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Characters who appear in A Day of Fallen Night.
All spoilers will be unmarked.
Point of View Characters
Glorian "Shieldheart" Berethnet III
The princess of Inys and daughter of Sabran VI. Glorian is fifteen when the story begins and uncertain of her place as the heir of her imposing mother.
- Altar Diplomacy:
- Her mother dispassionately informs Glorian that she's been betrothed to Mentendon's Prince Charmless, much to Glorian's dismay. Sabran later undoes this agreement, but it's nothing to do with Glorian's feelings; it's because the diplomatic currents have shifted and the Yscals want the Mentendon connection, so Sabran will reward them with Glorian's hand. When Glorian protests being passed around like a commodity, Sabran informs her that she's going to go through this all with her own daughter one day.
- After her parents' untimely death, Glorian makes a quick marriage to the seventy-year-old Guma Vetalda of Yscal (when the original betrothed prince dies) because of the wealth he will bring to a badly-battered Inys. Most of the court has the grace to feel ashamed that they're asking a girl just of age to marry a man old enough to be her grandfather, but she goes through it anyway after getting an ironclad excuse to back out (namely, evidence that he's a wood-worshipper) because Inys still needs his cash. Fortunately, Guma isn't interested in sleeping with her either and is pleased she's already "arranged" to get pregnant—he just sleeps chastely in her room for one night to give a plausible illusion that he's the father.
- Ambiguously Gay: It's hinted that she's aromantic and asexual. In a private argument, she tells her mother that she's never wanted a companion (despite having reached the age where she'd start feeling those desires) and expresses no interest in sexual intercourse for its own sake. She finds the thought of the act frightening and repulsive, although she finds it tolerable with a close friend (Wulf) who puts a great deal of effort into making her feel comfortable and calm. Even so, she knows she's not going to want to do it again.
- Bring My Brown Pants: She wets herself when Fýredel confronts her in Ascalun, but it doesn't stop her from making a declaration of defiance anyway.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Unlike her descendant Sabran IX, who avoids motherhood due to a fear of irrelevance, Glorian wants the diminished scrutiny that bearing her child will bring—once she's done that, she can act how she sees fit to defend Inys.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: The beliefs of Virtudom put her in the unfortunate position of having to become pregnant as soon as possible and flee from stronghold to stronghold while increasingly hampered by the progress of her daughter's growth. She's forced to give birth in a besieged cave while her soldiers are burned and buried on the plains outside.
- The Jailbait Wait: For different reasons than usual. After Sabran VI dies, Glorian's court are all counting the days until she turns seventeen and can legally have sex because it's so vital that she have a successor popped out before the wyrms kill her.
- The Magnificent: Fýredel calls her "shieldheart" to mock her, but her subjects take it up as a rallying cry.
- Parting-Words Regret: Her last conversation with her mother is tense, something she regrets after the royal ship is destroyed with all hands.
- Trauma Conga Line: She's raised knowing that the queens before her mother were awful and her mother purposely treats her distantly. Then she is abruptly orphaned when Fýredel torches the ship her parents are on. Then he dumps their scorched bones in front of her while torching her capital city. One of her loyal advisers turns out to be a heretic, she has to marry an old man and quickly try to get pregnant by a friend when she's just seventeen, and gives birth practically on a battlefield while her people burn and starve around her.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: She's hurt by her mother's lack of affection and hurt more by the realization that her mother fears she'll be a weak ruler. Eventually she tells Sabran V that she will be a queen who is remembered for generations and that she will be enough. Although she regrets this conversation (as it is their last), Sabran VI is pleased to hear her daughter speak so strongly.
Noziken pa Dumai
Daughter of Unora, the Maiden Officiant of the temple on Mount Ipyeda. She is also the illegitimate daughter of the Seiikinese emperor, and this upends her life quickly into the story.
- Ambiguous Ending: The description of the new Maiden Officiant's visit to Nikeya implies that she is Nikeya, but it isn't confirmed.
- Brutal Honesty: She tends to respond to Nikeya's manipulations and insinuations with deliberately blunt speech in an effort both to annoy her and demonstrate that Dumai is wise to her games.
- Dragon Rider: She bonds with the royal dragon Furtia Stormcaller and rides all over the East on her back to try and shore up support with other rulers, then to form an independent "court" to help the people of Seiiki while the River-lord does nothing.
- Fish out of Water: She was raised in a mountain temple and has no experience of courtly maneuvering.
- Psychic Link:
- She can speak with dragons and call them from a long (though not infinite) distance through her mind.
- She also shares a mental link with Glorian when they dream. Dumai thinks of her as a dream-sister until Canthe gets in (as Glorian's ancestor) and uses it to deceive her.
