History Characters / TheBartimaeusTrilogy

The leads

[[folder_Harold Button]]

[[folder:POV Characters]]

!!Bartimaeus
One of the series' Point-Of-View characters. His chapters are always written in first person. Bartimaeus is a fourth (or fourteenth) level and ancient djinni, summoned in the trilogy by Nathaniel.

One of the series' Point-Of-View characters. At the start of the series, he is an ambitious and talented magician-in-training.

* ImprobableAge: He's accepted into the lowest levels of Government at fourteen, and by nineteen he is one of the prime minister's chiefs of staff.

One of the series' Point-Of-View characters. She is a commoner who later joins the [[LaResistance the Resistance]] to fight the injustices of the magicians.

* AmazonBrigade: A ridiculously loyal member of it,[[spoiler: until the last third of The Ring of Solomon, anyway...]]

[[folder:Spirits]]

!!Faquarl

!!Scrying Glass Imp

* CoDragons: Honorius was one of Gladstone's two personal servants when he was alive, to the point he was entrusted to lead his armies against Prague. [[spoiler:Gladstone also entrusted him to guard his possessions forever by binding Honorius' essence into his own corpse.]]

An afrit who served Gladstone. He assaults the Czech emperor's castle and causes [[spoiler:his death and Bartimaeus's accidental survival.]]

* NoNameGiven: His name is never mentioned. That said, it's informed that Gladstone's army is led by Honorius and Patterknife; as we later get to meet Honorius and he's clearly a different entity, this afrit might very well be Patterknife, which could even be a MeaningfulName related to his scythe. The official wiki of the trilogy follows this interpretation.

[[folder:Magicians]]

* BreadAndCircuses: By the third book, Devereaux's neglecting the problems eating away at his empire, and instead spends most of his time throwing elaborate parties and forcing his subordinates to attend the theatre.
* BrokenPedestal: When Nathaniel first sees him, he reveres Devereaux for his charisma and eloquence. By the time of ''The Golem's Eye'' he begins to become disillusioned with Devereaux's increasing paranoia and in ''Ptolemy's Gate'' Nathaniel's pretty much lost all respect for the man. [[spoiler:Though he still does feel a pang of sympathy on seeing his boyhood hero used as another meat puppet by a demon.]]

* PetTheDog: A minor one but he actually allows Nathaniel to speak in his own defense and gives him another chance to prove his loyalty after Duvall framed him as a traitor and planned on torturing him.

* AbusiveParents: Though not Nathaniel's father, he is still his master. Arthur Underwood shows absolutely no love for Nathaniel, treats him more like an animal than a person, makes him the victim of his HairTriggerTemper many times, and outright considers killing him.

** He also rather fondly recites the story of Disraeli turning his apprentice to stone for accidentally knocking him over, and threatens to do the same to Nathaniel (who doubts he could use that spell, though).

* HateSink: From the get-go, it is clear that the reader is not meant to root for Arthur Underwood. He is a cruel, selfish, arrogant, and abusive man. How Martha Underwood, a kind and loving woman, ended up married to him is anyone's guess.

** Fired Ms. Lutyens for trying to defend Nathaniel after being humiliated and attacked by Simon Lovelace, claiming it was 'insolence and impertinence'. Instead of defending his apprentice from Lovelace, Arthur blames Nathaniel for what happened and locks him away in his room for a month.

* TheParanoiac: His FatalFlaw. Arthur suffers from paranoia, shown when he accuses Nathaniel of spying on him. Nathaniel tries to defend himself, but Arthur refuses to listen and is convinced that he is a traitor.
* SelectiveObliviousness: He's completely oblivious to the fact that Nathaniel absolutely loathes him after the incident with Lovelace, and has no idea how far Nathaniel is advancing his studies. Even when Nathaniel inadvertently reveals a greater knowledge of magic than he's supposed to have (during the attack on Parliament), it flies completely over his head.

The Chief of Police and a major political player in the British Government.

* DumbMuscle: He's poweful in many senses by being the Chief of Police, a well-connected politician and a werewolf, but he's noted to be basically an angry meathead when compared to the Machiavellian other ministers. Also, although he controls the Golem, it's never stated or implied that he has any talent as a magician.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: All Night Police are werewolves, although Duvall never transforms onscreen.

