Characters from ''[[Literature/DoctrineOfLabyrinths The Doctrine of Labyrinths]]''.

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[[foldercontrol]]
!! Narrators

[[folder: Felix Harrowgate]]

-> ''"I did not believe in redemption, or atonement; if anything existed beyond this frail and sordid life, I knew I was already damned. Knew, and did not care."''

Felix Harrowgate, the most gifted wizard of the [[StarScraper Mirador]], the seat of power in the country of Marathat, still tortured by his past growing up as a prostitute in the Marathine capital of Mélusine and as a plaything for [[BloodMagic blood wizard]] Malkar Gennadion.

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* AgentPeacock: He calls everyone "darling," wears "carnival-tent gaudy" clothes, and worries about humidity frizzing his hair... and also burns a guy to ashes with his mind.
* AttentionWhore: It would be a gross understatement to say he loves attention, though it should be noted that Felix is far less comfortable with attention he earns without seeking it. As Mildmay observes, Felix doesn't like attention for his own achievements, just superficial things, like his looks.
* BadassInDistress: When he temporarily loses his magic.
* BigDamnHeroes: Along with Mildmay and Corbie, when they take on the machine under Summerdown in ''Corambis''.
* BondageIsBad: For the other guy, when Felix experiences a rage blackout in ''The Mirador''; and for Felix, when the members of a sex cult take advantage of his vulnerability to [[spoiler: steal his magic]] in ''Corambis''.
* BrainsAndBondage: With Malkar, Shannon, paying clients, and random dudes.
* BroughtDownToBadass: While you can't get rid of a wizard's magic (at least as far as we can tell), severe mental trauma or certain medicines can render a wizard incapable of accessing his power. Luckily for the people who need him, he'll [[CastFromHitPoints power a spirit-channeling maze with his own blood]] if that's what it takes. Another example occurs when he has to face down a fantome ''and'' the a ClockPunk weapon of mass destruction while under the binding-by-forms.
* CampGay: Other than wimpiness, it's hard to think of a single gay stereotype he doesn't at some point play into.
* ClubKid: Gaudy clothes, "darling"s, sex clubs, the whole nine yards.
* ConvictedByPublicOpinion: Felix hasn't been tried for heresy and treason yet, but the [[ShamedByAMob public]] nearly stones him to death when Stephen forces him to [[ComeToGawk walk through]] the Plaza del'Archimago.
* DepravedHomosexual: Veers into this territory when he beats a partner (initially willing, but not by this point) nearly to death in a dominance-submission game in ''The Mirador''. In fairness to Felix, he was crazy enough that he didn't even remember doing it.
* DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu: He returns to Malkar's bed about six years after partially breaking the obligation de sang. This is about as good an idea as you'd think.
* DreamWalker
* DualityMotif: Much is made of his "spooky skew eyes", one cloudy blue and one gold, which reflect his rather fragmented personality.
* FakeAristocrat: He's revealed to be one of these during his very first chapter.
* FirstGrayHair: When Felix comes to his senses in Troia, he looks in the mirror and realizes that he has a streak of white in his hair.
* {{Frameup}}: Felix is wrongfully jailed for treason in ''Mélusine'', and for the murder of [[spoiler: Gideon]] in ''The Mirador''.
* GentlemanSnarker: When conversing with anyone who annoys him in any way. Which is to say, with any humans.
* HatesBeingTouched: Largely due to his [[RapeAsBackstory past trauma]] he can't stand people touching him - even casually - without his consent.
* HeroicWillpower: Demonstrated in his showdown with the fantome at the end of ''Corambis''.
* IGaveMyWord: Felix is incensed when Mildmay suggests that they break [[spoiler: the conditions of Felix's commuted sentence]] by not going to Corambis.
* InterruptedSuicide: While trying to avoid being possessed by a fantome (''Mélusine'').
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: Prior to his TraumaticHaircut in ''Mélusine''. He grows his hair back out again after.
* LoverAndBeloved: Beloved to Malkar, although the books thoroughly deconstruct this trope. Felix has no desire to pass on the tradition with an apprentice of his own.
* LuminescentBlush: Both he and Mildmay are prone to blushing due to their pale colouring, but Felix in particular is described turning scarlet whenever he's angry or embarrassed.
