gildhe, to Meparik's irritation.
* ParentalSubstitute: Fey are born from the elements, leaving them inherently parentless; Courtfather Snow fills that role for some of the young fey that pop into existence in Talimour.
[[/folder]]

* ArcherArchetype: A longbow is mounted on the wall of her cave.

* EmbarrassingNickname: “Mep-tiny”, used [[SiblingRivalry mostly by his sibling Gildhe.]]

* HairpinLockpick: Has a couple of these hidden in his curls.
* IWorkAlone: Pushes away the other fey in his Court and attempts (with less success) to distance himself from Navaeli and Crislie.

* MassiveNumberedSiblings: The Frostbitten Court shelters a lot of children, most of whom are considered Meparik’s “siblings-by-court”.

* ProneToTears: [[TryingNotToCry And not]] [[DontYouDarePityMe happy about it.]]

* YoureNotMyFather: His attitude toward Courtfather Snow includes a lot of this.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Played straight with Navaeli herself, but becomes more questionable regarding Silamir, the goddess that Navaeli serves.

* DissonantSerenity: Prone to this.

* HomelessHero: Justified as a result of Navaeli needing to keep on the move to avoid the Irongardhe and because Silamir moves her around to accomplish her own goals.

* LoveIsAWeakness: Romantic love, anyway. Initially views her crush on Crislie as an InconvenientAttraction.

* TroubledButCute: A rare gender-flipped variation, and [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys part of why Crislie is so intrigued by her in the first place.]]

* UnfazedEveryman: True regarding her unblinking attitude toward blood and violence, but [[spoiler: this is also subverted, since she’s actually pretty disturbed by the constant danger Navaeli and Meparik live in.]]

* ActionGirlfriend: To Navaeli by the end of ''Shadow Herald''.

** “In Gadlin, she’d had a crush or two, but they were always fleeting and unreciprocated. Girls who ended up bad-mouthing her family behind her back. Boys who didn’t want to be associated with her unruliness. There was too much of the world left unexplored for her to fuss over romance, anyway.”

* RedOni: To Navaeli’s BlueOni.

* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: To Navaeli by the end of ''Shadow Herald''.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Once resorts to this to stall for time. It doesn’t help much.

* TheMostWanted: Has [[WantedPoster Wanted Posters]] galore in Gadhi.

[[folder:Navaeli the Shadow Herald]]

An Ulluan teen raised from the grave and into lifelong servitude by Silamir, a goddess of death and rebirth long thought to have been dead herself. The knights of the Irongardhe empire hunt her down on the orders of their Regent, Herald to the sun god who killed Silamir in the first place. As if that weren’t bad enough, [[BodySnatcher Silamir would rather take matters into her own hands.]]

** “Navaeli! There’s something wrong with your weird fey son.”

* BadWithTheBone: Carries a bone knife named Talon for Silamir.

* BlackEyesOfEvil: Gains these when Silamir “borrows” her body.
* BlessedWithSuck: Being Herald grants you both a direct connection to your god through, and powers based on that god’s domain. The problem is that Navaeli [[ClaimedByTheSupernatural never had a choice about her Heraldry in the first place]], [[TheMostWanted is constantly hunted down by the Irongardhe]], and isn’t able to use her powers without her goddess’s blessing — which is rare, [[GodIsDispleased given that Silamir resents her.]]
* BlueOni: To Crislie’s RedOni.

-> “''Skip, boring.''”
** Eventually makes [[SecurityCling a platonic exception for Navaeli.]]

* AffectionHatingKid: Considers himself above affectionate gestures at first and expresses distaste for romantic displays — even scrawling a note to himself to skip a romance-centered chapter in his favorite book.
** “''Skip, boring.''”

* CelestialBody: Implied in a teaser for the third book.

[[folder:Herald-Regent Elaina Lilisie Ayowen]]

* BigBad: Though technically Gardhe is the [[GreaterScopeVillain Bigger Bad]] working through her, Regent Elaina serves as a physical Big Bad [[RunOrDie for Navaeli to run away from.]]

* CruelMercy: Silamir spares her after she fails to carry out Regent Elaina’s orders. Atevia doesn’t look forward to explaining herself to her superior.
** “Serve your Regent by relaying my message, and perhaps Elaina herself will grant you . . . mercy.”

* BlindObedience: To Regent Elaina.

* PrettyBoy: Atevia insists that this is the only reason Regent Elaina humors him.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Her sexuality isn’t outright stated, but she is in love with Crislie, and WordOfGod confirms her as a lesbian.

** WordOfGod states that this is because [[https://gailywriting.tumblr.com/post/650626078804688896/me-when-i-was-first-writing-everything-weird-that it looks good in her artwork.]]

* MouthyKid: [[HandSignals Albeit with his hands]] [[SilentSnarker instead of his mouth.]]

* GiveMeBackMyWallet: One of the reasons for her initial hostility toward Meparik.

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtropes_navaeli.png]]

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtropes_crislie.png]]

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtropes_meparik_pre_heraldry.png]]

[[caption-width-right:270:Spoilers for ''Shadow Herald''.[[note]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtropes_meparik_post_heraldry.png]][[/note]]

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Is an accomplished hunter who [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame doesn’t limit her quarry to animals and monsters.]] Navaeli is currently her most elusive — and prized — target.

* AnAxeToGrind: Takes Knight Jeidhe’s axe after their first encounter. She considers it a “prize of battle”.

* KnifeNut: Carries around [[DualWield two brass daggers]].

* RomanticAsexual: By WordOfGod.

* BigEater: [[FridgeHorror Becomes more tragic]] when you remember that she died in a famine.

[[/folder]]

* JustFollowingOrders: [[ThePawn Up to a point]]

* UnfazedEveryman: True regarding her unblinking attitude toward blood and violence, but [[spoiler: this is subverted in another way, since she’s actually pretty disturbed by the constant danger Navaeli and Meparik live in.]]

* TheBabyOfTheBunch: According to Navaeli. He [[StreetSmart reminds her of how]] [[BreakTheCutie she was at his age.]]
* Bookworm: His house is filled with books, and when he can’t get by with Gesture, he switches to writing.

* Hairpin Lockpick: Has a couple of these hidden in his curls.

* MouthyKid: [[SignedLanguage Albeit with his hands]] [[SilentSnarker instead of his mouth.]]

* TheSpeechless: Aside from the rare squeak or hiss, Meparik is mute, which can make communication a pain between him and people who don’t [[SignedLanguage speak Gesture]].
* StickyFingers: Frequently steals wallets, [[JustifiedCriminal usually out of necessity.]] But he also admits to having a hoarding problem, and is willing to steal an acorn bracelet from Navaeli just because he liked it. [[LazerGuidedKarma It bites him in the ass later.]]

* BackFromTheDead: Gardhe killed her in the Immortal Reckoning. [[Necromancer She got better.]]

* Reincarnation: One of her godly aspects.

* PolarOppositeTwins: With their seasonal domains. [[Pun Thah]] represents summer, while [[Pun Fraihz]] represents winter.
* TheSpeechless: Fraihz. After the Irongardhe slit their previous Herald’s throat with an enchanted knife, they lost the ability to speak, getting by instead with [[SignedLanguage Gesture]] and mental images.

* Matriarchy: Considering that her Herald’s title is “Matrius”...

* TheFriendThatNobodyLikes: Atevia regards him as this.

* WouldntHurtAChild: Subverted. He would [[KickTheDog kick a child.]]

* BigSiblingBully: [[SiblingRivalry To Meparik.]]

* NonHunanNonBinary: PlayedWith; Gildhe is fey, but the fey aren’t much different from humans anyway.