History Characters / TheQueensThief

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: She's first seen wearing the same kind of things that her soldiers do, and she's got a broken nose from her life among them.

'''Due to the sheer number of spoilers present in this series, spoilers are unmarked except for those from the latest book, Return of the Thief. If you haven't read the full series, we strongly suggest that you do so before proceeding. You will be spoiled. You've been warned.'''

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: He is one of the best swordsmen on the Peninsula, although he tries to keep this fact hidden in the first three books so that his opponents will underestimate him.

** Until ''Moira's Pen'' where his great-grandson finally reveals his name is [[spoiler:Tykus]].

---> '''Attolia''': "I have trusted you, and no, that does not mean that I have not had you watched and that I do not have spies that watch my spies, and spies even that watch those."

* ArrangedMarriage: In her backstory. Her dad fobbed her off on another house as she was only a minor princess.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: To her Mede ambassador.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: To Eugenides.

* TheMentor: He taught Attolia everything she knows about how to survive as a sovereign Queen.

* HonorBeforeReason: Surprisingly averted, unlike other guardsmen.

* SpannerInTheWorks: For his own father. His father wanted him to turn Eugenides into a PuppetKing. Sejanus wanted to punish him for marrying Attolia and breaking Dite's heart in the process. Since humiliating the king through the attendants worked for Erondites' plan, Sejanus was able to conceal his own intentions up to the point where he assisted the assassins sent by Sounis and Nahuseresh.

* AmbiguousDisorder: He suffers from an unnamed, inherited disease that causes physical disability, potential mental disability, and short stature. He’s extremely mathematically intelligent and eventually learns to write, but he cannot speak and uses sign language to communicate.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Thus far, his real name has not been revealed.

* NoNameGiven: Is only ever referred to as "the magus."

* TheProfessor: When he's not plotting, he's studying botany and applying historical analysis to legends and myths.

* BadassArmy: She has one that's absolutely devoted to her, in the form of the Queen's guard.

* BadassBack

* EarnYourHappyEnding

* GuileHero: Basically whenever you think you know what Gen is up to, you don't. And even if you do, you don't know the half of it.

* HeroicBSOD[=/=]HeroicRROD

* HookHand: From the second book onwards. Occasionally he wears a false hand, but the hook doubles as a weapon.

* BoyishShortHair: As part of her practical, unfeminine appearance.

* FourStarBadass

* GoneHorriblyRight: Thinks this in ''King of Attolia''. Ornon had always wanted to see Eugenides humiliated, but seeing him swallow ever insult and humiliation hurled at him by the Attolians soon makes him seriously worried. (It's all in accordance with one of Eugenides' plans.)

* SherlockScan

* [[spoiler: RedemptionEqualsDeath]]: [[spoiler: He dies while chasing the Medes out, after he puts himself at risk to return and warn Eugenides that the Medes were planning to use the Naupent pass to make for the rear and capture Attolia and Eddis.]]

* ObfuscatingStupidity: He pretends to be mentally disabled so that he won't attract unwelcome attention, a habit he was taught by his nurse. [[spoiler:He maintains this in Attolia's palace until he's forced to reveal that he ''can'' communicate with sign language, which horrifies many people who had spoken much too freely around him.]]

* NameNotGiven: Unlike the other monarchs, his given name is never revealed. Even Sophos, his father, and the magus reference him only as "my/your uncle who is Sounis."

* QuipToBlack

* UnfitForGreatness: Initially. He's keenly aware of how disappointment he is to his father and uncle, being a soft, shy, scholarly boy instead of shaping himself into a cunning fighter like Sounis. The realization that he's failed his family and his country hits him hard in the fourth book, and he launches himself out of this trope as hard as he can.

* IllBoy: Despite his athleticism and martial prowess, Eugenides is prone to bouts of ill-health. Partly this is because the traumatic amputation of his hand shattered his health, but it's implied to also be the result of frequent close contact with gods.