* MindControl: Uses the obligation d'ame to force Mildmay to kill an enemy. Also a victim of it from Malkar.
* MindRape: Malkar's assault on him early in ''Mélusine'' drives the plot of the first two books. Later, Felix inflicts a similar fate on [[AssholeVictim Vulpes]].
* MistakenForProstitute: In Bernatha, due to his bright clothes, which are a sign of prostitution in the city. [[spoiler: Later, he begins hooking for real again.]]
* MyGreatestFailure: It's a tossup between forcing Mildmay to kill [[spoiler: Vey Coruscant]] and enabling [[spoiler: Gideon]]'s death.
* NotAMorningPerson: Possibly as a result of this, he's often late to court.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Due to Malkar's sadistic manipulations, Felix's powers nearly bring down a country, and burn much of a major city to the ground.
* PrettyBoy: Felix is described as "as beautiful as sunlight". Unfortunately for others, he also shamelessly uses his beauty to manipulate and control.
* {{Psychopomp}}: Acts as one for various spirits in ''The Virtu'' and ''The Mirador''.
* RapeAsBackstory: His Keeper sent him out as a street prostitute when he was a kid; he started working at a brothel at 11 and was living with DomesticAbuser Malkar at 14.
* RapeAsDrama: In both ''Mélusine'' and ''Corambis''.
* ReallyGetsAround: Gideon suggests that Felix doesn't know how many men he's slept with in the last month. He's right.
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Felix is mentioned by both Mildmay and Mehitabel as having absolutely no head for the worth of money. Mildmay, in fact, manages the household finances.
* SafeSaneAndConsensual: How he likes sex with Shannon and [[spoiler: Murtagh]].
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: When it comes to the Cabalines' rules against laying the dead.
* SexGod: Gideon didn't know it was possible to have sex as good as it is with Felix.
* ShamefulStrip: Courtesy of Brother Orphelin, at [[BedlamHouse St. Crellifer's]].
* [[BrotherSisterIncest Sibling Incest]]: His attraction to Mildmay.
* ShamedByAMob: When Stephen drags him through the Plaza del'Archimago in ''Mélusine''.
* SquishyWizard: Not as graceless as some of his colleagues, but he's still so physically inept that Mehitabel laughs when Vulpes asks if he was the one who beat Mildmay to a pulp in ''The Mirador''.
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: People are stunned by his golden left eye. And, guess what, wizard. Freakishly powerful wizard.
* SympatheticSlaveOwner: He casts the obligation d'ame on Mildmay in large part to keep him protected in the Mirador, as the contract makes them as one legally. But it still makes Mildmay his slave.
* {{Telepathy}}: Uses it to talk with Gideon and Thamuris.
* TellMeAboutMyFather: Felix just wants Diokletian to tell him who the man is. [[spoiler: He can't tell him, because nobody knows.]]
* TheCaretaker: Of Mildmay, who's fallen seriously ill, in ''Corambis''. Felix takes this role very seriously, to the point of prostituting himself to pay a doctor.
* TheDogBitesBack He snaps down hard on Malkar in ''The Virtu''. [[spoiler: That's why Malkar isn't around for the third and fourth books.]]
* TheOathbreaker: As Mildmay says, "I don't know of anything you care enough about to swear by," possibly because of the many times Felix has sworn by his soul and broken the vow.
* TheOphelia: A definite gender inversion in Felix in ''Mélusine''.
* TheUnapologetic: He spends much of his time at the Mirador insulting and bullying his friends and enemies alike, and rarely shows remorse. Even when he ''is'' genuinely sorry he has a [[GaggingOnYourWords terrible time admitting it.]]
* TongueTied: Due to layers of spells cast on him, Felix can't tell the Cabal the truth about Malkar in ''Mélusine''.
* UnhappyMedium: When unable to control his ability through magic.
* UnlimitedWardrobe: Felix, at least while in power. He has a coat for every occasion, as long as "carnival-tent gaudy" (Mildmay, ''The Virtu'') fits the mood. And if it doesn't, he'll still go with that.
* UnscrupulousHero: This is a guy who will risk his life to lay ghouls to rest... only to turn around and MindRape his own brother.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: With [[spoiler: Thaddeus de Lalage]].

[[/folder]]
[[folder: Mildmay the Fox]]

-> ''"Since you ask, no, it ain't a nice way to live, but it beats the fuck out of dying."''