- Scars Are Forever: Her fingers on one hand are partly severed from a frostbite injury when she was a girl. She's long since learned to adapt, so it doesn't trouble her, but the River Lord wants to use it as a way to discredit her when the plague and its initial symptoms of reddened fingers arrive in Seiiki.
- Spare to the Throne: She's forced to return to the capital when her father, Emperor Jorodu, discovers her and decides to use her as an heir the Kuposas have no influence over. She notes in hindsight that it was odd for a godsinger to be instructed in multiple languages, so her mother must have suspected it would happen despite her efforts to hide Dumai.
- Take a Third Option:
- After her father is killed, Dumai sees that rather than try to outmaneuver the River Lord or submit to him, her best option is to stop engaging with him entirely. She leaves the capital with Furtia to defend Seiiki's people directly.
- Nikeya's epilogue suggests that rather than live (and be the cause of continued civil strive in Seiiki) or die on the beach, Dumai chose to return to Ipyeda and become its Maiden Officiant.
Tunuva Melim
A sister of the Priory of the Orange Tree and keeper of the Mother's tomb.
- All-Loving Hero: Tunuva is a deeply empathetic person. She advocates for Canthe within the Priory and goes out of her way to make the other woman feel welcome, she is more open to allowing Anyso to live there, and loves Siyu as a daughter. When Tunuva confesses to kissing Canthe, Esbar forgives her because she doubts Canthe could help falling in love with someone who has so much love for those around her.
- Battle Couple: She and Esbar spar frequently and fight alongside each other when the wyrms return.
- Death of a Child: Her son Armul died when he was still a baby, and it haunts her still.
- Feeling Their Age: She's in her fifties and going through menopause. More than once Tunuva laments how her body takes much longer to recover or demands more sleep than it used to.
- Lady of War: She is a very accomplished and graceful warrior.
- Number Two: Though unofficial, she is Esbar's closest confidante and adviser. One reason Saghul chose Esbar was knowing that Tunuva was around to temper her.
- Parental Favoritism: Although she is not Siyu's birth mother, she treats the girl as affectionately as her own daughter.
- Stepford Smiler: She's never fully come to terms with her son's death in infancy and being around childbirth and babies is difficult for her as a result, though she does her best to conceal it from others. Canthe picks up on this and sympathizes, though she also uses it to manipulate.
- This Is Reality: Tunuva has trained and drilled for decades to be an excellent combatant, but it is a shock to find how grueling the reality of sustained warfare against the wyrms is. The suffering caused by their attacks and the inability to ever stop fighting does away with the pleasure and satisfaction she had always felt by a fight well fought.
- Trauma Button: Honey. She found the dead father of her child beneath a hive he was collecting from, bleeding into the honey, and her son presumably carried off by a wild lion. It unbalances her when she's having a contentious discussion with King Kediko and some honeycomb is brought to him.
Wulfert Glenn
A housecarl (or personal knight) to King Bardholt Battlebold.
- All of the Other Reindeer: He's faced some suspicion in his life over being a foundling from the haithwood and has learned to keep it secret. Karlsten, one of his lith-brothers, openly despises him for it. Bardholt is eventually convinced to send him to the sanctarians for examination just to put rumor to rest (although the destruction of the fleet prevents it).
- Heroic Lineage: He learns late in the story that his resistance to plague and cold are because he's the son of a mage from the Priory.
- The Jinx: He fears that he is a curse on the people around him, being the only one to survive Fýredel's attack on the royal ship and subsequent trip through lethally cold seas, the only one who can survive the plague, and eventually being left with only one other person from his lith alive.
- Oblivious to Love: It takes him a while to realize that he and Thrit share a mutual attraction.
- Secret-Keeper: He becomes the holder of two precious secrets by the end of the novel. The first is that he is Sabran VII's real father, not Glorian's elderly husband. The second is knowledge of the Priory and the falsity of Virtudom. He knows he will have to take both to his grave.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: He is an eyewitness to Bardholt and Sabran's last moments as Fýredel burns their ship to ashes, then has to swim across a frigid sea dragging his mortally-injured friend with him to shore. Afterwards he finds it very difficult to willingly board a ship again.
- Sole Survivor: When Fýredel attacks the royal fleet, the people who survive the initial fires are killed by the freezing waters of a northern sea in winter. Wulf is the only one who makes it to shore on a piece of flotsam, and even with that he's barely alive when some locals find him.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's afraid of bees and has nightmares about their buzzing. It's a latent memory of being stolen from Lasia while his father was murdered collecting honey.