* AlmightyJanitor: Is clearly a very powerful magician, but he prefers to hold a first line job in his company and does almost everything himself, to the point we barely see any employees of his.
* AmbiguouslyEvil: Since he is shown as an acquaintance to Lovelace and Schyler, is conspicuously missing from their coup attempt, and is the one who sold them the summoning horn, it remains unclear if Sholto was involved with their conspiracy. Nathaniel himself doesn't act as if he harbored suspicions that he was. However, by the trilogy's end, it appears Pinn was at least unaware of [[spoiler:Makepeace's involvement in Lovelace's plan, and isn't involved wither in [[spoiler:the coup attempted orchestrated by Makepeace himself.]]

** He's stated to be very powerful, at least enough to hang out with Lovelace and Schyler, and they clearly respect him, something not many can boast of. However, although he's certainly the only magician who puts a fight against Makepeace's spirits and the only high level one to survive the book's events, those two feats happen respectively by complete chance (he was the only magician to realize the danger because he didn't remove his magic monocle, since the instructions for the show were only to remove lenses) and dumb luck (a revolt happened before he was brought to be possessed by Nouda's spirits). Aside from that, he's easily bested by Bartimaeus, and the extent of his spirit aides is seemingly a single foliot, just like Underwood of all people.
** Played straight with his wealth. Pinn's Accoutrements is said to be a very hefty franchise, and Sholto himself proves it by dressing like a vaudeville millionaire, but all we see of it is a single shop in which he himself works as a shopkeeper and which gets him into economic hardship after being destroyed.

* InformedAbility: Being a magician should grant her a competence she remarkably seems to lack. She never uses magic onscreen.

* EvilIsPetty: He sends his djinni to mutilate two children for accidentally smashing his Rolls Royce's windscreen with a baseball.

* PointyHairedBoss: He's Nathaniel's superior in Internal Affairs but is pretty incompetent at his job and relies on [[HypercompetentSidekick Nathaniel]] to do most of his work for him.

* AlmightyJanitor: He was able to summon a marid all by himself, a feat which Bartimaeus says usually requires at least two magicians working in tandem. Of course, it does break free of his control and bite his leg off, but you know, still a good show.
* {{Foil}}: To Ptolemy and regular magicians. Unlike regular magicians who are interested in knowledge for power or greed, he's simply interested in knowledge like Ptolemy. Unlike Ptolemy, though, he's interested in it for it's own sake rather than for a greater understanding between djinni and humans. Tellingly he's a midpoint between a standard magician and Ptolemy. While he's nowhere near as cruel as a standard magician is towards commoners, he still doesn't think much of them. And while he doesn't torture or punish spirits he also doesn't trust them.

* TokenGoodTeammate: One of the only magicians in the story who is a genuinely good person instead of a scheming opportunist.

* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: Bartimaeus reveals a bit about his relationship with Ptolemy in the third book, but it's still mostly unexplored.

[[folder:The Resistance]]

* KillAndReplace: [[spoiler:After Faquarl possessed him, he destroyed Hopkins' mind and impersonated him until Makepeace got other magicians to try summoning spirits into themselves as well. It seems easy given that Hopkins was a quiet, subdued guy.]]

* UriahGambit: [[spoiler:Sending the Resistance to Gladstone's crypt was really just a ploy to get them all killed in the process of procuring him with magical artifacts.]]

* NervesOfSteel: Fred doesn't act noticeably scared even when confronted with [[spoiler:a psychotic afrit doesn't make him noticeably panic.]]

[[folder:Commoners]]

!!The Mercenary

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: He's only ever known as "The Mercenary" up until the third book where [[spoiler:Quentin Makepeace calls him Verroq.]] However, it's only mentioned once then never again.

* ImplacableMan: Even without his magical resistance he's physically strong and surprisingly endurable. He manages to shake off getting a statue thrown on top of him and thrown down a mountainside without so much as a scratch.

* PsychoKnifeNut: A creepy ProfessionalKiller, who carries a wide set of knifes, blades and shurikens.

* NoAccountingForTaste: There is absolutely no indication what someone as kind and good-natured as her sees in her selfish {{Jerkass}} of a husband. That said, there are subtle hints that she's not entirely happy (Arthur has decayed flowers, Nathaniel has fresh ones.)