* DeathGlare: Her gaze can cut down her courtiers like a scythe.

* FascinatingEyebrow: She has a habit of reacting to things by raising one eyebrow.

* MeaningfulName: Irony, again, as her name means “peace", and her reign has been brought with violence.

* TranquilFury: When she gets mad, this is how it plays. It's very rare that she ever shouts or pitches things.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: To [[spoiler: Eugenides]], saying that he sits on the throne like a printer's apprentice among other things.

* CrazyPrepared

* HesBack: Makes a spectacular and ground-breaking return after his episode of {{Angst}} in the second book.

* SecretStabWound: After being wounded in ''King of Attolia'', he makes ''such'' a whining, hammy ruckus about how much pain he's in all the way across the palace that everyone is just exasperated or amused. Only when they reach his room do they realize that his wound is much larger and deeper than they thought because he'd carefully bunched his clothes to conceal the injury and the blood. Costis realizes that his childish complaining was a far more effective smokescreen than stoically gritting his teeth would have been. (A point further made when Eugenides ''is'' convinced to stoically grit his teeth, and only then does Irene faint.)

* TheSoCalledCoward: He doesn't like fighting, which makes people tend to assume that he's a coward who isn't good at it. [[UnderestimatingBadassery They are very wrong]].

* StreetUrchin: See ObfuscatingStupidity above.

* TurnOutLikeHisFather: At first, he despised fighting and killing like his father did, but it soon became a necessary skill for him to keep his position and his life. He also turned out like his mother and grandfather, who were both thieves.

* LooksLikeJesus: She typically dresses in a red velvet peoplos with a jeweled hairband that replicates the most well-known depictions of Hephistia. This is to cement the idea that the Queen of Attolia rules in her own right and needs no co-ruler, just as Hephestia is the sole ruler of the old gods.

%%* BigBrotherIsWatching: He ''is'' Big Brother, as Attolia's spymaster.

** He actually loves his brother, he just pretends not to so their father doesn't separate them]].
** He was also kind to his nephew Pheris.

* IKnowWhereYouLive: In the first couple of books, he routinely visits Sounis and Attolia's private apartments and shifts things around (or leaves gifts) to show that he's been there. In the final book his threats against [[spoiler:the Braeling king include several of the king's personal effects, making it graphically clear that he has already "visited" at some point]].

* FanNickname: Nahuserfish.
** And occasionally Nahuserloser.
* HateSink: Oh so very much. He first appears in ''The Queen of Attolia'', the book where Attolia is revealed to be much more human than originally expected but not until ''after'' she cuts off the beloved main character's hand, so he mainly seems to exist so that the readers have someone to hate more than her. It works, as he's easily the most hated character in the entire series and as a smug, rude, sexist, KarmaHoudini who stirred up more trouble than just about any other single character, he deserves every bit of it. He's canonically this InUniverse as well, as Gen makes it clear that he blames and hates Nahuseresh for the loss of his hand, not Attolia.

* UnwittingPawn: He delivers a message (which tells an ill-intentioned prankster to let the hunting dogs loose in the king's path) and is later promoted to a squad leader specifically so that he'll be he NewMeat unable to stop an assassination attempt on the King.

* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:He had a son who carried the same genetic condition that disables Pheris, and who like Pheris was clever enough for Erondites to feel threatened, so Erondites murdered him.]]

* TheUnreveal: Whatever it was he did to Emtis.

* SpannerInTheWorks: For his own father. His father wanted him to turn Eugenides into a PuppetKing. Sejanus wanted to punish him for marrying Attolia and breaking Dite's heart in the process. Since humiliating the king through the attendants worked for Erondites' plan, Sejanus was able to conceal his own intentions up to the point where he hired some assassins.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking

* NoHeroToHisValet: As much as his childhood friend and cousin Eddis respects him, she still says explicitly that she would sooner strangle him than marry him. She also tells the woman he's in love with how much of a liar he is.