A former [[TykeBomb teenaged assassin]] for a [[TheDon don]] in Mélusine's [[WretchedHive Lower City]], Mildmay broke away from her influence and earns a living as a cat burglar. When he sees Felix's face and similar coloring, he realizes that they are actually half-brothers. After becoming Felix's esclavin in the obligation d'ame, he adopts the more respectable name "Mildmay Foxe".

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* BadassNormal: His mundane badassery is sufficient to enable killing wizards.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Mildmay is good with children and protective of them, even though his face tends to scare them. He also has a serious case of this towards Felix from the moment they first meet, despite being six years younger.
* CardSharp: Mildmay was trained as a card sharp while he was a kept thief. He is such a good card player that he pays his and Felix's traveling expenses without even needing to cheat.
* TheCaretaker: Mildmay is this to insane!Felix in ''Mélusine''.
* ChivalrousPervert: He may visit brothels staffed with dubiously willing women, but they seem to have a better-than-average time when he does.
* CloudCuckoolandersMinder: To Felix, in ''Mélusine''.
* CombatPragmatist: He's gone below the belt several times in fights, once even kicking Felix... anyway, yeah, he's gone below the belt several times.
* CluelessChickMagnet
* TheDogBitesBack: On Kolkhis in ''The Mirador''.
* FaceOfAThug: Mildmay's face is mentioned to be incredibly frightening-- to the point where he never smiles because he knows it would scare ''other'' people. However, most of the women he encounters (Mehitabel, Kolkhis, the Fawn daughters, Corbie, and random chambermaids), not to mention [[spoiler: Felix]], seem able to look past it.
* FriendsWithBenefits: With Mehitabel. Later with Corbie.
* GeniusBruiser: Quickly learns both Troian and Kekropian.
* HandicappedBadass: After his leg gets broken in ''Mélusine'', it heals badly and he won't be running anyone down... but if they get within arm's reach, he can take on just about anyone.
* HitmanWithAHeart
* InsecureLoveInterest: He's insecure in general, but his romantic relationships tend to throw his terrible self-esteem and abandonment issues into particularly sharp focus.
* MatureYoungerSibling: Mildmay is several years younger than Felix but spends the bulk of the entire series trying to mitigate the damage Felix's recklessness and mental health issues cause, to the point of even having to manage Felix's money for the pair.
* MindControl: Exerted on him by Felix, Astyanax, and Malkar, for various reasons.
* MuggleInMageCustody: Felix casts the obligation d'ame on him in large part to keep him protected in the Mirador, as the contract makes them as one legally. But it still makes Mildmay his slave.
* ReluctantWarrior: Until the end of ''The Mirador'', Mildmay is this, wanting to keep from killing but his lifestyle refusing to accommodate.
* RapeAsBackstory: Kolkhis "could make me. She'd done it before."
* {{Roofhopping}}: Mildmay's preferred way of getting around on the job, until his leg gets hurt.
* SeenItAll
* SexGod: According to Mehitabel, "'no one' was as good as Mildmay."
* SirSwearsALot: As exemplified by his catchphrases, "Fuck this for the emperor's snotrag" and "Fuck me sideways till I cry".
* TheStoic: His parental figure loved to try and get a rise out of him to embarrass him, and eventually Mildmay just figured out how to keep himself from reacting, to the point that he no longer remembers how to react to anything mundane.
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: From what is known about Malkar, and from what Felix tells us about him, it's heavily implied that Mildmay suffered sexual, psychological, and physical torture at Malkar's hands. But even when Mildmay ''does'' remember, he refuses to talk or even think about it: Mildmay is a first-person narrator in every book, and by the fourth book remembers what happens, but we, the readers, never find out and it's still kept ambiguous.
* TykeBomb: He became a professional assassin at ''fourteen''.

[[/folder]]
[[folder: Mehitabel Parr]]

-> ''"Are you planning to execute me, too? I'd like to know before I make dinner plans."''

Both an actress and a spy for the Bastion (a stronghold for the Kekropian military), who starts over in Mélusine as an actress at one of city's major theaters. She and Mildmay are FriendsWithBenefits in parts of ''The Virtu'' and ''The Mirador'' and she retains considerable fondness for both redheaded brothers.