* NoNameGiven: His name is never mentioned. That said, it's informed that Gladstone's army is led by Honorious and Patterknife; as we later get to meet Honorious and he's clearly a different entity, this afrit might very well be Patterknife, which could even be a MeaningfulName related to his scythe. The official wiki of the trilogy follows this interpretation.

* FriendlyEnemy: Possibly the most collected and well-mannered spirit, even while facing his worst enemies.

* NothingIsScarier: Ramuthra's form itself is never seen, even although it is implied he has one. It is only visible for the warping it causes in the air surrounding it.
* TheQuietOne: Has a single line in the story, to reply to Lovelace he cannot follow one of his orders.
* TheUnfought: He's sent away by breaking his summoning spell. Justified because he's so freakishly powerful.

* SummonBiggerFish: Turning Solomon's Ring will summon him. And he himself is capable of summoning ''tens of thousands'' of spirits in an instant.

* LeanAndMean: She's a cold woman who looks almost skeletal. When she first appears, she's accompanying Sholto Pinn, whose bulky build makes her seem even thinner in comparsion.

* CurbstompBattle: Gives one to four spirits who technically were at his level, although to be completely fair they were all [[WorfHadTheFlu tired and wounded]] at the time, and due to the unique circumstance, Faquarl had some ''serious'' advantage and surprise on his side.
* TheDragon: To Simon Lovelace, and later [[spoiler:to Quentin Makepeace and Nouda.]]

* HumanityIsinfectious: [[spoiler:Bartimaeus notes that Faquarl's whole desire for revenge is a trait of humans, the very thing Faquarl hates most. The villain is dumbfounded by the implications.]]

* BeastMan: His favored form is an Anubis-like jackalman, something that never varies [[spoiler:and that kills him in the end.]]

* TeensAreMonsters: He's a teenager whose part of a terrorist group and at one point nonchalantly asks Kitty if he should slit Nathaniel's throat when he knows nothing about the kid other than he's in the wrong place at the wrong time.

* BeenThereShapedHistory: He often talks about past historical events he had a hand in. Some of them are difficult to believe, but djinn being very ancient, it's possible and even probable that he did participate in most of those historic events he brags about.
* BoisterousWeakling: Downplayed. While not by any means a weakling (he is about mid-level in power as far as spirits go), to hear him talk sometimes, you'd think he's the top of the top. It could be justified by the fact that, according to him recalling his first summonings, spirits are more powerful at their primes and only decay while they are summoned over time (which makes sense considering that merely being in the physical world causes them pain). That being said, he willingly beats up on weaker spirits and is very much aware of when things are stronger than him.

* TheCynic: His millennia of enslavement have left him angry, bitter and cynical.

* FailureKnight: He continues to take Ptolemy's form centuries after his death.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He claims to hate humans, but he's not without sympathy toward them. He doesn't have any hatred towards commoners, and only hates magicians for enslaving him and other spirits.

* [[LiteralGenie Literal Djinni]]: Most spirits obey the spirit as well as the letter of their commands (unless they can interpret the loose wording as permission to kill the summoner). Bartimaeus is unusual - considered "troublesome"

* ServileSnarker: More than possibly any other spirit in the series, is Bartimaeus’s tendency to mouth off to his masters for their appearances, personalities, morality (or lackthereof) and really anything he can possibly use as ammunition to verbally abuse them. While part of it is a practical attempt to break his summoner’s concentration and give him an opening, it’s clear that he derives a lot of genuine glee in just watching his masters squirm, even if it usually results in him getting hit with a punishment spell.
--> '''Bartimaeus''': Surely you haven’t forgotten! You summon me, the back-chat comes free. It’s part of the package.

* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler:He never left a body behind. While it's very likely he died, [[WordOfGod Jonathan Stroud]] said he liked the fan theory of Nathaniel's soul having been dragged back to the spirit world with Bartimaeus when he freed him and ultimately said [[ShrugOfGod it would have to be up to fans to interpret.]]]]

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: After his HeelRealization, he lays down his life in order to save Britain from an invasion of demons.]]