Virtudom
Sabran VI, the Ambitious
Daughter of Marian III, or "Marian the Less," Sabran saved her country with a self-sought marriage alliance with Bardholt of Hróth after a century of misrule and discontent.
- Affectionate Nickname: Bardholt calls her "Ranna" in private.
- The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: Like other Berethnet queens, she suffers from "shadows" that evoke clinical depression. (Canthe mentions similar "shadows," implying that it's a side-effect of lacking siden.)
- Mama Bear: When an assassin comes for Glorian, Sabran shoves him away from her daughter with her own two hands.
- Parents as People: She loves Glorian, but she doesn't show it. When Bardholt argues with her over being too harsh, Sabran says that she can't allow Glorian to become a weak successor and return to the Century of Discontent.
- Politically-Active Princess: Even as a child, Sabran was constantly working to counter the damage that her great-grandmother did to the country and her family, tries to advise Marian to use her authority more boldly, and sneaks off to propose marriage to Bardholt to forestall a Hróthi conquest of Inys.
- Refuge in Audacity: As a girl, Sabran V goads her by asking if she'd like to be queen. Young Sabran answers that she couldn't unless Sabran V was dead—treasonously speaking of the monarch's death to her face because her great-grandmother couldn't execute another Berethnet.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Bardholt illustrates this when he describes Sabran as a warrior to their daughter. She may not wield a sword, but she needs just as much fortitude and resolution to defend her country from threats within and without as he does.
King Bardholt Hraustr of Hróth
The first man to unite the warring clans of Hróth under a single monarch's rule. He married Sabran and converted to the Six Virtues at her proposal, bringing the North into Virtudom.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He became the king of Hróth by defeating the man who murdered his aunt and persuading other clans to unite against their common foe.
- Boisterous Bruiser: He's huge, brawny, and jovial. Wulf says that he never slaps you on the wrist when catching someone at a minor misdeed—he slaps you on the back, and it knocks you over.
- Crisis of Faith: He found himself unable to believe in the Northern gods after they did nothing to intervene with the cruelties visited on his family. Sabran uses that to convince him to follow the teachings of Galian and the Six Virtues.
- Genius Bruiser: Bardholt is known most for his prowess in combat, but he's also an extremely canny man. He knows exactly what's going on within his housecarls' lith, how to push and pull his vassals, and the steps he takes against the plague are ruthless but fully aware of the necessity of containment.
- Good Parents: Unlike Sabran, he treats Glorian with fatherly affection. One of the few arguments he has with his wife is not allowing Glorian the childhood that they were denied themselves.
- The Magnificent: "Battlebold" is just one of the titles he's earned. His other major one is "The Hammer of the North."
- Noodle Incident: The way he executed Verthing Bloodblade is infamous but never described by anyone in precise terms, and it took him a week of rumination to decide on that method. Glorian says that Bardholt "gave him wings". That might mean he threw Bloodblade off a cliff—or that he made him a blood eagle.note
- Tempting Fate: When arguing with Sabran about Glorian's upbringing, Bardholt says that they could give her the childhood that he and his wife were denied because they're still in their fifties and probably have a good few years left. It isn't long after that when he and Sabran are killed at sea.
Canthe
A mysterious woman who arrives at the Priory, claiming to be immortal and sharing their disgust with Galian.
- Call-Forward: Esbar banishes her from ever setting foot in the Priory again. Canthe points out that if she does ever choose to return, they'll never know because she can change her appearance—but she does promise not to do so while Tunuva lives. (This accounts for her having visited again under her real name of Kalyba during Ead's youth in The Priory of the Orange Tree.)
- Commonality Connection: She bonds with Tunuva over losing their children. For Canthe it was Sabran, taken from her after she was forced to flee Inys and whom she then outlived. For Tunuva—the child that Canthe herself stole.
- Mind Control: Although she tries to use More than Mind Control on Tunuva by playing on her sympathies and seducing her, Canthe can't break her sense of duty and eventually just uses brute-force hypnosis to get what she needs from Cleolind's tomb.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She stole Armul (who was raised to be Wulf) from the Priory specifically because she knew that parents and children didn't have close relationships there. When she searches high and low with Tunuva to find him, it isn't just to get in her good books—it's because she really feels bad about assuming that a mother from the Priory would be less affected by the loss of a child.
- Outliving One's Offspring: She lost Sabran (Sabran I of Inys, that is) by simply outliving her as an immortal. It's also likely that Canthe never got to have a relationship with her either, given what we know from Priory about how she left Inys.
- Self-Serving Memory: Her description of her past involves betrayal by her lover and banishment from her homeland. She leaves out the fact that it was her adopted son and he only became her lover because she tricked him into thinking he was the woman he was actually in love with (Galian might have been dishonest, but everyone in the future agrees that he didn't deserve that.)