* IronicName: She's explicitly ''not'' beautiful. Her name is Helen.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: He pretends to be mentally disabled so that he won't attract unwelcome attention, a habit he was taught by his nurse.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: ''A Conspiracy of Kings'' is about this.

* SpottingTheThread: At first, it looks like Eugenides' gamble has failed, because Kamet has no useful military information, until Kamet remembers how strange it was that his master's modest request to rule a minor coastal province was refused. A refusal that would only make sense if the Medes had other plans for it, such as a secret naval base.

* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask

* BigBrotherInstinct: Though he's the younger brother, he's favored by their father and treated as the would-be heir, so he tries to look out for Dite. He hates Eugenides and tries to have him killed mainly because Dite is so in love with the queen, and confessed to a crime he didn't commit to save Dite.

* BadassBookworm: He's probably the most scholarly character in the books, but he's a skilled fighter and an incredibly capable royal servant.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In ''Queen of Attolia'', he tries to return Eugenides' spirits by saying there are still things he can do. Eugenides takes him at his word and steals the ''magus'' by framing him for the destruction of Sounis' navy. The magus didn't mean he should do ''that!''

* TheExtremistWasRight: Even Eddis has to admit that Attolia's ruthlessness was necessary both to survive the DeadlyDecadentCourt and to set her country in a good direction.

* HyperAwareness

%%* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething
* SecretStabWound: After being wounded in ''King of Attolia'', he makes ''such'' a whining, hammy ruckus about how much pain he's in all the way across the palace that everyone is just exasperated or amused. Only when they reach his room do they realize that his wound is much larger and deeper than they thought because he'd carefully bunched his clothes to conceal the injury and the blood. Costis realizes that his childish complaining was a far more effective smokescreen than stoically gritting his teeth would have been. (A point further made when Eugenides is convinced to stoically grit his teeth, and only then does Irene faint.)

'''Beware of unmarked spoilers.'''

** When Costis makes his "which is more unlikely, your deaths or an heir?" comment, Eugenides finds it ''hilarious.'' [[spoiler: Of course, there's an extra layer of amusement for him because at that point, everyone in the palace incorrectly thinks he has never once visited his wife's bedroom.]]

* BroughtDownToNormal: [[spoiler:Subverted. Initially he and everyone else thinks that a one-handed thief is no thief at all, but as the magus says, he can still do something.]]

* TheChessmaster: Particularly in ''King of Attolia''. He promises Attolia that [[spoiler:he can bring down Erondites' house in six months]] and it only takes him 98 days.
* ComesGreatResponsibility: As he tells Phresine, he has to keep his distaste for killing people a secret because he'll have to do it whether he wants to or not, [[spoiler:since it comes with being King]].

* DanceOfRomance: With [[spoiler:Attolia]] in ''The King of Attolia''.

* TheDogBitesBack: In ''Queen of Attolia''. He [[spoiler:is in love with Attolia, granted,]] but the way he humiliates her after she cuts off his hand is definitely karmic.

* GentlemanThief: Although he appears to be a common street thief in the first book, he's quite insistent that he's from a respectable family. [[spoiler:From Eddis' ''royal'' family in point of fact.]]

* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler:After a lot of trial and suffering, he and Irene--that is, the Queen of Attolia]].

* [[spoiler: HookHand: From the second book onwards]].

* ImpossibleThief: [[spoiler: He goes from a lowly thief in the prisons of Sounis at the beginning of the series to the sovereign of ''all three countries'' by the fourth book of the series; Eddis, Sounis and Attolia. Though to be fair, he was in prison by his own choice and only pretending to be "lowly".]]

* JumpedAtTheCall: When it comes to spying in Attolia. [[spoiler:It loses him a hand.]]