* LonersAreFreaks: As a child, once the other children recognized him as an apprentice magician. His lack of friends has a significant impact on his development- after Lovelace humiliates him and Ms. Lutyens is fired, Nathaniel doesn't have an outlet, so he becomes obsessed with revenge.

* TranquilFury: After Lovelace brutalizes him, he doesn't visibly snap, but becomes extremely bitter and vengeance-obsessed. He's in this state for the rest of the book, deceptively calm on the surface, but bubbling with rage underneath.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Until certain events embittered him to the world. [[spoiler: Like Ms. Lutyens getting sacked and Mrs. Underwood's death.]]
* VillainProtagonist: for most of the series, he's a proud and willing participant of a magician-run police state that derives its power from propaganda, slave labor, and fear. Even at a young age, he's more than willing to severely punish any djinn he summons for even the slightest inconvenience. [[spoiler: He eventually gets better, but it takes a good long while]].

* BadassNormal: Exploited her AntiMagic to fight off magical attacks and some demons.
** [[spoiler: She also manages to summon Bartimaeus, despite not being a magician.]]
* CassandraTruth: Her immunity to low level magic bites her in the rear when she tries to sue Julius Tallow for having attacked her and her friend Jakob as children. Tallow simply says her lack of damage is proof she's lying and the court believes him.

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Right before Nathaniel and Bartimaeus kill him, Faquarl admits that he misses the Other Place and implies he envies their partnership.]]

* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:Right after killing Faquarl, Bartimaeus ponders that Faquarl could have perfectly dodged his attack. Actually, Faquarl's last line suggests that he did choose to let himself be killed.]]

* EnemyMine: He and Bartimaeus have cooperated in the past (Bartimaeus mentions an incident when they snuck poisoned grapes into Ghengis Khan's tent to prove that he is in fact inhabiting John Mandrake).

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: By the third book, he has become this, placing his desire for revenge on humanity for their ill-treatment of spirits above all else. [[spoiler: By permanently stealing a magician's body and starting a violent spirit revolt, he becomes the very thing he resents. He comes to realize it.]]

* RevengeBeforeReason: [[spoiler:He orchestrates the demon revolution to make humanity suffer, even though it means forever cutting himself and his fellow revolutionaries off from the Other Place. Because they destroy the minds of the humans who summoned them as soon as they possess them, those humans aren't able to release their bond to the physical world. Faquarl even admits to Bartimaeus that he feels wrong being in a world so unlike his own, and it's implied he lets himself be killed because he realized how much his revenge has cost him.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:He has one when he confronts Nathaniel and Bartimaeus, who are mind-linked together, and realizes that neither of them has any dominance over another.]]

* AxCrazy: He is completely insane, which is not surprising, given he was buried alive for centuries. And he was left with quite a few sharp implements to defend [[spoiler:Gladstone's tomb]] with...

* CoDragons: Honorius was one of Gladstone's two personal servants when he was alive, to the point he was entrusted to lead his armies against Prague. [[spoiler:Gladstone also entrusted him to guard his possessions forever by binding Honorius’s essence into his own corpse.]]

* BunnyEarsLawyer: His human form at the Prague battlefield is a blond Roman ephebus with its proper attire, which Bartimaeus notes is a weird choice even by djinni standards. However, when he meets the retinue, it's soon clear why he was chosen for that mission.

* EldritchAbomination: A step above Nouda on this scale - controlling it is simply not possible. Its mere presence causes the elements to rebel against each other and reality to warp.
* NothingIsScarier: Ramuthra's form itself is never seen - it is only visible for the warping it causes in the air surrounding it.

* AbusiveParents: Though not Nathaniel's father, he is still his master. Arthur Underwood shows no love for Nathaniel, treats him more like an animal than a person, makes him the victim of his HairTriggerTemper many times, and outright considers killing him.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:He ends up getting killed by Simon Lovelace, but considering he'd just tried to sell out his own apprentice, it's hard to imagine many tears were shed at his death.]]

* DirtyCoward: Tried to sacrifice his apprentice to save his sorry hide.

** He also rather fondly recites the story of Disraeli turning his apprentice to stone for accidentally knocking him over, and threatens to do the same to Nathaniel (who doubts he could).