- Then Let Me Be Evil: After Tunuva's final rejection, Canthe resolves aloud to become the wicked witch of the woods who is hated by all.
- Tragic Villain: She manipulates Tunuva at every turn, engineers the death of Siyu's lover to drive her out of the Priory, tries to break the trust between Tunuva and Esbar, her plans result in Tunuva incurring a permanent magical injury, and she attempts to rob the Priory of the Rising Jewel. Through it all, Canthe also shows genuine empathy for Tunuva's situation as a long-bereaved mother herself and admits that she didn't take Wulf back from the Glenns because she saw that he was happy there. Although she can't forgive Canthe, Tunuva does recognize that she is probably the loneliest person in the entire world, and continuing in that state is punishment enough.
- Shapeshifting: She's implied to be the female wolf that was guarding baby Armul in the haithwood. She can't do it for most of the novel because her supply of sterren is nearly gone, but the return of the Long-Haired Star replenishes it.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: It's soon clear that outliving everyone and everything around her has done no favors for Canthe's general happiness.
The South
Prioress Saghul Yedanya
The Prioress at the beginning of the story. Saghul is measured and perceptive.
- The Disease That Shall Not Be Named:
- Although not a disease, the coloration of her skin is described in such a way as to evoke vitiligo
. - After years of apparent good health, she starts feeling malaise and then goes into a steep decline. Later, the Priory's main healer finds a malignant growth and says that such things can develop for years, but the first symptoms herald a swift death—so it's apparent that Saghul died of stomach cancer.
- Although not a disease, the coloration of her skin is described in such a way as to evoke vitiligo
- Let Me Tell You a Story: When Tunuva suggests that Siyu be given an assignment in the Lasian court, Saghul tells a parable of how not everyone can resist the appeal of sun wine, while some can leave half in the glass, and then tips hers over the table to illustrate her point. When she later does agree, Tuva reminds her of this exchange—Saghul replies "I merely voiced some thoughts on sun wine."
Munguna Esbar
Saghul's munguna, or second-in-command and successor. She is also Tunuva's romantic partner.
- Good Is Not Nice: She has very little sympathy for Siyu or her lover and believes the right thing to do with him is to kill him.
- Hot-Blooded: Saghul describes her as a fire arrow, sure to reach its mark but heedless of what may be torn in its wake—which is why she needs Tunuva to keep her grounded.
Siyu du Tunuva uq-Nara
Esbar's headstrong and wayward daughter.
- Establishing Character Moment: Her first appearance (after her birth) is halfway up the Orange Tree. The other sisters consider this a serious act of sacrilege, demonstrating both Siyu's adventurous nature but also her faltering belief in the Priory's purpose.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Her ichneumeon dies and she (along with her daughter, Tunuva, and Canthe) escape the fiery destruction of Carmentum by the skin of their teeth. Afterwards, she is deeply remorseful for leaving the Priory.
The East
Unora, the Maiden Officiant
Dumai's mother. In her youth, she sought the palace to redress the wrong done to her father and conceived a child with Jorodu, but retreated to the safety of Mount Ipyeda to hide her daughter from court.
- Determinator: In her youth, she dragged herself from her drought-stricken province to wake a dragon in its shrine.
- Mystical Pregnancy: Unora imbibes a tear from the dragon Pajati the White and then conceived a child (unwittingly) with a man whose family had an ancient connection with dragons. These two things gave her child a strong connection with magic and the ability to communicate telepathically with dragons.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After a lifetime of teaching Dumai about mountain safety and setting an example in the temple's rules, Unora runs out with no gear to pursue the "saltwaker" who leaves and nearly dies of exposure. Dumai has no way to account for it until it becomes clear that Unora was trying to stop the capital from learning of Dumai's existence.
Kanifa
- Heroic Sacrifice: When he ends up dangling over a ledge on the mountain Bhrazat and Dumai lacks the strength to pull him up, Kanifa cuts himself loose so she can survive.
- Incompatible Orientation: He has been in love with Dumai for years even though he knows she's only attracted to women.
- Undying Loyalty: He will follow Dumai anywhere no matter how dangerous it is. In the end he allows himself to die so that she can survive.
Emperor Noziken pa Jorodu
Dumai's father. He brings her to court in order to have an heir who is not controlled by the Kuposa clan.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: He was maneuvered onto the throne at age nine, but when a man arrived with a bunch of good ideas about irrigation and agricultural management, young Jorodu appointed him the River Lord. (Unfortunately, he was still too young to protect the man—Unora's father—from clan Kuposa's countermoves.)