* LikeBrotherAndSister: With [[spoiler: Eddis, his cousin.]]
* LoveAtFirstSight: [[spoiler:Towards the Queen of Attolia. He says that this kind of love doesn't last, mind, but he spies on her enough that it just gets stronger]].
* TheMasochismTango: With [[spoiler: Attolia]]. First he fell in love with her from afar. He spent a lot of time [[StalkerWithACrush sneaking around and watching her]]. Then she [[spoiler: cut off his hand]], causing him to go into [[HeroicBSOD a deep depression]]. Eventually he recovers, only to [[spoiler: kidnap her]] and propose marriage.
* MeaningfulName: Eugenides is also the name of the god of thieves, and as he's the [[spoiler: Queen's Thief]], it's his name as well as his [[spoiler: title]].
* NoHeroToHisValet: As much as his childhood friend [[spoiler: and cousin Eddis]] respects him, she still says explicitly that she would sooner strangle him than marry him. She also tells the woman he's in love with how much of a liar he is.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: In the first book. Funny thing is, ''he's the narrator,'' using the first-person perspective. Somehow he manages to [[UnreliableNarrator fool the reader]] without leaving out anything that would be noticed. This also comes into play in the third book (although this time the reader is in on it), wherein the court in [[spoiler: Attolia]] are lead to think he's an ineffectual UpperClassTwit.

* QuitYourWhining: When he spends a little too long lamenting [[spoiler:his lost hand and the resulting war]] and visits the temple, the ''gods themselves'' tell him to get over it.
* ReluctantRuler: [[spoiler: He married his wife because he loved her, not because he wanted her throne.]]

* [[spoiler:RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething]]

* StalkerWithACrush: [[spoiler:To Attolia. He fell in love with her while spying on her for Eddis and soon began spying on her in the times when she had the mask off.]]

* AltarDiplomacy: Much of her problems come from whether or not she's going to marry Sounis. Sounis and the magus plot to force her hand in the first book, but even in the second and fourth she admits she may ''have'' to in order to strengthen the coast against Mede invasion, even though he's an unpleasant man. [[spoiler:When Sophos becomes Sounis the question becomes less odious, but still not easy.]]

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: The second book reveals that the gods have been sending her dreams [[spoiler:of an eruption of the Sacred Mountain that will kill everyone if she doesn't empty the country to the lowlands]]. It's not going to happen for another century, but given the event she has to start fixing it ''now''.
* IronicName: [[spoiler:She's explicitly ''not'' beautiful. Her name is Helen.]]

* PapaWolf: Downplayed example, since he is also TheStoic, and given his position and the political elements of the series, he cannot actually strike out at the woman who [[spoiler:cut off his son's hand]]. He does make it as clear to her as he can that he is very angry with her for it.

! '''Attolia [[spoiler:Irene]]'''

* AfraidOfBlood: Not notably. But she does faint when she sees [[spoiler:her husband's blood and realizes how severe his injury is]].

* DanceOfRomance: With [[spoiler: Eugenides]], in "The King of Attolia".

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When she has [[spoiler: Gen's hand cut off]]. She spends a lot of time in the first and second books [[DefrostingIceQueen mellowing out]].

* GallowsHumor: When [[spoiler:Eugenides]] is outraged at a courtier, she defuses it by offering him her goblet--which was how she killed her first husband. He finds this absolutely hilarious.

* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler:To Eugenides, in spite of the hand amputation. He's one of the few who sees her as a person.]]

* IronicName: [[spoiler:Her given name is Irene, which means peace.]]
* KickTheDog: Most of her cruelties were committed in the name of stabilizing her rule and her country. Cutting off [[spoiler:Eugenides' hand]] was an act of pure spite.
* TheMasochismTango: Mentioned above, with [[spoiler: Eugenides]]. When you [[spoiler: cut your love interest's hand off]], you know you have this trope.

* PalsWithJesus: Indirectly, as she is [[spoiler:married to the chosen one of the gods, Eugenides.]]

* SugarAndIcePersonality: Mostly ice; even when she's angry, it's cold. However, she does still have human emotions, which she's able to show around [[spoiler:her husband Eugenides]].