* HairTriggerTemper: Arthur Underwood has a very short temper and is very easy to anger. Nathaniel knows this better than anyone.

** JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: [[spoiler:His last act in life was to try to save himself by sacrificing his apprentice's life.]]

* SmallNameBigEgo: Arthur Underwood thinks very highly of himself and believes that he is a powerful magician to be feared. In reality, he is a DirtyCoward who thinks far too highly of himself.

* VillainousFriendship: With his coconspirator, Rufus Lime, and his master, Maurice Schyler.

* WellDoneSonGuy: He seems to have this relationship with his own master, Maurice Schyler, who he views as a father-figure.

* DumbMuscle: He's poweful in many senses by being the Chief of Police, a well-connected politician and a werewolf, but he's noted to be basically an angry meathead when compared to the machiavellian other ministers. Also, although he controls the Golem, it's never stated or implied that he has any talent as a magician.

* DatingCatwoman: She and Nathaniel are rivals but by the time of the third book it seems they have a mutual attraction to one another. That sours when Jane sees Nathaniel cares about his djinni's life more than he does gaining power from him.

* AlmightyJanitor: Is a very powerful magician, but he prefers to hold a first line job in his company, to the point we barely see employees of his.
* AmbiguouslyEvil: Since he is shown as an acquaintance to Lovelace and Schyler, is conspicuously missing from their coup attempt, and is the one who sold them the summoning horn, it remains unclear if Sholto was involved with their conspiracy. However, by the trilogy's end, it appears he was completely unaware of Lovelace's plan, as he isn't involved in [[spoiler:the coup attempted orchestrated by Makepeace, who really was in league with Lovelace.]]

* FatBastard: He's an overweight and AmbiguouslyEvil magician. Though it turns out he’s not an actual villain, he's still a {{Jerkass}}.

** He's stated to be very powerful, at least enough to hang out with Lovelace and Schyler. However, although he's certainly the only magician who puts a fight against Makepeace's spirits and the only high level one to survive the book's events, those two feats happen respectively by complete chance (he was the only magician to realize the danger because he didn't remove his magic monocle, since the instructions for the show were only to remove lenses) and dumb luck (a revolt happened before he was brought to be possessed by Nouda's spirits). Aside from that, he's easily bested by Bartimaeus, and the extent of his spirit aides is seemingly a single foliot, just like Underwood of all people.

* WeCanRuleTogether: He tells Nathaniel that he could have a bright future if he joined the conspirators, as wiping out the government would leave a lot of empty chairs, and someone young and ambitious could very easily rise to the top eventually. Nathaniel gives it genuine consideration, but rejects it due to the fact they killed his surrogate mother. [[ShutUpKirk Schyler isn't surprised]] and comments that the offer was actually Lovelace's idea and he only said it as a courtesy, as he himself doubted Nathaniel would switch sides due to being [[EvilCannotComprehendGood soft and weak from his old master's influence]].

A magician in a relationship with Simon Lovelace.

* AlmightyJanitor: He was able to summon a marid all by himself, a feat which Bartimaeus says usually requires at least two magicians working in tandem. Of course, it does break free of his control and bite his leg off, but you know. Still a good show.
* {{Foil}}: To Ptolemy and regular magicians. Unlike regular magicians who are interested in knowledge for power or greed, he's simply interested in knowledge like Ptolemy. Unlike Ptolemy, he's interested in it for it's own sake rather than for a greater understanding between djinni and humans. Tellingly he's a midpoint between a standard magician and Ptolemy. While he's nowhere near as cruel as a standard magician is towards commoners, he still doesn't think much of them. And while he doesn't torture or punish spirits he also doesn't trust them.

!!Terence Pennyfeather
The elderly founder of the Resistance.

* {{Antivillain}}: He's essentially a terrorist, but the government he's trying to overthrow is run by corrupt magicians who abuse and kill commoners on a whim. However, his crusade is beginning to turn him into the kind of person he fights against.

* FeelingTheirAge: As Pennyfeather got older he began feeling his age and fear of dying without accomplishing any of his goals. The risky raid on Gladstone's crypt was one of his last chances to stick it to the magicians.

* KillAndReplace: [[spoiler:After Faquarl possessed him, he destroyed Hopkins' mind and impersonated him until Makepeace got other magicians to try summoning spirits into themselves as well.]]