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* BespectacledCutie: Her big, childlike eyes and spectacles highlight her cuteness
* BrainyBrunette: Her street smarts get Mildmay and Felix through the southern duchies.
* FemmeFatale: After Vulpes coerces her into spying for the Bastion.
* GoodBadGirl: Likes sex and helping people.
* IHaveYourWife: Vulpes coerces back into spying by threatening her great love, Hallam Bellamy.
* MasterOfDisguise: When Mildmay still can't stand her, he notes that he'd rather eat hot coals than admit it, but "she knew all about disguises."
* TheMistress: To [[spoiler: Lord Stephen]], although she seems to do it mainly in hopes of ingratiating herself with Vulpes.
* NervesOfSteel: Felix says that she "would stand like iron when [lesser people]] mewled and ran."
* RapeAsBackstory: While we don't know how far he went, she ran away from home at fifteen to get away from her pervy uncle, René.
* TrueBlueFemininity: Mildmay is struck by her beauty when he visits her as she prepares for a soiree while wearing "yards and yards of this gorgeous indigo crushed velvet."
* WhenSheSmiles: While she is not conventionally pretty, Mildmay says her smile is "as bright as a handful of diamonds in the sun."

[[/folder]]
[[folder: Kay Brightmore]]

-> ''"I fear ''my'' heart is more gears than flesh."''

Appearing only in the final novel, ''Corambis'', Kay is a margrave of southern Corambis who [[ChildSoldiers went to war]] against Usaran raiders at age fourteen. He supports Gerrard Hume, the son of Caloxa's dead king and Kay's [[IncompatibleOrientation secret love]] in an uprising against the Corambin conquerers. The rebellion ends leaving Kay blinded.

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* BreakTheHaughty: The Brightmores are famously proud, making the indignities Kay endures over the course of ''Corambis'' even more painful for him.
* EffeminateMisogynisticGuy: He constantly derides himself for being "womanish" (crying, listening in on conversations, worrying about walking alone while blind), a term he considers quite an insult.
* IncompatibleOrientation: With King Gerrard.
* ManlyGay: Well, he really ''wants'' to be manly.
* MyGreatestFailure: Reawakening the machine under Summerdown.
* PintSizePowerhouse: Very short but quite strong.
* ShamefulStrip: After his capture by Glimmering.
* TerseTalker: Tends to leave out unnecessary pronouns when he talks.
[[/folder]]

!! Other Characters

[[folder: Malkar Gennadion]]
A monstrous blood wizard who found then-adolescent Felix in a brothel and groomed him to become a member of polite society while brutalizing him. He steals Felix's power to break the Virtu, burn much of the Mirador, and destroy its wards, and continues his abuse of Felix until his death.
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* BigBad: His evil is behind most of the sorry things that happen to Felix, several of the ones that happen to Mildmay, and the biggest to threaten Marathat, over the course of the books.
* ColdBloodedTorture: What he inflicts on Mildmay while holding him captive in the Bastion.
* ConsummateLiar: He lives in the Mirador for, give or take, nine or ten years ([[SeriesContinuityError depending on which of account you're reading at the time]]), and in that time convinces everyone that a local whore is a foreign nobleman, establishes his own mini-court of fawning admirers, and even seduces the Lord Protector's IceQueen sister.
* TheCorrupter: Of Felix. It's hard to know how much of this is just [[ItAmusedMe for kicks]], and how much of it is to gain access to Felix's magic.
* DepravedBisexual: Fond of tricking people into loving him and then yanking the rug out from under him. For extra kicks, he sometimes rapes them, too.
* DomesticAbuser: Manipulative, cruel, and aggressive toward his partner.
* ForTheEvulz: His chief motivation for raping Felix,torturing various people, driving a young woman to suicide, and attempting to assist in the invasion of a country that more or less minds its own business? He enjoys it.
* LoverAndBeloved: His relationship with Felix is a deconstruction.
* ManipulativeBastard: He excels at tricking people into doing what he wants.
* MindControl: The obligation de sang allows him to use this on Felix. He also enacts a compulsion on Mildmay in ''The Virtu''.
* MoreThanMindControl: He isn't averse to using this, either, as when he schemes to let Robert find out about Felix's humiliating past so that Felix will return to him.
* TheSvengali: He trained Felix so he could one day use him to bring down the Mirador.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shannon Teverius]]
Youngest-known son ([[MamasBabyPapasMaybe at least legally]]) of Gareth Teverius by his second wife, Gloria Aestia, the fabled "Golden Bitch," from which fact he gained the unpleasant nickname of "Golden Whelp"; half-brother of Stephen and Victoria Teverius. Much to Stephen's disapproval, he has been in a relationship with Felix for nearly five years at the start of ''Mélusine''. While he and Felix split acrimoniously, he later becomes a loyal friend to Mehitabel Parr.
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* BastardBastard: Played with; people keep expecting the likely son of Gloria Aestia and Cotton Verlalius to do something terrible, but his offenses mostly consist of spreading rumors about and sniping with his ex.
* CampGay: Catty, a flamboyant dresser, and a huge [[AllGaysLoveTheater devotee of theater]].
* DatingWhatDaddyHates: His much older brother Stephen is the head of the family and hates Felix more than just about anything else in the world. Guess who Shannon moved in with.
* DramaQueen: Especially in comparison to his more [[SiblingYinYang grounded and sensible siblings]].
* HeelFaceTurn: In ''The Mirador'', he grows into a reliable friend to Mehitabel and shows kindness to Felix after his fall from grace.
* GenerationXerox
* MaliciousSlander: He spreads a rumor that Felix and Mildmay are sleeping together. They'd feel better about it if it weren't so close to the truth.
* PokeThePoodle: His attempts to lash out at Felix are too petty and ridiculous to land him in actual villain territory.
* PrettyBoy: Famous for it.
* RoyalBrat: Shannon's behavior early in the series is a headache for his brother, his lover, and probably that poor guard lieutenant.
* SiblingYinYang: He's the polar opposite of Stephen and Vicky, both of whom are dour, stoic, and sensible. [[spoiler: This might be something to do with the fact that he's almost certainly not related to them by blood.]]
* StalkerWithACrush: Of Felix, when ''The Mirador'' starts.
* {{Yandere}}: In ''Mélusine'', he seems to change his mind over whether he wants Felix or not on every few days that he sees him.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mavortian von Heber]]