* UnderestimatingBadassery: To [[spoiler: Eugenides.]]

* BrokenAce: After he is [[spoiler:imprisoned and tortured for his failures]]. Though he remains the Queen's confidant, it's noted that he's not up to being her full-time spymaster again.

* UndyingLoyalty: To Attolia. [[spoiler:Even after she imprisons and tortures him.]] Later he becomes just as loyal to Eugenides.

* DontCallMeSir: He tells Kamet several times to stop calling him "Master" when they're not pretending in front of others, until he finally says it in such a way that Kamet is too afraid to slip up again. [[spoiler:As far as Costis is concerned, Kamet stopped being a slave from the moment Costis met him.]]

* HonorBeforeReason: Seems to be a theme with members of the Guard, but even ''they'' think Costis takes it too far. [[spoiler:He retains this despite becoming a bit of a GuileHero in ''Thick as Thieves'', when he reveals that he would have let Kamet leave at anytime if he'd known that Nahuseresh was dead[[note]]which would have been bad because the false information was planted by Eugenides to make Kamet leave, but he also knew Kamet would be too scared to reveal it[[/note]] and would have taken all the blame for it to save Kamet, had Kamet not interrupted loudly.]]

* LoveEpiphany: Not so much love as ''loyalty'', but not long after Costis says he'd happily see the king choke to death accidentally, he finds himself making a wild charge through hunting dogs and high-ranking officials to [[spoiler:save Eugenides' life.]] He finds himself re-evaluating that statement in light of his own actions.

* RageBreakingPoint: Very early in ''King of Attolia'', when he punches said king in the face for mocking the Guard's inability to protect their queen in the previous book. [[spoiler:Turns out this was all part of the plan for Eugenides--by changing Costis' mind he hoped to change Teleus']].

* TooDumbToFool: Downplayed. Costis isn't stupid and he's both capable and quickwitted enough to get through Medea, but [[spoiler:Eugenides sent him to fetch Kamet because he knew Kamet would be able to escape a more cunning man]].

* TranquilFury: In ''Thick as Thieves,'' [[spoiler:he silently snaps the neck of several slavers while escaping from them, and the look in his eyes terrifies Kamet. After this episode, Costis admits he wasn't doing the work of a soldier]].
* UndyingLoyalty: To Attolia at first, then eventually [[spoiler: Eugenides]] as well. It causes him no amount of conflicting emotions, partly because he doesn't realize that [[spoiler: Eugenides and Attolia actually do love each other]] for another hundred pages or so, and is worried he might be forced to choose between them.

* BigBrotherInstinct: [[spoiler:Though he's the younger brother, he's favored by their father and treated as the would-be heir, so he tries to look out for Dite. He hates Eugenides and tries to have him killed mainly because Dite is so in love with the queen, and confessed to a crime he didn't commit to save Dite.]]
* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler:When Eugenides tears down his entire house in the space of fifteen minutes and leaves him just his and Dites' life, Sejanus accepts it stoically and calls him by the archaic title 'Basileus' as he's arrested.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: [[spoiler:He actually loves his brother, he just pretends not to so their father doesn't separate them]].

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In ''Queen of Attolia'', he tries to return Eugenides' spirits by saying there are still things he can do. Eugenides takes him at his word [[spoiler:and steals the ''magus'' by framing him for the destruction of Sounis' navy]]. The magus didn't mean he should do ''that!''

* OutGambitted: By [[spoiler:Eugenides, who knew that this plan was in the works and planted himself in the magus' party as their thief.]]

![[spoiler:Sounis]] '''Sophos'''

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: [[spoiler:After he uses two well-placed bullets as his ''second'' argument, the council of barons unanimously confirms him as king]].