- Didn't See That Coming: For decades the Nozikens could trust that the Kuposa wouldn't commit actual violence against them for fear of offending the gods. That holds until the current River Lord allies himself with the wyrm Taugran and assassinates Jorodu.Dumai: He thought he was winning until he was dead.
- Puppet King: He knows that the Kuposa clan controls everything and he doesn't like it. He works tirelessly to set up Dumai as a ruler who won't be ruled by them.
Lady Kuposa pa Nikeya
The daughter and heir of the River Lord. Known as the "Lady of Faces" in court, she attaches herself to Dumai as a part of her father's plans.
- Cruel Mercy: When she realizes that her father contracted a form of the plague in order to make his pact with Taugran, Nikeya watches him die in agony rather than give him a quick end.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Her mother did her best to raise Nikeya to be a good person, but after her death, the River Lord made his affection conditional on how well Nikeya worked for him and she responded.
- Heel–Face Turn: Nikeya begins to shed her father's influence when she sees the risks Dumai takes in her efforts to protect Seiiki from the wyrms, while meanwhile he uses it as an opportunity to keep consolidating power.
- Heroic Lineage: Her clan carries a thread of siden-granted power—not much, but enough to use the Rising Jewel and to keep her immune to the plague.
- Fish out of Water: Just as Dumai is out of her element in court, Nikeya flounders when it comes to the rigors of travel at altitude and into dangerous places.
- In Love with the Mark: Her father ordered her to seduce Dumai, but Nikeya falls in love with her for real.
- Manipulative Bastard: Her nickname illustrates how maneuverable and adaptable she is. It makes it difficult for Dumai to trust her even after Nikeya starts being sincere.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Her poems to Dumai during the poetry game contain veiled threats against Kanifa.
- Reformed, but Rejected:
- She develops a sense of real loyalty to Dumai before Dumai trusts her fully—Dumai points out that even saving her life could have been a way to put her under the Kuposa's control by indebting her. This causes a rift between them that isn't fully resolved for a number of chapters.
- Played with in the epilogue when the Grand Empress points out how Nikeya managed to turn herself into the dowager queen of Seiiki by marrying Dumai in a secret ceremony. Fortunately, she's also heard the manner in which Dumai cut ties with the River Lord, and that allows the Empress to trust her.
- Seriously Scruffy: For most of the story she is impeccably groomed because beauty is one of her tools. When she turns up in Dumai's "court" after having traveled on foot for days, she's so filthy, thin, and exhausted that Dumai barely even recognizes her.
- This Is Unforgivable!: She abandons her father for good when she learns that he was the one who hired Emperor Jorodu's killers and hid an anti-wyrm weapon that could have saved many lives.
- Unexpected Successor: With the Jorodu and Suzumai dead and the Grand Empress retired, Nikeya is the closest thing to a legitimate successor as the daughter of a noble house who was recognizably married to the last surviving Noziken, Dumai (missing and presumed dead). That makes her the Dowager Queen and the Grand Empress is willing to recognize her as such because Nikeya is a good person and a good politician. Nikeya adjusts her role by declaring herself the first Warlord of Seiiki to symbolize the country's continuing struggle against wyrmkind.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She and Dumai fall out during their journey to the North over two matters. One is that Dumai still refuses to trust her even after Nikeya saved her life and they shared a kiss. The other is that Dumai left Seiiki so soon during an especially perilous time over a prophetic dream (which ends in disaster).
Kuposa pa Fotaja, the River Lord
The power behind the throne of Seiiki and Dumai's chief political foe. As his title indicates, he (nominally) manages the use of rivers throughout the land.
- Abusive Parents: He controlled Nikeya in a "carrot-and-stick" fashion, alternating harsh rebukes with gentleness so that she would carry out his plans in hopes of gaining his affections. He finally goes too far when he insults her late mother.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: After years of plague, poor harvest, invasion by wyrmspawn, and associated hardships, he makes a pact with the wyrm Taugran to become a Flesh King and crosses the line no previous Kuposa had—attacking the Nozikens directly. And then he sacrifices his grandniece to Taugran.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: He is most often referred to just as "the River Lord" rather than by his given or family name.
- Skewed Priorities: Dumai soon learns that the previous River Lord—her grandfather—was actually an expert in irrigation and water management. Kuposa doesn't seem to do any of that himself. He's so obsessed with his own power that he steals a new siege weapon sent as a gift by the Lacustrines because having a defense against wyrms would improve Dumai's standing.
- Would Hurt a Child: He trusses up Suzumai in a temple gate as a ritual sacrifice for Taugran. Dumai and Nikeya are unable to save her.