Norvenan wizard driven by revenge against a man named Beaumont Livy.
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* BestServedCold: He's spent much of his life in pursuit of Beaumont Livy. [[spoiler: And he dies for it, too]]
* BrainsAndBrawn: How he seems to view his relationship with Bernard.
* ConsummateLiar: According to Mildmay.
* HandicappedBadass: Although he can barely use his legs, he reveals the presence of the Hermione fantôme, metaphorically stands up to a captor who's got him drugged and locked in a room, and crosses probably most of a continent at least twice.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kolkhis]]
Sometimes known as Kolkhis of Britomart, and to her followers as Keeper, Kolkhis is a [[TheDon don]] in Mélusine's Britomart district, running thieves, cardsharps, and assassins. Her favorite [[TykeBomb pupil]] was Mildmay, who she raised from the age of four, made her lover when he was thirteen, and turned into an assassin shortly thereafter. He broke away from her at around age seventeen, but she continues to want him back.
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* BitchAlert: When Felix meets her in ''The Virtu''.
* BadBoss: In charge of everything from cardsharping to assassination.
* TheDon: She runs a crime syndicate in Britomart, with everything from petty theivery to political assassination under its aegis.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: She has black hair, gray eyes, and pale skin with "those cold blue undertones that made her look some mornings like the world's most beautiful corpse" (Mildmay, ''The Mirador'').
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Pretty much the only thing she does for free is assist heretics.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: As Felix describes her in ''The Virtu''.
* LeanAndMean: She has a "long snaky body" and gets her kicks from forcing herself on her subordinates and generally [[MoreThanMindControl messing with their heads]].
* ManipulativeBastard: The kind who'll send her fourteen-year-old lover out to kill a man in a hopeless bid to earn her love.
* WifeHusbandry: A gender inversion, as she raises at least two of the boys who become her lovers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Robert of Hermione]]
Robert's is the brother of Stephen Teverius's late wife, Emily, and acts as a major antagonist to Felix, publicly exposing him as a former prostitute and tormenting him during his spell of insanity.
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* ManipulativeBastard
* MindRape: He performs one on Felix at [[BedlamHouse St. Crellifer's]] mental asylum.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: He gets away with a lot of obnoxious and unethical behavior due to his relationship to Lord Stephen.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Khrysogonos]]
An acolyte in the Gardens of Nephele, assigned to tend Mildmay. He originally despises Mildmay as a thief and murderer, but comes to care for him and alerts Felix to Mildmay's dire situation.
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* TheAtoner: He feels so guilty about mistreating Mildmay that he thinks he deserves to be put back to scrubbing floors with the novices.
* UpperClassTwit: He wears expensive jewelry and is, initially at least, very snide toward Mildmay.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Thaddeus Lalage]]
A former Eusebian turned [[WellIntentionedExtremist fanatical Cabaline]]. He befriended Felix over their shared experiences with abusive wizards and rescues him from St. Crellifer's, but turns on him when Felix fails to quickly return to normalcy.
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* AccuserOfTheBrethren: His relentless persecution of Gideon. Over a period of ''years'', no less.
* HeteronormativeCrusader: When fighting with Felix over Gideon's trustworthiness, he snaps, "You'll believe anything a man tells you when he's buried in your ass, won't you?"
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Thaddeus genuinely believes that ''all'' refugees who haven't yet taken the Mirador's oaths are spies. Which is a little weird, since he [[BoomerangBigot used to be such a refugee himself]].
* WeUsedToBeFriends: At the beginning of ''Mélusine'', he's perhaps Felix's most trusted friend. By the end of ''The Mirador'', he's accusing him of treason and murder.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Elvenner Packer]]
Famous banker and mayor of Mélusine.
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* MayorPain: Mildmay and Stephen may not agree on much, but they both despise Elvenner Packer, mayor of Mélusine.
* MorallyBankruptBanker: Stephen would rather turn Marathat into a vassal of Tibernia than indebt the country to Elvenner Packer.