* BewareTheNiceOnes: He tries to win over the barons with an idealistic speech about how they need to ally with Eddis and Attolia to prevent a Mede conquest. It doesn't work. [[spoiler:So he shoots the chief conspirator against him very dead and asks for a new vote. They confirm him as King unanimously.]]
* BreakTheCutie: During ''A Conspiracy of Kings'', when he is [[spoiler: kidnapped, [[MadeASlave becomes a slave]], and is generally thrust neck-deep into the cutthroat politics of his world, where everyone is trying to manipulate him.]]

* MadeASlave: [[spoiler:He's hidden by his kidnappers this way in ''Conspiracy of Kings'', along with some beating to make his face unrecognizable. He actually likes it ''better'' than being the heir.]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: In ''A Conspiracy of Kings''. Everyone thinks he's an idiot and his emotions show on his face. [[spoiler:So he lets everyone think he's a gormless, naive dolt while he plans to show them all that he is 1. smart and 2. definitely ruthless enough to succeed his uncle]].
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: He's put on the dangerous trip to steal Hamiathes' Gift in ''The Thief''. [[spoiler:He racks up more considerable achievements in the fourth book, starting when he saves his father from assassination and escapes enslavement at the same time.]]

* TheMole: [[spoiler:He was secretly working for Attolia as they offered to pay him and his family quite handsomely.]]

* KickTheDog: He's the one who convinces Attolia to [[spoiler:cut off Gen's hand]].

* UnderestimatingBadassery: [[spoiler:He assumes that he has Attolia wrapped around his little finger.]] Boy, was he surprised.

** He addresses Eugenides with the Peninsular word meaning "Great King" hoping merely to flatter him into [[spoiler:sparing Costis. He doesn't realize that the word, ''Annux'', carries an almost mythic sense of gravity]].

* FireForgedFriends: Eventually with Costis as they journey across the Mede empire, facing many perils and saving each other's lives. Though he doesn't realize it, [[spoiler:even after he thinks Costis is ''dead'', until a stranger--who is strongly implied to be Ennikar--suggests that he's as wrong as that as he is about whether Costis is truly dead]].
* FriendshipMoment: Near the end of the book. Though believing the friendship shattered by his own actions, when he sees what kind of ruler Eugenides is, [[spoiler:Kamet yells out before Costis can try to lie for Kamet's sake and begs Eugenides not to punish him for not realizing Kamet's deception. Fortunately, the whole situation was a set-up by Eugenides himself.]]

* OhCrap: To be honest, the entirety of ''Thick as Thieves'' is Kamet having one heart attack after another. [[spoiler:But he has an especially climactic one when he finally sees Eugenides and realizes this is not a vain, petty lordling, but a genuine ruler, and therefore not likely to forgive Costis' "failure."]]
* PalsWithJesus: He kind of cottons on to the fact that [[spoiler:Immakuk and Ennikar gave him a little help on his journey]].

* GoodWithNumbers: He's fascinated by all things geometry. Whenever he gets a free moment he'll use whatever small objects he has to hand (pebbles, almonds, sometimes his own spit) to construct elaborate patterns.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Relius is his closest friend. This doesn't stop Teleus from carrying out his duty and arresting him when Relius fails. [[spoiler: ''Return of the Thief'' implies that it is not so platonic, particularly on Teleus’ end.]]

* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Teleus. [[spoiler: ''Return of the Thief'' implies that it is not so platonic, particularly on Teleus’ end.]]

* TheChessmaster

* UnderestimatingBadassery: He initially thinks that Costis is a stupid guardsman from a nation of illiterates.

* TheDreaded: Sounis (Sophos' uncle) is paranoid that Gen will sneak into his room and kill him in his sleep. Attolia hides it better but had similar concerns. Justified as Gen proved he was perfectly capable.

* WithFriendsLikeThese: He greatly respects the magus, loves Irene Attolia, and likes Costis Ormentiedes. And he quite thoroughly upends their lives over the course of three books.

* BawdySong: He wrote one called "The King's Wedding Night". It proves to be an EarWorm around court and becomes a plot point later.