* NonActionGuy: Hopkins doesn't participate in Resistance attacks.

* NumberTwo: He's the right-hand man of Terrence Pennyfeather. [[spoiler:Except not really, he's actually this for Quentin Makepeace, and he was instrumental in carrying out the raid on Gladstone's crypt and the Golem Affair.]]

* TheBigGuy: He's the strongest member of the Resistance, [[spoiler:to the point that he's the only one who can put up any meaningful resistance against Honorius. Granted, Fred's still killed in the end, but the fact that he could go toe-to-toe with a psychotic afrit as long as he did is impressive.]]

* DirtyCoward: When Honorius attacked the Resistance, he fled, letting his friends buy him time with their lives. [[spoiler:He later sells out Kitty to Makepeace and Nathaniel, but he was being tortured by a spirit possessing him.]]

* NoAccountingForTaste: There is absolutely no indication what someone as kind and good-natured as her sees in her selfish {{Jerkass}} of a husband. That said there are subtle hints that she's not entirely happy (Arthur has decayed flowers, Nathaniel has fresh ones.)

* VillainProtagonist: for most of the series, he's a proud, and willing participant of a magician-run Police state that derives its power from propaganda, slave labor, and fear. Even at a young age, he's more than willing to severely punish any djinn he summons for even the slightest inconvenience. [[spoiler: He eventually gets better, but it takes a good long while]].

* JackOfAllStats: He's significantly stronger than Bartimaeus, and much more versatile and intelligent than Jabor. While Bartimaeus generally succeed in outmaneuvering him, it's clear that he considers Faquarl the biggest threat on the table.

%%%* TheKidWithTheLeash:

** DragonInChief: [[spoiler:He may be much weaker than Nouda (pretty much everybody is), but Faquarl is the one who does most of the plotting for the spirit rebellion.]]

* BigBad: In book 3, he's the most powerful enemy and [[spoiler:the ostensible leader of the demon revolution.]] [[BigBadWannabe Makepeace]] drives most of the plot, while [[TheDragon Faquarl]] is evidently the brains of the operation, but Nouda's raw power means [[spoiler:he's the one who his fellow spirit revolutionaries obey.]]

* EldritchAbomination: He's the real deal, surpassing easily the level of marids. Even the most powerful artifacts, such as [[spoiler:Gladstone's staff]] are a NoSell.

* PeekABangs: Has a long hairstyle in the second book, ''The Golem's Eye'', that includes this and is often mercilessly mocked about it by Bartimaeus. By the third book, ''Ptolemy's Gate'', he has abandoned it in favor a cropped military hairstyle modeled after that of the British soldiers that helps him to win favor with the public, which Bartimaeus [[MortonsFork still makes fun of him for]].

* StopHelpingMe: While facing a more powerful spirit during a battle in Prague, she tries to hype up Bartimaeus to their opponent. Unfortunately, her comments just make him sound worse.

** While he was genuinely involved in any number of historic events and has many legitimate feats to his name, a good number of his past "accomplishments" are [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory exaggerated]], [[FakeUltimateHero made up]], or [[FromACertainPointOfView technically true but far less impressive in context]] (his "speaking with Solomon" was brief and consisted mainly of pathetic grovelling on his part, for example.)

* TheRedBaron: He's called ''Khaba the Cruel'' and he definitely lives up to that title.

** Unlike most master-apprentice pairings among magicians, Schyler and Lovelace actually seem to care about each other like a father and son. They correspond regularly, Schyler manages to hold an unnerved Lovelace together to proceed with their coup, and even refers to him as "my boy." When Nathaniel reveals he killed Maurice, Lovelace is perturbed and disbelieving, where most magicians would have [[KickTheDog callously disregarded the news]].

* NoAccountingForTaste: There is absolutely no indication what someone as kind and good-natured as her sees in her selfish {{Jerkass}} of a husband.

* KnifeNut: His preferred weapon is a large meat cleaver.

* KnifeNut: Fred likes knives a lot. He's an expert at throwing them, [[spoiler:and even takes on Honorius with them.]]

* KnifeNut: Carries in his person a wide set of knifes, blades and shurikens.