[[/folder]]
[[folder:Victoria Teveria]]
Eldest known child of the late lord protector Gareth Teverius, she is sister to Stephen and half-sister to Shannon. Outside of an ill-fated affair with Malkar, she is very dour and strict. Mehitabel describes her as "[s]tern, regular, and uncompromising."
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* DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu: She has an affair with Malkar. In retrospect, Stephen finds this very unsettling.
* IceQueen: Mildmay describes her as "cold as a dead fish" on Felix's return to the Mirador, but the description applies most of the time. Remarkably, [[ManipulativeBastard Malkar]] managed to gain her love anyway-- likely just so it would hurt more when he turned on the Cabalines.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stephen Teverius]]
Lord Protector of Marathat, brother to Victoria, half-brother to Shannon. Stubborn and phlegmatic, he generally tends well to the country, at least by comparison to his recent predecessors.
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* HeteronormativeCrusader: He "is known especially to not like molls" (Mehitabel). Unfortunate, considering the fact that, as Mildmay notes, Stephen's brother Shannon "wasn't at no pains to hide [his homosexuality] and hadn't been since he'd reached his second septad."
* ModestRoyalty: He hates pomp and circumstance.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Mind you, what he does isn't always ''good'', but he takes it very seriously.

[[/folder]]
[[folder:Gideon Thraxios]]
A recent Eusebian refugee from the Bastion, Gideon helps Felix to ameliorate the effects of the Mirador's spell on Mildmay and risks his life to cast a healing spell on Felix's broken fingers. After Felix, Midlmay, Mavortian, Bernard, and Gideon flee Hermione together, Mavortian forces him to accompany them across Kekropia, but Gideon, Mavortian, and Bernard all find themselves captured in Aiaia. By the time Mildmay and Mehitabel rescue them in ''The Virtu'', prejudiced locals have badly starved him and cut out his tongue as punishment for joining the cult of the White-Eyed Lady. During the return journey, he and Felix become lovers, but they break up in ''The Mirador''.
----
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Mildmay notes that it's easy to feel so sorry for Gideon that you forget how dangerous he can be.
* ChildSoldiers: He used to be one.
* DrivenToSuicide: Almost; he settled for ritual fake suicides instead.
* {{Gayngst}} He feels a lot of this, possibly because his early sexual experiences were fraught with fear and pain, or at least not much pleasure.
---> [[SexGod Felix]]: "Has no one ever bothered to make this good for you before?"
---> Gideon: "Not like this."
* MalevolentMutilation: The Aiaians cut of his tongue for his religious beliefs.
* MysteryCult: He joined the White-Eyed Lady's banned religion in his teens.
* Telepathy: How he communicates with fellow wizards after the Aiaians cut out his tongue.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Thamuris]]
-> ''"Love and betrayal, the gorgon and the wheel. The dead tree will not shelter you, and the dead will not stay dead. Though you do not seek revenge, it will find you all the same."''

A guest in the Gardens of Nephele, Thamuris is an powerful young wizard/scholar dying of consumption, related to his covenant's use of Pythian casting, in which the future follows a pattern set by the prophect, over which the caster has no control.
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* BloodFromTheMouth: Par for the course, given that he's dying of tuberculosis.
* FaintingSeer: The huphantike he casts for Mildmay - and Pythian casting in general - only serve to make him more ill than he was before. It's intimated that his prophecies will eventually kill him.
* GeniusCripple: Thamuris is a Celebrant Celestial, meaning he outranks nearly everyone in the Gardens of Nephele, although his illness prevents him from doing much anymore.
* JunkieProphet: In a couple of ways. He takes lots of laudanum for pain, but Mildmay also describes him as a "junkie" with regard to prophesying itself.
* TalkingInYourDreams: With Felix in the [[DreamLand Khloïdanikos]].

[[/folder]]
[[folder:Ginevra Thomson]]
A demimondaine, recently arrived in Mélusine from a provincial location named Wraith. She and Mildmay share a passionate affair.
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* CountryMouse: She's clueless about how to survive in Mélusine.
* HighClassCallGirl: Although she's appalled to hear Mildmay suggest it.
* TheLostLenore: For Mildmay

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Vincent Demabrien]]
Briefly mentioned in Felix's narration for ''Mélusine'', this UnhappyMedium is a long-lost (and [[TheWoobie long-suffering]]) friend from Felix's childhood. [[SexSlave Sold to a pimp]] by his bankrupt mother when he was twelve, Vincent remained a Pharoahlight prostitute until bought by DomesticAbuser Ivo Polydorius, probably around fifteen years ago.
----
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Resembles the coloring of a woman who looked like "the world's most beautiful corpse," and sees dead people on a regular basis.
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: He desperately wants to help the trapped spirits he sees.
* TheOphelia: He plays with the trope-- he's fragile looking and acts crazy, but the ghosts he sees are real, not hallucinations.
* SelfDeprecation: All the characters experience their moments of self-doubt, but Vincent is the master of self-mockery. He's also well aware of other people's faults, although he's rarely mean enough to mention them.
* SexSlave: To Ivo, by the time ''The Mirador'' rolls around.
* UnhappyMedium: As Felix says, "[t]he ability brought him no joy that I could see, but that made the thing more credible rather than less."

[[/folder]]
[[folder:Isaac Garamond]]
A supposed refugee from the Bastion; in reality, a spy.
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* AssholeVictim: He did a lot of horrible things, but his ending is arguably worse.
* DrivenToSuicide: By Felix
* HoneyTrap: For Felix.
* MindRape: Louis Goliath performs sendings on him, a practice that drove Mehitabel's lover half-mad.
* QuestionableConsent: Felix continues sleeping with Isaac even after Mehitabel informs him that he's a spy for the Bastion, which implies that his masters aren't giving him much choice.
* SmugSnake: Until he realizes his FrameUp isn't working.
* VillainousBSOD: When he figures out the frameup is a bust.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Arsène L'Hiver]]
Junior envoy from Tibernia; a pompous, homophobic wizard who frequently quarrels with Felix.
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* AssInAmbassador: Even his boss seems to think so.
* HeteronormativeCrusader: He despises Felix for his homosexuality.

[[/folder]]
[[folder:Ivo Polydorius]]
Marathine nobleman and Vincent Demabrien's jealous, masochistic owner.
----
* DomesticAbuser: He's dangerously jealous of Vincent.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Mehitabel observes that "He, too, had his own kind of honor."
* FaceDeathWithDignity: He doesn't even flinch at the prospect of being burned at the stake.
* TakingYouWithMe: He's less concerned with saving his own skin than with making sure the co-conspirators who failed him get burned too.

[[/folder]]
[[folder:Isobel Brightmore]]
(Also Isobel Carey)

Kay's stubborn, proud sister, whom he forced to marry the duke of Murtagh. The marriage lacked the desired political result due to her barrenness.
----
* ArrangedMarriage: Kay forced her to marry Ferrand Carey.
* HeteronormativeCrusader: She worries that Julian is "soppish" regarding Cyriack Thrale.
* LawOfInverseFertility

[[/folder]]
[[folder:Ferrand Carey]]
The duke of Murtagh, wife of Isobel, and brother-in-law of Kay. He rescues Kay from the duke of Glimmering and makes him Vanessa Pallister's fianceè and warden of Grimglass. A [[SafeSaneAndConsensual controlled sadist]], he hires Felix for violent sex, for which he later feels considerable remorse (although Felix himself regards the experience as harmless). Frequently called "Murtagh."
----
* ArrangedMarriage: To the unwilling Isobel Brightmore.
* ArmoredClosetGay: He reacts ''very'' coolly to Kay's joke about his visit to his bedroom.
* CarpetOfVirility: A Type 1.
* ManlyGay: A furry, beefy warrior with a big scar on his arm.
* SafeSaneAndConsensual: Although pretty kinky, his encounter with Felix doesn't lead to any serious physical or emotional damage.

[[/folder]]
[[folder: Gartrett Corbie]]
-> "I want to be a virtuer, and fuck the Women's College and what women should or shouldn't do and all the rest of it."

A young Bernathan [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold prostitute]] whom Felix originally [[PlatonicProstitution hires to share her knowledge of the city]] with him, and who later becomes both his apprentice and madam. She has grown accustomed to hiding her magical talent, both from her fear of enslaving "warlocks" and due to her culture's prejudice against female magicians.
----
* TheApprentice: To Felix.
* BirdsOfAFeather: Corbie's circumstances aren't unlike the challenges Felix faced as a teenager. WordOfGod even says that Felix sees Corbie as a mirror of himself.
* BookDumb: Corbie is intelligent, and fortunate enough to be literate, but her grandmother pulled her out of school when she was eight. It is one of several factors that make her stand out at the Institution.
* ComingOfAgeStory: Corbie has a quiet one going on in the background. She starts out as a girl who is too insecure in her magic and her intelligence to even attempt witchlights, let alone get a third-grade magician-practitioners license. By the end of ''Corambis'', she's decided she's going to become a virtuer. For a sense of scale, that's like saying that someone who doesn't think she's smart enough to get a GED decided to get a doctorate.
* CoolBigSis: Corbie fills this roll for Julian after flirting with him doesn't go anywhere because Julian is an awkward puppy.
* GoodBadGirl: Even after she quits doing it for money, she has a lot of sex for fun.
* DisappearedDad: She doesn't know anything about him beyond the fact that he was an Ygressine sailor who took shore leave in Bernatha.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Corbie ''hates'' her first name, only revealing it reluctantly to Felix and threatening to hit those who use it. She kicked Felix to keep him from using it when introducing her.
* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Corbie is exceedingly popular with the boys at the Institution and seems to have them wrapped around her little finger before Felix or Mildmay even set foot on campus.
* FishOutOfWater: At the Institution, due to being lower class, uneducated, and a girl.
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: The tiny girl to Felix's huge guy. Felix is explicitly stated as standing 6'2", taller than anyone in Corambis. Corbie, even in comparison to the slightly shorter (than Marathines) Corambins, is exceptionally small judging by Mildmay calling her a "little tiny gal.
* MasterApprenticeChain: Corbie's will stretch back to Porphyria Levant. On another branch it goes back to one Rosindy Clark who taught Iosephinus Pompey. The former is what provides conflict and drama. The latter is what makes teaching her seem possible.
* MissingMom: Likely. Logic would dictate that Corbie was raised by her maternal grandmother, but there is never any mention of her mother.
* MoralityPet: Corbie often plays this role for Felix since for some reason, unlike with Mildmay, he constantly reminds himself that she deserves better than his usual behavior. The post was previously held by Mehitabel.
* PluckyGirl: Despite poverty, misogyny, and a DysfunctionalFamily, she remains optimistic and eager to lend a hand when Felix needs her.
* RaisedByGrandparents: Might have worked out better if Gran hadn't been a BoomerangBigot.
* ReallyGetsAround: Felix notes how familiar she is with the men at the university.
* SettleForSibling: Mildmay thinks this is why she propositions him.
* StudentTeacherRomance: At least in Mildmay's opinion, she has a crush on Felix. Due to IncompatibleOrientation as well as his own horrific experiences with Malkar, it goes nowhere.
* WhenSheSmiles: Corbie is a pretty enough girl, but Felix says she's absolutely lovely when she smiles.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gerrard Hume]]
The would-be king of Caloxa, and the man with whom Kay is in love.
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* GenreBlind: Um, why did he think performing a blood ritual in an underground labyrinth to activate an ancient "engine of destruction" would turn out okay?
* IncompatibleOrientation: With Kay.
* MauveShirt: Doesn't survive his first chapter.
* TooDumbToLive: His genre blindness costs him (and most of his closest followers) their lives.
[[/folder]]